Hong Kong Horror DVDs

[Psychocandy]

I just ordered the following DVDs from DVDShelf in Hong Kong.

Uzumaki
Kairo (Pulse)
Battle Royale
Ichi The Killer
Session 9
The Nameless
The Eye
St John's Wort
From Beyond
Vidocq

The above ten DVDs cost me £52.00 ($82.00). That is what I call a fucking bargain.

My advice is check out www.dvdshelf.com. (http://www.dvdshelf.com.) I started ordering DVDs from Hong Kong about a year ago and I haven't looked back.

Be careful that your DVD player can play R3 discs though. Some of the movies are R0 but most seem to be R3.

I can't believe i'm finally going to see all of the above movies. I'll be posting plenty of reviews when they arrive but for now can I ask if anyone has seen any of the above and can you comment on how good they are. I know Battle Royale and From Beyond having already seen them both. What about the rest? I think many of them will be unfamiliar to most schmoes.

[FeydRautha]

I've seen a few of the ones you listed, but would like to add one of my personal faves: "A Chinese Ghost Story".

Made in mainland China, but released through a Hong Kong production company for some reason. Available on video or DVD, and well worth a look.

(PS: Psycho, if you got all those films for just 52 quid, that was indeed a bargain. Count yourself lucky.)

[Psychocandy]

I don't usually bump my own posts but i'm making an exception here. I was really hoping that some schmoes would have seen some of these movies and could have given me some spoiler free ratings for them. I'm just trying to increase my anticipation. I'm pretty aware of how good Session 9 apparently is and i've seen Battle Royale and From Beyond. What about the others though. Uzumaki, Kairo, Ichi The Killer, The Nameless, The Eye, St John's Wort and Vidocq are all movies I know very little about and since I respect the opinions of most of the schmoes here I was hoping for some feedback.

[Psychocandy]

Bumpity fucking bump...

[izombie]

Uzumaki and Kairo are both friggin awesome!!!

The Nameless is good as well as Battle Royale.

I have not seen, Ichi, The Eye, St John's, or Vidocq. Let us know how they are!

[rtatick]

Is it really worth paying all that shipping?

[Psychocandy]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by rtatick:
Is it really worth paying all that shipping?</font>

Um...all what shipping? It cost me £50.00 ($82.00) for everything. That includes paying for a courier service to get the discs from Hong Kong to the UK. I ordered them less than a week ago and they are due to arrive tomorrow or Saturday. Pretty good deal if you ask me.

[Psychocandy]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by izombie:
Uzumaki and Kairo are both friggin awesome!!!

The Nameless is good as well as Battle Royale.

I have not seen, Ichi, The Eye, St John's, or Vidocq. Let us know how they are!</font>

Cheers Izombie. I've been looking forward to both Uzumaki and Kairo for a while now. The cover of Kairo is enough to give me the creeps so i'm hoping the movie itself is gonna be a real shivers up the spine kinda deal.

Battle Royale I saw in the cinema when it was on general release in the UK. Stunning movie. A guy actually got up and walked out during the scene where Kitano kills the girl with the throwing knife then activates one of the kids neck bands. I almost didn't notice him leave because my eyes were glued to the screen and a voice in my head was repeating over and over "cool...cool...fucking cool...instant classic" with a big shit eating grin on my face.

I saw From Beyond many years ago and am prayin' that it don't screw with the fond memories I have. I watched it a lot back then but have since learned that the UK release was cut. The Hong Kong DVD is totally uncut so i'm eager to see what was missing.

Being a fan of Ramsay Campbell's fiction (although I actually haven't read The Nameless) i'm looking forward to The Nameless. I've heard it's spooky as hell and i've been hyped about it for a while...a result of all the good horror that seems to be coming out of Europe these days (I saw Possessed starring Udo Kier a couple of weeks ago on channel 4 in the UK...great movie).

The Eye is by a hot up and coming directorial team consisting of two brothers...Danny and Oxide Pang. I'm gonna hire their recent action movie hit Bangkok Dangerous tomorrow night (supposedly a fusion of prime John Woo and the more artistic style of moviemaking utilised by the very talented Wong Kar-Wai...any of you schmoes seen any of his films?). The Eye is about a woman who is going blind and gets a cornea transplant. After she recoves she starts having disturbing visions that are in some way related to who the original owner of the cornea was. It's supposed to be scary as hell and visually stunning so it'll do me just fine. Has been favourably compared with Ring.

Ichi The Killer has had nearly equal amounts of praise and criticism. It's directed by Takashi Miike who also brought us the very wonderful Audition and the incredibly strange Dead or Alive (also wonderful btw). Most of the critcism leveled at the movie seems to have been directed at the level of violence on show. It's a blood and guts festival from start to finish apparently. The main dude in the movie has apprently mutilated his face by slicing from the edges of his mouth up into his cheeks. He holds these wounds together with metal hooks which he removes when he wants to particularly intimidate any adversary. He also has concealed blades in his shoes and during one fight he slices someone in half...vertically. I've been hyped for this movie for a while now.

St John's Wort is supposed to be like an asian version of The Blair Witch project but it was shot digitally and has had the image messed around with to the extent that it now resembles some kind of crazed video game. It got good reviews and was a bit of an impulse buy.


Vidocq is a mystery to me. I read something about it a while ago and could remember that something about it interested me. Another impulse buy.

Session 9 I have on purpose avoided reading about because I don't want it spoiled for me. I'm a big Peter Mullen fan so I was always gonna see it.

As you can all see I already know a bit about these movies. I was just interested in any schmoe opinions.

Thanks again Izombie. I'll let you know what the rest of the movies are like.


[This message has been edited by Psychocandy (edited 08-01-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Psychocandy (edited 08-01-2002).]

[Psychocandy]

Izombie...

If you liked Kairo, Uzumaki and Ring you have to see The Eye...

It is absolutely terrifying at times. It lifts certain elements from The Sixth Sense but has an atmosphere all it's own and in my opinion is the equal of the movie from which it drew inspiration. There are two scenes that stand out as two of the most downright scary moments i've come across in any horror movie of recent times. Excellent.

SPOILERS (Izombie...read on).....
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One last thing. What was your take on Kairo? I thoroughly enjoyed the movie but at the end I wasn't entirely certain if I understood it all. There seemed to be many metophorical elements to the movie. The movie is also known as Pulse. Why? It was damn strange and very unsettling and I loved the apocalyptic ending but i'm a little pissed that I didn't entirely understand it. One other thing. How the hell did they do that scene where the woman throws herself off the top of the factory tower? It was done in one take and i'll be damned if I can see the edit.

[Kim_EZ]

http://yesasia.com is much better and "local". But they also have offices in Asia. They're really cheap and nice and have good selections, plus S&H is cheap! That's where I get my foreign horror.

I ordered The Nameless and Tales of the Unusual last week and they'll be coming in soon. The Nameless is a Spanish flick that was supposed to debut here in America, but got pushed back I guess.

Battle Royale is a great movie. Nothing more, nothing less. Emotional. The violence isn't a huge part of it IMO.

The Eye is a great HK horror movie that's cut from the vein of the Sixth Sense, but with more explanation.

I've heard of St. John's Wort and it got mixed reviews - cheaply-looking, or great atmospheric horror.

The HK DVD of Ichi The Killer was edited. Twenty minutes of footage was taken out.

My friend has Uzumaki, but I never saw it. Everyone loves it though. Kairo gets mixed reviews, too. There's a remake coming out in the US.

[This message has been edited by Kim_EZ (edited 08-10-2002).]

[Psychocandy]

Kim_EZ...

With regards to The Nameless. You are in for a treat. It is one of the best horror movies i've seen in a long time. It's almost unbearably bleak and contains a goodly number of very unnerving moments. It's also directed with mucho style and the acting is superb right across the board. I was left thinking about the movie and the implications of the ending for quite some time after the credits finished rolling. Let me know what you think when you see it. I'm now dying to see the next movie from the same director. It's called Darkness and stars Anna Paquin. The plot outline as per IMDB is as follows,

"A teenage girl moves into a remote countryside house with her family, only to discover that their gloomy new home has a horrifying past that threatens to destroy the family."

Sounds interesting and in light of the excellence that was on display throughout The Nameless, Darkness is now one of my most anticipated releases of the year.

[thirdeye]

I've only saw the "The nameless".
I tought it was great, it has some creppy moments. The acting is amazing.

By the way the ending will make you think for hours.

[Kim_EZ]

Hmm thanks. I had expectations for this movie. Hopefully I'm not disappointed.

[izombie]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Psychocandy:
Izombie...

If you liked Kairo, Uzumaki and Ring you have to see The Eye...

.</font>

Yeah I tried renting The Eye and Ichi but they were both out, so I rented Devil's Backbone (great movie).

[Psychocandy]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by izombie:
Yeah I tried renting The Eye and Ichi but they were both out, so I rented Devil's Backbone (great movie).

</font>

Another recent fave of mine. It's my joint favorite Del Toro movie (alonside Cronos). Seek out Cronos if you haven't seen it. It's violent, well acted, visually striking and very touching. It succeeds on almost every level. It even has a rich seam of black humour running through it (most of which comes courtesy of Ron Perlman's character). Excellent.

I feel like i'm beating this whole point into the ground but lately good foreign horror movies far outnumber good American horror movies. The only really good American horror movie i've seen recently is Session 9 (admittedly it was very good). Europe, Korea and Hong Kong horror movie directors just seem to have their finger on the pulse when it comes to understanding how to scare viewers.

[This message has been edited by Psychocandy (edited 08-13-2002).]

[Cronos]

Originally posted by Psychocandy
Another recent fave of mine. It's my joint favorite Del Toro movie (alonside Cronos). Seek out Cronos if you haven't seen it. It's violent, well acted, visually striking and very touching. It succeeds on almost every level. It even has a rich seam of black humour running through it. Excellent.

I'll second that, possibly my 3rd favourite vampire flick and one of Del Toro's best

[Donnie Darko]

Psychocandy,

At those prices I'm willing to bet that they're copies. I have many of those movies as well, and they cost me a about $10 more each. I just question how the company could be getting them and turning them around at such a low price. Let me know what you think and if they are real/copied (blue discs are a giveaway)

[Fettdog]

I've ordered from here as well (just got battle Royale htis week - £5.65 including postage!). These are not copies, they're definitely the real deal, although how they can charge so little for them I have no idea, buy hey, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, eh?

I've recently seen Session 9 Psychocandy, and it's great. It's a real slow burner with tons of atmosphere - just the location itself is a creepy proposition, never mind the actual plot of the film. Think Kubrick's 'The Shining' and you'll get an idea of the atmosphere - it's also one of those films where you have to pay attention, i.e. not for your average multiplex patron! :)

I'll be ordering some more movies from here soon (The Eye definitely, and on your recommendation I'll give The Nameless and Darkness a go, and let's face it, at these prices it'd be rude not to!) - I'll let you know what I think!

[izombie]

Going to move this thread into the Foreign Horror Forum