Kurt sHARP (BaggiesHouse) I don't exactly know why, but several times throughout this movie I got exactly the same feeling you do when you watch (if you ever did), tales of the unexpected.Whether it was because of the sometimes thickly laid on "Twists" or whether it was just because of the fact that there were three short stories here as opposed to one feature length film, I can't quite put my finger on. To me, it seemed like three high budget episodes of a series rather than three short films.From an effects point of view, the first and third were pretty well polished, though to be honest, none of them did anything that could be considered really "New" or different. They seem to rely on the old tried and tested techniques of Long black hair obscuring faces, apparitions emerging from puddles of water, or ghoulish figure approaching rapidly in a sort of "Jump Frame" animation. However, I must admit that the black hollowed out eyes used a few times do hit the mark.However, it must be said that the sound effects and overall ambient noise was good throughout (Though could never match up to the standards of Kairo), very nice if you're hooked up to a DTS or Dolby Digital system. Ominous background rumbles, silence barring a single rolling marble, and other effective spot effects.As for whether the shorts were indeed scary, well, there were sure a few times in the first that give you a little chill. The second seemed to lack in this department, as did the third.For me however the third was also confusing, in a similar way to memento mori, you can sometimes loose track of which character is which as scenes cut quickly between the characters and also between past and present. This spoilt the third one for me but I will probably try to watch the third segment again, if only to try and figure out what the director meant you to see, even if not to figure out the intended mystery that once again twists at the end.All in all, don't expect anything new or groundbreaking, or memorable stories that will stay with you after the credits roll. Though, if you accept that what you're in for is a set of acceptable "Episode" style short stories in the classic Asian horror Genre, then there are worse ways to spend your evening.Now... Where did I put Three Extremes...

Mappyman Black Night is a compilation of three scary stories and are all filmed in different parts of Asia. The first story "Next Door" (filmed in Hong Kong) is definitely the scariest of the three. It involves a (very attractive Thaiwanese) girl returning to her cheating boyfriend only to find there's another (Chinese) girl in the picture. The other girl not only wants her out of their lives but now wants both of them dead. Its very creepy and the camera-work is definitely topnotch, as you get some of the strangest angles of how the girl sneaks up on them. This chapter not only had a good story but a really scary ghost and was the most violent of the three.The second story "Dark Hole" (filmed in Japan) involves a relatively simple lady who keeps seeing ghosts of dead people coming after her. She apparently has forgotten her past memory of having found an imaginary creature as a kid. The creature is brought back to her under hypnosis by the therapist who is trying to help her find out why she is seeing these things. The creature's desire to kill those who cross her turns deadly as she realizes that maybe SHE is the one with double-personality and it might not exist at all.The third story "Lost Memory" (filmed in Thailand) is more story driven about a wife/mother who recently lost some of her more important memories in a car crash. Some of them are cloudy and vague while others she may have completely invented herself. Shes uncertain which people in her lives are still here or may be dead, but there's a side plot of child kidnappers on the news so maybe she is a victim of that. It gets fairly confusing as you don't learn the truth until the end of this one so its less scary than confusing.All three are very dark and while some are more scary than psychologically disturbing, its overall a good experience in Asian horror.

DICK STEEL When I can sit through a horror genre film and actually poke fun at its stupidity, then you know that there really is nothing to be afraid of. While the attempt is good, the delivery is pretty bad. The acting's mediocre at best, and the ghouls look extremely cheap.A Pan-Asian production, we see three different stories, each done with a different director helming the production. What I disliked about the movie is it's passing off 3 distinct horror shorts as a feature length production. They tried to have a unifying theme / element throughout, and it turned out to be the rehash of Ju-On/Dark Water. It's time horror filmmakers know to move on. Not everything must be from puddles of water and little boys you know? "Next Door" is the Hong Kong portion, directed by Patrick Leung. We see a love triangle being formed between 2 girls and a guy. Well, make that 1 girl, 1 guy and 1 vengeful female spirit, who probably deserved to die in the first place for engaging in kinky sex games involving handcuffs. The ending's pretty ridiculous, and drew laughter rather than terror. What's worse, the characters can't seem to decide what language to speak in. From Cantonese to Mandarin, then to a mixture of both in the same sentence, it suggested that the filmmakers are suffering from lingua-schizophrenia (ooh, did I just create a new term?). The twist in the end is plain blah, and the little marble boy served no purpose other than to create cheap scares."Black Hole" is the Japanese section, directed by Takahiko Akiyama. This one provided better scares with its horrific eyes-hollowed-out ghosts and special effects, but the storyline's a plain bore, about an aquarium usher having her past memory wiped out due to some early childhood trauma. It's psycho-analytical blabber which should have shut up and let the scares do the talking. Again there's a little boy involved, and again, a body of water plays an important element. But we don't really care much about it now, do we? "The Lost Memory" is perhaps the best amongst all three. Directed by Thai Thanit Jitnukul, at least it had a relatively stronger storyline, one which tried to tug at your heartstrings as it dealt with family - an estranged husband and wife, and their child. It talks about promises, and the seeking of closure and forgiveness. But it reeks of Ju-On all over again, and the little boy looked like a Hulk reject with his green skin. Perhaps the only scary factor was the loud fall onto the toilet bowl. Really made you feel the pain.From Reincarnation to Black Night, this week's dark offerings are a joke, a meek attempt to make some moolah. Don't get conned - either watch something else which is worth your time, or wait for the right horror movie to come by. The little boy in Omen666 looks scary enough though - hold onto your hell money for 6/6/06.