The Red SHoes

I really liked this movie.  If you're looking for a decent Korean horror movie, this might be the one for you.

That said, the shoes are fuschia.  Which wouldn't be that big a deal, except people wear them with red clothes and red lipstick, so it sort of sticks out that they're not red in the slightest.

The premise of the movie is kind of a riff on the Hans Christian Andersen story of the same name - it centers on a pair of shoes with which people become obsessed, to horrifying ends.  The main character is a woman leaves her cheating husband, taking her small daughter to an apartment.  Then things get crazay!  Just kidding.  Only not really.

Anyway, I don't want to spoil it for you - but it's good!

Availability: DVD only
Released: 2005
Added to queue: 2/11/2008
Reason added to queue: Added with all those other Asian horror movies, which had been getting on my nerves, but this one was good.

One Missed Call II

Okay, I can't believe I even watched this movie, considering how terrible the first one (and the American one) was (were).  

But dude, if you have to watch a movie about a cell phone call portending death, this is definitely the one to watch.

It's not nearly as vapid as the first one - the characters are engaging, you actually don't want them to die - and you hope they get to the bottom of the mystery.

No promises on that front.

The premise is the same - creepy ringtone you didn't download, then three days later you die.

Availability: DVD

Released: 2005

Added to my queue: 2/11/2008 

Reason added to my queue: I seem to have added tens of movies that day, nearly all of them Asian horror.  Who knew I'd be paying 5+ years later?

Three...Extremes II

I really liked the first one, so I figured the second would be good.  And it was decent.

It's three vignettes, each directed by a different Asian director:

• In "Memories", a woman keeps trying to get home.  Based on experience with other movies, you will ultimately begin to wonder whether she's actually alive or a ghost.
• In "The Wheel", a Thai village is haunted by creepy ceremonial puppets.
• In "Going Home", which I found to be the most interesting and worth watching, a man is held captive while his neighbor prepares for the resurrection of his dead wife.

 Far and away the most disturbing of the vignettes is in Part I, though.  The first one on the the first disc is seriously disturbing.

Watch it, don't watch it.

Availability: DVD only
Released: 2002
Added to my queue: 2/11/2008
Reason: This is when I added all the Asian horror movies to my queue, so I assume I was on some kind of tear.

Funny Games (German)

I saw the American version of this movie in the theater, randomly, with my friend Wendy in NYC.  It was so violent and senseless, we were kind of dumbfounded.

The German version is, based on my recollection, almost exactly the same.  Shot for shot remake.  Even the house feels the same....

The premise is a family arrives at their lake house for a vacation, and as they're settling in, two strangers come over to innocently borrow some eggs for the neighbors' breakfast.  And then it gets messy.

If you like senselessly violent torture thrillers, one of these two movies is for you.  The German one is cool because it's the original, but the American one is in English and (stop me if I'm wrong here because it's been like 6 years since I saw the American one) they're basically the same movie.

Availability of German: DVD and Streaming
Released: 1997
Added to my queue: 5/13/2008
Reason added to my queue: I'm assuming because I had seen the American version.