1: PIETA
OFFICIAL PLOT (wiki)
A vicious man (Lee Jung-Jin) works for a loan shark as an enforcer. When customers are unable to pay for their outrageous interest payments the man forces these borrowers to gimp their own bodies to collect insurance money. A woman (Jo Min-Su) then appears in front of the man and gets down on her knees. She tells the man that she is her mother and begs for forgiveness. The vicious man was given up for adoption as soon as he was born. The man quickly dismisses the woman as crazy, but her persistence soon cracks through the man’s hardened outer shell. Can the mother and son find happiness at last?
MY THOUGHTS
Not very often that I’d watch a movie and have to look away from the screen (you’ll know the scene). A very vicious but brilliantly written & acted drama.
Do approach with caution as some of the scenes are very graphic and disturbing.
2: KIDNAPPED
OFFICIAL PLOT (imdb)
Three hooded Eastern-European criminals burst into a home in a Madrid gated community, holding the family hostage in its own home, and forcing the father to empty his credit cards.
MY THOUGHTS
If you’re into Home Invasion movies then chances are, you like you’re movies quite disturbing and unsettling,
KIDNAPPED was a great Home Invasion movie with a simple plot. Guys break into house and take a family hostage, and so begins a horrible night of torture for the family involved.
The film was clever, well written, very realistic and equally sadistic. It didn’t quite follow the usual path and had a very unexpected ending, which in my opinion separated this film from the rest of the home invasion movies and it sits comfortably in the top of my pile of faves.
3: I SAW THE DEVIL
OFFICIAL PLOT (imdb)
When his pregnant fiancée becomes the latest victim of a serial killer, a secret agent blurs the line between good and evil in his pursuit of revenge.
MY THOUGHTS
I’m sure everyone has seen this by now as it’s got a huge following with a American remake set for 2014/15 (surprise surprise).
Starring choi min-sik from OLDBOY and NEW WORLD as the perfectly casted serial killer. The man is just fantastic in everything I’ve seen him in, and for someone who is actually a Buddhist, he sure does pick the dark and delicious roles
4: RED WHITE & BLUE
OFFICIAL PLOT (imdb)
A HIV positive woman’s quest to infect as many men as possible has gruesome consequences after she attracts the attention of a psychotic former Army interrogator and an emotionally fragile young man caring for his ailing mother.
MY THOUGHTS
A truly unsettling film, but in my eyes it was quite a masterpiece. I was a fan of the director and writer of this movie, as one of his previous films THE LIVING AND THE DEAD shocked me to core. I had no doubt in my mind that this one would’ve done the same…..and it did.
The guy who plays the army vet deserves a special mention. The man was just fantastic. He gave a riveting yet very unsettling performance.
5: BIG BAD WOLVES
OFFICIAL PLOT (imdb)
A series of brutal murders puts the lives of three men on a collision course: The father of the latest victim now out for revenge, a vigilante police detective operating outside the boundaries of law, and the main suspect in the killings – a religious studies teacher arrested and released due to a police blunder.
MY THOUGHTS
One of my favourite films of last year. It’s great to see Israel start to make their mark in the horror genre. The film itself isn’t the biggest budgeted movie of all time, but there is a solid and very believable storyline, with a great script, great direction, and top performances from all members of the cast.
6: MANIAC
OFFICIAL PLOT (imdb)
As he helps a young artist with her upcoming exhibition, the owner of a mannequin shop’s deadly, suppressed desires come to the surface.
MY THOUGHTS
I really don’t think the above synopsis is accurate.
Guy walks around LA meeting beautiful ladies, violently removes their scalps and uses scalps as realistic hair on mannequin dolls he’s got
Top performance from Elijah Wood. He plays the creepy serial killer extremely well. The style of filming was very unusual and unique. The camera was almost attached to Elijah wood in almost every scene of the film, which resulted in a brand new way to get under your skin…… You became the serial killer for the movie.
You throw in some dirty 80’s themed synthesisers for the soundtrack, and you’ve got one hell of a disturbing and frightening watch.
7: BREATHLESS
OFFICIAL PLOT (imdb)
A bitter and abusive debt collector finds some relief when he meets a high school girl.
MY THOUGHTS
I sat down with my girlfriend to watch this. The opening scene is a man beating a woman around in the middle of a street (my girlfriend immediately gave me the evil eye) then out of nowhere the main character shows up and starts beating the shit out of the dude who was beating the woman (girlfriend continues to stare at me, knowing this film is gonna be hardcore and she ain’t gonna like it). Then when you think the main character is going to help the lady who getting smacked about, he kneels down beside and start slapping her across the face, saying stuff like “why do you just sit there and take it you fucking cunt!” (At this point me and the girlfriend reached a mutual agreement, that she would go on the iPad and I would continue watching).
If you’re no stranger to Korean cinema and you’ve watched some of the classics like “mother”, “bad guy”, then I’m pretty sure you’d enjoy this one. It’s a pretty uneasy watch and when I say there is a lot of domestic violence in it, then I ain’t kidding. That concept alone makes it very hard to watch. The acting has to be mentioned purely for the leading actor. The man deserved an oscar for the performance he gave.
The story goes in an obvious direction, but how it gets there is uncertain, and that’s what makes this film a masterpiece.
8: COLDFISH
OFFICIAL PLOT (imdb)
When Syamoto’s teenage daughter is caught stealing, a generous middle-aged man helps resolve the situation. The man and his wife offer to have Syamoto’s troublesome daughter work at their fish store. Syamoto soon discovers the horrific truth of the seemingly perfect couple.
MY THOUGHTS
This film is just crazy, full of energy, violence with a nice blend of humour.
Don’t really want to say much more about it without giving away too much of the storyline. Just check it out 😉
9: ICHI THE KILLER
OFFICIAL PLOT (imdb)
As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of.
MY THOUGHTS
The very first film that made my girlfriend stop eating her dinner 😉 she has watched many of my movies over the years but this was the one that was too much for her.
The film takes violence to a whole new level. To this day the film is still one of the most shocking and disturbing flicks I’ve ever seen. And although I haven’t watched this flick in a long time, some of the scenes are still as fresh in my mind as the first day I saw them.
10: AUDITION
OFFICIAL PLOT (imdb)
A widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all.
MY THOUGHTS
Another great and very unsettling film from the guy who pretty much dominates Japan with the most fucked up movies around. (ICHI the killer, visitor q, gozu). Quite an old film but again this film will stick with you for years after watching. Another one for people who like their stuff dark, filthy and extremely gruesome.
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