Crying Fiddle (Review)

Crying Fiddle

aka แว่วเสียงซอ

2004
Directed by Jarin Parnsain

Time once again for some Thai shot on video horror! It’s when the guessing game is the horror in the film…or the film itself??? Usually it’s the film. Will it be the case this time? Duh!

This time we have the story of a girl who dies and comes back as a vengeful ghost who also happens to be green. Why green? Why the heck not? It’s not like we’re treading new ground with green ghosts, remember Slimer? But there will be no Ghostbusting…oh, there IS Ghostbusting, by a few Thai Buddhist priests, but they are the ones who get busted instead! Bustin’ doesn’t make them feel good, I tell you what.

For 73 minutes of generic ghost gunk, the film is okay. But it is the type of film you finish, go “Oooooookay…”, and then immediately start another film and never think about it again. Unless you write reviews on the internet, in which case you spend 30 minutes writing up a review and then never think about it again. You see what I go through for TarsTarkas.NET?

Pring (Koontira Sattabongkot) – Pring is a rich girl who is smitten with her family’s servent Thai, but dad gets angry, which goes bad when she shows up dead. It’s murder, and the rapey murderer Sorn soon gets revenged on.
Thai (Ninnart Sinchai) – Thai is a servant of a rich family that gets fired because their daughter has the hots for him. Wouldn’t you know, but soon she’s dead and back in green ghost form, bugging Thai. Thai can’t catch a break. Actor Ninnart Sinchai was also in the Thai horror flick Immortal Enemy
Sorn (???) – Sorn is a spoiled jerk who always gets his way. And if you stand in his way, he’ll rape you dead!
Cha-em (???) – Cha-em is the other girl in the film that somehow is obsessed with Thai, even though her character is useless.


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Antoo Fighter (Review)

Antoo Fighter


2008SinemaMalasysia Link
Directed by Azizi Chunk


What we got here is sort of Malaysian Ghostbusters, but they use stick weapons instead of proton packs. Instead of busting ghosts we’re fighting monsters and demons. The mood is humorous, not taken too seriously, sort of like the actual Ghostbusters. With people running around in wacky costumes fighting monsters, the film can’t not be entertaining, double negative or not. Good fun. What other film let’s you see a giant Monsters Inc. character battle a giant robot? Take that, Iron Man!

Poh Jee (Radhi) – Poh Jee is our hero who dreams of a life greater than his pest extermination business. When he finds out his grandfather is a former demon fighter and is killed, Poh Jee can finally become the hero he has always wished to be. Radhi is a musician and actor
Drakulat Van Listerooy (Awie) – Drakulat is a servent of Lord Sharon, father of Satan, and longs to bring his master into our realm. Drakulat has been trying to do so for decades. Is constantly defeated by demon fighters. Awie is an actor and singer whose full name is Ahmad Azhar Bin othman.
Atuk/Pak Din (Harun Salim Bachik) – Atuk/Pak Din is Poh Jee’s grandfather and the last of the demon fighters (because Gultur just quit.) He is killed when Drakulat is freed, and passes on his tools to his grandson.
Lara Lenjan (Scha) – Lara drives a taxi, and is luckily there when Poh Jee needs a vehicle to chase after his grandfather. It also turns out she is one of the chosen to fight demons. A tough girl who is almost always wearing a baseball cap. Scha’s full name is Sharifah Nor Azean Bt Syed Mahadzir. Imagine that on a marquee! She is a hostess, model, and actress who also speaks English. Check out her gallery.
Opie (Nasrizal Ngasri) – A tire thief who turns out to be one of the chosen to become the next generation of demon fighters. Opie has an abrasive personality, but as Poh Jee is also loud, he fits right into the group. Nasrizal Ngasri is an actor, and that is the entirety of the information about him in English online.
Rambo (Bront Palarae) – Rambo is the effeminate member of the group who gets the least amount of characterization. So I can’t really give you an idea as to what Rambo is, besides named after an American movie franchise. Bront Palarae is an actor, director, and writer.
Tasya (???) – Tasya is the other female member of the group, who is dressed up like a stereotypical conservative female bookworm. Thus Opie immediately takes a liking to her. She is the one to turn to when you need someone who has read the instructions manual for a device.


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Lizard Woman (Review)

Lizard Woman

aka Tuk Kae Phii

2004
Directed by Manop Udomdej

Lizard Woman is from Thailand, and in Thailand and other parts of southeast Asia there are geckos everywhere. Geckos permeate the culture, they are like lizard cockroaches and poop all over. The big city is supposed to be above having geckos around, which is indicative of the countryside and the less modern people who live there. Yes, class struggles in Thailand, how interesting. Regardless, gecko women is a common horror meme, there are probably a lot of ancient tales about them related to the snake-women phenomenon that is all over Asia. I know of one other Gecko horror movie (called Gecko, believe it or not! And I have it on vcd…) and have seen enough covers of Thai films to know there are probably others.

Kwanpilin (Rungrawee Barijindakul) – A writer who has recently gained fame due to her horror novels, particularly one centered on evil lizard spirits. The same types of spirits who will now possess her! The actress is credited as Rungraree Barijindakul thanks to the multiple ways to translate Thai into English.
Vitool (Pete Thongchua) – Psychiatrist boyfriend of Kwanpilin who spends most of the film not believing his girlfriend is possessed. You can’t spell Vitool without “tool”. He is particularly lame, and I took great joy in his death.
Reporter (Chatthapong Pantanaunkul) – Photographer who catches glimpses of the geckos in his photographs, prompting him to investigate further. He is a totally extra character, so of course he dies.
Brother of the Maid (???) – Brother (I am guessing, he might be the boyfriend but they didn’t seem that close) of Kwanpilin’s maid Aunt Sai, he joins Reporter in the search for the truth of the gecko women upon his sisters death. He has a big heart, and if you don’t believe me Kwanpilin has ripped it out for all to see!
Gecko People (various) – A good chunk of the film is a side story about people who go caving and then get lost in the woods, and get all geckoed the frak up. I didn’t pay much attention at first because it looks like Kwanpilin was writing this as a story within a story, but it kept going. Gecko people are like a weird version of the J-Horror ghost girls.


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Gehara: The Dark and Long Hair Monster (Review)

Gehara: The Dark and Long Hair Monster

aka Chohatsu Daikaiju Gehara aka Long-Haired Giant Monster: Gehara

2009
Directed by Kiyotaki Taguchi

Gehara is a made for TV short that is the brainchild of cult entertainer Jun Miura, who wrote the screenplay. Special effects guru Shinji Higuchi supervised production on the short film, and it was directed by Kiyotaka Taguchi (who also did the independent kaiju film G.) It aired on Japan’s NHK network in February 24th, 2009. It hit the internet thanks to a Japanese YouTube-like site, and thus TarsTarkas.NET was able to watch it.

Hideo Akihara (Ken Osawa) – Hideo Akihara is a slacker who finds new purpose in life investigating the new monster Gehara. Ken Osawa was in Samurai Fiction
Momoko Akihara (Mina Fujii) – Hideo’s sister who doesn’t have much to do, though it looks like she would have a bigger role in the sequel.
Tsuruko Akihara (Mitsuko Oka) – Matriarch of the Akihara clan and also doesn’t do much doing to the short nature of the film.
Professor Mikami (Shiro Sano) – Professor who explains technical details of the monster attack to Hideo and others. Shiro Sano was also in kaiju films Godzilla 2000, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, and Godzilla Final Wars)
Gehara (???) – Gehara is very hairy. He is not only a giant monster, but a long haired ghost, thus killing two birds with one stone. Evolution may have killed its monster with Head & Shoulders, but here it would only prevent Gehara from getting dandruff!


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The Grudge 3 going DTV

No movie release for the latest crappy sequel to a crappy Japanese horror film with ghost girls with black hair. That genre is more played out than PG-13 torture porn. I can’t wait for this to get on DVD so I can go about ignoring its existence.

via moviehole (because bloody-disgusting has a terrible search function!)

The second sequel to the Sarah Michelle Gellar-starring remake of a superior Asian horror film is shooting in – of course – Bulgaria under the direction of Toby Wilkins says Bloody Disgusting. Matthew Knight, who played Jake in “The Grudge 2” (which one was he? Did he appear before I left the theater?), will be back for this next installment.

In the film, a young Japanese woman holds the secret to ending the curse of the Grudge. She travels to the haunted Chicago apartment building where she encounters a family battling to survive. Together they confront the ghost of Kayako to save their souls from their impending tragic fate.

Grudge 3

Dead Friend (Review)

Dead Friend

aka The Ghost aka Ryeong

2004
Starring
Kim Ha-neul as Min Ji-won
Nam Sang-mi as Su-in
Bin as Eun-seo
Shin Yi as Shin Mi-kyung

Asian horror grows ever popular, and it’s coming from all fronts, Japan, China, and South Korea (with some Thai thrown in for good measure.) The movies Ringu and Ju-on have helped forefront and onslaught of ghost films, many of them featuring creepy schoolgirls with long hair covering their face. I bring that up because you wouldn’t guess what the ghost here looks like….yep, gave it away. So what sets this film apart from the rest of the clones? What? Kim Ha-neul from Too Beautiful to Lie! Nam Sang-mi from Spygirl and Too Beautiful to Lie! Shin Yi from Sex is Zero! It’s a convention-fest-o-rama of cute Korean girls who’ve showed up here before! That’s almost enough to forgive the ghost rehash.
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