Coining the new term 'action noir' in Korea, director Kim Ji-woon follows up his extraordinary features A Quiet Family and A Tale Of Two Sisters with this blackly comic thriller. Lee Byeong-heon stars as sartorially elegant Sun-woo, a unique character with a curious lifestyle - he's not only the proprietor of a hotel bar but also the right-hand man to the powerful gang leader, Mr Kang. When Kang suspects that his beautiful young mistress Hee-soo might be messing around with another man, he enlis
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A TALE OF TWO SISTERS (2003)
Certification15 Our Rating
Two sisters, Su-mi and Su-yeon, return from a stay in a psychiatric hospital to the home they share with their father and wicked stepmother. Disturbing and inexplicable events soon begin to occur, strange noises, hallucinations, disembodied footsteps on the stairs all combine to stretch tensions within this already volatile family unit to breaking point. Are these phenomena a product of the sisters' disturbed minds, is it their stepmother cruelly tormenting them or could there be something more
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AUDITION (2000)
Certification18 Our Rating
A middle-aged widower enters a relationship with a beautiful, docile, doll-like younger girl. The film starts slowly, just vague hints to leave you a little uneasy, but you are like a fish on a hook and you will be landed as this women's revenge film, perhaps the nastiest most disturbing horror ever made, will leave unforgettable images etched in your mind forever.
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DEAD OR ALIVE FINAL (2002)
Certification15 Our Rating
The third of the 'Dead or Alive' trilogy is set in a post-apocalyptic Yokohama where the population is kept under rigid control by a lunatic gay mayor. Android Show Aikawa is a mellowed out drifter who has hooked up with a gang of rebels who kidnap hardboiled cop Takeuchi's son, setting the wheels in motion for a blood drenched rumble. Lots of nods to Bladerunner, THX-1138, The Matrix, The Terminator and other sci-fi classics in this blisteringly paced and brutal thriller from the always enterta
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FREEZER (2001)
Certification18 Our Rating
A young woman is brutally raped by three men. Five years later she has rebuilt her life and is living in Tokyo with a loving partner and a good job. When one of the rapists reappears with video evidence of their assault and begins to blackmail her, she becomes consumed with fury and decides to exact a terrible revenge, but even after retribution, she finds the nightmare refuses to die. The freezer is a grizzly affair, stylish, shocking and painful.
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LADY VENGEANCE (2005)
Certification18 Our Rating
Intense and inventive, the final part of Park Chan-Wook's loosely-linked trilogy on the subject of revenge follows the progress of beautiful, impassive Lee Geum-ja (Lee Young-Ae) after she's released from prison having served 13 years for the kidnap and murder of a young boy. The target of Lee's meticulous, ruthless, not to say bizarre retribution is kindergarden teacher Mr Baek (Choi Min-Sik), a man whose ordered world is about to take a hideous turn for the worse. Once again Chan-Wook has crea
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MPD-PSYCHO (2000)
Certification18 Our Rating
Let's all thank the Lord that Takashi Miike found work as a film director - cuz none of us would want a mind this twisted loose on the streets. MPD-Psycho (Multiple-Personality-Detective) are two episodes from the Manga by Otsuka Eiji and Tajima Sho-u that follow the fortunes of Amamiya (or is it Kobayshi?), a police detective with multiple personality syndrome. Missing wives, mysterious cults and some very sick individuals combine to make these films two of the most disturbing, surreal and fant
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MPD-PSYCHO SERIES 1 PARTS 3 AND 4 (2000)
Certification18 Our Rating
More weird and truly wonderful madness from Takashi Miike and his Multiple Personality Detective. In episodes 3 and 4 we learn a little bit more about Nishizono, the arch criminal who can transfer his soul/self into others with the slightest touch, the sinister cult of Lucy Monostone and the growing number of genetically altered bar-coders, and what all this has to do with Amamiya/Kobyashi, the troubled detective of the title . That said MPD-Psycho still remains elusive and resistive to explanat
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MPD-PSYCHO SERIES 1 PARTS 5 AND 6 (2000)
Certification18 Our Rating
At last all is revealed, although you'll probably still be none the wiser. Miike Takashi's live action Manga comes to a close with the mulitple-personality-detective finally getting to grips with Nishizono and the cult of Lucy Monostone. Weird, wonderful and utterly incomprehensible - genius!
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NATURAL CITY (2003)
Certification15 Our Rating
A sub-Bladerunner actioner, beautifully shot and technically crafted with some quality fight scenes, but too many longeurs, an unfocused plot and rather shallow characters. Having said which, a number of sci-fi buffs have really enjoyed this story of functionalised humans struggling to get in touch with their emotions in the bleak future world that Ridley Scott created in aforementioned movie. An obvious labour of love.
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