Runtime: 123 minutes
Directed by: Yeon Sang-ho
Starring: Gianna Jun, Koo Kyo-hwan, Ji Chang-wook, Kim Shin-rock, Shin Hyun-been
From: Many different South Korean companies
Train to Busan has so much good will w/ me, such cachet, I was happy to see Colony theatrically despite not enjoying either Seoul Station or Peninsula. Busan is great & the good word, re: Colony gave me the impetus for last night’s viewing after not watching any films Saturday night. It’s been too long since experiencing any Korean cinema, let alone one on the big screen.
Instead of a zombie apocalypse film, Yeon Sang-ho created an infected/virus picture. A bio-terror attack is unleashed on a skyscraper, which has both a mall (it does invoke Dawn of the Dead vibes) and a conference room where a CEO is giving a presentation on slime mold and collective intelligence. A genius madman (I do believe that there’s only a thin line between “genius” and “insanity”) is hellbent on revenge and also has a warped opinion on humanity’s future; a group of disparate characters-ranging from “woman in wheelchair” and police officer to dumb youth and a female professor-are quarantined in the building w/ that madman.
Colony is not focused on delivering a gory bloodbath. Rather, this is an action-horror hybrid like Busan; rather, the viewer should expect our protagonists to run & hide, with occasional fighting. By this point, infected virus movies are… well, they seem to be the rage. Colony does have its flaws, some details I could nitpick, a plot that at times I was ahead of the characters & guessed what was going on.
The criticisms I have did not ruin the experience; a grand old time was still had w/ Colony. There is the drama I expect from South Korean cinema; while there’s only the brief appearance of a little girl crying, adults certainly cry and not every protagonist survives this ordeal. What made this stand out from the rest: the focus on hard science. A professor on the scene & others investigating outside the skyscraper deal with a virus that’s like a fungus. What I meant earlier by “collective intelligence” is that everyone infected has a hive mind; apt comparisons are made to ants. Furthermore, they frequently receive “upgrades” which increases their intelligence & increases the threat.
Colony thankfully worked quite well for me. For my peculiar tastes, I MUCH prefer modern horror to be fun like this rather than those dour, self-serious, pretentious, somber horror pictures that are preoccupied w/trauma & grief.
Tales from the Crypt Presents: Bordello of Blood (1996)
Runtime: 87 minutes
Directed by: Gilbert Adler
Starring: Dennis Miller, Erika Eleniak, Angie Everhart, Chris Sarandon, Corey Feldman
From: Universal
Yeah, everyone who said this was worse than Demon Knight… you were right. Knight was viewed earlier in the month on Shudder, before Spooky Season began for me. That-like Bordello-was viewed on Shudder. Both were only on the platform for August, necessitating me seeing this at the last minute.
Bordello had more an emphasis on comedy; that was hit-or-miss, and that’s not just my opinion of Dennis Miller or his constant quips. Some landed, while others were just irritating. No comment on Miller as a person or his political beliefs. He portrayed a gumshoe detective who was hired by a religious Erika Eleniak to find her missing brother (Corey Feldman! He was a hard-rockin’ rebel who was a jerk, meaning the role was perfect for him). Meanwhile, Chris Sarandon was a televangelist who exhibited all the negative stereotypes-or the truth about them, depending your own opinion-and I can’t even say that the OOT stage show here was unrealistic.
The film is uneven, for sure. That does not mean there wasn’t fun to be had. This is still an OOT tale involving vampires-led by a sexy bisexual Angie Everhart-causing havoc in a city, where the titular brothel is at… a mortuary. There are a few bravura moments, including one during the final act set to one of a few boomer songs that are played throughout. The cast as a whole was fine; most interesting was that one of the villains was a character w/ dwarfism—veteran actor and stuntman Phil Fondacaro-and his stature was not a plot point or even mentioned by the other characters.
Bordello is flawed; even then, a good time was still had by me. There’s enough gory moments and topless female nudity to satisfy some. The biggest surprise wasn’t the cameo from a famous actor still well-known today; it was seeing the script credited to Bob Gale & Robert Zemeckis. Turns out, they wrote this in 1973 after graduating from USC, the idea of their movie debut being sexploitation. They tried to make it w/ John Milius (!) as producer but that didn’t happen. Instead, the story was apparently greatly modified by the time this was filmed.
Runtime: 106 minutes
Directed by: Sisworo Gautama Putra
Starring: Suzzanna, Rudy Salam, Barry Prima, Ruth Pelupessy, Marlia Hardi
From: Rapi Films
This is Indonesian horror; the presumption is that those who have a number of Letterboxd followers like I do—they also have many members from Indonesia following them.
Sundel Bolong stars Suzzanna, the Queen of Indonesian Horror. From a reviewer that lives in the country, this tale is based on famous Javanese folklore revolving around a ghost w/ long black hair & sporting a white dress. Suzzanna’s poor Alisa is really put through the wringer. She married sailor Barry Prima-no surprise to me that later on, Barry had a martial arts scene; while he’s gone for 9 months, a particularly gross sexual assault occurred. Because she is a former prostitute, Alisa is also slut-shamed. Most people treat her horribly in the opening act; no wonder after her death, Alisa is looking for sweet, sweet revenge.
The movie had unexpected comic moments, some funnier than others. Full of gore, this was not, yet the deaths were typically satisfying. There is one bravura kill that was rather spectacular. Sundel Bolong was simply a fun time once the title ghost appeared and had fun dishing out her revenge, which usually revolved around her trolling her foe. Suzzanna was the highlight of the picture, indeed. The titular sundel bolong is a distinctive creature… not just because it’s a female ghost that was a former prostitute. The ghost also has a giant hole in its back, which exposes its inside, along w/ maggots. Unique lore, undoubtedly.
This was an interesting folk horror movie; in addition, I was happy to see another picture from a performer that was popular in Southeast Asia at the time.
