90's Asian Horror Part Seven

THE BLUE JEAN MONSTER

(1991)

Dir - Kai-Ming Lai

Overall: MEH

While it at least deserves points for originality, The Blue Jean Monster, (Jeuk ngau jai foo dik Jung Kwai), is a mostly obnoxious yet wacky Hong Kong interpretation of what Robocop would be like if it was more horny, gross, and also a comedy.  The second full-length from director Kai-Ming Lai starts off goofy with a cop and his pregnant wife praying to Buddah for a healthy baby boy while their weird, perpetually unfunny housemate drops a fart joke before later having diarrhea after eating regurgitated noodles that come out of an open wound in the stomach of said cop who is now an electric zombie.  So yeah.  As tasteless as any Category III film has ever been, there are homophobic jokes, a prostitute's humongous boobs get the milk deflated out of them, and a guy fondles a pair of Big Macs while something about criminals trying to get their hands on stolen bank money is also haphazardly going on.  There is no shortage of moments to shake your head at while pointing and laughing, but the humor is both too odd and annoying to land.  In this respect, what you are left with is a movie that is equal parts grating and amusing in its weirdness, but for those who can look past how occasionally gross and politically incorrect it is, enjoy.

 

DON'T LOOK UP

(1996)

Dir - Hideo Nakata

Overall: MEH

For his second full-length Don't Look Up, (joyū rei, Ghost Actress), filmmaker Hideo Nakata sets his narrative on a movie set that is plagued by vague supernatural activity; too vague in fact to work its bewitching magic on the audience.  Stylistically, Nakata goes for subdued spookiness where little to no drama is taking place between characters who are professionally getting along well enough to wrap up principal photography on a war time drama.  Said drama is being shot at the same studio that an earlier, unreleased film was being made, resulting in one of the actor's falling to her death.  In this sense, it is a movie about a movie that is haunted by another movie, but that is unfortunately less interesting than it sounds.  Nakata apparently lamented the fact that he showed the specter's face too much, which is odd since it barely makes any appearances in the first place and hardly causes any chills when it does show up in its mostly out-of-focus form.  Large portions of the narrative grow aimless as the stakes never raise behind merely the curiously unexplained, that is until the last act where the ghost lady finally starts going for a body count.  Low-key and unexciting stuff in this variation, it would later get remade twice, once by director Fruit Chan as an American version with the same title and then again in 2015 by Nakata himself as Ghost Theater.

 

NANG NAK

(1999)

Dir - Nonzee Nimibutr

Overall: MEH

 

Thailand's ghost story of Mae Nak Phra Khanong has been the subject of various fictitious interpretations both before and since director Nonzee Nimibutr's version Nang Nak, which is an adequate if unremarkable take on the subject matter.  Written by Thai New Wave filmmaker Wisit Sasanatieng, it concerns a pregnant, teenage bride who bids farewell to her husband as he leaves to fight during the Siamese-Vietnamese War, only for her to die during childbirth and linger on as a spirit that bewitches said husband upon his return.  The story is simple and sticks to the basics of the legend, focusing on the tragic relationship between the two leads who separate under troublesome circumstances and then fully embrace their reunion which is doomed to fail long before Nak's ghostly form lashes out against those who try and break up the spell that is prolonging her family life.  A strong Buddhist undercurrent propels the drama where terrified villagers and monks eventually intervene to restore the natural order of things so that Nak's spirit can progress to the Netherworld, reuniting her and her husband in their resurrected forms.  Nimibutr keeps the melancholic music swelling through most scenes and stages the supernatural moments with furious gusts of wind, but the movie is more concerned with its concepts of grief and acceptance than in delivering either spooky or overt scares.