Year: 2004
Duration: 02:06:24
Directed by: Fruit Chan (segment “Dumplings”)
Chan-wook Park (segment “Cut”)
Takashi Miike (segment “Box”)
Actors: Bai Ling, Byung-hun Lee, Atsurô Watabe
Language: Cantonese, Japanese, Korean & Mandarin (Movie track) | Japanese (“Box” commentary track) | English subtitles
Country: Hong Kong | Japan | South Korea
Also known as: Saam gaang yi (Original title) | 3 Extremes (USA) | Three, Monster (South Korea)
Description: A horror anthology by three of the most important asian directors of the genre.
In “Dumplings” we see an aging actress searching for a traditional remedy that garantees rejuvenation. Only this traditional remedy, served as dumplings, has a particular and unorthodox ingredient.
The desire for youth is too great to mind it and the actress demands to take the process to the most effective level. Only that requires that the ingredient is gathered in just the right moment…
There is a nastiness attached to it all, but will the perks of these dumplings overcome everything else?
In “Cut”, a sucessful horror movies’ director is faced with a very disgruntal extra from one of his old movies. He has transform the new studio into a giant trap for the director, his wife and their daughter.
The director is then faced with the most difficult of choices. Either he suffocates their child or his wife, who plays the piano, will loose all her fingers.
How will they find a way out of this dillema is the question that is answered in the most bloody exhilarating of ways.
In “Box” a novelist is tomented by the memory of her sister. When they were young they worked together for a magician and they both fell in love. But he desidered only one of the girls.
The novelist did not accept the rejection and, now, the guilt of what their relationship once was is too great for her to resist the call to revisit the past.
The circus act she was once part of is now calling her back to meet her sister in a scenery full of snow where stillness and silence become the most perilous elements of horror.
Review: Recently, I wanted to show my favorite anthologies of reviews to find some really creepy collection. The only one I found. This anthology consists of only three novels. Each of them is about thirty minutes. In general, this anthology can be separated and each story separately show, just this almanac is associated with very thin thread. Many almanacs bound by any topic, and this anthology all different topics. The only thing that connects them – it’s a genre of novels. Before us is the real horror.
The first short story in the anthology took great and terrible Japanese director Takashi Miike, the man who can release five feature films a year. He told a very sad story about two twins and one box. Surprisingly, this story I liked the most. Takashi Miike surprised me with this movie, he took off, first of all, a drama about human envy, and then the horror film. Story was very slow, everything in it is opened slowly. And everything is going to a very bad end. Miike just survived from all the juices and took little real masterpiece. My favorite story in this anthology.
Second story filmed Chinese director Fruit Chan. Really do not know much of this creative director. And I, by the way, and did not understand what happened to his novel. Its produced in Russia on a separate disk, and then in this anthology. Are all shook him so hard story, and bad dumplings. I can not believe. I understand what is the meaning of his story, but it’s just impossible to watch. Well, when they have just eaten them, but when the character began to thrust something between her legs. I immediately became disgusted. In general, I barely finished watching this short story to the end. Want to shock – look at health. I is not exactly want to reconsider.
The third novel filmed Korean director Park Chan-wook. Surprisingly, in this story is very little sense. If the first novel I very much liked the second was repugnant to me, but there was still a sense, but in his third novel, something very small. Given the fact that this film was shooting director of such films as “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance”, “Joint Security Area” and “Oldboy.” Even somehow sorry for the director. He figured out that some kind of incomprehensible story about an actor and director. The film is almost one talk. The action takes place in just one room. And I did not like at the end of this novel. Although every man to his own taste. Maybe this story to someone more than others like it.
As a result, we have a very strange and original anthology. I’ll put this almanac is much appreciated in the first two novels. They forced me to experience different emotions, and this is well worth it.
My favorite director in this anthology – Takashi Miike.
Screenshots:
Download:
