Gin gwa
In the early 2000s, there was an explosion of interest in Asian horror films. This can mostly be attributed to the international success of Hideo Nakata's “Ringu.” Indeed, most of the buzzed about movies from this era – "Ju-On," "Pulse," "Uzumaki," even extreme thrillers like "Auditon" and "Battle Royale" – were Japanese in origin. Yet many other Asian countries produced ghostly flicks around this time, that also picked up a lot of global hype. South Korea gave us "A Tale of Two Sisters," Thailand brought us "Shutter." And out of Hong Kong came "The Eye." It seems all of these movies, at the time, had someone hailing them as the scariest ever made. I recall the Horror Etc. guys raving about this one in particular. It's about time I catch up with the Pang Brothers' 2002 chiller.
Mun has been blind since the age of two. Now in her twenties, and working as a classical violinist, she is approved for cornea transplant surgery. The procedure is a success and, after the typical challenges expected from such a huge life change, she is seeing clearly... She's also seeing something else. People who nobody else seems to notice. Or that are threatening to her and vanish abruptly. It soon becomes clear to Mun that she can now see ghosts and spirits. Teaming up with her sympathetic therapist, who is also the cousin to the doctor who performed the surgery, Mun sets out to find the identity of her cornea donor and unravel this mystery.
Sadly, "The Eye" never quite tops that moment. In fact, a lot of the movie's attempts at scares are undermined by increasingly hammy direction and poorly-aged special effects. A much hyped moment, in which Mun is spooked by a ghost while sitting in a chair, is undone by some cheesy CGI. The same can be said of a groan-worthy scene where a ghost floats outside a restaurant. Mostly, the Pang Brothers seem overly focused on visual flashiness. When a suicidal ghost leaps from a window, the camera assumes its point-of-view as it plummets to the ground. A sequence where Mun performs a violin solo, while the camera swoops around her in the dark, is really excessively showy. By the last act, when there's long sequences in black-and-white and a giant CGI fireball, "The Eye" had officially lost me.
I guess you could read into the reveal that the haunted eyes come from Bangkok, though I can't say I know much about Hong Kong's relationship with Thailand. "The Eye" would prove successful in both its home country and aboard. It would be followed by three sequels (two of which the Pang Brothers returned for), as well as remakes in both Tamil and Hindi. Of course, there was the mediocre Hollywood version as well. Watching nearly twenty years after it was made, "The Eye" seems like a relic of another era, when we were all obsessed with stringy-haired ghost girls and digital camera tricks. There's a few dynamite sequences but the past is mostly where this one belongs. [6/10]
At 99-years old, Bert I. Gordon – nicknamed Mr. B.I.G. by no less an expert than Forrest J. Ackerman – is one of the few figures from the golden age of B-movies that is still around. Granted, Mr. Gordon's films have rarely been well respected. Movies like “The Amazing Colossal Man,” “The Beginning of the End,” or “Food of the Gods” are usually regarded as easily mocked schlock. Gordon is, after all, in the rare position of having more of his movies than any other director featured on “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” Yet I can't help but have a certain affection for the guy. He made most of his flicks independently, selling them to distributors like American International Pictures. While his feature, many of which were about giant creatures of varying types, were certainly cheesy, they weren't without charm too. Among the many jumbo-sized critter flicks Bert made in the late fifties and early sixties was “Earth Vs. the Spider.”
Despite it being her birthday, Carol's dad didn't come home the night before. Her boyfriend Mike, knowing his girlfriend's dad is a drunkard, isn't too concerned. She still talks Mike into searching for him. They discover his totaled truck and a gift-wrapped bracelet. The wreckage leads back to a near-by cave system. An enormous spider hides inside. The teens convince some authority figures, including their science teacher, to investigate. The cave is sprayed with DDT and the spider is seemingly killed. Its carcass is hulled back into town. When a loud band begins practicing in the same room, the not-so-dead giant spider is awoken. The pissed-off arachnid goes on a rampage, Carol and Mike soon caught in its web again.
These aren't the only underdeveloped leaps in logic within "Earth Vs. the Spider." Mike and Carol's relationship does not seem sturdy. When she expresses concern about her father's disappearance, he doesn't think it's a big deal. Later, she has to plead with him over the phone to come help search for her dad, when he would much rather watch the new release at the movie theater. (Which just happens to be "Attack of the Puppet People," an earlier Mr. B.I.G. production.) He's hilariously selfish, which is probably a realistic depiction of what teenage boys where like in the fifties. Later, the duo uncover the remains of an explorer inside the spider's cave, which has apparently been undiscovered for decades despite being a short hike from the entrance. They also somehow survive being buried in a cave-in, after the police department decide to seal the cave opening with dynamite. The plot point of the "dead" spider being left in the school gymnasium, where the strangely mature looking band club's swinging jazz can wake it up, has to be justified with a simpleton janitor letting them in.
This motion picture was written and filmed with the title "Earth Vs. the Spider," which is what appears on-screen in its opening minutes. Yet all the trailers, posters, and promotional materials abbreviate the title to simply "The Spider." This change occurred not because the aggressive arachnid hardly takes on the whole Earth. ("A Small Town Vs. the Spider" would be a more accurate description of the story's events.) Instead, it was simply to cash-in on "The Fly," which had been a big hit earlier in 1958. Despite this, pretty much everyone calls this movie "Earth Vs. the Spider," because that helps distinguish it from the hundred other giant spider movies out there. It's hard to defend Gordon's movie on its own merits, which are pretty minuscule, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't crack a smile a couple times. It's such an amusingly slipshod production that I can't help but feel some joy while watching it. [6/10]
The episode of “The Hitchhiker” I really wanted to watch this October was “Made for Each Other.” Mainly because it starred Bill Paxton and Bud Cort as rival serial killers. Sadly, “The Hitchhiker” doesn't seem to be streaming anywhere legitimately and its later seasons are harder to find even in the realm of Youtube uploads. So I settled for “Ghostwriter,” from season two. The episode concerns Jeffrey, a critically acclaimed but unsuccessful novelist. Distraught with his lack of success, he seemingly kills himself. Naturally, this causes his writing to immediately become popular. His wife and agent, who are sleeping with each other, are happy to play along... Except Jeffrey isn't dead. He faked his suicide specifically to spurn on this “postmortem” success. This is bad news for his philandering spouse and her lover. Murderous shenanigans ensue.
“Ghostwriter” has a fun enough premise. I think anyone who dabbles in fiction, like myself, have entertained the possibility of becoming popular only after death. The scheme central to this episode allows one such author to experience this situation. The episode quickly spirals into seductions, attempted murders, repeated disposals of dead bodies, and double-crosses. The twists and turns – including the aggressively ironic final image – are pretty easy to anticipate but they are stylishly executed. Director Carl Schenkel, who made a few thrillers of minor acclaim, brings some intensity to a hot tub drowning and a corpse slumping out of a truck. He also quotes from the “Psycho” score extensively, showing the obvious debt the episode owes to Hitchcock.
A ghost story winning an Oscar might seem unexpected but that's exactly what happened in 1956. Before he made “The Innocents” – one of the all time greatest ghost films – Jack Clayton directed “The Bespoke Overcoat.” The 35-minute short went on to win the Oscar for Best Live Action Short that year. Granted, “The Bespoke Overcoat” is far from a traditional haunting story by any means. The film follows Morrie and Fender, two Jewish tailors. Fender, poor and destitute, goes to Morrie to ask him to mend an old coat for him. Morrie instead agrees to sew him a new coat for a bargain. Sadly, Fender dies shortly after being cruelly fired from his factory job, before Morrie can finish the coat. Fender then returns to his friend as a ghost, the two deciding to get the coat he deserved in life.
“The Bespoke Overcoat” most makes an impression thanks to its two lead performances. David Kossof, as Morrie, and Alfie Bass, as Fender, are both excellent. Both men convince the viewer that they have lived long lives, full of strife and struggle. The way Fender doesn't want to burden his friend with his troubles, or how he shares his bagel with a mouse in the factory, says a lot about his personality. Kossof, meanwhile, plays Morrie as a man who drinks too much to deal with his own lifetime of regrets. Both men have fantastic chemistry. The scenes devoted to them drinking and dancing, or a conversation about whether ghosts can walk through walls, are absolutely charming.
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