QuiGonJosh

So I see Tale of Two Sisters yesterday at CC, and pick it up. 2 Disc set with DTS for $13, can't beat that. Come home and watch it and am quite displeased. Now I've seen a few Asian horror movies, Ringu, Ju-On, and a few others, and I guess it's just me, but I don't get what all the hoopla is all about. Apart from a few genuinely creepy scenes, there was nothing special about TOTS, in fact the rest of it was really quite tedious and flat out boring. I absolutely hated Ringu and Ju-On, two of the most un-creepy movies I've ever seen. Hell, Teletubbies are more frightening. And also, what the hell is going on with friggin Samara showin up in every one of these damned movies. Does there always have to be a creepy looking girl with long black hair covering her face has the ghost. I give up on Asian Horror pictures. I love Woo and Kurosawa and Kitano, but these horror pictures are pedestrian and boring. I know a lot of you love these movies, and that's fine, but I just don't get it.

NestoJR

i totally agree. They definately have creepy scenes and Ring being the first, was the "scariest" but after that, they all just seem to be copying it. For me and you, its obviously not working. I haven't seen Tale of Two Sisters but wanted to since so many ppl kept saying it was different *shrug* thats what Netflix is for =)

Either I"m getting older and more mature but there are NO scary movies being released anymore, along with good action movies, absolutely NONE.

ftsoh

Just culture difference. I can be scared by even the cheesiest Asian horror movie, but most American horror movie can hardly do anything to me.

QuiGonJosh

Well, no more is really scary, never have been scared by a movie. But I at least expect these movies that everyone claims to be really scary at least somewhat creepy.

kitkat

Ha-ha!. I just watched Phone last night and was thinking that asians must be really scared of long black hair and little girls.

Even though I'm not really a horror fan I've been watching a few of these movies lately to see what all the fuss is about.

ETA - I don't mean to come off as insulting an entire continent full of diverse cultures. The imagery is creepy. It's just funny to see it repeated in every asian horror film I've seen recently. Admittedly I haven't seen very many. I look forward to comments from DVDTalker who are knowledgeable in the genre.

marty888

You don't "get it" ? Well, the secret is simply to ....

move on.

Nobody "gets" everything.

Some people find their thrills wih ax-wielding masked entities, others appreciate films that have character development and more "everyday" type of settings for ghost stories.

Either way, enjoy what you enjoy, and understand that not everyone likes everything.

charley-farley

Marty888
THANK GOD FOR YOUR ....good post ...

I found Ringu /Ringu2 ...truely upsetting ..... an not in the way most expect "the loonie killer in horror mask shite "

(although one film way back,
a video nastie from the 80s it was "The Burning "UNCUT, very good in that genre ,had me an few watching mates jumping about in a dark parents front room watching it after a few bottles of strong upsetting Cider/Ace lager,per say ,lol)

a great upsetting nerve jangler is .."Dark Water"
link here
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382628/

Rival11

I'd take Marty's comments into consideration too.

I'm on the fence with Asian horror myself. I thought the Eye had some original stuff I've never seen before but overall the film wasn't that great.

I persoanlly liked both Ringu and Ju-on a lot.

Your question is easily answered though - you tried it, didn't like it, now try something else

charley-farley

Rival11
I saw the film
"My Lil Eye "
WONDERFUL .....How this aint been reality yet who knows ..lol


it even made me think with a few very clued up tech NEt/Black hat guys seeing about hiring a Scot Isle, for a month ,lol

RichC2

I found A Tale of Two Sisters to be quite good, but alas - went in with no expectations with little knowledge of anything about it. It helps substantially to not be expecting much. There were two creepy scenes and the rest of movie was relatively well told - but the ending could have been handled a little better.

Ringu was disappointing, but that was also hyped ot hell.

The last 20 minutes of Dark Water were unsettling, but it requires a LOT of work getting through to that point.

The Eye just kind of sucked.

Asian horror is known for being atmospheric, which it is, not so much scary (but what movies are these days?). In fact, the only other Asian "horror" flick I consider myself a fan of is Kairo/Circuit.

The other thing is, these movies are slow - theres no fast action, and few "cheap scares", and generally try to tell a bit of a story - these seem to be the reason people flock to em, they're the polar opposite of movies like Amityville Horror.

Rival11

Same with Italian horror and this is a huge dissapointment. Why? Because I love Argento but his movies are sometimes unbearable to watch because of the acting and dialouge, just terrible.

buckee1

I too am on the Asian Horror bandwagon. I totally preferred Ringu to the Ring(USA remake). Ju-On was not so much scary as it was very creepy. That clicking sound the ghosts made seriously creeped me out on more than one viewing. I have'nt watched the Grudge (gellar) as yet so I can't compare the two. Dark Water however is a bit too slow for me.

I have been watching it on and off for about a year now and can't get the point it's trying to make. I probably need to start all over and watch it in one setting. IMHO, There is definately more of a psychological terror imposed in Asian horror as opposed to the In-Your-Face blood letting of say the remake of Texas Chainsaw.

I just picked up Cure, Tale of Two Sisters, Phone, Aragami, Alive and Tales of the Supernatural. All the blurbs about them seem really good. And if they are half as good as Ringu, I'll be more than happy.

QuiGonJosh

Mondo Kane

Give Evil Dead Trap a look, QGJ.

QuiGonJosh

That's what they said about Tale of Two Sisters. Thanks, but no thanks.

starseed1981

I really dig Kairo (aka-Pulse). I think they really handled the ghosts in a unique fashion there. Dumplings by Fruit Chan is really well done too.

Trigger

thank you for giving up.

BiMonSciFiCon

Within the past year I have enjoyed Versus, Alive & Wild Zero

QuiGonJosh

Versus isn't really a horror picture though is it, it's mostly just two guys fighting in the woods isn't it. I've seen bits of that.

Again, I'm not dogging Foriegn films at all. I love foriegn films, just not the Asian horror ones.

logboy

its a difficult one. i suspect that a lot of people, maybe even the film studios themselves, have been swept up with the very vocal minority on asian horror for the msot part. i never like ju-on and TOTS is a great film, but not the best ever. dont let a couple of bad ones, or ones you dont like, make you think everything in asian horror / cinema isnt of interest though... you would miss so much.

another thing i think happens is people in the west just arent used to the pace of japanese / asian cinema, which apart from being slow, is just so unfamiliar to those of us used to watching very fast paced american movies, wether action flicks or even the most involved drama. ive been watching japanese movies for so many years, and yet i still feel that because the majority of whats in front of my eyes (tv or cinema etc) is so much faster, its hard to sometimes take the films in. they often work better as memories than experieces when watching them, and they can also work one minute and not the next...

QuiGonJosh

Like I said, I love asian cinema and I've seen a lot of Chinese/Japanese/Korean pictures. But I just don't get this Asian Horror cinema craze because I think, based on the ones that I've seen, that they are A.) Not scary/creepy in the slightest B.) Poorly paced, IE; Boring. C.) Their very redundant. I mean what's really the difference between Ringu and Ju-On. Creepy girls with long black hair covering their face haunt people and kill them in almost the same fashion.

Like I said, I love Samurai, Heroic Bloodshed, War, etc. from Asia, just not these shitty so called horror pictures.

eXcentris

Asian horror is by nature, atmospheric and slow developing, so maybe it's not your cup of tea. That said, if you were expecting a "pure" horror film, I understand why you were disapointed. TOTS is a tragedy/thriller with horror elements, much like The Devil's Backbone was an allegory on the Spanish Civil War with horror elements. TOTS has a complex and involving story, stong character development and great acting, especially by Yum Jung-ah (Eun-jo) and Lim Su-jeong (Su-mi). It also has incredibly rich environments, fantastic art direction and cinematography, and a melancholic score that suits the mood perfectly. TOTS is one of those rare films that transcends the horror genre to give you a total movie experience.

So when you say "there was nothing special about TOTS", I don't know what you're smoking.

QuiGonJosh

I said there was nothing special about it because I didn't feel there was anything in it that was fresh or in anyway original. I agree that it's well shot, and I don't mind a slow moving picture (2001 is one of my favorites), but I'd like for there to be something said (Either in words or in visuals) during those slow moments. I guess it's just the directors style, but I don't think it meshed well with the plot. What you call a complex story, I call simple. Involving, well, that's subjective, I was not involved and didn't care what was happening, which is for me is the cardinal sin. If I don't care about what's going on, why am I watching it?

Technically, it's a pretty okay picture, but thematically and editorially, it's quite inept.

logboy

the girl with long black hair thing is just a japanese ghost story convention...

eXcentris

Character development, great acting, art direction, cinematography, etc... Name other horror films that have all those elements aside from the horror. There aren't many. My guess, you expected a "pure" horror film which this film isn't.

You could say that of most asian horror films. Again, maybe they just aren't for you.

Whaaaaat? Of all the qualifiers you could use to describe the story in TOTS, "simple" is the worst one you could use.
Did you even understand the story? It's a film you can watch 2 or 3 times and still not get everything.

Ok, I'll buy that, but it's your problem not the film's.

Inept? Please explain because it seems to me that you're trying to blame the fact that you didn't like the film on the director. I don't like Italian horror but I don't go around calling the films "inept". You're confusing "like" with "good".