Genre: Thriller

‘Death Bell’ is certainly not the best the genre has to offer, but it is a harmless little frightfest that has a few hints of ‘Saw’ and ‘Battle Royale’ thrown in.

Right from the opening, it’s blatantly obvious that ‘Death Note’ is skipping some of the more important and enjoyable aspects of the story.

Despite using well worn action tropes as a framework to pit two men against one another, the film spins a refreshing take on these tropes to constantly surprise the viewer and ultimately deliver an emotional wallop.

Stories of mismatched characters rely on the relationship between the two and ‘Detective Chinatown’ has a pair who play off each other’s quirks remarkably well.

A sort of mix between ‘Freaky Friday’ and ‘Face/Off’ but with a lot bloodier horror and grimness, ‘Devils’ is some tough, grue splattered, body-swap thrills.

For the most part ‘Die Fighting’ is an excellent (meta) martial arts flick showcasing the Z Team to be major players on the action movie block meaning breath is abated for their next feature film.

‘Don’t Cry, Mommy’ is a decent entry into the revenge genre, albeit a fairly imperfect one.

‘Don’t Give A Damn’ provides some good action and a distracting 100 minutes, but don’t expect another Sammo masterpiece.

It’s not exactly the best Van Damme movie around, but ‘Double Team’ remains entertaining fluff thanks to a few entertaining action highlights.

Despite the occasional bloody highlight, ‘Dr. Lamb’ is a tough film to recommend as it often feels like little more than a collection of brutal murders.

The film wastes the majority of talent involved and meanders along without anything even remotely memorable to offer.

It will forever be a footnote in Yeoh’s career (especially now) but it offers a comforting bit of nostalgia. And not a great deal else, sadly.