Reviews

• 

  The Ghost

  3.0
  Horror  •  South Korea

  Kim Tae-Kyung’s ‘The Ghost’ rises well above the attempts of its contemporaries to cut an individualistic path through legions of countless ‘Ring’ imitators.

• 

  Survival Family

  4.5
  Comedy, Drama  •  Japan

  The humour is never forced and the drama never over-cooked, meaning that as a whole, the film hits its targets with remarkable accuracy.

• 

  A Blood Pledge

  2.5
  Horror  •  South Korea

  Lee’s outing in the series really isn’t quite a bad as it might appear, and still contains enough spooky incidence and unexpected scares to make it a decent timewaster for most Asian horror fans.

• 

  Sweet Bean

  4.0
  Drama  •  Japan

  Once again, Japan has given us the cinematic equivalent of an antique porcelain swan – something so beautiful, delicate and sublimely crafted that it’s hard not to be impressed.

• 

  Arang

  3.5
  Horror  •  South Korea

  The horror sequences are mandatory to the plot, but they have been stripped back and diffused of much of their sting, in favour of concentrating on the police procedural aspect and mystery behind the four friends’ criminal bond.

• 

  Guardians Of The Tomb

  2.0
  Action, Adventure, Horror  •  Australia, China

  The somewhat sluggish pace, the constant need to flashback to an incident from Li’s past, and a surfeit of cardboard characters rob the flick of any adventure fun.