Inhuman Kiss

"Inhuman Kiss" aka "Sang Krasue" (Sitisiri Mongkolsiri, 2019, Nakid, CJ Major Entertainment, M Pictures, Transformation Films) is a Thai horror romance centred around the Southeast Asian myth of the female Krasue spirit (aka Kasu or Ahp); the flesh eating floating head of a beautiful woman trailing entrails and tentacles, and the male Krahang; a ferocious male spirit.

We meet four children, Sai, Noi, Jerd and Ting, who are playing in the forest near an abandoned house. Jerd tells the group that the house is haunted by the spirit of a woman and then the children play hide and seek in the house. 

Years later Ting (Darina Boonchu) is married with a baby, Sai (Phantira Pipityakorn) is training to be a nurse, Jerd (Sapol Assawamunkong) is working with Sai as well as falling in love with her and Noi (Oabnithi Wiwattanawarang) has moved away from the village to live in Bangkok, much to the despair of Sai, who is in love with him. Everyone seems to be getting on with their lives when suddenly Noi returns to the village with a band of hunters on the trail of a Krasue spirit who is killing and eating the livestock. But Sai discovers to her horror that the Krasue is actually a curse and she is the one they are hunting...

Having just appeared on Netflix, and seeing a clip of the insane Krasue transformation online, I knew this would be my kind of film. But I was pleasantly surprised to find it was much more than I had expected. The film delivers a full and interesting plot as well as the gore and effects and manages to strike a balance between the cheesiness of the action and the rather straight-faced character development of our main three characters; Sai, Jerd and Noi. With a run time of just over 2 hours, I had expected to feel things were dragging a little, but the film's action is quite evenly spaced and the run time wasn't really a factor.  The effects are excellently achieved, and I felt the fact it wasn't trying to be funny really worked in its favour. Definitely worth checking out.

[Image: Nakid, et al]

Hani

Ouija

"Ouija" (2014, Stiles White, Platinum Dunes, Hasbro, Blumhouse Productions, Universal Pictures) was last Halloween's rush-job jumper brought to you by Hasbro.... Yep, you guessed it, it's pretty much a really long toy commercial...

Laine (Olivia Cooke) and her best pal Debbie (Shelley Hennig) used to love to play with a ouija board. Then they grew up and got into just filming everything ever (from the mundane tasks of cleaning their attic to their highschool conversations) with a digital camera instead, and the ouija board was banished from their minds.

Unluckily, it resurfaces again when Debbie cleans said attic, and the spirit she contacts with it is less than fluffy. Soon the whole gang are being hounded by this vengeful ghost, but is everything as it seems....?

...Of course it is. This film was nothing but a string of tropes. So predictable was every clichéd scene that my boyfriend and I began shouting out what was coming before it happened in order to actually entertain ourselves.

Another thing is its complete lack of pacing. The film takes forever to get to the point, and then wants to bombard you with typical horror fayre thereafter. By the time the action hit I was bored.

The big 'twist' is so obvious it isn't even worth being wary of spoilers and the teens are extremely catalogue-y.

Generic as all hell. I recommend for teens and sleepovers, and that's all. And, how unscary is the name Doris? Seriously?!

[Image: Hasbro, et al]

Hani

The Tattooist

"The Tattooist" (2007, Peter Burger, Buena Vista International) is a supernatural horror about a tattoo artist.

Jake (Jason Behr) is a trendy tattoo artist who likes to explore tribal designs in his work. After witnessing a strange, ritualistic Samoan tattoo being performed at a convention, he feels compelled to steal the ritual tool and begin to explore the designs and traditions himself.

Unfortunately, he's taken more than he intended and soon finds that he is being haunted by a murderous force which can spread through his tattoo designs from the tool...

A film with an adventurous storyline and some potential, but to be honest, it's not compelling enough. A little stilted, and some parts are just all explanation of the traditions so that the audience can understand, which kind of loses something for the pace.

The special effects are surprisingly good for the budget, but they are ludicrous! There's also a little kid who can speak to spirits... but only when the music is loud and obnoxious in a speeding car... Of course! 

The characters are our usual forgettable horror fodder, the spirit is quite creepy but it seemed like he'd been added in as an afterthought rather than as an organic baddy, and our protagonist is dull and two dimensional...

Interesting concept but, on the whole, not a good film and not a good horror film.

 

 

[Image: Buena Vista International]

 

Hani

 

The Return

"The Return" (2006, Asif Kapadia, Universal Pictures, Rogue Pictures) is a psychological thriller about a troubled young professional woman who begins to experience visions of the murder of a woman whom she's never met.

Joanna (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is a truck rep, making a name for herself in the industry. She heads to Texas to chase down a new perspective customer, when she begins experiencing the visions.

As her life begins to get a bit hectic, considering that she keeps passing out or daydreaming away the vital minutes, she begins to try to work out what the visions are and who they are from.

She meets a guy called Terry (Peter O'Brien), who's wife, Annie (Erinn Allison) had died several years ago.

As Joanna begins to piece together the strange visions and memories, she starts to realise that perhaps this woman's unfortunate and untimely demise is in fact linked to her in some way or another.

A nice slow burning thriller with some jumpy bits and not a lot of dialogue, "The Return" keeps you watching, waiting on more of the puzzle. SMG proves yet again, that she excels at deep and strong female characters, and can act without any need for words, as she works her way through this artistic piece.

While not a horror in the conventional sense, there are some jumpy bits and the bad guy (J.C. Mackenzie) is quite scary. Not to mention the fact that the 'memories' are really the ghost of the dead woman telling Joanna what happened in order to get her 'Rest In Peace'. Or, perhaps Joanna is no longer Joanna, and hasn't been for some time...!!!

Some spooky music and supernatural electronic disruption, ghostly visions and general spookiness allow this film to fall into the horror genre, although if you're looking for gore, go elsewhere.

A' horror' for those who don't really like horror, this film is entertaining and mellow. I really liked it!

Apparently there's an alternate ending, but like most American productions, only the Region 1 version gets the good stuff. Poor show!

 [Picture: Universal Pictures & Rogue Pictures]

Hani