Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Three Extremes (2004) Asian horror


I caught the movie on DVD Three.... Extremes. I am not usually a fan of horror films but it was alright. I would call them more thrillers than horror. When I think of horror, I envision "Freddy Krueger" or "Friday the 13th" or "Amityville Horror" more so. I guess the American version of horror with lots of screaming, gore, blood and terror. Or scenes invoke nightmares and unpleasant thoughts. I think my fave really was Miriam Yeung as an aging actress in DUMPLING. I am used to her being in comedies and laughing a lot. The last shot of her at the end of "DUMPLING" was a bit eerie and creepy. As my sister added, she will never look at "ha gar" the same way again. Lee Byun Hun as the director in "CUT" was good. Then again Park Chan Wook delivers in very interesting and out of the ordinary films. It is interesting seeing him as a victim in this piece playing along with a sadistic film extra.

I enjoyed "CUT' then "Dumpling" and then "BOX". "Box" did not do much for me. Trying to bring back a beautiful woman's past is haunting her in her dreams on how she did wrong to her sister. She experiences life and all of the sudden the supernatural, reality, and dreams slowly blur that she is not sure which medium she is in.

Three... Extremes (三更2 Saam gaang yi) is a 2004 international Asian horror film collaboration consisting of three segments by three directors from three countries. It is a sequel to, and follows the concept of Three (2002), this time with more established directors. The three segments are, in the following order:

Dumplings, directed by Fruit Chan (Hong Kong)
Cut, directed by Park Chan-wook (South Korea)
Box, directed by Takashi Miike (Japan)

Fruit Chan later released Dumplings, a 90 minute version of his segment.
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Dumplings - An aging actress wanting to reclaim her youth goes to a woman who makes dumplings that supposedly have regenerative properties. However, they contain a gruesome secret ingredient.

Cut - A successful film director and his wife are kidnapped by an extra, where the director is forced to play his sadistic games. If he fails, his wife's fingers will be chopped off one by one every five minutes.
Box - A soft spoken young woman has a bizarre and recurring nightmare about being buried in a box in the snow. Searching for her long lost sister, she realizes her dreams and reality may possibly be connected.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three..._Extremes

http://www.threeextremes.com/

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