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The
News Archive #2 April 2005 - May 2005 |
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Samurai
Reincarnation: Asian DVD release from IVL/Toei is
sure to kick some demon ass. Starring Shinichi "Sonny"
Chiba and Kenji Sawada this 1981 Horror Samurai flick has Japanese
audio and Chinese (Traditional) and English subtitles. The DVD
will be in Region 3 format. Shiro has learned the forbidden
magic spell of "resurrection", which has the power
to bring the dead back to life. He has brought back all the
famous dead samurais to serve as his army. Shiro attempts to
overthrow the Tokugawa, but Yagyu Jubei (Shiichi Chiba) stands
up against him. Oh Yeah! |
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The
Eye 10 on DVD: Thats right almost time for the DVD
release from The Pang Brothers. Starring Isabella Leung, Berlin
Chen and Kate Yeung. The Eye 10 gets a Mega Star May 19, 2005
release in Asia. Led by a Thai friend, 4 young people start
to play the tricks to see ghosts. They start with the most ordinary
way to explore the creepy world. As we have reported here before
this will be the start of a more comical horror approach to
the popular "The Eye" films and more teen type perhaps. |
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Angel
of Darkness: As a set or individually these tenacle-horror
live action films are released on DVD from Critical Mass. Angel
Of Darkness: Volume 1 (pictured) is just one of the erotic horror
set. Synopsis: The college students of Shibuya seemed so innocent
until a sex depraved demon unleashed the carnal desires of their
possessed teachers. Now its writhing tentacles are about to
teach them a lesson of desire and ecstasy that they might just
not survive. Oh My, Adults Only please! |
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Regal
Horror DVD: Reported to be released on DVD 5/9/2005
Pinoy horror Bahay Ni Lola 2 (pictured) should be ready for
the Asian horror film fans to order. We had in the past reported
some news on this movie from Regal Films and wanted to add this
news of the DVD release date. Other Filipino horror films have
also been released by Regal Like Sigaw, Sa Piling Ng Aswang,
Sanib and Bahay Ni Lola (1). We are expanding out to cover these
Filipino horror releases. See: www.regalfilms.com |
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Wishing
Stairs: Coming in the future from Tartan Extreme on
DVD in 2005. Challenge the mystery of the third installment
of the Whispering Corridors ghost saga! Storyline: At a remote
boarding school, there exists a staircase with 28 stairs. Legend
claims that if you walk up all 28 stairs and find a 29th, you
can make a wish and it shall be granted. But things are never
that simple. There are things that are better left unknown.
The '03 precurser to the upcoming Japanese film Voice Letter. |
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MPD
Psycho II: More weird Japanese Miike TV on DVD. In
Double Helix: Chiaki Kuriyama (Kill Bill) guest stars in this
episode, which finds Detective Amamiya and the police team investigating
the mass suicide of forty girls from a posh high school. Also
in The Crushed Ants: Perfectly severed body parts with numbers
cut into them are discovered in a field. In a nearby arcade,
two rival youth gangs battle each other and Amamiya's wife is
taken prisoner by a gang leader. From Adness America. |
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Sorum:
A DVD release from Tartan Films later this year is
much anticipated and will be the first time this DVD is officially
available on region 1 DVD for the US. A creepy atmospheric somewhat
personal horror film about people in an apartment complex and
their hidden secrets. Sometimes real and personal events like
the ones covered in this film are more horror oriented than
ghosts and monsters. A taxi driver moves into a run down apartment
building with strange and mysterious tenants. |
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Guard
from the Underground: (Jigoku no keibiin) From Kiyoshi
Kurosawa's vault of older films this once hard to find release
is coming out later this year from Artsmagic US on DVD. Reported
in the past as an extremely violent horror film, the movie will
be a welcome addition to Asian horror fans DVD collection. The
film focusing on the thriller and slasher genres. The director
Kiyoshi Kurosawa is know for his newer Asian horror films like
Pulse, Seance and Cure. Don't forget "Sweet Home"
also. |
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Haunted
Lantern: A DVD release listed for later this year.
This had been on VHS and is a good and haunting film with some
cool makeup and effects. This film is aka Otsuyu: Kaidan botan
dourou. The 1996 film has a run time of 96 min's and is Japanese.
Strange events plague a couple during the village's macabre
Festival of the Dead. He has nightmares of a woman disappearing
in a supernatural spray of blood and gruesome visions of monsters.
From Asia Pulp Cinema on DVD. |
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Hiruko:
Fangoria Int. will plop this DVD release in our laps
mid May 2005. Hiruko aka "Yokai Hanta - Hiruko" is
a blast and a must see for fans of the bizarre and is somewhat
over the top. From the creator of "Tetsuo- The Ironman"
Director Shinya Tsukamoto. He brings us horror in a spooky school
that has demons trapped below, resulting in all sorts of weird
and unbelievable possessions and transformations. Like I say
this is a must see. Get it on DVD when it comes out, Good Job
Fango! |
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Naina:
The Bollywood remake of the Pang Brothers "The
Eye"?? This caught me off guard today on a MB and I went
to the website and sure enough its true. The website looks nice
and the trailer's ok. I swear it looks just like "The Eye"
with Bollywood actors. Go to the website and see the trailer.
I guess It will be "releasing soon" as they say to
theaters somewhere? I will ask my Bollywood fan friends and
put more later on here in news. See the site at: www.nainathefilm.com
Keep an "EYE" out! |
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Nang
Nak: Available mid May 2005 will be the official DVD
Region 1 Kino release of the haunting ghost tale Nang Nak. A
classic Thai tale of horror, Nang Nak tells the heartbreaking
story of a loving husband and wife who are separated by a war.
The husband, Mak, returns home to find his wife has given birth
to their son. The reunion seems idyllic until Mak gradually
awakens to the horrifying truth that both his wife and child
had died while he was gone. Directed by Nonzee Nimibutr. |
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Asian
Cult Cinema Extreme Horror Collection: More info just
in on this amazing box set. A box set of Japanese Horror from
Synapse. The Directors Kei Fujiwara, Toshiharu Ikeda, and Kazuo
'Gaira' Komizu. The films are Not Rated and the box set run
time should clock in around 348 min's. As previously reported
the films in the set are as follows: Organ, Evil Dead Trap,
Entrails of a Virgin and Entrails of a Beautiful Woman. Partial
image of boxset on the right. See: www.synapse-films.com |
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Bunshinsaba:
The Korean Horror film finally got
an official Hong Kong region 3 DVD IVL release with the correct
English subtitles. The DVD is good quality and I have just picked
one up. This film was also released on VCD uncut in Korean with
subtitles. The DVD has subs in English, Chinese, Korean and
Malaysian. Run time of the DVD is 92 min's. The film is from
the Director of "Phone" and "Nightmare aka Horror
Game Movie". "Phone" has recently just got a
US release from TARTAN. |
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Shadow
of the Wraith: This horror DVD will be released by
Ventura/Adness in mid June 2005. From Toshiharu Ikeda, Director
of the notorious horror film Evil Dead Trap and Angel Guts comes
a new tale of terror. As soon as Naoko moves into Room 505 of
her new condo, she finds out about a rumour that accidents and
eerie phenomena keep occurring in rooms with 5's. Accidents
repeatedly occur in rooms with 5's and something in her closet
is taking on a gruesome form. Great gruesome news... |
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Ichi
1: Based on the original manga, Ichi-1 is the prequel
to Takashi Miike’s Ichi the Killer. Nao Omori stars as
Shiro Ishi (the future Ichi) and Teah is Dai, the best fighter
at the local high school. Whenever Dai gets into a fight, Ichi
is voyeuristically watching nearby, enjoying the brutality.
This is the US version we announced sometime ago and it will
but put out in mid July 2005 by Ventura/Unearthed. The DVD is
unrated and reported to be 83 mins. in length. Summer was never
better... |
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Ubume:
This film looks sharp and polished from viewing the
trailer. Also the website for Ubume is very well done. The site
is all in Japanese but is a must see site also check out the
trailer for the film while you are there. The Asian Horror Encyclopedia
defines the Ubume: According to legend, an Ubume is a dead mother
who produces a living child, and in her ghostly state, she is
often found trying to get protection or nourishment for her
baby from the living. Check out: www.ubume.net |
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One
Missed Call: More Miike directed horror madness hits
the US big screen and will be playing NYC. Directed by Directed
by Takashi Miike and starring Kou Shibasaki, Shinichi Tsutsumi
'One Missed Call' starts 4/22/05 at the Cinema Village. For
showtimes and ticket prices see www.cinemavillage.com and tell
them kyonsi.com sent you. I have seen this film and was impressed
with Miike's straighter take on Asian Horror, a good horror
film yet not as outlandish as his other works. |
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"P"
Thai Horror: More about the upcoming Thai folklore
horrorfest from Paul Spurrier. 'Phii'/'Phi'/'P'- is the Thai
expression for 'ghost'. We have contacted the films Director
Paul Spurrier and he has told us that "We have just been
invited to the New York Asian Film Fest, which is wonderful."
(Kyonsi is possibly the first to know.). That's right from
the source and we also think that's wonderful. Thai folklore
based horror is a Kyonsi fave and we are glad to hear this
great news from Paul. |
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Save
the Green Planet: Subway Cinema say's "This movie
will change your life, a UFO/conspiracy/horror/comedy/sci-fi/thriller
that maps the last days of planet earth". This great 118
Min. Korean film is showing on the big screen and got a theatrical
release. Film Forum NYC will have the local showings the movie
(Note: Has ended its run) two weeks only. See subwaycinema.com
for trailer and US site. The Tartan UK DVD will be featured
here soon it's 2 disc and packed with extras. Go get it. |
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Spirit
Vision Taoist (Vampire Expert): More Lam Ching-Ying
on Japanese DVD. These Spirit Vision Taoist dvd sets (Know in
other countrys as "Vampire Expert") have been released
in 2-3 sets in the past year or so. I have seen these sets on
VCD before and they are not cheap. Never subtitled in english
that I know of and is not readily available unless ordered from
overseas. One of the US companies should pick up this fun hopping
vampire series and get it subbed. My wishful thinking... |
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MPD
Psycho: More Miike horror madness as the MPD Psycho
series will get official US DVD releases. From Ventura/Adness
we will soon bring you more info on these DVD releases. DVD
release date is May 24, 2005. One Synopsis: Det. Amamiya Kazuhiko
is called out of early retirement to work on the case, which
is tied to horrific events in his past. His new wife goes missing
and a mysterious cult with barcodes tattooed on their eyeballs
surfaces to wreak havoc. See It! |
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Ranpo
Jigoku: Japanese Horror Directed by Akio Jissoji. This
horror movie will be released in 2005. The cast includes Tadanobu
Asano, Ryuhei Matsuda, Nao Omori, and more. It looks like the
film will be a four short film compilation kind of like the
recent "Three" and "Three Extremes" films
that we liked. Good to again see Tadanobu Asano again popping
up in some genre films that are not just drama. Japanese website
at this url: www.albatros-film.com/movie/rampo.html |
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Tetsuo-The
Iron Man: More metal maniac fun with the upcoming Tartan
Films US DVD release of Tetsuo. As I remember it long ago on
VHS the film has a good eeire soundtrack to accompany the cyber
sci-fi horror of a man mutating into a machine. This is one
of the titles I just cannot wait to feature on Kyonsi and we
will be sure to give it a feature page upon release. Directed
by Shinya Tsukamoto who also did "Hiruko the Goblin"
& "Body Hammer". We call Tetsuo the original Rivethead. |
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Evil
Dead Trap 2: Hits DVD soon I just saw info posted on
the Ventura website. A killer is on the loose in Japan. Young
women are being horribly mutilated. Aki, a young woman who works
as a film projectionist, is haunted by a childlike ghost. Her
girlfriend Emi is a TV news reporter covering the horrible mutilations.
Emi introduces Aki to Kurahashi, a married man with a haunted
past. Everyone involved has a dark secret and something evil
is taking control of them. Oh Yeah!! |
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Onmyoji:
The Japanese Horror folklore Magic film played NYC
on Friday, April 22 2005 at 6:30 pm. This is a great film and
we have just recently featured its sequel Onmyoji 2 here on
Kyonsi. During an age of demons and ghosts in 10th-century Kyoto,
the emperor relied upon the Onmyoji, masters of Onmyodo who
used the yin and yang principle to interpret natural and astrological
occurrences. For information on other flicks see the website
for the Japan Society at: www.japansociety.org |
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Voice
Letter: A bit of news from the Korean Times. Voice
Letter will be coming out later this year. The movie is the
fourth installment in the ``Yogo Kwedam’’ series.
With ``Whispering Corridor's’’ in 1998, ``Memento
Mori (Yogo Kwedam Tubonjjae Iyagi)’’ in 1999, and
``Wishing Stairs (Yowu Kyedan)’’ in 2003, the films
all take place at a girl’s haunted high school. Pic from
the set as the actress was preparing to hang from the ceiling.
Voice Letter (Yogo Kwedam: Moksori) |
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Black
Magic Woman: More Thai horror on DVD with spells, hocus
pocus and english subtitles. Of interest to fans of Thai horror
thats sometimes not for everyone but hell we like it. The DVD
release is like most legit Thai DVD releases is a PAL disc.
If you are a fan of these Thai horror flicks there is a chance
you have already picked up an ALL region player with a PAL converter.
This black magic film starring Sasithorn Panichnok is listed
as having a short 74 min. length. |
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Ryeong
(The Ghost) aka Dead Friend: It has been going around
that The Korean Horror film "Ryeong" we announced
sometime ago, is going to get a US remake. I had read that Dimension
had acquired the remake rights to the Korean horror film, the
image left is from the Korean poster art.Student Ji-won doesn't
remember much about her past. Her ex-classmates start dying
off, Ji-won believes someone, or something, is coming after
them. Yes the remake people are coming after them.. |
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Exodus
from Afar: Is on DVD finally from Universe Laser HK.
This Category III Erotic Supernatural Thriller stars the infamous
Elvis Tsui. Elvis is star of some of the more adult themed HK
Category 3 Erotic Horror films like "The Demon's Baby",
"The Eternal Evil of Asia", "Chinese Erotic Ghost
Story" and "Faces of Horrid" to name just a few
of his over 100 films to date. This film was directed by Yi
Hung Lam whos also made "Erotic Ghost Story: Perfect Match"
also starring Elvis. |
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Acacia:
Will sprout on US region 1 DVD mid June 2005 from Tartan
Video in the US. When a young couple believes they can't have
children, they decide to adopt who they think will be the light
of their life. However, when the couple conceives a child of
their own, their adopted son is not happy, he lets his swirling
undertones of evil surface to show his true nature. In this
ghostly supernatural Korean Film. Another welcome genre title,
In Korean with English subtitles. Go Tartan... |
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Sars
War: I ordered the "Sars War" DVD from Thailand
to cover here on Kyonsi and it turned out to be money well spent.
The film provides a cool storyline that does borrow alot from
US films like "Dawn of the Dead" and also seems to
have some things in common with the Italian "Demons"
films. It's a Thai horror comedy so it does have some silly
moments as well as some straight played horror scenes. Its kind
of zany like the film "Body Jumper" but with better
makeup and effects. |
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The
Wretched to star Chow Yun-Fat: Chow Yun-Fat plays Rellik,
a bounty hunter of zombies. An original fusion of gothic western
and classic horror. He introduces his apprentice, Twenty-One,
to a dangerous world where zombie outlaws roam the earth, avoiding
capture and incarceration in the prisoner catacombs for the
Undead, and of course they will all escape. Thus giving Chow
and crew a hellish jailbreak of the undead. Sounds fun, conceptual
artwork (see picture) no stills yet. |
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Tetsuo
Book: In the upcoming Asian horror related book news
is a book by Author Tom Mes. The book comes out around July
2005 from FAB Press UK and is titled: "Iron Man, The Cinema
of Shinya Tsukamoto". With Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Tetsuo
II: Body Hammer, and Bullet Ballet, Shinya Tsukamoto has become
one of the most widely praised filmmakers in Japan today. With
alot of his films seeing US DVD release in 2005, this book should
be a great resource for both old and new fans. |
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The
Grudge- Uncut US DVD: Something told me to hold off
on buying the Grudge US remake and I am glad I did. The Grudge
is coming out in a much better Directors Cut Unrated-Extended
version in Mid May and will hopefully have all the missing scenes
that were cut to obtain the American PG-13 rating. The DVD is
reported to have 15 deleted scenes with optional commentarys
and two short films as well. This seems like a much better package
than the first release of this on DVD. |
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Lizard
Woman: The good news is the Thai horror film Lizard
Woman is now on DVD. But the bad news is its on DVD with no
english subs. I am not sure if this film was picked up by anyone
stateside recently. I am hoping that it will be released in
maybe a Chinese DVD version that may have subtitles in english.
The Thai DVD just recently released has no subs and alot of
the DVDs in Thailand these days are released with Subs. I wish
they would have subbed this one also. Time will tell... |
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The
Soul of Love: Thai Erotic Horror on DVD from Maga Base
Technology Ltd. we just picked this up and it has no english
subtitles. We have reviewed many Asian films before without
having subs. This DVD look like it will be a no brainer though.
The only synopsis available I could find was Thai Erotic Horror.
The cover art has a zombie looking woman in red and she has
some decapitated heads in her hand. I will do capsule review
on this DVD after I watch it. Like I said looks like a no brainer. |
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EM
Embalming: On DVD- A needle found
embedded in the body of an apparent suicide leads embalmer Miyako
(Reiko Takashima) to believe that there may be more to this
death than meets the eye. And when the corpse’s head is
severed and stolen, it begins Miyako’s journey through
a nightmare world of live organ harvesting, religious sects,
multiple personalities, illegal drug experiments and murder.
This highly sought after crime/horror film will be out in June
2005 from ArtsMagic. |
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Red
Eye: Korean Horror Red Eye: Special Edition DVD starring
Jang Sin-Yeong is set for release on April 20th 2005 in Korea.
The DVD from Vision Entertainment is sure to catch some attention.
Kyonsi hopes this film will be picked up here in the US for
region 1 release and distribution. A mystery horror film with
a haunted train sounds interesting. The stills are cool and
the trailer is very spooky and looks like a winner. Riding trains
a daily routine of yours? Maybe not after this film. |
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