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Most counterterrorism movies solely focus on the reality of life for American soldiers. Rather than focusing on the impact of the war on the many civilians living in war-torn countries, they showcase one-off scenes that feature the deaths of key terrorists. If civilians die along the way, they are not necessarily always shown or lingered on. The primary focus is, generally, on the American troops themselves.

Focusing solely on past conflicts can prevent viewers from imagining the more modern reality of warfare

Some movies do buck that trend. Schindler’s List (1993) focused entirely on civilian casualties and victims of the Holocaust, while Grave Of The Fireflies (1988) was a Studio Ghibli movie that depicted the horror of life as a Japanese civilian after World War II. The Chinese-made Men Behind The Sun (1988) also depicted life in China under Japanese occupation and the depraved suffering that the civilians faced. Few blockbuster Hollywood movies or shows,...

If you put a big red button in front of someone and tell them not to push the button, all that person is going to want to do is push the damn thing.

So then to the strange case of Megan is Missing, a low budget exploitation movie shot in 2006, given a limited release in 2011 which is now suddenly trending due to some high profile TikTok users talking about how utterly horrible it is and apparently warning others off with hyperbolic statements such as:

@bella.clare

please watch this film at your own risk. It is something i will never watch again . i am forever traumatized.

@lilnutmegg

If you are thinking of watching Megan is Missing, please don’t. I love horror/thriller/murder mysteries and I can watch them very easily, but this one I will never ever forget. I couldn’t even finish it.

Not to miss a trick,...

As an avid fan of both exploitation and documentary, I could not easily find anything better to watch than a documentary about Hk cinema’s Cat III movies. Even more so, since James Mudge, a personal friend of mine and author of one of the most detailed guides in the category participates in the film, along a number of experts, like the director Calum Waddell and Sean Tierney (aka Silver Spleen), some of the actual protagonists of the films of the category, like Anthony Wong and Josie Ho, and some of their directors, like Godfrey Ho, who talk about both Cat III and their personal experiences.

The documentary starts with the history of the category, tracing it, as usually in Hk cinema, in the productions of Shaw Brothers and the influence of Run Run Shaw that allowed him to “ignore” censorship. The film “Men Behind the Sun” however, is considered...