Author: Rob Daniel

A great slice of suspense with three great turns from three female greats, it is a shame ‘Web of Deception’ appears to be David Chung’s final film to date.

An emotionally potent piece of work, ‘Vital’ tells a fractured, engaging story of obsessive love and controlled anguish, skilfully mixing past and present.

Indebted to ‘The Sixth Sense’ it may be, but ‘Visible Secret’ eschews the surreal shocks of current Japanese and Korean horror cinema.

An eclectic and compelling triumvirate of screen darkness, it would be a shame if this marked the end of the ‘Three’ experiment. How about a film from female directors for the next instalment?

‘Three’ is a bold idea, but one out of three is too bad. The follow-up, ‘Three… Extremes’ would do it all better.

Providing meat for the mind as well as fireworks for the senses ‘Sympathy for Lady Vengeance’ is one of the best films of 2006.

A knockabout punch-up of a movie, ‘Street Mobster’ flamboyantly bloodies the audience’s nose with its raw brutality and antisocial behaviour.

The final impression is that Otomo’s steampunk epic is much like a billow of steam: diverting for a while, but once it stops there is little indication it ever actually happened.

Humour, heart and high-level animation all combine to make ‘Spirited Away’ an overwhelmingly rewarding and endlessly magical experience.

Borrowing heavily from Nakata’s ‘Dark Water’ and Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’, Laranas’ ‘The Echo’ brings nothing new to the overcrowded Asian horror market.

Eye-popping displays of martial arts mixed with WWE style chair and table smashing exhilarate the senses.

Not a classic, but for those not yet bored by vengeful serial killing and familial mysteries, there is much to recommend here.