2000's Asian Horror Part Sixteen

VERSUS
(2000)
Dir - Ryuhei Kitamura
Overall: WOOF

Easily one of the most aggressively boring movies in any genre, Ryuhei Kitamura's independent debut Versus, (Vāsasu), shows an absolute disregard for compelling storytelling on top of already amateur production values.  Shot over the course of seven months and initially serving as a sequel to his also low-budget short film Down to Hell, one would think that a yakuza/samurai/end of days/zombie movie loaded with action sequences would be idiot-proof, yet Kitamura is here to prove otherwise.  It is no exaggeration to state that eighty percent of the movie is nothing more than characters mugging at the camera while trying to pose like badasses, only to launch into either gun-toting, sword-slicing, knife-wielding, or hand-to-hand combat with each other.  The plot moves so sluggishly that it is practically indecipherable and this is further hindered by dreadful performances that are staggeringly wooden despite all of the grimacing, except for one of them who seems to be doing his best impression of a cartoon character bad guy.  When all you have to offer is violent action sequences repeated ad nauseum, (all of which are about as cinematically gripping as a bag of stale oatmeal), then any audience member impressed by such nonsense must not have seen any of the actually good movies that this one is lazily trying to emulate.

 

THE RED SHOES
(2005)
Dir - Kim Yong-gyun
Overall: MEH

 

Another forgettable bit of K-horror with a vengeful spirit motif that is played as derivative as can be, The Red Shoes, (Bunhongshin), further puzzles by having the title footwear be purple on the poster and pink in the actual film.  Being a modern day adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fable of the same name, changing the title to the appropriate color that was available must have written off as a bad marketing move.  The second full-length from director Kim Yong-gyum and his first in the horror camp, its unoriginality falls shy of being offensive, with agreeable performances and cinematography, plus a consistently dour atmosphere that slams home the character's cursed situation.  We are made to sympathize with Kim Hye-soo's protagonist who is the villain in her young daughter's eyes after leaving her cheating, scumbag husband who said daughter regrettably thinks the world of.  This gives the story some grounded gravitas and makes for an interesting juxtaposition when our feelings may begin to shift once it becomes all too clear that the behavior of Hye-soo's troubled mom has also not been on the up and up.  The plot twist is widely broadcasted from the rooftops long before it happens and the ambiguous finale tag seems more silly than effective, but at least those red, (pink), shoes seem to cast a creepy aura.

 

PHOBIA 2
(2009)
Dir - Paween Purijitpanya/Visute Poolvoralaks/Songyos Sugmakanan/Parkpoom Wongpoom/Banjong Pisanthanakun
Overall: MEH

 

For the second anthology collection Phobia 2, (Ha Phraeng), filmmakers Banjong Pisanthanakun, Parkpoom Wongpoom, and Paween Purijitpanya return with series newcomers Songyos Sugmakanan and Vistute Poolvoralaks joining up as well.  This bumps the total of individual segments to five from the four in the previous year's 4bia, yet unfortunately the quality drops overall as none of them are particularly remarkable.  Pisanthanakun's closing "In the End" brings back the same character's from the aforementioned first movie's "The Man in the Middle" and goes for a similar comedic, meta, movie-within-a-movie premise that provides one or two chuckles while still being poorly conceived.  Elsewhere, three of the stories involve the usual supernatural shenanigans with a haunted, troubled teenager-turned monk, (Purijitpanya's "Novice"), a haunted hospital room, (Poolvoralaks' "Ward"), and then a haunted car lot, (Wongpoom's "Salvage").  This just leaves "Backpackers" from Sugmakanan which throws zombies into the mix for the first time; maybe the only ones ever who are spawned from having ingested smuggled narcotics.  Some of the overall atmosphere is acceptable, but there is an overabundance of predictable jump scares and the entire collection ultimately overstays its welcome.