Synesthesia/"Gimi Hebun" (2005)

Genre: Drama/Murder Mystery
Directed by Toru Matsuura
Written by Yuji Sakamoto
Japanese w. English subtitles

/5

The Deal...

Shoku is a young man afflicted by a rare mental disorder called "synesthesia:" the regions of his brain designated to the five senses function as a single unit, causing him to see colours when he hears sounds, or feel sensations when he views paintings or photographs. He leads a strange and lonely, albeit quiet, life, acting as a professional voyeur with his best friend, Takashi... until one day, a malfunctioning camera leads the friends to a troubled young schoolgirl named Mari, and they find themselves aiding a detective in the investigation of a serial killer that is also believed to be a synethesist...

It is rumored that there occurs, every once in a while, a miracle of medical sorts, in which two synesthesists are born that experience the exact same mixed sensations; in essence, live in the same private world. Shoku may have found his proverbial twin, a person to share his lonely existence with... but it seems that this "twin" comes in a distasteful package: a serial killer that targets his victims via a mysterious computer game in which he appears in the form of a white deer. For better or worse, Shoku's life is about to change forever...

Mermaid In a Manhole/"Manhoru No Naka No Ningyo" (1988 Short Film)

Genre: Horror/the worst movie I've ever seen
Directed by Hideshi Hino
Japanese w. English subs

0 /5


(Watch the Trailer Here)

The Deal...
Mr. Haydashi, a struggling artist whose wife has recently left him, seeks solace in his paintings. For inspiration, he secretly travels down into the sewer system, making art of darkness and filthy things. On one such trip, he discovers a mermaid that construction has displaced from her river home. Residing in the sewer, the mermaid has contracted a horrible skin infection, and it is clear that she is slowly dying. Determined to do all that he can to save her life, Haydashi takes her from the tepid sewers to his small apartment where she may live out the last few days of her life comfortably, in his bathtub. Haydashi cares for her and paints her portrait as the infection quite literally eats her alive.

Arang (2006)

Genre: Horror/Mystery
Directed by Sang-Hoon Ahn
Written by Sang-Hoon Ahn, Seon-Ju Jeong, Jeong-Seob Lee, & Yun-Kyung Sin
Korean w. English Subs

/5


(Watch the Trailer Here)

The Deal...
Director Sang-Hoon Ahn borrows the traditional Korean folktale "Arang" and transforms it into a modern-day thriller about a series of inexplicable murders, a haunted salthouse by the sea, and a vengeful ghost that carries a shameful secret. Haunted by an encounter with a vicious sexual predator as a young woman and determined to deliver justice, Min So-Young becomes a detective at a Korean police headquarters. Having been assigned the fresh, inexperienced Lee Hyun-Gi as her partner, Min is handed the case of several mysterious murders: young men that were friends in life, and have apparently been suffocated by ghostly hands. Driven by her own emotions, Min takes a special interest in the case when she discovers a vague and mysterious connections between the string of murders and an abandoned salthouse in the Korean countryside that is said to be haunted by the ghost of a girl that disappeared 5 years ago. Gradually, Min and Lee unravel the sorrowful tale of the girl's last weeks alive, the reasons for the serial murders, and the true identity of the serial murderer...

Cello/"Homgmijoo Ilga Salinsagan" (2005)

Genre: Horror/Drama/Mystery
Directed by Woo-cheol Lee
Written by Woo-cheol Lee
Korean w. English subtitles

/5

(Watch the Trailer Here)

The Deal...
When music theory instructor Hong Mi Ju gives a bad grade to a cello prodigy, the angered student vows revenge. Mi Ju is shaken, but thinks nothing of it... until her household is turned upsidedown by a series of terrifying events: Mi Ju recieves threatening text messages, finds her car tires slashed, and hears haunting cello music coming from her eldest daughter's room. At first, Mi Ju blames the vengeaful student and seeks disciplinary action... until a mysterious, mute housekeeper arrives unannounced, and someone ends up dead. Mi Ju's focus shifts from a simple shunted pupil, to the untimely death of her best friend, 10 years prior. As her family falls into turmoil, it becomes clear that this is more than an issue of bad-grades. What Mi Ju has on her hands may be something supernatural; something that she must search her traumatic long-buried past to conquer...

Martyrs (2008)

Genre: Horror/Drama/Thriller
Directed by Pascal Laugier
Written by Pascal Laugier
French w. English Dub/Subtitles

/5

(Watch the Trailer Here)

The Deal...
As a young girl, Lucy spends years imprisoned and severally abused before making a daring and seemingly-impossible escape and taking refuge at an orphanage where she is haunted by the images of her captors and their brutality. Here she makes a lifelong vow of friendship with fellow orphan, Anna. "Martyrs" takes place fifteen years later. The girls are still inseparable. Anna has grown into a decent and rational adult, but is subject to the whims of the violent, irrational creature that Lucy has become. Bent on finding and killing the monsters that starved and tortured her as a child and haunted by the yurei-like ghost of a disfigured woman, Lucy leads Anna into a labyrinth of vengeance, bloodshed and malice where she soon falls prey and prisoner to a mysterious organization bent on turning young women into "martyrs:" a being that is transformed through suffering.

Book of Blood (2008)

Genre: Horror/Absolute Garbage
Directed by John Harrison
Written by John Harrison & Darin Silverman
Based on short stories by Clive Barker
English

/5


(Watch the Trailer Here)

The Deal...
Mary Florescu is a clairvoyant. Since she was only a child, she has had visions of the other world: strange, tortured children and fountains spewing blood. She has made a living investigating paranormal happenings and writing best-selling novels about her experiences with the supernatural. When she decides to take on a teaching position at an out-of-town collegiate, a colleague reveals the existence of a local haunted house that is rumoured to have been the site of several grisly murders. With the help of tech-savvy skeptic Reg, Mary moves into the house, determined to uncover the secrets of its past and write another popular novel. Along the way, Mary recruits student Simon; a troubled young psychic that, at the age of 9, foresaw his older brother's untimely death. Little does the group know that the house is an "intersection:" a place where highways of the dead meet and spill over into our world. The dead are determined to have their stories told and not to fade away into obscurity, and they have chosen Simon as their "book:" a Book of Blood.