paul_m_haakonsen

When I stumbled upon the 2024 Korean horror movie "Neulbomgadeun" (aka "Spring Garden") here in 2025, I had indeed never even heard about it. Not that it would deter me from watching the movie, as I overly enjoy all things horror and the Asian cinema at large. So of course I would find the time to check out what director Ku Born had to offer.

Writer Baek Yool-Seo put together an okay storyline, though it was bordering on being generic. For someone well-traversed in the Asian horror cinema, then "Neulbomgadeun" was a mere walk in the park, or should I say walk in the spring garden? But I believe that for newcomers to Asian horror cinema, then "Neulbomgadeun" proves to be much more enjoyable.

Despite of having seen more than my fair share of Korean movies, then I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie. And that was actually something that spoke in overall favor of the movie, adding to the enjoyment, as I do like watching new and unfamiliar talents on the screen. The acting performances in the movie were good.

Visually then "Neulbomgadeun" was okay. It was not a movie that relied heavily on special effects though.

This was definitely a watchable horror movie, but personally I found it to be far from among the best of what the South Korean horror cinema has to offer.

My rating of "Neulbomgadeun" lands on a five out of ten stars.

Stumbling upon this 2025 Netflix animated movie without knowing about it, I opted to watch it on account of it being a movie that I hadn't already seen before. So I virtually didn't know what I was in for here, and thus had no expectations.

Writers Danya Jimenez, Hannah McMechan, Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans put together a fair enough script and storyline. It made for a fair enough entertaining viewing experience, though it was a bit corny actually. It was definitely an original concept idea.

There are some puzzling mistakes throughout the narrative. For example, while the trio is fighting the demons aboard the plane and singing, they someone carried on with the song once they landed at the arena where their show was to be held, which indicated that the fans have been listening along to the singing in the plane, otherwise it would have been a strange out of context and short song. And then there was the fact that the fans could sing along to the newly released single, even though the fans were listening to it for the first time.

I was wondering why the dialogue was in English, if this was supposed to be KPop (Korean Pop). It should be noted that the voice acting in "KPop Demon Hunters" was good, despite of it being in English.

The animation style and art style used in "KPop Demon Hunters" was vibrant, colorful and good. I liked that part about it, that I will definitely admit.

The songs in the movie was, however, mostly bordering on being annoying. But of course that stems from it being so far from the genre of music that I listen to normally.

Watchable, for sure, but I am sure that a younger audience will enjoy this animated movie a lot more than I did. Not that I didn't enjoy "KPop Demon Hunters".

My rating of "KPop Demon Hunters" lands on a five out of ten stars.

I had never heard about this 1983 Japanese crime thriller titled "Meneko" (aka "She Cats"), from director Shingo Yamashiro, prior to stumbling upon it by random chance here in 2025. And with it being an Asian movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I opted to check it out, given my love of the Asian cinema.

The movie was sleazed unnecessarily down by an excess amount of pointless nudity and lovemaking scenes, which didn't really help further the narrative in any way. This was an exploitation movie, pure and simple, and not a crime thriller like the movie's cover and IMDb depicts. So I found the movie to be quite a swing and a miss, as I was expecting a crime thriller and not sleazy nudity.

The storyline in the movie, whenever it can be seen in between the nudity and lewd scenes, was okay. But I have to say that it was ruined by the pointless and constant lewd scenes. So I can't claim that writers Chiho Katsura, Mieko Kawasaki and Makoto Naitô put together anything extraordinary here.

Despite of having seen quite a number of Japanese movies, then I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie. The acting performances, when seen in between the nudity and lewd scenes, was okay.

"Meneko" failed to entertain me, and I tossed the towel in the ring 28 minutes into the 86 minute runtime. By then I was just bored senseless and had more than my share of pointless nudity. And this is definitely not a movie that I will return to watch a second time.

My rating of "Meneko" lands on a generous two out of ten stars.