3 Extremes (2004) aka Saam Gaang Yi aka 3 Extremes II aka San Geng aka Three

4 / 5

Tagline: From the Nightmares of 3 Horror Masters

Directed By: Fruit Chan, Takashi Miike, Chan-wook Park

Written By: Haruko Fukushima, Lilian Lee, Chan-wook Park, Bun Saikou

Actors Include: Ling Bai, Byung-hun Lee, Kyoko Hasegawa

Genre: Horror

Length: 125 minutes

Banned: Nope

Review:

When dealing with anything "extreme" like say this film, there are two ways the films seem to go. They are either low budget, predictable and gory as heck, or you get something wonderfully creative and extreme like these stories. These have things to gross us out (which of course we want) yet the stories are well put together, it appears to have a budget and it actually works as a good movie. Well what this is are three short stories from different directors. It starts off fantastically with "Dumplings" the best in the set and actually one of the best Asian tales I've seen in a long while. I do not want to ruin this in any way but it's about some dumplings which give youth to the consumer but they are made of something rather disgusting (you'll see). Anyhow that tale seemed too short but fortunately on the DVD there is a longer version of this tale too (but I haven't seen that one yet). Next we move on to "Cut" which is demented and sadistic but the ending is less than satisfying. A young Man finds himself in a terrible situation when he finds his wife super glued to the piano (and she's a pianist). Can he stop the torture being inflicted upon her before it's too late? It's rather bloody, weird and generally artistic looking which I really appreciated. It's twisted, but heck so was the opening story. Both stories to this point are grotesquely fascinating, but can the third story hold up? Nope, sorry but it in fact doesn't. It's not impossible to watch or anything, but the last tale "Box" which is confusing, and non satisfying but bizarre enough to warrant at least one viewing. It's something to do with two gymnastic sisters, and well a box and fire and....well you'll see. I'd definitely recommend watching this trilogy but I do question the order of things, who ends a movie with it's worst material? Anyhow watchy watchy, especially "Dumplings"!

Availability:  On DVD