Movies
After the success of the first film, it's hardly a surprise a follow-up was made. The setup of the sequel isn't too original, then again neither was the setup of the first film. It's just another Asian horror flick reliant on past trauma, mixing scares and haunts with a little background drama. The "most haunted house in China" has switched owners again. While starting the renovation, workers dig up an old vase with a baby's corpse inside. The wife of the new owner works in a hospital and one of her patients starts to see a little girl following her right around the same time. The horror itself isn't all that spectacular, and can get bogged down by some subpar CG. But the rest of the film looks incredibly stylish. Lighting and use of color are excellent, the camera work is lush, and the performances are more than adequate. A very solid film, sticking a bit too closely to genre conventions, but otherwise delivering a pretty tight genre experience.Read all
A Western-style horror seen through an Asian lens. You don't find those too often. While Hollywood has been eager enough to remake the more lauded Asian horror films, Asia has been mostly doing its own thing. The Apostles is a pretty fun diversion, but it's a little messy and unfocused. A cocktail of familiar elements that lacks cohesion. A writer fears her husband might be cheating on her. One night she gets a phone call to tell her he died in a plane crash. His cell phone is found in the bag of another woman, who also died in the crash. She launches an investigation to find out what her spouse hid from her. It's a journey that takes her to a remote, mysterious hotel. Weird hillbillies, a mindfuck plot with more twists than a person has fingers, underground conspiracies, and more. It all flashes by and the separate parts hardly connect, but the film is still pretty moody and the execution is solid, apart from some shoddy CG. The Apostles isn't the most accomplished film, but it's still a lot of fun and certainly doesn't deserve the critical trashing it received.Read all
