Saturday, August 4, 2007

4 Horror Tales

FEBRUARY 29
AKA 2 wol 29 il
Dir. Jung Jong Hoon

Ji-yeon, a toll-gate ticket girl, is frightened by a mysterious black car, which pays a bloodstained ticket fee at midnight. Her fear deepens after her colleague, Jong-sook, tells her that 12 years earlier a prisoner transport vehicle caused a traffic accident wherein all the prisoners involved died – and some of the corpses disappeared.

Afterwards, a murder occurred near the toll-gate on February 29th every four years. Soon, odd events become increasingly frequent, usually involving a doppelgänger of Ji-yeon.

When Jong-sook is killed on the fateful February 29th, Ji-yeon – with the help of two detectives – starts looking into matters herself.

Cast:
Park Eun-hye
Im Ho
Lee Myeong-jin
Im Hyeon-kyeong
Choi Yoon-jeong
Baek Eun-jin
Yoo Yeon-soo

FORBIDDEN FLOOR
AKA: Nebeonjjae cheung; Hidden Floor
Dir. Kwon Il Soon

Min-young moves onto the fifth floor of a new studio apartment with her six-year-old daughter, Joo-hee. She's concerned when her downstairs neighbour, HAN Chang-soo, says that he cannot tolerate the noise above him, even though the two women live tranquilly.

Furthermore, she is anxious about other residents' strange behaviours – never mind the mysterious deaths. Min-young hardens herself mentally after the move into the new house, largely because of her daughter's unprecedented odd behaviour and continual run-ins with a bizarre woman.

Convinced that Joo-hee has fallen sick and perturbed by the mysterious events around the studio apartment, Min-young looks to disclose the truth by herself...

Cast:
Kim Seo-hyeong
Kim Yoo-jeong

ROOM MATES
AKA: D-Day
Dir. Kim Eun Kyung

Roommates Yoo-jin, Eun-soo, Bo-ram, and Da-young are cramming for a college entrance exam. It's difficult for them to adapt to the stifling atmosphere of the women's lodging institute – and to get along with each other due to their differing personalities.

Yoo-jin has the most difficulty with the stuffy institute life; she begins to have visions of events that took place at the institute in the past – like the tragic fire that occurred years ago.

Yoo-jin gradually becomes consumed with fear, and the relationship among the four intimate friends begins to suffer.

Cast:
Eun-seong
Yoo Joo-hee
Kim Ri-na
Heo Jin-yong
Sin Yeong-jin
Kim Joo-ryeong

DARK FOREST
AKA Jookeumeui soop
Dir. Kim Jung Min

Woo-jin, Jung-ah and three other trekkers merrily depart for a mountain climbing trip. On the way into a forest – a forest which is off-limits – Se-Eun and Joon-hoo are wounded and the group is faced with a serious obstacle: they are disconnected from any area where a cell phone is available and effectively cut off from the world.

Jung-ah is particularly uneasy; she is unwillingly able to see the future, a residual influence of her shaman parents. The stranded, frightened party soon has an opportunity to discover the forest's startling secrets...

Cast:
So I-hyeon
Lee Jong-hyuk
Kim Young-joon
Park Choong-seon
Kim Hye-seon

Taboo - Movie


"It takes a madman to know a madman. And you're the leader of the pack."

In 1865, three years before the Meiji Restoration would end the feudal system and restore Japanese imperialism, the Shinsengumi samurai (an elite samurai police group) are recruiting men proficient, fast and focused enough to join their elite ranks.

Teenager Sozaburo Kano emerges as one of the very few who possess the skill to enter this lethal world but there is a problem which potentially makes him more dangerous than his ability with a blade. He is bishounen ('pretty boy') whose feminine looks ignite distrust in his fellow warriors.

The elders question whether he's as delicate as his appearance would suggest. To assuage the doubts of superiors he is ordered to execute a samurai who has broken their strict laws, and when Kano decapitates the man with smooth efficiency, he begins to get ahead.

But his appearance makes many in the strictly male group - both students and superiors - attracted to him, creating tension within the group of people vying for Kano's attention, blocking Kano's path to realising his ambition.

Based on Shiba Ryotaro's novellas 'With a Lock of Hair Over His Forehead' and 'The Revolt of the Mountain'.

Takeshi 'Beat' Kitano - Captain Toshizo Hijikata
Ryuhei Matsuda - Samurai Sozaburo Kano
Shinji Takeda - Lieutenant Soji Okita
Tadanobu Asano - Samurai Hyozo Tashiro
Koji Matoba - Samurai Heibei Sugano
Masa Tommies - Inspector Jo Yamazaki
Masatô Ibu - Officer Koshitaro Ito
Uno Kanda - The Geisha Nishikigi-Dayû
Kazuko Yoshiyuki - The Servant Omatsu
Tomorowo Taguchi - Samurai Tojiro Yuzawa
Yoichi Sai - Commander Isami Kondo
Jiro Sakagami - Lieutenant Genzaburo Inoue
Zakoba Katsura - Wachigaiya
Kei Sato - The Narrator (voice)

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Kung Fu Hustle

功夫; pinyin: Gōngfu) is a martial arts film first released in Hong Kong in December 2004. It was released for general debut in the United States on April 22, 2005 after showing in Los Angeles and New York for two weeks. The North American version of its DVD was released on August 8, 2005.

Kung Fu Hustle is a humorous parody and a special tribute to the wuxia genre, played and directed by Stephen Chow. It contains most of the characteristics of a typical wuxia movie, with a lot of exaggerations, serious situations and comic plots. This is Stephen Chow's only film where the mood turns darker and serious later on.

The use of visual effects have been widely acclaimed and the almost comic book style of the movie are its most striking features. It is in stark contrast to recent Kung Fu movies that have made an impact in the West, such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero. Despite the computer-generated imagery and cartoonish scenes in the second half of the movie, the movie pays tribute to many famous Kung Fu film veterans from the 1970s who were all real martial artists in their own right. Many early fight scenes were packed with real Chinese martial arts. In addition, the "Buddhist Palm" style of Kung Fu featured throughout the movie is a style of Kung Fu cited by Chinese people whenever a fighting style involving open fists is used.

A Chinese Ghost Story I - Movie


Ning Tsai-Shen, a humble tax collector, arrives in a small town to carry out his work. Unsurprisingly, no-one is willing to give him shelter for the night, so he ends up spending the night in the haunted Lan Ro temple. There, he meets Taoist Swordsman Yen Che-Hsia, who warns him to stay out of trouble, and the beautiful Nieh Hsiao-Tsing, with whom he falls in love. Unfortunately, Hsiao-Tsing is a ghost, bound for all eternity by a hideous tree spirit with an incredibly long tongue that wraps itself round its victims and sucks out their life essence (or 'yang element')...


A Chinese Ghost Story

he empire of Tang has enjoyed a hundred years of prosperity since its founding. However, calamities and dangers nearly always lurk within affluent times.

Famous Taoist sect, Xuan-Xin Zhen-Zong's forefather once discovered a huge stone cave in the deep mountain range, in the cave was a stone tablet carved with ancient writings. The ancient inscriptions foretold of all events since Tang Dynasty was founded, such as who would be the emperors, when would disasters occur, all of which were predicted with uncanny accuracy. What struck terror into the hearts of people was the last verse on the tablet, prophesying a grim future: When the constellation of Prince of Darkness Clashing with Seven Malignant Stars appears, Estranged Couple of Seven Lifetimes will be reborn. The demon sect will make use of the power from the acrimonious energy of the star-crossed lovers to dominate the world, turning it into a living hell. The tablet also stated clearly the time and place the Estranged Couple will be born, seemingly hoping that some destined person would stumble across the tablet, and come up with a plan to save the masses.

The young and capable Jin Guang is the Grand Priest of Tang kingdom, and also the present leader of Xuan-Xin Zhen-Zong Sect. At the designated time, Jin Guang calls forth his elders Yan Chi Xia and Si-Ma San-Niang to forestall the demons. Together, they manage to locate the newborn babies of Estranged Couple of Seven Lifetimes. Demon realm's Moon Kingdom, under the leadership of Mo-Jun Liu-Dao, comes to get hold of the Estranged Couple of Seven Lifetimes, as was predicted. Yan Chi-Xia and his wife Si-Ma San-Niang, using all their might, fight bravely against Moon Kingdom. Both sides suffer heavy casualties. While Mo-Jun Liu-Dao is badly wounded, he succeeds in taking away the baby girl.



* Barbie Xu as Nie Xiao Qian
* Daniel Chan as Ning Cai Cheng
* Nie Yuan as Mo-Jun Qi-Ye
* Jessica Hsuan as Si-Ma Hong-Ye
* Xia Yu Qiao as Xia Xiao Xue
* Jacky Wu as Zhu-Ge Liu-Yun
* Wang Lu Jiang as Zhu-Ge Wu-Wei
* Chen Chuan Zhi as Jing Wu Yuan
* Shen Xiao Hai as Jing Guang
* Tien Niu as Si-Ma San-Niang
* Yuen Wah as Yan Chi Xia
* Zhu Yan as Empress Yin-Yue
* Gallen Lo as Mo-Jun Liu-Dao
* Mai Jia Qi as Tree Demon Mei Ji
* Bryan Wang as Ren Wu Wei
* Victor Huang as Qian Jiang

Claymore

In this world, from ancient times, people were eaten by beings called "youma". For a long time, people lived without any means to counter them. However, a half-human, half-youma female warrior was born.... Female soldiers known as "Claymore" who, with silver eyes that can see through to the true form of "youma", and carry a large sword as a weapon, continue to battle those which people have named "youma".