I think it's pretty firmly established that I dig Asian horror. It's got a great, moody feel, and they tend to spend more time on characters than their American counterparts. It's nice CARING when someone gets murdered by the crazy ghost or killer or whatnot.
The Art of the Devil series is the first Vietnamese horror that I've seen, and it was interesting. I'd describe it as a marriage of traditional Asian horror flicks and Saw - so, obviously, I was sold right away. I watched the trilogy out of order. I saw the second (and strongest) film first, then watched the first (which is really unrelated to the other two except that it deals with Cambodian black magic as the evil too), and then the third (which, confusingly, is labeled as 2 in the title sequence and is actually a prequel to the second film).
The second film is probably the most interesting in terms of story, twists, and plot. That isn't to say that it doesn't have its odd moments, but overall it's a strong horror flick that's creepy and intriguing. The third film is the most gory and violent (*I* even had to look away sometimes), and while it's very interesting, I ended up finding myself confused as to how the timeline of it works with the second film. I may have to give them another viewing to piece it together. The first movie is fine. It's interesting enough, has some good creepy moments, but it captivated me a bit less than the other two.
In the market for some unusual Asian horror? This is a great place to start - though I'll caution again that it has a heavy dose of Saw or Hostel-style gore along with the creepy black magic, so if that isn't your thing, buyer beware.
No comments:
Post a Comment