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Reviews
Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
Terrifying (as in terrifyingly poor...)
I bought this film over ebay after hearing and reading about it. I got hold of an uncut version and had high expectations, although I wasn't quite sure what to expect.
I have seen numerous infamous horror-films such as Bunman (The untold Story), Men behind the Sun, etc., but Cannibal Holocaust always seems to get most online-attention. And last night I watched it... What an absolute mess. This film is a joke.
- The acting is dismal. I can't believe some reviewers on here speak of "realistic" acting. I have seen better in Kindergarten Christmas plays. - The horror-scenes are unspectacular. The axes with which most killing takes place look pathetic, and the special effects are poor. - The nakedness and rape scenes are simple crowd-pleasers. As this film as nothing special to offer, Deodato throws in as many nude scenes as possible, which is typical for early 80's Italian B-movies. - The animal killings are sad (in all senses of the word sad). Deodato realises that these are the only truly gruesome scenes and he milks it by spending too much time on it. The turtle-slaughter takes nearly 5 minutes!!
There is so much more to criticise about this film but I won't waste any more time on it. Don't be mislead by the media-attention. This film is truly terrifying. Terrifyingly bad.
Bat sin fan dim: Yan yuk cha siu bau (1993)
2-Faced movie, just like Wong's character..
The other reviews on here say it all - Anthony Wong gives a fantastic performance and the gruesome scenes are truly hard to take. This makes the movie watchable for those who want a shiver or a laugh (depending on your character!) What is often ignored in all these reviews is that the other half of this story is dismally poor. It concerns the work and ways of the police-force trying to catch Wong. The acting is so incredibly poor and the script so woefully thin that it lets down the entire movie. I have read reviews saying that this 'fun' aspect of the film is to relieve the tension. Maybe that was the intention, however it has turned horribly wrong. The scenes and acting make you cringe, and you even start to look forward to Wong's next butchering scene - a shame he doesn't butcher any of his co-"stars".... Still worth watching, don't get me wrong. I can't deny it's a bit of a classic.
Hei tai yang 731 (1988)
Disappointing..
By chance I came across a thread concerning gore-/horror-shockers and many a IMDb-user contributed with their "favourite" movies of this genre. One of the goriest sounding films mentioned numerous times was Men Behind the Sun. True film-freak that I am, I spent some time researching for comments and reviews of this film. Finally I decided to spend $10 on a non-cut original (via Ebay) to see what the hype was about. My expectations were high, and I had developed a dislike to all the negative comments on IMDb and elsewhere, thinking that the negative reviewers just wanted to sound cool, á la - "I'm real hard and this movie bored me.." How wrong I was - the movie is terrible. Dodgy camera-work can be excused through lack of budget. Miserable acting can be excused through typical far-eastern over-acting. A film-plot with more holes in it than a slice of Swiss cheese can be excused by calling this a documentary-style film. But generally this movie is a joke. A couple of the scenes are truly wicked (in the negative sense). But they are few and far between and are totally at random, seemingly to keep the audience awake. The classic cat/rat scene is an absolute fake, don't be fooled... The only reason to watch this drivel seems to be to understand what the hype is all about. Watch "Bunman - The untold Story" for something slightly better if you must, but forget this.
Être et avoir (2002)
A jem
A true piece of art for the viewer not seeking spectacular eye-openers through means of stunts and a plot, but seeking a both simple and intellectual eye-opener on contemporary sociology. This idyllic setting awakens own memories of childhood, own regrets on lesser teaching, and reflects what is missing in the hectic everyday life of most children.
Comments by precious reviewers complaining about the fact that this is not cinema should try to understand the simple difference between fiction cinema and film documentary. Reading such comments makes me wish they also had the luxury of Monsieur's Lopez's teachings.