Dare You To Watch Those Rainbow Eyes

“Rainbow Eyes” (Gamyeon) is a Korean thriller that revolves around a serial killer who defies logic, and police scrutiny. As one of many mystery thrillers released in 2007 in the wake of the box-office success of such films as “Return”, “Shadows In The Palace”, “Seven Days”, and “Our Town”, “Rainbow Eyes” is quite success to become an exciting murder mystery / thriller, that layers leaves you grappling for the correct answers. Since plot twists in this type of mystery thriller are somewhat important, so, “Rainbow Eyes” is also suggests the gravity of the final scene in terms of the film's overall storytelling power. Starred by talented award-winning star Kim Kang-woo who played a central character in "Le Grand Chef", which became the biggest hit in 2007 and also won the best actor award at the 25th Torino Film Festival. Using state-of-the-art special effects and stunning camerawork, “Rainbow Eyes” captures every drop of thrill and suspense in the hair-raising chase which ultimately spirals toward a shocking revelation about the killer's true identity.

In this film Kim played central character Cho Kyeong-yoon, a detective who with his partner Eun-ju (Min-sun Kim) investigates a grisly murder case. The first victim is a sports center manager who seems to have suffered stab wounds. The killer was careful not to leave behind incriminating evidence, but nevertheless, a strand of the killer’s hair is found. The police are then able to determine that the killer is male and has AB bloodtype. The two inspectors identify a swimming trainer as a major suspect to the case, but he later gets brutally murdered in the same way, which confuses them. The second victim's unexpected death also breaks apart the police's hitherto assumption that the trainer is a key suspect. When the third murder takes place, both detectives are scrambling for clues. But the serial killer, whose name is Lee Yoon-seo, is nowhere to be found. When the police delve deeper into the victims’ background they discover that the two victims were stationed at the same military base many years ago. Incidentally or not, 10 years ago, they beat up a soldier, whose name is none other than Lee Yoon-seo, and they were transferred to a different unit due to the incident. All the signs point to Lee, but he has long disappeared after suffering from some schizophrenic symptoms, obviously initiated by the traumatic beating. In addition to the mysterious suspect, detective Cho has more to deal with. Everyone around him shows a sort of uneasiness, adding to confusion and uncertainty. For instance, his girlfriend Cha Su-jin (Lee Soo-kyeong) suddenly reveals a deep anxiety. Lee Yoon-seo's older sister, who is receiving medical treatment due to the stress related to her brother, seems suspicious. Ominously, detective Cho goes feel some serious anxiety himself, conducting his own secret investigation.

Thrill-Meter: 3 stars out of 5

Rainbow Eyes (Korea Version DVD)
Actors: Kang-woo Kim, Min-sun Kim, Su-kyeong Lee, Chang-kyun Choi
Directors: Yun-ho Yang
Format: Widescreen 1.85:1 (Anamorphic), Color, NTSC
Languages: Korean
Subtitle: Korean, English
Audio Specs: Digital Surround 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0
Region: Region 3 South East Asia (including Hong Kong, S. Korea and Taiwan)
Number of disc: 1 Disc
Country Made: South Korea
Genre: Suspense Thriller
Feature Film Running Time: 101+78 Minutes
Distributor: Enter One
Release Date: May 28, 2008 (Order the DVD)

Special features:
• Commentaries by Director Yang Yun Ho, Kim Kang Woo, Lee Soo Kyung
• Making Of
• The Characters
• Music
• Poster Shooting
• Production Announcement A determined California detective attempts to crack
• Theatrical Trailer

Source: YesAsia, Korea Herald

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Get Shivered With Some Asian Suspense DVDs

Asian is getting heater with their suspense story nowadays and here are some of them that were available to put on your home entertainment collection.
From Thailand had comes a film that quite became a discussion matter last year after won several awards in Thailand and from film festivals. The profile also has been raised by winning top honors at the PiFan fest and the sale of remake rights to the Weinstein Co. The title is “13: Game of Death” or “13 Game Sayong”, suspense thriller that Directed and co-written by Chukiat Sakweerakul was based from a comic book of Eakasit Thairaat, who also co-wrote the script. “13 Beloved” is a gritty tale from the savage city of Bangkok, about a loser salesman who is sucked into an insidious underground Internet reality game show. To win cash, he must embark on a series of increasingly degrading and dangerous tasks.
Lead actor Krissada Sukosol is a Thai-American pop singer and actor who has gone a long way in his acting career - winning almost every local best actor awards. In this film he portrays Chit, a failing salesman of band instruments. After losing a big account to a rival in his firm, he wakes up the next day and finds that his car is being repossessed. Things can’t get much worse, it seems, but then he's actually fired from his job. And, it turns out that Chit is facing a pile of bills from his creditors. Luckily, the credit on his cell phone is still good and while he's sitting in the stairwell, pondering his next move, he gets a call from a mysterious person who knows every detail about his life – where he's from, that he's lost his job, how much he owes down to the last satang. The guy on the line also knows that there’s a fly buzzing around Chit's head at that exact moment. The voice explains that Chit can win Bt 10,000. All he has to do is pick up the folded newspaper that happens to be lying nearby and swat that fly. Chit completes the task, and the phone rings again. To win more money, he is told, he has to eat the dead fly. Chit goes back to his desk with the fly in his hand and debates following through with the task. Then, to the shock of a co-worker and friend, Tong (Achita Wuthinounsurasit), Chit pops the fly into his mouth. The phone rings again and Chit is informed that there's Bt100 million on offer if he completes 11 more tasks, each growing progressively more degrading and deadly. There's something far worse than a dead fly to consume, and some of the stunts take him to dark places in his memory, cleverly revealing details about his past - his upbringing and old relationships. Chit must play the game for the entertainment of an audience he can't see, following the rules or else forfeiting all the winnings he has accumulated. But who's behind this game, how they are monitoring Chit and where the audience watching is, remain a mystery, despite the efforts of Tong, who unbeknownst to Chit is using her computer skills to hack into the game, and unwittingly, she becomes a pawn used by the dark forces behind it.The Shiver-Rating: 4 stars out of 5

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Also based on a comic book, “The Wall Man” (a.k.a Kabe Otoko) is Japan suspense from an eponymous short manga by Daijirô Morohoshi. The film version promised will offers more than the usual scares, slowly creeping up on audiences with a truly engaging and unsettling story that distorts dreams and reality into spine-tingling fear.
In this film, the wall man or kabe-otoko is told as a strange wall-dwelling creature that is neither human nor ghost. He observes the ways of mankind from his unique position, and television plays an important role in the existence. When Nishina (Ono Mayumi), a cameraman tells his TV reporter girlfriend Kyoko (Sakai Masato) what he has heard about this creature, she introduces the story on her show and becomes a big success, inspiring lots of audience interest in the myth. What started out as interest, however, turns into obsession as the people around Kyoko become increasingly fixated with the topic and start to exhibit strange behavior.
The DVD version of this thriller comes with some standard features such as behind the scene, premiere gala, trailer and other extras.

The shiver-Meter: 2,5 stars out of 5

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The last suspense is come from Korea, "Our Town" is unlike what its title might suggest, It's a crime thriller where five women are brutally killed. Not another serial killer story, you may say. But, again, the film kills your expectations as it takes you on a novel cinematic experience ― a flight into the mind of not one, but two, killers on the loose in what could be "our" neighborhood. Bared fine performances of Oh Man-seok, who has built fame as a leading television actor following his success on the musical stage, and Ryoo Deok-hwan, a teenage celebrity actor who showed off his talent in "Like A Virgin". The film is also the debut feature of director Jeong Gil-yeong who had tried to make a thriller that spins a grim and brooding tale out of a confrontation between a serial killer and a copycat killer.
The story set in a quiet, ordinary neighborhood, where three women and a young girl are "crucified", with their dead bodies tied up in the form of a cross in public areas. Kyeong-su (Oh Man-seok), a struggling novelist, impulsively kills his landlady during a nasty quarrel over rent. With the recent happenings around town, he conveniently covers up his crime as the doings of the serial killer. Kyeong-su's childhood buddy and police officer Jae-sin (Lee Seon-gyoon) begins to suspect the fifth victim was a copycat case. Meanwhile the actual chain killer, Hyo-i (Ryoo Deok-hwan), begins to track down his mimic. “Our Town” challenges the audience to delve deeply into the twisted world of copycat killers. As the mystery unravels, the plot reveals a shocking revelation about the relationship between the two murderers. “Our Town” meticulously delivers suspense and thrills down to the very last drop of horror.

Some features that came with the special Korean version edition DVD are:
Commentaries by Director Jung Gil Young, Oh Man Seok, Ryu Deok Hwan, "Two Men", Making Of Our Town, "A Vacant Lot", Photo Gallery, Theatrical Trailer

The shiver-Meter: 3 stars out of 5

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