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List Price: $22.95Price: $19.99You Save: $2.96 (13%)Oldboy
Actors: Min-sik Choi, Ji-tae Yu, Hye-jeong Kang, Dae-han Ji, Dal-su Oh
ASIN : B0009S2T0M
Sales Rank : 3768
Director : Chan-wook Park
Brand : OLDBOY
Studio : Tartan Video
Region Code : 1
Format : AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0842498030042
UPC : 842498030042
Release Date : December 23, 2005
Publisher : Tartan Video
Manufacturer : Tartan Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Tartan Video
Running Time : 120
DescriptionOh Dae-su is an ordinary Seoul businessman with a wife and little daughter who, after a drunken night on the town, is abducted and locked up in a strange, private prison. No one will tell him why hes there and who his jailer is and his fury builds to a single-minded focus of revenge. 15 years later, he is unexpectedly freed, given a new suit, a cell-phone and 5 days to discover the mysterious enemy who had him imprisoned. Seeking vengeance on all those involved, he soon finds that his enemys tortures are just beginning. Amazon.comIn the realm of revenge thrillers, you'd be hard pressed to find more ultra-violent vengeance and psycho thrills than in the creepy story of Oldboy. This Korean import made a pop splash at the Cannes Film Festival and during its limited theatrical run thanks to the imprimatur of Quentin Tarantino, who raved about it and its visionary director, Chan-wook Park, to anyone who would listen. It's easy to see why QT fell in love with the grindhouse attitude, fast-paced action, violent imagery, and icy-black humor, but it's a disservice to think of Oldboy as another Tarantino homage or knockoff. The darkly existential undercurrent in the themes that Oldboy traces over its life-long narrative arc is much more complex and deeply disturbing than anything of its kind. The movie's tagline is, "15 years of imprisonment... 5 days of vengeance." The imprisonee is Oh Dae-Su, an ordinary Joe who is snatched off a Seoul street corner and locked away in a dank, windowless fleabag hotel room for the aforementioned 15 years. Just as abruptly he is released, and thus the five days begin. Why did this happen to Oh Dae-Su? Ah, but that would be telling, and in fact we don't know ourselves until the final wrenching scenes. Oldboy breaks into a classic three-act saga, the first of which details the hallucinatory period of imprisonment in which Oh Dae-Su wades from mild insanity to outright psychosis in the hands of unseen yet attentive captors. Act 2 is the revenge, when an entirely different tone takes over and Oh Dae-Su moves with single-minded purpose and clarity. It's this section that has gained the most notoriety, primarily for the claw-hammer dentistry scene, the one-man-army tracking shot, and the wriggling octopus that Oh Dae-Su consumes in a sushi bar (he's been dead so long he simply needs life back inside him in any way possible). In act 3, answers finally start to emerge and the sinister atmosphere grows even more profound--not without a healthy dose of extra bloodletting, of course. Oldboy is an undeniably poetic masterpiece of tension, fury, and dynamic craft. Ultimately, its epic cycle of tragedy is of the sort that mankind has been inflicting upon itself for all time. Some of the images may be gruesome, but all converge into a kind of beauty. It's in the telling of this lurid tale that these details become one and the memories of pain ultimately heal. --Ted Fry
Reviews for the Oldboy
List Price: $14.98Price: $6.99You Save: $7.99 (53%)Audition (Uncut Special Edition)
Actors: Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Tetsu Sawaki, Jun Kunimura, Renji Ishibashi
ASIN : B0009WFEDC
Sales Rank : 8262
Director : Takashi Miike
Studio : Lions Gate
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0031398178972
UPC : 031398178972
Release Date : December 23, 2005
Publisher : Lions Gate
Manufacturer : Lions Gate
Availability : In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
Label : Lions Gate
Running Time : 115
Amazon.comIf you want the full sledgehammer-to-the-stomach effect of Audition, stop reading this review now. Just watch it and take the consequences. At first glance, Takashi Miike's jack in the box of a movie works like a romantic comedy: amiable widower Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) decides it's time to find a new wife, and a friend suggests holding a fake audition to find the right girl. It soon becomes clear that there is something wrong with Aoyama's choice. This is no ordinary Fatal Attraction-style thriller, however; Audition slowly and carefully builds into a wrenching exploration of both deep male fears and the stereotype of the cute, submissive Japanese woman. Audition is by no means an easy movie to watch--even hardcore horror fans may have trouble--but it will stay with you for a long, long time. --Ali Davis
Reviews for the Audition (Uncut Special Edition)
List Price: $19.95Price: $14.99You Save: $4.96 (25%)Lady Vengeance
Actors: Yeong-ae Lee, Min-sik Choi, Kwang-rok Oh, Ha-kyun Shin, Su-hee Go
ASIN : B000GBEWNY
Sales Rank : 10794
Director : Chan-wook Park
Studio : Tartan Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0842498030240
UPC : 842498030240
Release Date : December 26, 2006
Publisher : Tartan Video
Manufacturer : Tartan Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Tartan Video
Running Time : 112
Amazon.comThe third stop in Chan-wook Park's breathless revenge trilogy, Lady Vengeance comes down slightly--just slightly--from the astonishing highs of middle segment Oldboy. Elegant and ultraviolent in equal measures, Lady Vengeance requires rapt attention from the opening moments, as Park unloads his set-up in a jumble of characters and flashbacks. At the center is a doll-faced ex-con named Geum-ja (Yeong-ae Lee), who just spent 13 years in the slammer for killing a little boy. There's much more to her case than the public knows, and Geum-ja has been carefully, quietly preparing for revenge against the man who put her in this situation. We watch those gears turning throughout the movie, but as Lady Vengeance nears its completion it broadens into an even bigger event than Geum-ja expected. Funny and horrifying, Lady Vengeance is as measured as Geum-ja's own preparations, and has a gorgeous sort of logic about it. As impressive as those machinations are to watch, the movie doesn't make as forceful an argument as Oldboy on just how revenge might be as punishing to the revenge-taker as for his target. Lee is a cool heroine, and Min-sik Choi, who did such heroically exhausting service in Oldboy, is here employed as the monster. (The film's title in the U.S., Lady Vengeance, is different from international title Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, a closer tie to the first part of the trilogy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance.) --Robert Horton
Reviews for the Lady Vengeance
List Price: $14.98Price: $10.49You Save: $4.49 (30%)Pulse
Actors: Haruhiko Katô, Kumiko Aso, Koyuki, Kurume Arisaka, Masatoshi Matsuo
ASIN : B000E0OE4O
Sales Rank : 20553
Director : Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Brand : MAGNOLIA HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Studio : Magnolia
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0876964000055
UPC : 876964000055
Release Date : December 21, 2006
Publisher : Magnolia
Manufacturer : Magnolia
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Magnolia
Running Time : 119
Product DescriptionOften referred to as one of the scariest films ever made PULSE tells the story of a group of young friends rocked by the sudden suicide of one of their own and his subsequent ghostly reappearance in grainy computer and video images. Is he trying to contact them from beyond the grave or is there something more sinister afoot? The mysterious floppy disk they find in the dead man's apartment may provide a clue but instead launches a program that seems to present odd ethereal transmissions of people engaged in solitary activities in their apartments. But there is something not quite right in the appearance and behavior of these lonely souls. Soon there are more strange deaths and disappearances within the group terrifying rooms sealed in red tape and the appearance of more ghosts as the city of Tokyo - and the world - is slowly drained of life.System Requirements:Running Time: 119 MInFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: NR UPC: 876964000055 Manufacturer No: 10005 Amazon.comA simplistic way to describe this creepy, atmospheric entry into the J-horror genre would be to call it Ringu (and its Americanized cousin, The Ring) with computers and the Internet standing in for telephones and videotape. Pulse certainly has the right credentials of psychological drama and existential technique to make it a standout of the scary style that has made this variety of Asian film so popular worldwide. The mysterious ambiance is heightened by several intersecting stories that outwardly have little connection and add up to a real head-scratcher of an ending. Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa brings a consistently enigmatic touch to the disturbing plot threads. One of them concerns a young man who starts seeing strange onscreen images that appear to be ghosts trapped in his new computer. Being somewhat technologically illiterate he enlists a woman at the local university to help him interpret the bizarre visual messages he receives. The vibe becomes increasingly more unsettling, especially as his modem starts connecting itself to the Internet for communication from beings that seem to be trapped, unable to do anything but mumble chilling pleas for help. Startling suicides, shadowy smudges of human forms that appear on walls, rooms sealed with red masking tape that are opened to reveal unseen terrors, and deserted backstreets of a noir-tinged Tokyo are just some of the thematic images that make Pulse such a spooky, unanswerable entry into the world of first-rate J-horror classics. --Ted Fry
Reviews for the Pulse
List Price: $19.95Price: $16.99You Save: $2.96 (15%)Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
Actors: Kang-ho Song, Ha-kyun Shin, Du-na Bae, Ji-Eun Lim, Bo-bae Han
ASIN : B000BGH2A4
Sales Rank : 8875
Director : Chan-wook Park
Studio : Tartan Video
Region Code : 1
Format : AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0842498030127
UPC : 842498030127
Release Date : December 22, 2005
Publisher : Tartan Video
Manufacturer : Tartan Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Tartan Video
Running Time : 122
DescriptionUnable to afford proper care for his sister dying from kidney failure, Ryu turns to the black market to sell his own organs only to end up cheated of his life savings. His girlfriend urges Ryu to kidnap the daughter of wealthy industrialist Dong-jin, who recently laid him off. Ryu agrees, but unforeseen tragedies turn an innocent con into a merciless quest for revenge. Bound by their personal losses and deep-seated anger, the two men are thrust into a spiral of destruction. Amazon.comBefore he made the notorious cult hit Oldboy, South Korean director Chan-wook Park created Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, an equally gruesome yet elegant meditation on revenge. Desperate to get a kidney transplant for his dying sister, a deaf and dumb young man named Ryu (Ha-kyun Shin, Save the Green Planet!) kidnaps the daughter of a wealthy industrialist named Park (Kang-ho Song, Shiri). Despite Ryu's best intentions, things go horribly awry, setting in motion a series of escalating revenges--to describe the plot in more detail would undercut the movie, because much of its power comes from the spare and skillful storytelling. Chan-wook Park is careful to ground the audience in the characters' emotional lives; when the violence begins, the bloody events unfold with the hypnotic power of the revenge tragedies of the Shakespearean era, which had over-the-top plots and littered the stage with bodies, yet were full of rich poetry. Park's eye for startling images and careful editing creates a visual poetry, grotesque yet often haunting. Certainly not a film for everyone--squeamish viewers had best beware, while anyone who wants their violence flagrant and guilt-free will be disappointed--but cinephiles looking to have their hearts squeezed along with their stomachs will enjoy Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. --Bret Fetzer
Reviews for the Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
List Price: $14.98Price: $6.99You Save: $7.99 (53%)Ringu
Actors: Nanako Matsushima, Miki Nakatani, Hiroyuki Sanada, Yuko Takeuchi, Hitomi Sato
ASIN : B000088NQR
Sales Rank : 11661
Director : Hideo Nakata
Brand : Paramount
Studio : Dreamworks Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780783286044
ISBN : 078328604X
UPC : 678149039528
Release Date : December 04, 2003
Publisher : Dreamworks Video
Manufacturer : Dreamworks Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Dreamworks Video
Running Time : 96
Product DescriptionStudio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/01/2007 Run time: 100 minutes Rating: R Amazon.comA grainy, enigmatic videotape has the power to kill people seven days after they watch it. This brilliant premise fueled the 2002 Hollywood hit The Ring, but before that it conquered Japan in Ringu, Hideo Nakata's quietly unsettling study in terror. Fans of the U.S. version will find a less elaborate storyline and more primal fear in the original; the basic plot, however, still has a worried reporter (Nanako Matsushima) tracking down the meaning of the video--and, having watched it herself, she has only a week to work. The film's calm, economical style actually adds to the creeping sense of dread throughout, and the hair-curling set-pieces stand out in contrast. Like an old photograph of something evil, Ringu has the strange-but-familiar power to unnerve. Guaranteed, its effect will linger for at least seven days. Longer... if you're lucky. --Robert Horton
Reviews for the Ringu
List Price: $14.98Price: $10.99You Save: $3.99 (27%)Ju-on (The Grudge)
Actors: Megumi Okina, Misaki Ito, Misa Uehara, Yui Ichikawa, Kanji Tsuda
ASIN : B00005JNJR
Sales Rank : 23843
Director : Takashi Shimizu
Brand : Lions Gate
Studio : Lions Gate
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0031398166801
UPC : 031398166801
Release Date : December 09, 2004
Publisher : Lions Gate
Manufacturer : Lions Gate
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Lions Gate
Running Time : 92
Product DescriptionAn eerie tale of a family who is brutally killed in their own home leaving behind an evil spirit lurking in the shadows. When an unknowing homecare worker enters the spirit is awakened & a terrifying chain of events begins passing through all those who step foot in this dark house. Us remake grudge Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 06/07/2005 Run time: 92 minutes Rating: R Amazon.comFollowing in the footsteps of The Ring cycle, the Ju-On series of horror films has taken Japan by the throat. According to this movie, the title refers to a curse placed upon a house where violence occurred. Sure enough, we see a string of unhappy encounters in a seemingly ordinary home, where ghosts have settled in the aftermath of murder. Director Takashi Shimizu (who also directed the Hollywood remake, The Grudge) constructs the picture out of separate fragments, not told in chronological order; the haunted house is the main character, not any one of the unsuspecting human characters. Cult mavens might suggest that Shimizu uses devices and images that have already worked well in films by Hideo Nakata and Kiyoshi Kurosawa--the Japanese horror film does have its conventions. But none of that matters if you're watching this movie alone at home on a dark night. Click, click, click.... --Robert Horton
Reviews for the Ju-on (The Grudge)
List Price: $39.98Price: $29.99You Save: $9.99 (25%)Ringu Anthology of Terror (Rasen/Ringu/Ringu 2/Ringu 0)
Actors: Nanako Matsushima, Miki Nakatani, Hiroyuki Sanada, Yuko Takeuchi, Hitomi Sato
ASIN : B0009X765K
Sales Rank : 21994
Director : Hideo Nakata, Jôji Iida, Norio Tsuruta
Studio : DreamWorks / Universal Studios
Region Code : 1
Format : AC-3, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9781417070169
ISBN : 1417070161
UPC : 678149443424
Release Date : December 23, 2005
Publisher : DreamWorks / Universal Studios
Manufacturer : DreamWorks / Universal Studios
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : DreamWorks / Universal Studios
Running Time : 389
Amazon.comThe release of Ringu - Anthology of Terror is a pretty shrewd marketing move. Even though the four discs are bare bones in content (no special features at all), the set is bound to be a must-have for completists who've gone ga-ga over the Asian horror craze -- not to mention anybody else looking for a terrific entrée to the genre. In case you're unaware, Ringu was the Japanese phenomenon that spawned the Hollywood thrillers, The Ring and The Ring Two. The Japanese hit also led the way for a slew of other Japanese and Korean movies that gave global prominence to a unique style emphasizing psycho chills over blood, guts, and the overt scare tactics that have pretty much defined Western horror movies in the modern era. The four entries in the Ringu cycle are a little uneven, but legitimate DVD library mainstays for anyone with even a passing interest in classics of horror. Ringu -- The granddaddy of Asian horror, or J-horror, was based on a bestselling novel by Koji Suzuki (as are all the movies in this set) and directed by Hideo Nakata, both of whom have become icons of the genre. Unlike the Americanized version, Ringu is perhaps more nerve wracking for the psychological tension it develops in the mystery of a cursed videotape, Sadako, the tormented girl dead for 30 years at the bottom of a well, and a little boy and his mother who must unravel the secret before the curse catches up with them. The details of life in modern Japan become all the more sinister as routine is upended by unfathomable madness. Rasen -- This weakest entry in the set is a direct sequel to "Ringu," and tries to weave a plot thread about a virus that infects any person who watches the cursed video. Though it adheres to some of the genre standards, the thrills are few and far between. Even for a story where a high level of suspension of disbelief is required, the plot line of a doctor trying to solve a mystery that clearly has no scientific basis just feels wrong. There are also precious few innovations of style in what comes off as little more than a perfunctory exercise. Ringu 2 -- Back in style, form, and disturbing content, this more apt sequel again finds director Hideo Nakata at the reigns (as he was for the much different take of Hollywood's The Ring Two). The story follows the young research assistant of Ryuji, one of Sadako's victims from the first film, as she becomes involved in the mystery of the tape. Ringu 2 intriguingly expands on the themes of the original film while resurrecting some of its characters and introducing new terrors. It also expands the stylistic limits of how horror movies can be all the more effective for stressing subtlety, intelligence, and uniqueness of vision. Ringu Ø -- Perhaps the most absorbing of the four, this prequel to the Ringu saga takes place 30 years in the past. It reveals the origin of Sadako's miserable journey to becoming a hateful spirit seething with wrath, rotting at the bottom of an old well waiting to reap vengeance on those who cast their gaze in the wrong direction. Full of inventive visual flair, there are some seriously creepy moments and ingenious sequences in the story of an acting troupe whose members mysteriously vanish or go insane. Sadako may or may not be behind it all, but the bloody finale makes clear that she'll have her revenge, whether she is to blame or not. --Ted Fry
Reviews for the Ringu Anthology of Terror (Rasen/Ringu/Ringu 2/Ringu 0)
List Price: $29.99Price: $26.99You Save: $3 (10%)Danger After Dark Collection (Suicide Club/ Moon Child/ 2LDK)
Actor: Maho Nonami; Daisuke Kizaki; Eiko Koike; Hideto Takarai; Gackt Camui; Lee-Hom Wang; Taro Yamamoto; Susumu Terajima; Zeny Kwok; Seiji Chihara; Kôji Chihara; Yosh; James H. Thomas; Anne Suzuki; Ryo Ishibashi; Etsushi Toyokawa; You Kurosaki; Kanata Hongô; Akaji Maro
ASIN : B000FDFKH0
Sales Rank : 20801
Director : Yukihiko Tsutsumi; Takahisa Zeze; Sion Sono
Brand : TLA RELEASING
Studio : TLA Releasing
Format : Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Limited Edition, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0807839002133
UPC : 807839002133
Release Date : December 27, 2006
Publisher : TLA Releasing
Manufacturer : TLA Releasing
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : TLA Releasing
Running Time : 288
Product DescriptionLoaded with blood and mayhem the first collection from Danger After Dark is a trio of action-packed cult-favorites from Japan. In Suicide Club a wave of unexplained suicides sweeps across Tokyo after 54 smiling girls join hands and throw themselves in front of an oncoming train. Meanwhile Japanese pop sensations Gackt and HYDE star in Moon Child a wildly entertaining hybrid of futuristic sci-fi John Woo-style gunplay and gothic vampire horror. The triumvirate is completed with 2LDK a vicious comedy about two roommates whose petty catfight turns into a duel to the death. System Requirements:Running Time 288 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: NR UPC: 807839002133 Manufacturer No: TLAB001
Reviews for the Danger After Dark Collection (Suicide Club/ Moon Child/ 2LDK)
List Price: $29.95Price: $26.99You Save: $2.96 (10%)Cure
Actors: Masato Hagiwara, Kôji Yakusho, Tsuyoshi Ujiki, Anna Nakagawa, Yoriko Douguchi
ASIN : B0000YAEHK
Sales Rank : 52745
Director : Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Studio : Homevision
Region Code : 1
Format : Anamorphic, Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780780026988
ISBN : 0780026985
UPC : 037429181225
Release Date : December 06, 2004
Publisher : Homevision
Manufacturer : Homevision
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Homevision
Running Time : 111
DescriptionIn the tradition of Seven and Silence of the Lambs comes this genuinely spine-tingling horror/thriller from one of Japan’s most talked about filmmakers, Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Set in and around a bleak, decaying Tokyo, a series of murders have been committed by average, ordinary people who claim to have had no control over their horrifying actions. Following the only link—a mysterious stranger who had brief contact with each perpetrator/victim—detective Kenichi Takabe (Koji Yakusho, Shall We Dance, Warm Water Under A Red Bridge) places his own sanity on the line as he tries to end the wave of inexplicable terror. Amazon.comIn the hands of director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, a serial-killer movie is not merely a serial-killer movie. Cure doesn't so much scream and shout as drive the audience slowly crazy--much like Kurosawa's subsequent creepfests, Seance and Pulse (a.k.a. Kairo). Koji Yakusho, the happy-foot husband in Shall We Dance, plays a weary detective on a baffling murder case, which paradoxically becomes even more puzzling as the solution begins to emerge. Kurosawa's use of empty spaces, and his uncanny command of the soundtrack (the eerie collection of hums and drones would win David Lynch's approval) makes for a shivery experience... though not one interested in resolving itself in a conventional manner. And why should it? At some terrible point in this movie you realize that catching the bad guy isn't going to make Kurosawa's poisoned world any cleaner or safer. Stick with the director's elliptical style, and Cure will leave dread in its tainted wake. --Robert Horton
Reviews for the Cure
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