Archive for April, 2010
Hehehehe!!! Yep…. I can just hear Carolyn now…. “Miyuki? Where in heck did you manage to find another killer pig movie?”
Surprisingly…. for an American made horror film that’s nearly 2 years old, your Favorite Catgirl only managed to run across this on on it’s Region 2 UK DVD release just a week or so ago. I’ve been unable to confirm it was even ever released here in the good ol’ US of A… but it’s certainly found it’s way everywhere else lately, from Germany, the UK, and even in a Region 3 release in Thailand.
Our synopsis goes like this: “When rugged country boy John takes his city raised friends on a weekend trip back to his deceased uncle’s remote ranch to hunt wild pigs, it seems like a typical “guys getaway with guns” – despite the presence of John’s sexy girlfriend Brooks. But as John and his crew trek deeper into the marijuana filled hills of Northern California, they find a wilderness laced with rednecks, lots of high powered weaponry, and a killer cult of machete toting hippie beauties, only to learn the awful truth about his late uncle’s death and the truth behind the local legend of “The Ripper” — a murderous 3000 pound man-eating wild boar!”
Now Neko’s seen killer Aussie piggies….. killer Korean pork on a rampage….. so am I ready for some good ol’ American “Pig-foot” action? More importantly…. is Carolyn? (Hehehehe!! At least this one is in English….)
Since all you gentle visitors here at the Litterbox probably are “Killer Pig movie” fans too, you best not waste any more time them. Let’s “Read On”, shall we?
My ever vigilant quest for subtitles has finally rewarded this lil’ Catgirl with some nice fansubs for the recent Thai Horror omnibus “Haunted Universities” after what seemed like… well… forever. One quick order to Thailand later, and the official Thai release is mine for my viewing pleasure…. Yay!!
It’s synopsis reads like follows: “Remember your university days, when you traded scary urban legends with your friends? Prepare to see some of those legends brought to life in the Thai horror anthology Haunted Universities. In the tradition of the hit “Phobia” franchise, young directing team Bunjong Sinthanamongkolkul and Suthiporn Tubtim frame four loosely connected school-related horror stories around a young volunteer paramedic with a special gift.
In “The Toilet”, a group of bad guys goes to a school to retrieve drugs from a young student’s locker. However, they didn’t expect the terror waiting for them in the school’s haunted fifth-floor bathroom.
A bad case of hazing sends a young girl into “The Elevator”, where she attracts the attention of wronged spirits. Worst yet, the young girl’s grandfather was the one who wronged them in the first place.
The darkly comedic segment “The Morgue” tells the story of a cowardly medical student assigned to look over the corpse in a hospital. The wilder his overactive imagination runs, the more paranoid he grows.
The directors save the best for last with “The Stairway”, about two girls who participate in a web-cam chat that ends with a creepy man vowing to kill them both. What they don’t know is how far the man will go to keep his promise.”
Neko certainly liked “Phobia”…. and I’m thinking it’s a pretty good bet I’ll be enjoying this one just as much. Ghosts…. creepy haunted Asian schoolkids…. and knowing Thailand, some particularly nasty, gory horror the way only they seem to do it these days. It’s popcorn crunching time this evening for me…. and a new review for all of you, so hang in there, Gentle Visitors and “Read On”!!
Spring has returned and brought with it those soft, warm breezes that carry with them the promise of new flowers and an explosion of green as all the trees bud out and we move towards another warm summer.
I’m spending a lazy afternoon at home today working on the computer…. my window open, Goober snoozing in the sunshine on my windowsill, and the warm air tickling the side of my face whispering “Miyuki!!…. Come outside and play!! You know you wanna….”
And goodness knows…. I do so wanna play….. Carolyn is out of town, away for a seminar for the college to Chicago and has been since Monday. She wanted me to go along, but the restaurant was far too busy and I had to be there Monday and Tuesday to do my Kitchen Manager duties….. but I sooo wanted to play hooky and go away with her.
But… in my “cat-like” way, having some private “Me Time” hasn’t been all that bad either, and it’s given me the chance to catch up on quite a few things around the ol’ apartment and here at the Litterbox.
So what the heck is up with lil’ ol’ me these days? Guess it’s time for another “Diary” entry to bring you all up to speed…..
Another day off from work, and another review for you all!! This time, it’s yet one more of the Hindi horror films that showed up in your Favorite Catgirl’s mailbox last week, the Hindi ghost story “remake” of the Thai classic “Shutter”…. “Click”.
Our synopsis sounds awfully familiar…. and goes sorta like this: “Avi (Shreyas Talpade) while dating a model Sonia (Sada) is a successful photographer. They hit a girl while driving back from a party and decide to run. A ghostly picture starts appearing in all of Avi’s photographs after this incident. Three of Avi’s friends are killed one by one and both Sonia is convinced it is the girl’s ghost after them.”
This one is another of the many “uncredited”… almost direct scene for scene remakes done by the Hindi film industry. Practically any successful movie done anywhere eventually gets the “Bollywood” treatment to make the story more palatable for their domestic audience. So then? How close will the Hindi film copy the Thai one? Will it manage to equal the chills while weaving in those peculiarly goofy “Bollywood” elements we’ve all come to know …and sometimes fear more than the ghosts themselves? Well Neko’s never been one to let a little thing like blatant plot rip-off get between me and a movie, especially a ghost story, so I guess I’ll find out.
You wanna know more, you say? Then all you gotta do is “Read On”!!
Ooooohh! Another movie with more cute, tough girls doing Martial Arts!!…. Is Neko just a wee bit jealous of all the crazy martial art skills on display? Yeah…. but it also makes me wanna watch too! So without further adieu, lets all take a look at the new Japanese Martial Art film “High-Kick Girl!”
Its synopsis? Here we go: “A young high-school girl named Kei Tsuchida (Rina Takeda) joins a karate dojo. Born with extraordinary athletic ability, she quickly outshines her classmates. Her status in the dojo rises quickly as her abilities and strength helps her to even defeat grown men. Despite all her accomplishments, the dojo master Matsumura does not award her the coveted “Blackbelt”. It is clear to him that Kei always plays to win and only cares about combat. Matsumura tries to teach Kei that Karate is about defense more than just fighting and that “the real strength is in the kata”. Kei grows impatient. She feels that she possesses the skills and deserves her blackbelt. Kei will do whatever she has to do to get it, including besting all the best karate fighters in the area in combat.
Having finally exhausted her available opponents, she foolishly decides to join a rival fighting group called the Destroyers at the advice of her friend. Kei becomes deeply involved with Destroyers until one day she discovers the true purpose of their leader. Unknown to her, he is secretly planning a revenge attack on her master Matsumura for an old grievance. Kei is shocked and decides to warn her master. But, it is too late. The Destroyers elite fighters kidnap Kei and are on their way to destroy Matsumura. Matsumura, who has never fought in front of Kei, now must reveal his true power in order to save her. At last, the ultimate fight begins…”
Lots of karate….. lots of bone-crushing hand to hand fighting, old school style, and a pretty girl who can hold her own with the guys. I haven’t looked forward to a Japanese karate movie like this since the old “Sister Street Fighter” with the great Sue Shiomi. Could this one possibly be that much fun? We’ll certainly find out as its time to “Read On”!!
In honor of BIFFF, (the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival), this time out I’m having a look at a Norwegian horror film on the festival program. Presented for your reading pleasure we have “Skjult” aka “Hidden”, fresh to your Favorite Catgirl Movie Fanatic by way of it’s recent Region 1 DVD release.
Our synopsis goes: “Following a bizarre accident on a desert road and an odd encounter with another boy about the same age, KK (Kristoffer Joner) returns to his hometown after a long period of estrangement. It’s a cozy yet slightly spooky place, a rural locale with a massive waterfall, surrounded by a daunting forest, and filled with unpleasant memories: the memory of the abusive mother who practically drove KK away, and who is now mercifully dead. In her will, she left KK a home in the heart of the woods; entering the house and coming face-to-face with disturbing memories conjures up torrents of evil that lurk inside of KK – malice that he suppressed for years but that now manifests itself with devastating force.”
Hmmmmm? So what the heck is going on in this one, anyway? Ghosts? Crazy maniac killer on the loose? A traumatized boy grown into psychotic manhood? I don’t know exactly what this one is all about, but I guess well all find out, won’t we? Let’s “Read On” and see…..
Another review, and it’s off to exotic India again for another curry flavored Bollywood horror goodie. This time out your Favorite Catgirl Movie Fanatic, has another Indian DVD import titled “Rokkk” ready to send those chills down my lil’ spine.
The synopsis? Well it goes like this: “Anushka (Tanushree Dutta) marries a widower Ravi (Sachin Khedekar) against her mother’s wishes. Just when the duo is about celebrate a year of their married life in a new house in Goa, the nightmare begins. It turns out the house is haunted and the evildoer behind inexplicable events is no older than a little girl. Haunted by the girl’s ghost, Anushka approaches a healer who tells her that the house is cursed and there is a definite link to Ravi’s dead wife. Things then take a turn when Ravi is murdered and the blame falls squarely on Anushka who’s then sent to a mental asylum to gain her sanity back. But the ghost follows her there. Anushka just about manages to flee.
Enter Anushka’s sister Ahaana (Udita Goswami) who, with the help of a police inspector (Shaad Randhawa) tries to unearth the mystery behind the haunted house and save her sister, and later on herself, from the curse of the evil spirit.”
Certainly sounds like a ghost story to this lil’ Catgirl, and you all know how Neko just dotes on her silly ghost stories….. The price is nice, and it’s all subtitled in English and ready to go. Naturally I just had to grab a copy for my viewing pleasure. Will I like it as much as “Phoonk”? Guess I’ll find out!
So can you, o’ Gentle Reader… as always here at the Litterbox, you have only to “Read On” to get all the details for yourself!!
Ahhh love…… You all know your Favorite Catgirl has a soft spot for Romance, but my preferred choice in movies means I’m usually indulging in some strange love stories indeed. This time out is no exception, as we look at the Philippine DVD release “Ang Darling Kong Aswang”.
This one’s synopsis goes sorta like this: “Victor (Vic Sotto) is a single father who falls in love with Elisa (Cristine Reyes) who turns out to be an Aswang. But even so, Victor loves Elisa so much that he accepted what she is and even decides to live with her as his new wife and mother for his daughters.
But the problem comes when the leader of the Aswang clan (Jean Garcia) founds out that Elisa and her mother (Agot Isidro) are not eating humans anymore. She sent out other Aswangs to hunt down Elisa and her mother, and also for Victor and his family.
Will Victor risk everything for love and face the leader of the Aswang clan to save his beloved Elisa?”
Aswang? Never heard of them now have you? Well, even Neko was a bit vague on this particular folklore creature’s mythology, and that’s part of the fun of finding these weird lil’ films now isn’t it?
But weird is not always necessarily good…. and we all know I’ve bumped into more than a few stinkers, DVD wise, in my quest for the strange and the goofy movies I like. How does this one stack up? Only one real way to find out o’ Gentle Visitor, and that’s to “Read On”…..
Time for another wacky slice of crazy Japanese Exploitation Horror to sate your Favorite Catgirl’s need for the weird, bloody, and downright silly. We look at the Region 2 DVD release for “Vampire Girl Vs. Frankenstein Girl”, fresh from the latest UK DVD mail-order parcel to show up in my mailbox this week.
Ok.. Ok… I know the title pretty much sums this one up, but here goes the synopsis anyway: “Senior high school student Jyugon Mizushima receives Valentines Day chocolates from the new student, Monami. Little did she know that the chocolates contained traces of Monami’s vampire blood. He gets infected from eating them and Monami confesses that she wants to live with him forever as vampires. Meanwhile, Jyugon decides that he wants to fully become a vampire with Monami’s help. Keiko, Jyugon’s jealous girl friend, sees the two on the school rooftop kissing and in a state of hysteria, attempts to throw Monami off the roof but falls off to her own death instead.
Pretty Keiko is most certainly dead, but her father, school principal Kenji Furano, the mad scientist, resurrects her as Franken girl. Thus begins a deadly combat between the resurrected Franken Keiko and undead Vampire Monami in the name of love. As all horror fans know, this kind of Vampire vs. Frankenstein conflict can only be solved by some serious fighting, beating, stabbing, chewing, clawing and end in climactic showdown battle to the death high atop Tokyo Tower!”
Oh my goodness!! Yes…. there’s obviously not a serious bone in this movie’s whole body. Sounds like just the sort of crazy, trashy, and super gory kind of ridiculous cinematic junk food that your Favorite movie lovin’ Catgirl eats steady diet of. I’ve already got a warm feeling this is gonna be an evening of truly silly movie fun…..
Sooooo….. Think it might just be your sort of movie too? But…. not certain if you wanna risk picking up a copy for yourself? Well then….. hunker down, get comfy and let Neko tell you all about it……