'Ghost Killer' (2024) Movie Review

Fumika (Akari Takaishi, Baby Assassins) is your average college student. She has a crappy job, constantly fends off creepy men pestering her, and she’s very clumsy. Seriously, she falls down. A lot. Things change a wee bit, however, when she meets the ghost of a vicious hitman, Kudo (Masanori Mimoto, First Love), who occasionally possesses her and takes control of her body. It’s like Upgrade or even Venom at times as the two consciousnesses occupy the same space. (Or All of Me with fisticuffs?) After some coaxing, she agrees to help him exact revenge against the people who killed him. So goes the plot of Kensuke Sonomura’s new action-oriented ghost story Ghost Killer. 

'Demon City' (2025) Movie Review

Have you seen Seiji Tanaka’s Demon City, or a close approximation of it before? Yes, many times. Among other comparable titles, it’s almost beat-for-beat Hard to Kill. Does it have much in the way of nuance, depth, or character development? No. It’s extremely sparse on those fronts. What it does have, however, are plenty of bonkers, bloody fight scenes and awesome action choreography.

SIFF 2024: 'Tenement' Movie Review

Much of Cambodian import Tenement, making its North American debut at the Seattle International Film Festival, will be familiar to those reasonably well-versed in supernatural horror. The story follows someone returning to a place they once had a connection to and finding it haunted by more than memories. Though the film may lack a bit of originality, it delivers an effective, to-the-point, gorgeously staged chiller.

'Mad Cats' (2023) Movie Review

A lazy, layabout slacker, a missing brother, and a pack of anthropomorphized cats bent on executing sketchy pet shop owners. That’s the basic premise of writer/director Reiki Tsuno’s Mad Cats. This inherently strange tale mixes banger martial arts throwdowns, kinetic gun play, a weirdo mystery, and “forbidden catnip from ancient times.” The result is chaotic and odd, with an off-kilter approach that balances comedy, melodrama, action, and ambition.

'Seobok' (2021) Movie Review

Movies love to look to the near future in order to delve into the topic of human cloning and the various moral and ethical ramifications of playing god and creating life in a lab. As often happens, these stories also turn into meditations on what it means to truly be human, a whole other can of metaphorical worms. And into this framework comes writer/director Lee Yong-ju’s Seobok.

'Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes' Movie Review

When coffee shop owner/aspiring musician Kato (Kazunari Tosa) heads to his upstairs apartment after close, he’s shocked to get a message on the TV. From himself. From two minutes in the future. This kicks off director Junta Yamaguchi’s Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, a cascading series of sci-fi time travel antics with a crew of oddballs, like Megumi (Aki Asakura) and Ozawa (Yoshifumi Sakai), among others. They try to decipher the mystery, maybe get Kato a date, and quickly find themselves in way over their heads.

'Raging Fire' (2021) Movie Review

A cop haunted by the past, trying to right previous wrongs. Who’s a bit of a hotshot and plays by his own rules, though still operates by a strict code. With a pregnant wife. Yeah, we’ve seen this set up before. But when that cop is Donnie Yen, and we’re talking about Raging Fire, the final film from the great Benny Chan, the result is a top-tier action banger of epic proportions. This sprawling, Heat-inspired cops-and-robbers opus delivers in all the right ways and rules every ounce as hard as one might hope.

'Hydra' (2021) Movie Review

Hydra begins with every man’s worst nightmare, being killed at a urinal. Okay, maybe not, but it’s a definite concern and something to think about in the bathroom. It’s a hell of a way to kick off a movie, even if most of what follows fails to live up to the opening. Until the very end.

NBFF 2021: 'Slate' Movie Review

Orphan Cha Yeon-hee (Ahn Ji-hye) has spent her entire life wanting to be a heroine. If you’re not a heroine, you’re useless and of no value to anyone. So she believes. In her late-20s, living an aimless life, she lands a role as a stunt double in an action movie. Only when she arrives on set, she’s transported to a parallel world where she must become an actual heroine. The only question is: is she ready to face actual danger and do what she must to become a real heroine? So goes Slate, the latest from Gang director Jo Ba-reun.

'Silat Warriors: Deed Of Death' (2021) Movie Review

Popularly, Muay Thai tends to get more love than Silat, another martial art native to Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia, Malaysia, and the surrounding region. (As an example, there are like a dozen schools in the Seattle area that teach Muay Thai, but almost none with a curriculum that includes any Silat. Though Iko Uwais definitely holds it down, movie wise.) But the fighting style gets its due in Silat Warriors: Deed of Death (Geran), a low-to-no-budget actioner from director Areel Abu Bakar.

'Cliff Walkers' (2021) Movie Review

Director Zhang Yimou is best known for his sweeping historical epics, like Hero and House of Flying Daggers, but it turns out he also has a bit of espionage in his DNA. His latest film, Cliff Walkers, does take place in a certain bygone era, though a much more recent one. And instead of swords and lush period costumes, he delivers his first taut, chilly spy thriller, one full of suspense, betrayal, treachery, and the usual slick execution and eye for detail one expects from him.

Fantasia 2020: 'Monster SeaFood Wars' Movie Review

Minoru Kawasaki’s Monster SeaFood Wars is a kaiju movie about a giant crab, squid, and octopus rampaging through Tokyo. And it’s as ludicrous and off-the-wall as that sounds. It’s strange and silly and upholds the Japanese dudes-in-rubber-monster-suits-wreaking-havoc tradition. There’s also the added bonus that it may well make you very, very hungry.

'The Prey' (2019) Movie Review

Richard Connell’s short story “The Most Dangerous Game” has, officially or otherwise, served as the basis for countless action movies. Hard Target, Surviving the Game, Bloodlust!, and others—not to mention all the straight adaptations—all draw from the tale of men hunting men. Now we can add Cambodian actioner The Prey, from Jailbreak director Jimmy Henderson, to the pile.

'The Witch: Part 1-The Subversion' (2018) Movie Review

Koo Ja-yoon (Kim Da-mi) looks like a normal teenage girl. Sure, she’s exceptionally bright and talented, and extraordinarily devoted to her aging parents and their failing farm, but by most measures, she’s an average kid on the cusp of adulthood. Except in Park Hoon-jung’s The Witch: Part 1—The Subversion, she’s also an escaped child soldier with telekinetic powers on the run the government agency that genetically created her in a lab,  and she may or may not remember all of that. The result plays like an action-heavy sci-fi/horror version of The Long Kiss Goodnight, with Dark Angel flourishes thrown in for good measure. (And yes, I mean the James Cameron/Jessica Alba show from the late 1990s, and yes, I mean that in a good way.)

'Peninsula' Trailer: This 'Train To Busan' Sequel Promises Bloody Zombie Action

2016’s Train to Busan is one of those zombie movies that comes along every few years and reminds everyone how good the genre can be. The South Korean horror film was a big international hit and now the sequel, Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula, is on the way, with another new trailer as proof.

'Train To Busan Presents: Peninsula' Trailer: This Sequel Promises Gnarly Zombie Survival Action

Movie new has been pretty dead as of late, what with most of the movie industry worldwide being shut down due to COVID-19. Still, there were plenty of movies on the way, and a bunch remain en route. One we’re looking forward to around these parts is the South Korean zombie film Peninsula, a new horror set in the world of Train to Busan and now titled Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula. We finally got a look at trailer and damn, this is the stuff we’ve been waiting for.

'The Witch: Subversion' Trailer: This Brutal South Korean Action Movie Hits Home Video Soon

Now that the Oscars are in the rearview (yay, Parasite), we can return our attention to our regularly scheduled programming: ultra-violent international genre cinema. To that end, here is the trailer for South Korean director Park Hoon-jung’s The Witch: Subversion. (Or The Witch: Part 1—The Subversion if you prefer.)

'May The Devil Take You Too' Trailer: Timo Tjahjanto Returns With More 'Evil Dead'-Inspired Horror

Now this, this is the stuff. Back in 2018, Indonesian director Timo Tjahjanto back-to-backed us with pummeling action saga The Night Comes for Us and the Raimi-esque demonic creeper May the Devil Take You. It was a hell of a one-two punch. While that first one hasn’t yielded a sequel (fingers crossed, fingers crossed so damn hard), in 2020, Tjahjanto delivers May the Devil Take You Too, and that’s pretty rad. Now we have a trailer that should start horror fans salivating. Check it out below.

The Latest 'Parasite' Trailer Sings Bong Joon-Ho's Praises

When people toss around the word “masterpiece,” I usually tune out, especially when it comes to new movies—that’s a term that, to truly apply, I feel needs sit and simmer and have some perspective and distance. That said, when I hear it applied to a Bong Joon-ho movie, while I have to see it for myself, it gets me all revved up because the South Korean filmmaker is a non-stop hit machine. As you might imagine, I’m rather excited for his latest, Parasite, which has been collecting rave reviews, is almost here, and dropped this new trailer.

'First Love' (2019) Movie Review

If you didn’t know you were watching a Takashi Miike movie, the severed head rolling down the street, coming to a stop, and blinking at you with an opened-mouthed silent scream less than three minutes into First Love should be a tip off. True to form, and the uber-prolific Japanese director works in maybe his truest form here, First Love is down and dirty, violent, and weird as all hell. Wouldn’t have a Takashi Miike movie any other way. But he also delivers his version of a dark, twisted, mean-spirited romantic comedy. Which means, of course, it’s the most badass rom-com you’ve ever seen.