Three... Extremes

This Asian horror anthology flick features three non-connected stories from some of the genre's greatest directors: Fruit Chan (China), Park Chan-Wook (Korea) and Takashi Miike (Japan). It’s like an Asian Creepshow. The first story, Dumplings, is about an aging actress who seeks to regain her youth by eating "special" dumplings made from *$#%@ (I won't ruin it for you) is extremely disturbing and freaky. Plus it co-stars Bai Ling (who I met in person at Celebration III) who is smokin' hot, so I enjoyed this one even though it seems like it should have been longer. Next is Cut, which is about a horror film director who is taken hostage by a crazed extra from his films. This one meanders a bit too much and isn't all that scary or interesting. Actually it's pretty damned boring. Finally is Box, about a traumatized woman whose past comes back to haunt her in the most horrific way possible. This one is a bust as well. It's slow and not all that entertaining. 1 for 3 isn't all that great when it comes to this type of movie, so I'd have to say skip it.


2 out of 5

P.S. There is a feature length version of Dumplings available. Read the review here.


*written 3/11/06