My J-horror experience(s)

Lately, in my incredible amount of spare time, I’ve been watching a lot of what some might call J-horror films, J standing for Japan(ese). I will list all of those that will come to my head right now, and are the most dominant, and have stuck with me after multiple viewings (or just one.)

In no particular order

1. Shutter (2004, Thailand)

2. Kairo (2001, Japan)

3. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003, South Korea)

4. Battle Royale (2000, Japan)

5. Audition (1999, South Korea/Japan)

…more to come as they pop into my head, warm recommendations for all of the above, enjoy!

Peace, and Happiness.

 

Let’s get Jiggy — And See, Saw.

Well, to get this immediately out of the way, the title pun sucked, but that’s the way it will stay, and that’s final.

Saw (Not to be confused with Texas Chainsaw Massacre)

I saw the first Saw movie about a week ago, and I’ve been watching ‘em like a mini-series ever since. I’ve just finished watching the fourth episode in this pretty entertaining series of films. Obviously the first thing that comes to mind after watching the first Saw, is that the twists to come in any sequel; twisty as they are, will have much less of an effect.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, first thing’s first. Reasons to see, or not see, a Saw sequel. In the second Saw movie, James Wan steps down, to be replaced by Darren Lynn Bousman, in the director role. (holy hell that’s an annoying name to remember)

Leigh Whannell (holy moses, what’s next, supercalifragilistic expialidocious!?) writes some of the screenplay, but the movie is not the same. I’d have to say however, that Bousman has done a terrific job making these sequels anything less than a complete train wreck, as we ALL expected them to be. I’ve watched, in the last 6 months or so, over 50 horror movies, as I’m getting it all together and getting sucked into being a fan of the genre in the process.

We’ve all heard of, some of us might have even seen, the latest american remake trend i.e The Grudge, Ring, Shutter, and more…I personally gave only the american The Ring a chance, and wasn’t TOO disappointed, but I’m looking for originality, and that’s why the remakes don’t interest me, and have been making me feel like there’s no point in watching any more crap Hollywood decides to spit out and tag as “Horror.”

Saw comes in and gently pats my back, kind of saying…”It’s O.K, we’re not ALL brain dead — YET.” I don’t know anything about the Fifth, Saw V, but I will read up, and wait.

In the mean-time, I strongly recommend the first, watch it and see if the second churns out the momentum to carry you over to the fourth, I enjoyed them.

Peace, and Happiness.

 

Jeff Dun-ham!

Yesterday I picked up a DVD recommended to me by a friend, it’s called Spark of Insanity, by Jeff Dunham. In one word, itdazzledme. Dunham isn’t very funny doing old-school stand-up, but his ventriloquist disguise brings out amazing characters, awesome jokes, more puns than I usually like, but it’s worth it. It’s been a long time since I’ve watched a comedy show that actually made me laugh. Spark of Insanity made me laugh. I’ve watched it about 4 times now, and my laugh-o-meter is going down at a very slow rate.

The irony about this specific show is that Achmed the Terrorist — one of Dunham’s puppet characters, has had his “act” watched 52 million times on YouTube — a site that I visit quite often, although I usually know what I’m coming for so I type my search in pretty quick and don’t really pay attention to anything else.

I strongly recommend both Spark of Insanity and Arguing With Myself, Dunham seems to be on a roll.

Peace, and Happiness…”I KILL YOU!” (I had to.)