Três Extremos

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)

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.

After watching the original 3 EXTREMES, one might expect the so-called "sequel" 3 EXTREMES II to be as, or even more unsettling, gory, or terrifying.

Is it?

Well, not really. While the first film was refreshingly bizarre and somewhat revolting in spots, this follow-up is rather mild with fewer shocks or gross-out story lines. It's also far more concerned with the supernatural than its predecessor.

The three stories involve ghosts, curses, and reanimation along with some dismemberment and murder. All three tales are good. Just don't expect another thriller full of disturbing subject matter and stomach-turning revelations...

Three is an omnibus supernatural horror film comprised of three one-hour long mini-features. Each one was produced in a different country, Peter Chan representing Hong Kong, Kim Ji-Woon representing South Corea, and Nonzee Nimibtr representing Thailand.

The opening film, Kim Ji-Woon's "Memories" follows two individuals as they grapple with seemingly missing memories: a man who's wife is missing and a woman who's trying to figure out who she is. The work actually foreshadows a lot of what will eventually show up in Kim's following feature, A Tale of Two Sisters, which I really liked. While the film does feature a number of eerie moments, it also suffers from a lack of a strong story. There's not much to its revelation and the characters are fairly static. To its merit, it's probably the most technically proficient of the three films and certainly the scariest.

The second piece is Peter Chan's "Going Home" and this is probably the best overall of the bunch. While its production values are actually the roughest of the three, the story is probably the highlight of the three. The story is divided into two segments, the first where a cop and his son move into an aging complex where few people live and is seemingly haunted. The second, the cop grapples with a seemingly mad homeopathic doctor who is appearing to pursue the resurrection of his dead wife. The film grasps well its theme and the story has a few interesting revelations to provide while also having something to say about the power of love/hope.

It's not a scary piece for the most part, but despite the production values, the direction appears sure and makes great use of its setting and limitations.

The final film is Nimibtr's "Wheel", which is about an arts troupe grappling with the curse of an evil puppet. This is probably the weakest segment. While it does have some good imagery to offer, the story is confusing, aimless and the scares are without method or meaning. Some of the visuals are chilling, but because of the rather slapdash and sometimes illogical story, the overall effect of the piece is muted.

All in all, I have to say that Three isn't a complete waste of time due to the solid piece by Peter Chan and the stylish opening act. On the other hand, it's weakened by the third piece and while the three do try to take on the same overall concept, they seem to be too divergent to really make a cohesive whole, with Nimibutr's "Wheel" really on a different plane than the other two. Probably better viewing for genre lovers of horror or supernatural films and perhaps for more curious cinephiles, but I don't see that it's going to be particularly impressive for anyone else. 6/10 for Memories, 8/10 for Going Home, 4/10 for Wheel. 6/10 overall.

Note: The US release of this film changes the order of the films around so that it opens with Memories, then goes to Wheel and closes with Going Home. I'm not certain how the Hong Kong and Thai versions of the film orders the three; I watched the Corean version.

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.