Runtime: 88 minutes
Directed by: Lester Hsi
Starring: Ning Chang, Cheng Ko, J.C. Lin, Summer Meng, Vera Yen
From: Quite a few different Taiwanese companies
This is the first of two horror films I am reviewing here today; last night there was time to see a pair, and both were on Netflix. After over a year, I signed up for it again... only to discover my account must have been purged due to being gone for that long. That's alright, as the joke's on them... it still remembered my e-mail and password, yet the first month was still free; who knows if I'll stay on for longer than that. The whole Cuties controversy that's resulted in mass hysteria from a bunch of people that have never seen it and only have heard slanted opinions about it or seen the HORRIBLE way Netflix promoted it... it's made a lot of people (including ones I know personally) look rather foolish. Without having viewed it myself, being pissed at how the service treated the movie is likely more legitimate than the anger towards Cuties itself.
Anyhow, this movie was spotted while searching through their horror section; before viewing, only the basic plot and country of origin was known. Otherwise this was a true blind watch, as its ratings on IMDB or Letterboxd were not seen beforehand. It was possible I would be walking towards a dumpster fire, especially considering it's Netflix. It also gave me an opportunity to relay an anecdote from the past. Approximately 20 years ago, me and some pals went to a road rather close to where I grew up in the northern area of Illinois. It is a rural route known as Bloods Point Road, which does have some online infamy; it was my only time on a road that has many infamous legends... most of which I am sure are hogwash. I wish I could tell a blood-curdling tale concerning this trip which will be seared into the minds of everyone reading this, but nope. Anything paranormal was never experienced; everyone ran the hell away to one of the several cars that everyone carpooled in after headlights were seen then they vanished. Of course, that wasn't even viewed with my own eyes and the obvious explanation was that it was either the cops doing that to scare people away, or random people did that as a way to scare people away.
As for my regaling of this story, we all parked by a bridge and its legend is that a bus full of schoolchildren perished in an accident on it due to the vehicle plunging down to the train tracks below. I know for certain that story is false; of course, this story concerns a footbridge on a college campus but my point still stands. It is part traditional narrative, part documentary (a lady reporter and a cameraman filming for a news story) and part found footage, but it's all Asian Ghost as a legend concerning a death on a bridge is shown. Every four years there is a “courage challenge” revolving around this bridge; the present and past are shown concurrently as every four years-meaning every Leap Year-multiple people die attempting that challenge. Not only does it have the type of ghost you'd expect (and I expect even though I haven't viewed any of those movies) it also has some found footage cliches.
Yes you heard it right, I've never checked out such pictures as Ju-On: The Grudge and what has become known as Ringu in America but apparently it's just known as Ring in Japan; at least it is very easy to track those down and as this season is the perfect time... anyway, while this wasn't terrible, it does have some contrivances-such as this university having its student population barely seen aside from the lead characters. Be that as it may, at least it does earn an average rating as I can't say it is incompetent and at least there are some decent scares. In addition, it reminds me that Bloods Point Road-how it got that name is a mystery to me-would theoretically make for a rad horror film; the people that live in my county wouldn't agree, but as I don't live there anymore...
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