3 histoires de l'au-delà

I´m a bit surprised with the negative reviews of "Three" here at imdb. I thought this was a good movie, chilling and intriguing. The first segment, "Memories", is my personal favourite, good acting and some genuinly scary moments. Much more scary than Final Destination 2 anyway. The 2nd installment is somewhat a disappointment after the great first one. Poor acting, no interest for the characters and not at all scary. The 3rd movie "Going Home" is a beautiful story about true love, perhaps not that scary, but still a great story.

The Asian anthology movie "The Three ", in which three directors from three different countries ( South Korea/Thailand/Hong Kong ) craft individual tales unrelated & wonderful !

A)- The 1st anthology from South Korea (( Memories )){40 minutes} by "Ji Woon Kim" where he presents segment of mystery that try to be so scary . - He's the same director who's presented to us on 2003 , Korea's No.#1 Horror Movie (( A Tale Of Two Sisters ))

*Abu Jarrah's Rating 4/5

B)- The 2nd anthology from Thailand (( The Wheel )){36 minutes} by "Nonzee Nimibutr" who presented his big budget for the ghost story in his well-known film "Nang Nak" inside his segment he's presented an tale of cursed Doll .

*Abu Jarrah's Rating 3/5

C)- The 3rd anthology from Hong Kong (( Going Home )){53 minutes} by "Peter Chan" is the most powerful segment in anthologies .

Who the produced of the famous Hong Kong horror movies as " The Eye 1 & 2" he also produce of "The Eye" remade , and he's the same who directed the pretty romantic first-love film "Comrades: Almost a Love Story"

*Abu Jarrah's Rating 5/5

By the way: There's another version for this segment "Going Home" called [Going Home : Director's Cut] It contains eight minutes of extra scenes not included in the original release ! [61 Mins] (to the best of my knowledge)

Three Extremes 2 (2002)

** (out of 4)

Lions Gate is releasing this title next week but it's original title is Three, the "inspiration" for what would become Three Extremes. I guess the popularity of that title is why Lions Gate selected to make this appear as a sequel when it's actually the first film. Kim Jee-Woon's Memories has a woman lost in the streets without any memory of who she is. She has one phone number that she keeps trying to call but when she can't reach anyone she just continues to walk around hoping her memory will return. Nonzee Nimibutr's The Wheel has an old man dying and leaving behind puppets, which are cursed and start to come to life. Peter Ho-Sun Chan's Going Home has a cop searching for his missing son when he is kidnapped by a man who keeps his "wife" locked inside their apartment. These three films aren't any good but the first and third one are the most interesting. The second film dealing with the puppet is quite poor without any good moment. The first and third stories are the best.

An ominous package consisting of three short films by different Asian filmmakers, Three suffers from the same set of issues that plague most anthology films. Each story has its positives & negatives. Each tackles an intriguing idea which it fails to explore or execute to the fullest. And coz of that, the end product as a whole feels decent at best.

The first short is Memories. Directed by Kim Jee-woon, it benefits from its ominous mood, flexible camerawork & smooth tracking in addition to excellent use of sound. The story isn't that riveting or original but the execution of the plot is still the best of the bunch. The uneasy aura, foreboding tone & graphic imagery alone make it look better than it actually is.

The second one is a Thai short called The Wheel. Directed by Nonzee Nimibutr, it is the least impressive of the three segments. It deals with puppet & voodoo elements but its characters remain distant while unfolding events fails to pique our interest. A better grasp of Thai culture may alleviate some confusion but that still won't make it better than the other two stories.

The third & final short is Going Home. Directed by Peter Chan, it is easily the most original of the three. The concept is an interesting one and the inhospitable setting & creepy vibe provide the right environment for the plot to unfurl. What undoes it in the end however is its half-hearted execution & overdone sentimentality. Compared to the other two, it still leaves a better impression.

Overall, Three makes for a serviceable horror anthology that's satisfying to an extent but there is nothing about it that stands out from the norm. Kim Jee-woon's name in it is why I went for it and although his segment impresses in bits n pieces, he is capable of much more than what he delivers here. Horror anthologies are more a miss than hit, and Three unfortunately ends up with the same fate as most.

Actually made before the more popular 3 Extremes, but released afterward in most of the world. These three directors are less bankable than Takashi Miike and Chan-wook Park, though Ji-woon Kim does have A Tale of Two Sisters under his belt. Plus, it's much weaker. 3 Extremes, in my mind, is maybe the greatest horror anthology ever made, so this one has a lot to live up to. It begins with Kim's "Memories", which has some familiar Asian ghost story elements, but concentrates more on the images and moods than actual plot. In fact, the plot is fairly incoherent, though, after having seen the whole thing, it's easy enough to piece together what exactly is going on. I liked it quite a bit. Nonzee Nimibutr from Thailand comes next with "The Wheel". It's also a film that relies more on images than the story, which is about cursed puppets. The images are pretty, but the short is kind of lame. It's not terrible, but it's definitely the low point of this anthology. And then we come to Peter Chan's contribution, "Going Home". This one is the reason to watch this film. Gorgeously shot by master cinematographer Christopher Doyle, it's about a cop and his son who move into a new apartment building. The boy is annoyed by a small, creepy girl who lives across the way, and one day he disappears. While looking for his son, the cop discovers that the neighbor whom he thought was the girl's father is involved in some weird stuff. This one is just outstanding - and completely emotionally draining - and it gets better the more I think about it.