(2001)
Dir - Kim Sung-hong
Overall: MEH
There are more miserable and predictable thrillers out there than Kim Sung-hong's Say Yes, but that does not make the miserable or predictable aspects of it any more tolerable. It is certainly well acted and the protagonist couple is genuinely likeable, due to enough time being spent to engage with them before things get generically annoying. Once their underwritten, by the books stalker emerges to play cat and mouse with them for no reason though, it is either just a nasty and aggravating experience. Well-established tropes from Cape Fear, Se7en, and The Hitcher rear their heads, but so many other slasher elements as well, namely the fact that the killer cannot be killed, people do not kill him when they get the chance, people do not check to make sure he is killed, he constantly escapes, he constantly is twelve steps ahead of everyone, and there is absolutely no tension to be had by people thinking "It's all over" when you still have so much time left in your movie. Of course everyone watching such films from the comfort of their living rooms can always think more logically than the people in them, but movies are made to be watched by people in their living rooms so is it too much to ask to try a little harder?
(2007)
Dir - Yim Pil-sung
Overall: GOOD
This imaginative and earnest, modern fairytale takes a number of pages out of rather famous ones, not least of all the Hansel and Gretel story from which it derives its name. The title is actually a bit misleading in that the story here is wholly unique, but it certainly and strongly echoes the sentiment of wronged children getting the better of cruel elders who mean them tremendous harm. A South Korean production with a substantial use of its budget, it features an abundance of CGI and highly decorative sets, reminiscent of the work of Guillermo del Toro, Tim Burton, Michael Dougherty, or any contemporary, live-action Disney fable. There are some modern horror tropes like boo scares and screechy soundtrack noises that would have been preferable to avoid and some very unpleasant plot elements near the end that are at least not too graphically shown. The film also bites off a bit more than it can chew, lingering in its second act way too long where nothing is really advanced, more characters are introduced that are probably unnecessary, and the story itself becomes monotonous. It is a successfully emotional experience though, made so by fantastic performances from its three child actors and Chun Jung-myung in the lead.
(2009)
Dir - Yoshihiro Nishimura/Naoyuki Tomomatsu
Overall: GOOD
Pink film director Naoyuki Tomomatsu and Tokyo Gore Police director Yoshihiro Nishimura collaborated on the splat-tacularly gory and ridiculous Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl. With a title like that, expecting anything besides what is ultimately presented would be impossible. The film is absurdly Japanese and wonderfully so as it intentionally pokes fun at not only the type of insanely violent, manga-based silliness of many other ultra-violent movies of its kind, but also Japanese youth culture movements such as ganguro and Lolita. Most of the movie's sheer oddity is highly distracting at first with a high school full of weirdos, (teachers and students alike), who do everything from energetically confiscating chocolate, to having a wrist-cutting extracurricular group, to wearing special effects make-up to school to look African, to dressing like a Kabuki priest and experimenting with body parts, etc. There is also a horny nurse, a pervert teacher, and tons of people get killed which is practically glossed over to make room for more bloody-limbed monster battles. Amazingly, the huge heaps of bizarre nonsense pay off dramatically and not laughing at all of the airborne appendages that spray red stuff everywhere is not possible. It is J-Troma more or less, except more competently made, laughable special effects notwithstanding.
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