The Asian horror cinema is by far has some of the best filmmaking out in the industry today, and three of the masters of this art give their all in this anthology of tales. Hong Kong's Fruit Chan, Korea's Chan-wook Parks and Japan's Takashi Miike spin some twisted tales of the imagination that take you from the brink of insanity to the edge of terror. The subjects that are examined are pretty basic, jealously, revenge, obsession, but with the twists and turns that these directors take every emotion along the way gets striped bare. Three stories are presented for your viewing pleasure, "Dumplings" - an aging actress starts an unnatural diet to recapture her youth. "Cut" - a movie extra with a grudge against a director takes revenge. "Box" - sibling rivalry and jealousy are pushed to the extreme. Of the three stories, the first one, Dumplings is by far the creepiest and the most disturbing. There are no over the top special effects here, but what is used strikes a cord with the audience and leaves you with images that you wont soon forget. The symbolism that is layered throughout the stories is a little overpowering but everything that is shown is meaningful and important to the story.
Anyone who is not familiar with these directors should seen this movie, it gives you a nice sampling of their work, and may open the door to some artwork that you may not have seen before. I've watched some of the Asian horror films over the past year or so, and I'm always amazed at how the directors and writers can take a nice setting, add an every day issue, then turn the whole thing on its ear and give us some outstanding filmmaking. This movie isn't an over the top horror movie, but it is a nice introduction into one of the best movie genres on the market today.
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