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jaemilkowski
Reviews
Gui ying: Baby Blues (2013)
I don't understand the negative reviews
Sure, this film is nothing spectacular, but come on. It's a film about a haunted doll. If you started this film expecting something grandiose, then of course you'll be disappointed.
I went into this expecting a nice little horror flick with a doll. And I got what I wanted. The pacing was nice, the acting was good and the overall execution was pretty spot-on for the genre.
A woman is expecting twins, one dies during childbirth and the mother suffers with the delusion that the doll is her other son because no one told her that one of her sons died. Is it the doll causing it? Is it all in the mother's mind? This movie does what Chinese horror does: gives you a nice little spook with some realism tossed in to make it more - I dunno - believable? If I had to give one gripe, it would be the very end - and I mean the last few seconds. Those who have seen it know what I'm referring to. Everything in this movie was what I like with East Asian horror, then that tidbit happens, which is so American. But, like I said, I still enjoyed this flick.
Don't go in expecting something like Child's Play because it's nothing like that. Don't go in expecting a slasher. Go in expecting a movie about a haunted doll with some psychological elements thrown into the mix.
The Mine (2012)
Definitely in My Top 10 List
I went into this movie expecting the typical lame, but comical haunted ghost movie - full of all the usual points: one note characters, bad acting and stupid dialogue.
What I walked out with? Way more than I expected and I'm now ready to list this movie in my Top 10 Favorite Horror Films.
The way the movie started, I was all set for my cheesy, B-movie night. But after about the first fifteen minutes, I found myself invested. So much to the point that I didn't even check my phone once or look away from the movie. The characters, which start with all the stereotypes, end up being characters you find yourself getting attached to. As you're with them longer and longer, this film takes its time for character development in between the paranoia-filled scares.
And not that "rushed" development like most modern horror movies love to do. You know. The ones where it's like...two lines in the entire movie and it's only done before the final scare scene? This movie doesn't do that. And the characters this film created, I thought, were very realistic, as were their reactions and responses to what's happening.
With all of that going for it, and with the movie never showing you what exactly is going after them - which a lot of the fear comes from you never seeing anything - I found myself getting nervous. How were they going to end this film in a clever way that doesn't spit on the rest of the film? You know how a bad ending can ruin an otherwise great film? I was so scared that was going to happen.
While I can't say how it ended, what I can tell you is that the build up and execution is perfect. You never see it coming and that's what makes it so great.
In reality, if I had to pick one flaw from the ending, it's the very last scene before the credits roll. Again, I won't say what it is, but it was the only thing I found myself disliking. If for any reason, the movie is an otherwise great psychological case study.
The pros to this film are the pacing and characters. At certain moments, I literally teared up! I got that attached to these characters! And that's not something easily done in horror films - especially anything coming out after the mid-70s. This movie had me scared. And being a horror movie junkie, I don't usually get scared. I'm one of those that will sit through movies like "The Hills Have Eyes" and "The Conjuring" and laugh my way through them due to how stupid and over the top they are.
So, yeah. I do recommend this movie. Not just to the horror movie junkies like myself, but anyone who's willing to have their mentality tested.