Posts Tagged ‘Ghost’
Nothing seems to creep out Asians more than dead babies…. Neko’s not certain exactly just why that is (I’ve always found the living ones can be creepy enough most days, Hehehe!!), but anyway, this time out your Favorite Catgirl has for you a look at the recent HK horror effort, “Womb Ghosts”.
Synopsis? Do you really need one with a title like this? Well… OK, here’s how it goes: “Life after death of a fetus inside a woman’s body exists as a Womb Ghost. Unnatural termination of such life will turn the baby into the evilest and most vicious kind of spirit.
A mental hospital is haunted by spirits, the mysterious miscarriage of a young and beautiful inmate causes authorities to investigate. Only one answer can be given to the existence of such an ungodly creature… Womb Ghost.”
Sounds trashy? Well I certainly hope so…. Your Favorite Catgirl could use some gooey nasty horror to make me squirm just a wee bit….. and it’s been a while since the Chinese managed to reach the level of some of the over-the-top gore fests of the old Shaw studios, like “Black Magic”, or “Bewitched”. Of late it’s been Thailand to which I’ve turned when I want to be grossed out in that “so bad, it’s good” way. Just why I like that sort of thing sometimes seems to escape those who love and know me well, but I like to think it’s all part of my whimsical undefinable charm….. (And it certainly sounds better than being known as “that creepy Asian girl who likes THOSE nasty sorts of movies….” Hehehehe!!)
But you, o’ Gentle Visitors, know deep in your hearts, that you too like those naughty, gory movies as much as I do…. and so you’ll definitely want to “Read On” and see if “Womb Ghosts” is up to the task of both delighting and grossing you out as well.
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”!!
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”!!
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!!
Ooooh! This time out, it’s off to exotic Malaysia for your Favorite Catgirl and a tale of envy, evil, and the wicked curse of Black Sorcery that is “Santau”.
It’s been a while since I got anything from Malaysia…. most of my horror goodies from that part of the world come out of Indonesia, but every now and again the Malays surprise me with something homegrown in the way of creepy movies.
“Chermin” remains one of my favorites, and “Congkak” wasn’t too bad at all, so will “Santau” deliver the scares for me as well? The Trailer certainly looked promising…. enough that when I finally sniffed out a copy of this one and it’s “oh so nice” English subtitles, it wasn’t too hard to twist my lil’ arm into ordering it up for my very own.
Our synopsis for it reads like this: “Halim (Esma Daniel) and Nina (Putri Mardiana) live together with their daughter Tuti (Farisha Fatin) in a modern Malay village. Halim is successful in his career and leads a harmonious life with his family. Their neighbor is also a married couple; Usin (Riezman Khuzaimi) and Ana (Lis Dawati), while the other neighbor’s home is empty and waiting for new tenants to move in.
After a new neighbor moves in, Halim’s family begin to experience strange and horror incidents inside their home. Tuti starts to witness various mysterious events while Nina often experiences strange incidents that have never happened before. The strangest part is it all happens when Halim is away and he only comes home late at night.
Nina begins to gradually change from a good and hardworking wife to a lazy and bad-tempered wife. Each day there are things that happen that can wreck the family relationships. As a successful person, Halim does not believe of paranormal stories when Tuti complains about it.
One day Nina begins experiencing abdominal pain and Halim brings her to clinic for medical checkup. The doctor confirms gastric existence inside Nina’s stomach. However Tuti suspects his mother has been possessed by spirits.
One night, Halim returns home after Tuti informs him that Nina has been possessed and keep screaming at home. Halim finally brings Nina to see a shaman. The shaman confirms Nina has been possessed due to jealousy of Halim’s successful career and having a happy family.
Halim feels surprised by this revelation. How can Halim handle his family problem? Who is actually the mastermind behind this problem?”
Well….. it most certainly sounds like we might just have been down this story plot a few times before. A bad thing? Hmmmmm? The jury is still out on that one, and surely the only way to know for certain is to “Read On” o’ Gentle Visitor and find out!
It’s been a while since I’ve seen one, but here we are again with another lil’ horror goodie from the Philippines, “Tarot”. Fortune telling…. ghosts…. weird doomsday cults… evil curses… and romance, sigh. Yep, certainly sounds like a “Nekolishous” film alright.
Our Synopsis? “As a young child Cara has the habit of observing her grandmother, Lola Auring (Gloria Romero) at work. She is a tarot reader by profession, and her granddaughter slowly develops her talent and accurately predicted the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 and the death of two of her family members; her father and grandmother. Cara’s psychic ability seems to bring bad luck to her family rather than good luck.
Concerned with her natural ability to predict future events, Cara’s mother (Susan Africa) forbids her to read tarot cards, and the cards are laid to rest with her grandmother inside the coffin. Many years later the adult Cara (Marian Rivera) has to reopen her grandmother’s coffin to seek the tarot cards’ help to locate her missing fiancé, Miguel (Dennis Trillo) when both were separated while hiking in the forest.
She eventually finds him, but mysterious deaths start to affect people around her. Cara soon learns that it was related to the curse on her grandmother during her youth days, where she was part of a cult that worshiped tarot cards. Other members committed suicide and Auring decided not to join them, and the curse spreads to his family members including Cara herself. Now Cara must find a way to stop this curse before more people becomes the victim…”
Mmmmmm. I’ve a really good feelin’ about this one, but you know as much as I do that sometimes your Favorite Catgirl gets her hopes up too quickly for these. Still…. can’t hurt to take a peek, right? Let’s all snuggle down and I’ll tell you all how this one stacked up. By all means, gentle visitor, “Read On”!!
A new week, another day off, and another review!! This time out a quick look at one of the horde of Indonesian horror films currently teetering precariously on top of my “To watch” pile next to the DVD player. I swear…. at the rate new stuff arrives at the apartment, I’ll be buried before long.
Our quick synopsis goes like this: “A young gentleman called Putra (played by Restu Sinaga) marries Amira (played by Indah Kalalo) and would like to give the best honeymoon experience for his wife in his privately owned island. However, strange ghostly incidents are haunting them as a newly wed couple.
From an exotic bedroom to a swimming pool filled with excitement to their romantic bathroom and in every corner of the island, a female ghost dressed in a wedding gown is seeking blood debt from the couple.
A dark secret is waiting to be revealed, changing their romantic night into a scary encounter with the ghost. Who is the ghost and why is she terrorizing them?”
Yep…. this sounds pretty much like your standard Indonesian horror effort. It’s been a while since one really wowed me…. is this one gonna be one of those amazing hidden gems your Favorite Cargirl occasionally encounters? Maybe yes…. maybe no. Am I still gonna watch the goofy thing? Yeah….
Guess you’ll just have to stick with me and see how this one stacks up. (C’mon!!…. it’s not like you don’t wanna!! Neko knows you all too well. Hehehehe!!)
So surrender to your secret needs and “Read On”!!
After yesterday’s terrible Indonesian horror film your Favorite Catgirl needed something to clean and soothe her lil’ brain and what better than a nice Thai ghost story, eh? Mmmmm… romance, ghosts… and bloody mayhem, now that’s entertainment!!
The synopsis goes as follows: “Three ex-girlfriends, three dates with death
Has she really left you?
Ken (Chakhrit Yamnan from Bangkok Dangerous) is a ravishing young superstar and the dream date of every girl. While he can attract any woman he wants, every detail of his life ends up in gossip columns and tabloid magazines.
Two of his previous girlfriends — high-society girl Meen (Navadee Mokkhavesa) and innocent college student Bow (Atthama Chiwanitchaphan) — have already been exposed by the media. After dumping the pregnant Meen, he is now dating gorgeous young actress Ploy (Wanida Termthanaporn) and their every move makes the headline.
When news leak that Ken will marry Ploy, the media goes into a frenzy and the couple’s dream life turns into a nightmare. It seems that someone is stalking them, day and night. Is it an ex-girlfriend, an obsessed fan or vengeful paparazzi? Ken’s agent, Nimit (Bordin Duke), encourages him to take a break at his beachfront house but the problem only escalates as Ken starts to have visions of a woman and mysterious scratches begin to appear on his body. One by one, the people around Ken start to disappear…”
I just know this one is gonna be good! Wanna find out for sure? Then you’re just gonna need to “Read On” and find out…. silly!!
Here’s a rarity in my part of the world… an honest to goodness Singaporean movie. I order lots and lots of Thai films out of Singapore (Yes.. yes… that pesky subtitle thingee… don’t let me get started on THAT rant again… Hehehehe!!) but I can honestly say I’ve only ever snagged a couple of their local efforts over the years. Since you all know I’m just goofy for ghost stories, how could I not take a chance on something titled “Where Got Ghost?”….
It’s a horror anthology by local Singaporean writer/director Jack Neo and our synopsis goes as follows: “Every year on the Lunar 7th month is the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival and Singaporeans with Chinese heritage and background will be celebrating with their beloved family members that have passed away. Most common methods are burning paper money and offering food for their deceased family members. “Where Got Ghost” is a typical Singaporean horror-comedy movie that is divided into three stories, each with some thrills, some chills and quite a few laughs along the way…”
How did it stack up for me as a movie watching experience? Was it as charming as some Chinese ghost comedies? Or did they go with the toilet humor route that most Thai and Indonesian films like to go? (I admit I sorta expected the latter might just be the ticket here….. not that there’s a problem with that, mind you….Hehehehe!)
I guess we’re all about to find out, so you are certainly gonna want to “Read On” and see!
November has arrived…. so winter and all the nasty snow that comes with it can’t be too far away. Along with my usual preparations for the season, I’m still getting my regular shipments of DVD’s from far away parts unknown…. and you all know what that means…. Lots of warm evenings huddled on the couch and time for yet another review!! Yay!!
Our synopsis goes like this: “This comedy/horror movie tells a story of three youths from Kuala Lumpur; Punai, (Mazlan Pet Pet) a petty thief, Asmat (Cat Farish), a car jockey, and Johan (Sam Shaheizy), a salesman.
They each received a letter from the late Pak Sudir (Piee), inviting them to his house. Upon their arrival, they meet up with Pak Sudir’s assistant, Mustika (Lisa Surihani), and they discovered that Pak Sudir was actually their grandfather who happens to be very rich.
The three of them stands a chance to inherit all of his belongings and wealth but under strict circumstances; they would have to stay at his house for three days consecutively without touching anything, especially an old Congkak. On the first night itself, strange and hilarious occurrences begin to happen.”
I catch a lot of Indonesian films, as visitors here at the ol’ Litterbox might have noticed, but Malay ones are a bit harder for me to come across… Don’t know exactly why…. they just are. Maybe somebody will explain the whole situation to me, but I get the impression that they just watch a lot of the same Indonesian produced films in Malaysia that I manage to find as well…..
So…… Is this one gonna be any good? Is it gonna stink really badly….? I’m not at all certain….. and I’m getting a weird vibe from the cover art… but it does come with those nifty English subs I love for a ridiculously tiny price, so I guess there’s really only one way for me to actually find out…. and that’s for me to give it a watch and for you all to “Read On”.