Re-cycle

All writers ruthlessly re-cycle ideas, characters, memories and experiences. The creative mind is littered with discarded snippets of people and places all waiting to be remembered and put to use. In Re-cycle, Ting-Yin is a successful writer who turned a failed romance into three bestsellers. She is now working on a supernatural novel and strange things are happening in her house. Is this her inspiration, or is her story coming to life? The film's beginning is classically horror, but when Ting-Yin stumbles out of reality it becomes much more fantastic and really feels like a video game. She moves from one bizarre landscape to another, dealing with zombies as she goes.

Beautifully shot, the production is slick, but the story is more melodramatic than frightening.

This film from the Pang Brothers stars Lee Sin-Je (also known as Angelica Lee), who becomes more assured with each film. She plays Ying-Tin, a successful novelist who is experiencing writer's block. As she begins to write her novel, strange things happen. She gets phone calls which are just noise, she sees visions. She goes out of her apartment and into another world entirely, which looks life a post-apocalyptic Hong Kong. What once appeared to be heading for a straight horror film becomes more of a supernatural thriller. There are many interesting images and the film looks great. The outcome of the story itself is tied to an old relationship she had, and you'll understand the message of the film as you go along. If you like films like this and/or like Ms. Sin-Je, you'll find this very watchable. Ms. Sin-Je, who looks great, gives a good performance, carrying the film on her shoulders pretty admirably.

Tsui Ting-Yin is a best-selling author and for her new book she decides to change genre and instead of writing love stories focus on the supernatural.When writing a chapter for her new book,entitled Re-Cycle,the supernatural she writes about appears to her in real life in the form of a woman.Afraid at first,Tsui Ting-Yin later follows the long-haired woman that appeared to her in order to be able to write more and is soon plunged into a world of fantasy and horror."Re-Cycle" plays more like a fantasy flick than horror.The film certainly looks truly beautiful and features some jaw-dropping scenery,unfortunately it lacks scares and is simply dull at times.Unlike their previous films,the building of nail-biting tension and creepy suspense did not play as big a part in "Re-Cycle".Overall,I expected more from the makers of "The Eye" and "Ab-normal Beauty".A solid 6 out of 10.

Re-Cycle is something completely different than you would expect if you are familiar with the Pang brothers. It starts off as a horror movie, but than continues as a fantastic and inspired fantasy film. The movie has a deep and disturbing message, which really took me by surprise. The music and sound effects are amazing and pull you even further in the story. The story has a less is more approach which really suits the message. The computer animated pieces aren't always as stunning as you would hope, but they do the trick. This movie is really worth it to be seen. With this movie the Pang brothers have proved to be not only masters of horror, but also masters of fantasy.

The Pang Brothers book marked a creatively grim, if disconnected little supernatural horror film balancing that of a novelist (a perfectly pitched performance by Angelica Lee) trying to write a horror novel, but finding out what she writes is personally happening to her. Being haunted by her work with the growing expectations, or a former if complicated love coming back on the scene. She enters a dream reality (where the title comes in to play), mixing the stark horror and fleeting happiness in what is a journey of discovery… up until its undermining ending. I was actually liking the (traditional, but stimulating) build-up (consisting of eerie sounds, lurking figures and a sense of danger) until she enters this fantasy world (like a nightmarish spin of 'Alice's in Wonderland'), where the story felt more like clips (well that's how memories kept hidden, waiting to be remembered simply come and then go) and being cluttered with crazy CGI… which wasn't badly projected, as some sequences were amazing, but eventually I grew tired of the routine. The Pang Brothers' surefooted handling is slick, letting the flowing cinematography craft out haunting frames and wonderfully strange imagery. Inspired, but emotionally starved and the story really loses momentum.