Asian cinema begining to suck?!?

[x666x]

My girlfriend and I just came back from the Fantasia festival in Montreal. Overall, it was pretty cool but here is a conclusion that I came to. Asian cinema is on the decline. Here is why I think so.

They screened a trailor for the movie Stacy and it looks terrible. Bad acting, bad music and the effects could have been done on someone's home computer. The audience was laughing at it. Not in the Dead Alive/Evil Dead 2 way either-trust me. There was a thread posted here a while ago about how bad Stacy is and they were right. No matter how good the description seems, do not buy it. Don't even rent it.

Then we saw Big Slaughter Club and it too was terrible for all the same reasons. We were actually insulted that Fantasia screened this film. The only reason why more people did not leave during its screening was that the producer was there. She even said that the reason they made the film was because they think they could make money off of it. And they did. The film only cost $80,000 (asian) to make and made over $300,000 there. Let's not give them any more here in North America.

Audition, Ichi, Battle Royale, Versus and the popularity of the Ring has spawned great attention towards Asian cinema here in North America. But now it seems that all we get for the most part are supernatural/Ring ripoffs from Asia and they kinda suck. The makers of Versus has not and will not come close to making a film like that again. The sequal for Battle Royale is apparently bad. And Takashi Miike is not a reason to watch shit movies made from others that used to work with him.

The Italians had their time with Giallos and Cannibal films but that has diminished greatly. Now it seems to be the case with the Asian market.

Your comments towards my opinion, however harsh, would be appreciated...

[Andrew]

I personally really enjoyed STACY, and I really don't see why no one has enjoyed it. There are tons of injokes (but not to the point of annoyingness), an interesting premise (sp?), and great gore. I'd hate to see the Asian films die off so soon, the recent horror successes (RINGU, AUDITION, etc.) have only been around for what, 6 or 7 years? Gialli were around from the '60's to the mid '80's. That's a pretty big difference. It'd also be quite disappointing, as I'm just getting into it after loving BATTLE ROYALE, RINGU, JUNK, STACY, and AUDITION.

[Wermode]

I think it may be a bit premature to declare the end of good Asian horror. Suicide Circle and Dark Water came out in 2002 (after Stacy). St. John's Wort, Inugami, Kakashi, and Kairo are from 2001. We could debate the merits and flaws of these films, but I think we can agree that they are well-executed films that at least attempt to do something original, creative, and artistic.

I do agree that the success of Ring, Audition, BR, etc. will continue to spawn cheap imitations from around the world just to make someone some quick money. I'm optimistic, though, that Asian writers and directors will recognize that the true factor behind the success of these films is creative, artistic execution.

[Deaddevilman]

Originally posted by x666x
The makers of Versus has not and will not come close to making a film like that again.

You have got to see Kitamura's latest films. Alive and Azumi, both are much better then Versus. He's recently signed a deal with Miramax to do two films with them, they should be able to provide him with some solid writers, quality crew and a nice size budget. I wouldn't make such a broad generalization based on several Asian films you have seen at a festival. 95% of the films made in Asia never make it out of the Asian market.

[Erg0n]

Whoa what a bold comment to make especially since in your posts you refered to only 2 films in Fantasia. Remember that fantasia doesn't not account for all asian movies. Not even close.

Having said that it can easily be said that asian cinema has more crap movies than they do good ones and this isn't exclusive to Asia...

There are great movies coming out from asia, it's just that you have to filter out the shit movies first.

Asian cinema does not suck and is not in decline.

[x666x]

Yeah. I did realize that I was painting some rather broad strokes with that statement. Every genre has far more bad films than good. It was just that what seems to be coming to surface in North America recently is definately not up to par given some brilliant films released in the past. It is just offensive to hear the producer of Big Slaughter Club name drop Takashi Miike. Especially considering how phenominal he is while her movie sucked and that the only reason they made it is strickly based on business.

Has anyone seen Big Slaughter Club yet! Anything good to say about it?

[x666x]

...as I'm still awaiting activation on my own account - I'll post on here
(the opinions expressed in this post are belonging to "Gloomy Grrl Inc." and do not reflect those of "x666x")
You have got to see Kitamura's latest films. Alive and Azumi, both are much better then Versus.
I have seen "Alive", and... well... :sleepy: - althoughy visually and technically superior to Versus, I felt it really lacked the energy. There were a couple of points where the film could have ended, and when it didn't - an audible groan was rasied by many in the audience.
I watched it with a group of Versus fans, and although we really REALLY wanted to love this movie - we all had to admit that it was a letdown.
I haven't seen Azumi yet, but if it's anything like Alive - I'll need espresso first!
~Gloomy Grrl~:evil:

[Deaddevilman]

Originally posted by x666x

I have seen "Alive", and... well... :sleepy: -

Gloomy girl, name fits you well:D