20th Century Boys

20th Century Boys 1: Beginning of the End
20-seiki shônen: Honkaku kagaku bôken eiga


20th Century Boys 2:  The Last Hope
20-seiki shônen: Dai 2 shô - Saigo no kibô


20th Century Boys 3:  Redemption
20-seiki shônen: Saishû-shô - Bokura no hata


This is a series of three movies produced from 2008-2009 from Japan.  The movies is based on an award winning magna series called Yawara written by Naoki Urasawa.

When my week long venture of watching these three was over I was happy.  I can see why this might have been a huge success in Japan.  It was kind of gory and in some ways seriously creepy.  The story continuously develops and devolves as more and more information lost in the minds of the group who wrote a story during their childhood.  This is the story of one man, Friend, who climbed to the top of the religious/global political ladders and a group of childhood friends who must gather together years later to fight against the evil that Friend is unleashing on the world.  

Aside from being a super long story this set of movies was cool.  The special effects left a little to be desired and the style of filming was a little different, but all in all for another take on the end of the world it was worth the watch.  I don't think I'll watch it twice though.   

Huang cun gong yu - Curse of the Deserted

Huang cun gong yu - Curse of the Deserted
Singapore (2010)
Starring:  Shawn Yue, Kitty Zhang Yuqi, Zefeng Li

I was kind of hoping and expecting more from Curse of the Deserted.  The movie was filmed well and the actors did good, but the story wasn't quite what I was hoping.  From all of the trailers I was hoping that this would be scary enough to keep me on the edge of my seat.  Sadly it wasn't really scary.  The story was okay though.  I think the writer and director were going for a psychological thriller that didn't quite pan out the way they expected.

With that said, for a ghost story that isn't super freaky with some slight mind bending story behind it it is worth a couple hours on a boring night.

La Herencia Valdemar - The Valdemar Legacy

La Herencia Valdemar - The Valdemar Legacy
Spain
2010
Starring:  Daniele Liotti, Oscar Jaenada, Silvia Abscal, and Laia Marull

The Valdemar Legacy was a decent horror movie.  There's a twist or two that I didn't expect.  The dark style Spanish movies are known for is also present, Jose Aleman uses contrast between shadow and light well throughout the movie as a means to help create the scene and convey the story.

La Herencia Valdemar begins with a well respected property appraiser being given the opportunity to appraise an old remote estate, the Valdemar mansion.  What she finds there will change her life.  When she is out of contact for a few days her boss hires Nicolas to locate her and ensure that she completes her appraisal.  Nicolas soon discovers the legend of the Valdemar properties.  Through the movie there is a story within a story that is very well placed and played out.  There are also appearances by at least two of history's infamously evil figures.  

In this movie the cinematography is pretty good, the acting is alright, the plot is somewhat unique, and the flow of the story is well enough to keep you watching.  The Valdemar Legacy is just part one of a story.  Part two, La Sombra Prohibida, should be releasing on DVD some time in the next few months.

The Haunting - No-Do

The Haunting (aka No-Do)
Spain
2009
Starring:  Ana Torrent, Francisco Boira, and Hector Colome

No-Do is a horror movie from Spain.  In its own rights it is unique.  There are some heavily borrowed parts of this movie, but it did still contain some originality.  I found the beginning a little hard to follow, yet towards the end it all fell into place.

This movie wasn't overly gory, but did of course contain some gore.  It also had a number of spirit hauntings and one bad ass demon.  The church is featured heavily throughout the movie and plays a multi-sided stereotypical role.  Who else is going to try and expel your demons though?

All in all it wasn't a horrible movie, not terribly scary either.  There were times when the level of fright portrayed by the actors wasn't quite in line with the story, but I think that's where many horror movies go wrong anyway. It did have that famous Spanish dark overtone that you'll find in movies like Pan's Labyrinth or The Orphanage.


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La Hora Fria - The Cold Hour

La Hora Fria - The Cold Hour (AKA The Dark Hour)
Spain
2006
Starring:  Silke, Omar Munoz, and Pepo Oliva

La Hora Fria is dubbed a horror, mystery, sci-fi movie.  It fits the sci-fi category; works with the mystery category; yet, I wouldn't call it a horror.

I keep an eye out and continue to look for new sci-fi and horror movies from Spain because there is something just a little different about them that I like.  Maybe I'll figure it out in the next 5 or 10 of them that I come across.  It could be that I understand about 85% of Spanish movies in their native language so a little less is lost in translation.

La Hora Fria is no exception.  The movie followed suite with a post apocalyptic theme, a little creepiness, and a plot that I couldn't figure out till the movie was over.  Then this one kept me pondering the situations presented throughout the plot.  The movie twists all the way through the plot and has an ending that I didn't guess or predict.  I recommend this move for anyone that enjoy's  slower moving sci-fi and mystery movies that keep you wondering all the way through.

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