"Truck" is a Korean thriller directed by Kwon Hyeong-jin who has previously given us "For Horowitz" and the direct to video "MOB2025." Actor Yoo Hae-jin (Tazza, Kidnapping Granny K)takes the leading role for the first time, ever since he made his debut 11 years ago, in this movie. Other members of the cast include Jin Goo (Epitaph, Dirty Carnival), Ji Su-won (Vanishing Twin, Quiet Family) and Lee Chae-yeong. Actor Jin Goo also changes his good boy image in "Truck" as a serial killer, through this movie, the actor shows the existence of good and evil in one person as he fights against the truck driver Cheol-min that acted by Hae-jin.
Chul-min (Yu Hae-jin) is a simple truck driver transporting liquor, vegetables and other necessities. When his daughter is diagnosed with a congenital heart disease, he scrambles to borrow money from his friends to pay for for the operation but cannot raise the necessary amount. He follows a friend to a gambling house to raise the outstanding money, but luck deserts him and he loses everything. In a further bout of bad luck, he enters the wrong room in the gambling den only to witness a gang boss stabbing several victims to death in a murderous rage. After his friend begs for Chul-min's life, the gang boss sends him to a faraway province to dispose of the corpses. Carrying the dead bodies in his truck, Chul-min listens to the radio for company on the nerve-racking journey. The news program is about extraordinary serial killer Young-ho (Jin Goo) who is under police escort to a mental asylum. As Chul-min passes a country lane, he spots a car that has fallen into the ditch. Inside, he finds the bodies of several murdered policemen. After some hesitation, he leaves to complete his duty to bury the corpses. However, a policeman unexpectedly flags his truck down and orders him to drive him to the exact province that he is heading to. As Chul-min unravels the real identity of his passenger, his nightmare really begins...
DVD Specifications: Product Title: Truck (DVD) (Korea Version) Language: Korean Subtitles: Korean, English Screen Format: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1, NTSC Sound Mix: Dolby Digital 5.1 & 2.0 Region Code: 3 - South East Asia (including Hong Kong, S. Korea and Taiwan) Publisher: Premier Entertainment Disc Number: 2 Discs Release Date: 2009-01-13 (Save your copy)
Finally, the English friendly subtitle DVD for the best Thailand this year, "Phobia" aka "4bia" is out. Becoming number one hit when it first released in many Asian countries, this horror film created by four acclaimed director of the country is totally one package that can't be miss out.
What happen when you watch a film that was made by three young masters in horror movie and one veteran director who can be called as the mentor to those three? Well, absolutely you can get a foursome chill and thrill just as what you are able to get in this four 25-minute horror segments that working together to create a package of “Crash”-a-like in a horror film. Come out from Thailand, the original title of the film is “See Prang” (literally "four crossroads"), but in English, this four-segment horror film is being promoted as 4bia, or “Phobia”. Each of the segments is directed by one of Thailand up-and-coming masters of modern horror movies which are Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom, the young Thai directors of the original version of “Shutter” and the currently being remade “Alone”, Paween Purijitpanya, who did the slick and bloody “Body #19”, and, for the first time tackling horror, veteran director (and a mentor to the three young filmmakers), Yongyoot Thongkongtoon, director of the international smash hit gay volleyball comedy, “Iron Ladies”. About Banjong and Parkpoom itself is what they’ve done this time is direct separately for the first time in their career, just as you can guess that each of them are contributing one segment to this four part Thai horror anthology. But unlike other Asian horror anthologies, such as “Three”, which was also initiated by Thai director Nonzee Nimibutr, with vastly different parts that compete against each other, the four segments of “Phobia” work together as a package, and even reference one another. Here's a look at each segment that will dealing with a different kind of fear.
Loneliness (by Youngyut Tongkontund) An unemployed, broken-hearted, desperate young woman, Pin (Maneerat Kham-uan), has a broken leg and is left alone in her apartment on the top floor of a soiled building. Unable to move around, and with no friends nearby, she clings tightly to her pink Motorola flip phone and relies on SMS to communicate with the one apparent friend she has. She then receives an SMS from a stranger, who persists in sending her messages even though she at first ignores them. Lonely, she gives in to temptation and strikes up an SMS chat session with the person, who turns out to be a guy and also the one that she will be regret it after finding out who he is. The story begins to getting up its tense as the identity of the mysterious one is slowly revealed through a series of increasingly intimidating messages. “Loneliness” is somewhat success to pulling off a grand experiment that serves as a great beginning to the foursome of fear.
Deadly Charm (by Phavee Purijidpanya) When a group of bullying youths have been busted for smoking pot, they blame a little kid for stealing on them. Some of the boys then bundle the kid and his bicycle into the back of their pickup and beat on him while they are going down the road. The violence escalates with horrible consequences. Only one of the kids, one of the two girls (Apinya Sakuljaroensuk), voices any concern. Then what turns out is, that the little kid who wants to take revenge on them is into black magic, and he has a cursed manuscript -- a diploma of death that if people read them, they will meet whatever grisly end is spelled out for them.
The Middle Man (by Banjong Pisanthanakun) This is a tale of four best friends going camping in the remote jungle and they are bedded down for the night in their tent sharing ghost stories along the way. Their chitchat is self-referential, with one of the guys revealing himself to be a serial spoiler of movies, and right there he gives away the ending to “Shutter”. He also decries the horror films that all have female ghost with long black hair. "Can't they do something new?" he asks. They also argue over who gets to sleep in the middle of the tent. They have scared one another into believing that a ghost will haunt whoever sleeps on the end. To shut them up, the guy sleeping furthest away, Aye, says “If I die, I’ll come back and haunt who ever sleeps in the middle first.". The next day, while whitewater rafting, the boat overturns and Aye is the one who doesn't make it.
Last Fright (by Parkpoom Wongpoom) Terror is waiting for one unlucky air hostesses, who will face this alone. An airline is on a charter flight for the Princess of Khurkistan. What was supposed to be an ordinary flight turns into something tragically more turbulent when the princess dies due to an allergic reaction to something she ate. The royal house of Khurkistan requests that her body be sent back immediately for royal cremation. The airline schedules flight attendant Pim (Chermarn Boonyasak) for the flight, on which the only other passenger will be the corpse of the princess. This chapter presents the mixture of phobia. It’s an inappropriate flight for anyone with claustrophobia, nyctophobia, fear of noise, fear of air pressure, and fear of corpses.
DVD Specifications: Product Title: 4 Bia (DVD) (Hong Kong Version) Language: Thai, Cantonese Subtitles: Traditional Chinese, English, Simplified Chinese Picture Format: NTSC Aspect Ratio: 1.78 : 1 Sound Information: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS Digital Surround, DTS Extended Surround(TM) / DTS-ES(TM) Region Code: 3 - South East Asia (including Hong Kong, S. Korea and Taiwan) Duration: 111 (mins) Publisher: Kam & Ronson Enterprises Co Ltd Special Features: - Behind the scenes - Deleted scenes - Music MV - Trailer Release Date: 2008-12-12(Save your copy)
Hikikomori is the Japanese term for "Those who isolate themselves," in English is call 'loner' which is a label for a person who does not actively seek, avoids, or is isolated from human interaction. There are many reasons for solitude, intentional or otherwise. Various mental illnesses, social difficulties and personal philosophies can be linked to reclusiveness; however no specific cause is implied by the term loner. The term loner is usually used with a negative connotation in the belief that humans are social creatures and those that do not participate are different. The label has often been applied pejoratively by the media to individuals deemed strange or pathetic. The loner may take pride in or be ashamed of his or her behavior. With borrowing the phenomenon of social withdrawal, director Park Jae Sik made up his new movie and also added a terrifying twist in this thrilling debut feature "Loner" (a.k.a. Hikikomori and Orphaned). Popular young actress Ko Eun Ah (Swindler in My Mom's House) delivers an impressively unsettling performance as a normal, happy teenager who becomes a hikikomori in this unpredictable horror. Jung Yoo Suk (You Are My Sunshine) and Chae Min Seo (The Wig) co-star as Ko Eun Ah's uncle and psychologist who attempt to save her from the grasps of darkness. The home cinema version for the big screen thriller has already released now in the Korean version with English subtitle region 3 DVD. Ko Eun-ah shares many experiences filming her new movie "Loner".Ko confessed that she practiced her role day and night without even washing and dragging her slippers around the house. "Loner" contains many thrilling and horrific scenes. However, the movie set among the staff and actors was bright and fun. Everyone had to concentrate deeply to get the mood of the story to come out. The story of this triller highlights the horror that can be lurking inside even a tiny and lonely room. Su-na, once a bright and adorable girl, locks herself alone in her room after her best friend's suicide. She starts to talk and behave as if someone else exists in her room, but never opens the door to anyone. Finally, her uncle brings his fiance, Yun-mi, a psychologist specializing in hikikomori (people who isolate themselves from society), and she finds Su-na's trouble has something to do with the family's secret history.
DVD Specifications: Product Title: Loner (DVD) (Korea Version) Language: Korean Subtitles: Korean, English Disc Format(s): DVD Screen Format : Anamorphic Widescreen Sound Mix : Dolby 2.o & 5.1 Region Code: 3 - South East Asia (including Hong Kong, S. Korea and Taiwan) Publisher: Fantom Korea Disc number: 1 Disc Special Features: - Making Of - Hikikomori - Premiere Scenes - Poster Shootings - Trailer - TV Spot Release Date: 2008-12-05 (Save your copy)
