As many of you may know by now, I'm a sucker for Asian cinema and horror films. So the idea of Asian horror is very appealing to me. However, due to cultural differences mostly, what frightens and intrigues the Asian community just doesn't seem to translate too well in America. Perhaps it has to do with the suspension of disbelief needed to follow most Asian films. Here in America, we want some kind of logic in our horror movie, not just a collection of scenes that are included because they're freaky as hell. A film like Ju-on (The Grudge) or Honogurai... somethingsomething... (Dark Water) really does suffer when translated, and especially when remade, for an American audience because we tend to want more of an explanation of these events. And mundane things tend to not creep us out as much. Water dripping from the ceiling, even when accompanied by scary music, just isn't going to cut it with us. But the best examples in the genre are the ones that are most lyrical, that marry the visual quality to a solid story and that show us the things that dwell in our world which we choose to ignore in order to remain sane.

There are plenty of examples of good Asian horror. 3 Extremes, however, is not a decent starting point for anyone who's never experienced an Asian horror film. If you are going to start with this film, skip ahead. 3 Extremes is a movie in three parts (hence the name): part one is called "Dumplings" and it's directed by Fruit Chan from Hong Kong, part two is called "Cut" by Park Chan-wook of South Korea, and part three is "Box" by Takashi Miike from Japan. Being a huge fan of Japanese cinema, I expected "Box" to be the best film out of the three. While it turned out to be the strangest and least comprehensible, it wasn't the best. Surprisingly, the Korean entry was my favorite, featuring a solid, engrossing story mixed with equal parts horror and humor. "Dumplings" was the worst, being the most vile and grotesque out of the three, but also the most boring. Only the ending saves it from being a total waste. Let's take a closer look at these three short films, shall we?

"Dumplings" was actually expanded and released as a stand-alone film. It is also included on a seperate disc in the 3 Extremes DVD, but I didn't watch it so I can't even speculate on how they extended it to become a full-length film. (Granted, they'd only need about 1/2 an hour more.) The movie takes the subject of eternal youth, vanity, and abortion and rolls them up into one of the grossest films you're likely to ever stomach watching (if you can make it through to the end that is). A woman offers her special dumplings to clients who wish to regain the youthful texture of their skin, to feel young again and remain vibrant and alive. If you haven't guessed what kind of meat is in those dumplings then you must have missed the line about abortion being a topic in this film. Yes, that's right, dead aborted fetuses. And you can clobber me now for "spoiling" this plot turn, but if you don't release that that's what she's chopping up in the first five minutes of the movie, then maybe watching films is just not your speed. So where does the director go from there? He goes even further and then further still. The ending is sure to shock and horrify anyone who makes it that far, and is in truth the only redeeming feature of the film. As I said before, revulsion and boredom will fight there way through you scene after scene. How something as shocking and disgusting as eating dead fetuses can be this yawn-inducing is anyone's guess, but there you have it.

"Cut" is quite a bit better. It starts by faking the viewer out, showing scenes that look like they might be the actual movie, but aren't. There I go, spoiling the surprises again. This film instead deals with a movie director whose life is turned upside down when a deranged fan/extra kidnaps his wife and begins torturing her. Hard to think that this would be a comedy, but Park Chan-wook is able to squeeze a considerable number of laughs from this premise. The ending will leave you thinking, wondering and discussing for a long time. I think I understood it, but I can't be sure.

"Box" takes a decidedly more surreal turn. Most of it is filmed without dialogue and feels like memories and dreams. Two sisters are part of a circus act, contortionists who perform for an older man's magic show. Jealousy flairs up, however, when it seems that he favors one over the other, giving her a necklace... and apparently having intercourse with her. The jealous sister then does something that seals all of their fates. It ends with a twist, but one that is a bit unsatisfying in my opinion.

I enjoyed to one degree or another all three of these films, but I'd really only recommend the last two. If you can stomach the first one and don't mind being bored, then you're in for a treat of sorts when you finally get to the ending. I just didn't feel like it was worth it. The story itself is just so slight while being incredibly disgusting at the same time, that I can't see ever wanting to watch it again.