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A super slick thriller from Benny Chan (Heroic Duo, Gen-X Cops, A Moment of Romance) – but easy on the melodrama!… (more…)

It’s Seven meets Ring in a supernatural horror from Peony Pavilion director Chen Kuo-fu – starring Hong Kong’s Tony Leung Ka-fai and America’s David Morse… (more…)

The UK’s premier annual Asian film festival, the Terracotta Far East Festival, will be held over four days this year at London’s Prince Charles Cinema from Thursday 21st May to Sunday 24th May. Presented by Terracotta Entertainment Group, the festival will feature 13 handpicked films representing the very best of contemporary Far East cinema, including titles from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea.

Opening the festival is Eye For An Eye, the eagerly awaited crime-thriller from directors Ahn Kwon-tae (My Brother) and Kwak Kyung-taek (Typhoon). Starring Han Suk-kyu (A Bloody Aria; The President’s Last Bang) and Cha Seung-won (Small Town Rivals; Ghost House), this Heat-style thriller concerns a soon-to-retire police detective who is drawn into an elaborate plot of robbery and revenge when he begins to investigate a heist during which one of the perpetrators impersonated him in order to pull off the crime.

Among the festival’s many highlights are: The Detective, the latest mystery-thriller from co-writer and director Oxide Pang Chun (Bangkok Dangerous; The Messengers; The Eye trilogy; The Tesseract); director Johnnie To’s (Mad Detective; Triangle; PTU) Sparrow, starring Simon Yam and Kelly Lin; the Malaysian horror-comedy, Zombies From Banana Village; and the martial arts action-thriller Legendary Assassin, which marks the co-directorial debuts of star Jacky Wu (Fatal Contact; The Legend of Zu; Drunken Monkey) and Jackie Chan’s longtime stunt coordinator Chung Chi Li. The festival’s programme will also include the films Muay Thai Chaya, Kim Ki-duk’s Dream, Keeping Watch, Ghost In The Shell (2.0), Me… Myself, After School and God Man Dog, the winner of the “Tagesspiegel” Readers’ Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Full details of the TERRACOTTA FAR EAST FESTIVAL can be found at the festival’s official website »

Danny Pang proves he can no longer see the wood for the trees in this disappointing, ill-conceived, badly scripted horror-thriller… (more…)

An entertaining trip through the social and economic ups and downs of nearly a quarter of a century in Hong Kong – as seen through the more literal ups and downs of a hooker… (more…)

It’s John Woo at his most brutal and explosive, but Woo fans beware – there was a reason this film originally stayed on the shelf for a couple of years… (more…)

They don’t come much slicker than this – Tony Leung and Andy Lau shine in this classy thriller… (more…)

Plenty of potential, but way too predictable – this is Asian horror by numbers… (more…)

Oh dear, Angelica Lee’s (The Eye, Re-cycle) seeing dead people again. Again. This time Tsui Hark’s at the helm in this rather convoluted psychological thriller… (more…)

The Pang Brothers reunite with the star of The Eye for another imaginative horror… (more…)

The highly enjoyable Ip Man – based on the life story of the man who taught Bruce Lee kung fu – is released on Blu-ray and DVD today courtesy of Cine Asia/Showbox Entertainment. We spoke to star Donnie Yen, director Wilson Yip and action choreographer Sammo Hung last week about martial art films, Bruce Lee, Wing Chun and much more besides…

Also out today…

Palisades Tartan continue to reissue their back catalogue with gusto. Today sees two box sets released: Asian Horror – Essential Collection, featuring Takashi Miike’s Audition, ‘Ring‘ Director Hideo Nakata’s Dark Water And The Pang Brothers’ The Eye. A second box set, Korean Horror – Essential Collection, collects Kim Sung-Ho’s Into The Mirror, Park Ki-Hyung’s Acacia And Won Shin-Yeon’s The Wig. They also release Blood Rain today, an inventive thriller set in the 19th century starring Cha Seung-won (Eye For An Eye, Kick The Moon).

4Digital release Cyborg She, lighthearted sci-fi love story about a lonely young man and his female cyborg from the future starring Haruka Ayase (Ichi).

The UK’s premier annual Asian film festival, the Terracotta Far East Festival, will be held over four days this year at London’s Prince Charles Cinema from Thursday 21st May to Sunday 24th May. Presented by Terracotta Entertainment Group, the festival will feature 13 handpicked films representing the very best of contemporary Far East cinema, including titles from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea.
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The Terracotta Far East Film Festival 2009 runs at London’s Prince Charles Cinema off Leciester Square from today until Sunday 24th May. Presented by Terracota Distribution, the festival some of the best of contemporary Far East cinema, including titles from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea.

Opening the festival is Eye For An Eye, the eagerly awaited crime-thriller from directors Ahn Kwon-tae (My Brother) and Kwak Kyung-taek (Typhoon). Starring Han Suk-kyu (A Bloody Aria; The President’s Last Bang) and Cha Seung-won (Small Town Rivals; Ghost House), this Heat-style thriller concerns a soon-to-retire police detective who is drawn into an elaborate plot of robbery and revenge when he begins to investigate a heist during which one of the perpetrators impersonated him in order to pull off the crime.

Among the festival’s many highlights are: The Detective, the latest mystery-thriller from co-writer and director Oxide Pang Chun (Bangkok Dangerous; The Messengers; The Eye trilogy; The Tesseract); director Johnnie To’s (Mad Detective; Triangle; PTU) Sparrow, starring Simon Yam and Kelly Lin; the Malaysian horror-comedy, Zombies From Banana Village; and the martial arts action-thriller Legendary Assassin, which marks the co-directorial debuts of star Jacky Wu (Fatal Contact; The Legend of Zu; Drunken Monkey) and Jackie Chan’s longtime stunt coordinator Chung Chi Li. The festival’s programme will also include the films Muay Thai Chaya, Kim Ki-duk’s Dream, Keeping Watch, Ghost In The Shell (2.0), Me… Myself, After School and God Man Dog, the winner of the “Tagesspiegel” Readers’ Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Tickets are available for separate screenings, or you can get a festival pass for the whole weekend. Full details of the Terracota Far East Festival can be found at the official website »

Unsettling and genuinely scary, the Pang brothers follow-up to Bangkok Dangerous is no pale Sixth Sense imitation… (more…)

The Pang Brothers do it again with a worthy scary follow-up to their acclaimed horror The Eye, starring the Gorgeous Shu Qi… (more…)

The curse of seeing dead people? The curse of the sequels more like!… (more…)

In the second of a series of exclusive interviews, we chat to director Wilson Yip about working with Donnie Yen, making a sequel for the first time and being in front of the camera… (more…)

Solid horror anthology with three very different takes on life after death from three different Asian countries and directors… (more…)