Hellraiser (1987)

This was quite and enjoyable and pleasant experience. I had been eager for a good movie, so i chose a classic, old one by the so-called master Clive Barker. Expectations weren't high, but the movie was good enough - acting is quite good, special effects were awesome (for 1987) and the story itself is quite creative and original.

But what in the world has Hellraiser to make it such an awesome story ? Let's face it, nowadays we watch a bit of everything in a movie: there's always some guts that await you. And i suppose the question lies exactly there - it's hard to find a good horror flick. Hellraiser has guts, torn out bodies, body parts all over it - but its story is way too intelligent, like some sort of mix between sci-fi and horror. Everything starts with this puzzle box that unleashes evil. Julia and Larry Cotton, man and wife, are moving to this old house where the wifey had a love affair with her husband's brother. Seems like the brother, Frank, had been taken by the Cenobites (the otherworld creatures, whose names are Butterball, Pinhead, the Female, and Chatterer), for a world of hell that brought him pleasure and then killed him. Thing is, some drops of Larry's blood brought Frank half back to life - and of course, the wife found Frank in the attic and started killing people to raise the dude from hell. But it gets more complicated - the Cenobites are unleashed by Kirsty, the daughter, and they are eager for Frank's blood. There's a bit of a twist in the end, and it builds up a bridge for the second film (and, eventually, the eight others that follow).

About the acting, i especially liked Frank and i was the entire movie waiting for Pinhead to appear (when he did, i really liked the character). The daughter and the wife were kinda strange and Larry was too absent from the story. The music is quite freaky and scary, which is a huge contribute for the general atmosphere of the movie.

Overall, Hellraiser is sort of Clive Barker's first born son, and i must admit that the formula was freakin' successful. The way i see it, it is definitely a top 10 movie - totally worth watching.

I Saw The Devil (2010)

This was an incredible movie experience. At first i was kinda apprehensive, since i had never seen a corean/asian movie before. Turns out ‘I Saw The Devil’ is an amazing thriller (can i call it a thriller?) that has it all: it’s realistic, mindfucking, insane and violent, and also it has a pretty cool soundtrack. Oh, and acting is also freakin’ amazing.

So, when i went to see this movie, i really didn’t know what to expect. I always thought asian cinema had this reputation of creating some violent movies, that included a lot of sex and nudity, but i never thought i would see such a great movie. The story is something quite frequent in cinema, it’s basically a revenge story: a special agent swears revenge over his wife’s dead body (and yes, she was murdered by a crazy psychopath who apparently likes to play ‘hide and seek’ .

As the movie rolls, the agent catches the killer a few times, there is a lot of ass-kicking scenes (quite violent and bloody) and a bit of torture, but the agent always lets the killer go away - swearing he will get him again soon. Moving forward in the story, i sorta started to get really annoyed because the story was getting to repetitive (catch, torture, let go), but then came the finale, and it was epic (obviously the good triumphs over evil - and honestly i didn’t really expect this to happen with ‘I Saw the Devil’).

Special effects in this movie are amazing, and the story has a lot of realism, especially due to the absence of music in a couple of scenes - this makes it all seem more real and one can easily get stuck in the story for that. Especially in the final dialogue between the special agent and the psychopath killer, there is no background tune, and i almost felt like they were talking to me. Of course, camera work helps build this atmosphere, since there are a lot of face close-ups, and some rough shooting in the beginning. Acting was amazing - not that i know much about corean cinema and actors, but i really think everybody did a great job in this movie.

Overall, this isn’t a movie i would recommend if you are easily touched or impressed with gore and violence. But if you are strong-hearted and need a new thrill, i definitely recommend it. It’s not a family movie, folks ! Yet, give it a try.