MovieXclusive.com -

Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Fruit Chan, Fung Chih Chiang, Hoi Ip Sang, Wesley
Cast: Jerry Lamb, Cecilia So, Cherry Chung, Yeung Wai Lun, Monnie Li, Richie Ren, Sofiee Ng, Peter Chan, Paul Che, Baby Bo, Cherry Ngan, Ng Wing Sze, Kelvin Kwan, Van Chan
Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins
Rating: NC16 (Some Mature Content & Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:

Opening Day: 15 September 2022

Synopsis: Fear lives inside everyone’s hearts. Do you think you’re immune? You just haven’t found yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time... Produced by John Chong and Mathew Tang, Tales from the Occult features three eerie stories about spooky happenings in tight spaces: Dead Mall by Fruit Chan, The Tenement by Fung Chih Chiang and The Chink by Hoi Ip Sang, Wesley. They will take you into a terrifying world in which human nature is driven to extremes by twisted environments. Do you have the guts to go inside?

Movie Review:

Remember a time when we were spoilt (and scared silly) by movies like The Eye (2002), Three…Extremes (2004) and more recently, Rigor Mortis (2013)? Seeing ghosts after a cornea transplant operation, stuffing aborted fetuses in dumplings to achieve eternal youth, and spirits possessing a human’s body after a failed suicide attempt – these are the concepts behind these truly chilling horror flicks.

In this reported first instalment of Hong Kong production company and film distributor Media Asia’s new omnibus series, we are treated to three stories which remind us of the chills derived from the good ol’ Hong Kong horror genre.

The first segment directed by newcomer Weley Hoi tells the story of a pop singer (Cherry Ngan) who experiences scary events in her new apartment. We learn that she came face to face with a rotting corpse when she was a teenager. Are the creepy things she’s experiencing a result of the unsettling episode she went through as a young girl? Elsewhere, her uncle (the ever reliable Lawrence Cheng) is the psychiatrist trying to calm the terrified celebrity down.

Titled “The Chink”, this tale sets the tone for the 111 minute feature film. There is an unsettling atmosphere throughout, and there seems to be a repressed plot development waiting somewhere. You anticipate an outrageous twist, so when the segment ends on a straightforward note, you can’t help but wish there was something else cleverer instead. But on another level, the ending reflects a dread that traumatised individuals have to live with for the rest of their lives.

Fruit Chan, whom many of us are familiar with, is on form with the second segment “Dead Mall”. People are facing the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, where the economy is in the dumps. We are introduced to an online influencer (Jerry Lamb) who hosts the popular “The Gate To Wealth” series. He is in a mall that seems to be thriving with business – until the camera pulls back and we realise the crowd is made up of paid actors. Retail spaces are empty, and business is non existent. Things get interesting when another online influencer and a mysterious figure show up in the mall.

This story boasts the strongest concepts, and we are not surprised because it is helmed by the critically acclaimed Chan. There is plenty to think about as the handheld camera shots assault the senses. Everything seems to be in a mess, yet poignant themes such as consumerism, greed, pandemic panic and real estate scams are constantly being explored.

The last segment directed by Fung Chih Chiang has the most structured story. Five strangers come together after a water ghost appears in the dilapidated building they stay in. Richie Ren and Sofiee Ng headline this tale that scores in entertainment value, with Ren delivering an unexpectedly hilarious performance as a gangster who had seen better days.

"The Tenement" is the easiest tale to follow. You’ll be kept intrigued as the characters share their back stories, face their fears to confront the water ghost, and scramble to get rid of a corpse. The plot thickens and you’ll be pulled into a murder mystery before the episode ends on a disturbing note. We can't wait for the second instalment of the series to hit the big screens.

Movie Rating:

(The spooky tales in this Hong Kong horror omnibus are competently told and provide old school scares)

Review by John Li

Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Director: Olivia Newman
Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson, Michael Hyatt
Runtime: 2 hrs 5 mins
Rating: NC16 (Sexual Scenes)
Released By: Sony Pictures
Official Website:

Opening Day: 22 September 2022

Synopsis: From the best-selling novel comes a captivating mystery. Where the Crawdads Sing tells the story of Kya, an abandoned girl who raised herself to adulthood in the dangerous marshlands of North Carolina. For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, isolating the sharp and resilient Kya from her community. Drawn to two young men from town, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world; but when one of them is found dead, she is immediately cast by the community as the main suspect. As the case unfolds, the verdict as to what actually happened becomes increasingly unclear, threatening to reveal the many secrets that lay within the marsh.

Movie Review:

“Luring him was as easy, as flashing valentines.

But like a lady firefly, they hid a secret call to die.”

The gem of a summer movie, Where the Crawdads Sing, hits the big screens just in time before the autumn equinox and goes on to teach us the enigma of life where a prey too can be the predator when circumstances demand so. The Reese Witherspoon-produced movie magically unveils an opening scene of the marsh that features almost all elements of nature and cuts to the chase scene where the young woman, Catherine Clark (Daisy Edgar-Jones), chooses to take flight instead of fight as a natural response when the police hunts her down. And it whirlwinds into a court trial, without much further ado.

Based on the 2018 best-selling murder-mystery novel by Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing weaves a tale of a young woman who painfully constructs her own little bubble and forges a support system she never once had, till love finds her. Drawn to two young men, (Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson) in two different timelines who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya is obliged to tap into her primal instincts when the unthinkable happens.

With one having to look extra hard these days to avoid being wildly disappointed with movie adaptations of books, the cast members have rendered an amazing execution by staying absolutely faithful to the actual portrayal of the book characters. Although the movie pivots on Kya's resilient bloom-wherever-planted character, the beauty of this narrative is that no one single character carries the entire weight of the plot. Every character, from the sleepy town's grocers (Michael Hyatt, Sterling Macer Jr) to the benign-souled lawyer (David Strathairn), steers the plot in the right direction by establishing emotional intimacy. With Tate's and Chase's characters seated at the two ends of the leading male spectrum, it was clear who the plot was actually rooting for. One is chivalrous and almost like a soulmate (Tate) while the other comes in strong, aggressive and more like a false twin flame (Chase) that sells dreams to a vulnerable feminine (Kya).

The symbolisms planted in the movie definitely lends allure to this rural thriller. It would be a pity to overlook the corny but cute back and forth exchange of gift feathers and shells which are featured throughout the entire runtime, from Kya's childhood to her golden years - almost like a constant amidst the changes. Another prominent representation would be the scallop shell which is a rare entity on the marshlands gets washed ashore and it is Chase that sights it.

And (last one, I promise) how ironic that the one who treats her eyes to the refreshing panoramic view of the entire stretch of marshland, gets preyed upon...

The effortless transitions that shuttles the audience back and forth from the courtroom to Barkley Cove were really smooth and far from wearisome. The seams were so smooth and intertwined that it literally keeps one on the edge to learn about what happened at the fire tower that night.

As with other big screen adaptations of books, Where the Crawdads Sing wasn't spared of the divided opinions. Not many would have read the 300-plus-paged book that the screenplay was based on. But hearsay has it that some felt that the book was much darker than the film and that the narrative of Kya being Kya was downplayed. In the movie, they have painted her to be an innocuous being that likes to study nature on the whole. It seems that they have muted a side to Kya where she harbours a carnal attraction towards Chase and that she actually spends considerable amount of time studying mating habits of animals. Besides just that, there were rants about Kya being the first person narrator in the movie where actually the book is told from a third person omniscient point of view. It is a case of mixed bag of reviews once again. But how much parallels can actually be depicted in a 125-min romantic thriller drama? Do stay for the Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Taylor Swift’s audio treat, “Carolina” as the end credits comes on.

**A Little Spoiler Alert**

Don't look for closure when it comes to Chase Andrews. Be prepared to leave with a slightly heavy heart, as the unfolding of the murder never takes place. It is left as a mere point of reference that revisits the possibility that no one killed Chase Andrews. Although the audience are left deprived of the visual representation of the murder, it doesn't leave a gaping hole in the plot. Also, could it have been my bad to have waited with bated breath for the actual representation of the murder when the older Tate finally finds the hidden seashell? Maybe, as a sucker for closures. But maybe not, as someone who deserves a visual representation of the nucleus of the movie.

Movie Rating:

(A stunningly-shot, coming of age murder mystery that is incredibly promising of a delightful cinematic experience for those who have and have not devoured the pages of the best-selling source material)

Review by Asha Gizelle Mariadas

Genre: Drama
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Gabriel LaBelle, Jeannie Berlin, Julia Butters, Robin Bartlett, Keeley Karsten, Judd Hirsch
Runtime: 2 hrs 31 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language and Drug References)
Released By: UIP
Official Website:

Opening Day: 9 February 2023

Synopsis: A deeply personal portrait of 20th Century American childhood, Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans is a coming-of-age story about a young man’s discovery of a shattering family secret and an exploration of the power of movies to help us see the truth about each other and ourselves.

Movie Review:

There are film directors that are known for their visual styles, while others are more closely tied to the genre they excel in. For Spielberg, his legacy lies in his skillful articulation of innocence and imagination, one that is once again explored in his latest film, The Fablemans.

By one measure, it is a coming-of-age drama about Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle) falling in and out (and in again) of his love for making movies, while navigating between the complex bonds of family, friends and young romance. But right at its core, is an ode to the magic of film-making - how it fuels expression and escapism for the maker and viewer alike. After all, it’s a loose autobiography.

Yes - though not readily highlighted, The Fablemans is based on Steven Spielberg’s own nascent journey into filmmaking.

The director’s love of the medium is no secret, but less talked about is his personal relationship with his family and divorced parents. The film parallels many of the key events and arcs that led to the evolving family dynamics, including accidentally capturing suppressed relationships on film, and Spielberg having to live in a household with two very disparate personalities. At many times, it appears that his passion for film-making is central to the rising tensions, but oftentimes it is merely a scapegoat to the differences that already lie in the fundamentals.

The Fablemans is really Spielberg’s tribute to the medium - for better and worse - for not just shaping him into the person that he is today, but also how it propelled him out of these difficult situations. Lest one thinks this is a vanity project, the themes here are very relatable. The loss of innocence, bullying, identity and human bonds are all topics that one can find a connection with within the story.

Spielberg guides us through these subjects with plenty of grace, unravelling them slowly through a film about films. In one scene, he reveals the source of his simmering anger by showing hidden footage to his beloved mother, Mitzi Fabelman (Michelle Williams). As she sits in the closet watching, the sound of the rolling film strip being interrupted by the edits (traditional film had to be spliced and taped for their edits, thus sounding different at those points on a projector when passing through) and her changing expression is what tells us what is happening without actually watching the content. In another, while producing an epic war piece and directing his talent, Sammy realises that the instructions he’s giving his talent is a realisation he is sharing with himself. These moments are what Spielberg excels in - tender epiphanies that transition us between significant chapters of our lives.

The cast supports his story beautifully as well. LeBelle is at once wholesome and mature in his portrayal - a charismatic protagonist that holds the audience’s attention with ease. Williams and Paul Dano, who plays the pragmatic-to-a-fault father, are just as successful in holding down their roles as free-spirited creative and a nerdy engineer. Though perhaps more could be done to juxtapose this friction, Spielberg prefers to spend more time on the impact on the children - as he often does in his titles. One of my best moments was watching Judd Hirsch spice things up as Uncle Bori.

By no means should one think that The Fablemans is a tortured family drama. Under his hand, the film remains lit from within with a warm glow. Love, like many things in life, comes in a form that is challenging and unexpected, and Spielberg draws out this message with reverence. But more than his skill, it is his innate surrender to his curiosity and awe - one more often found in children - that makes The Fablemans such a joy to watch, and the ending such a poetic ethos to his spectacular life.

Movie Rating:

(Beautifully shot and skillfully crafted, The Fabelmans is fitting tribute to the art of film, as well as to the influences that have given us a unique and talented filmmaker)

Review by Morgan Awyong

Genre: Horror/Mystery
Director: Timo Vuorensola
Cast: Sydney Craven, Imran Adams, Dee Wallace, Gary Graham
Runtime: 1 hr 28 mins
Rating: NC16 (Violence and Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:

Opening Day: 22 September 2022

Synopsis: When the Horror Hound festival holds its first ever event in Louisiana, it attracts hundreds of geeks, freaks and die-hard horror fans from far and wide, to howl and celebrate into the night. Among them is love-able geek Chase (Imran Adams) and his devoted sweetheart Laine (Sydney Craven), she's got big news to share with Chase, and hopes to find the right moment to tell him he is going to be a father. But as the festival approaches, Laine begins to experience unexplained premonitions and disturbing visions associated with the town's past and in particular The Creeper (Jarreau Benjamin). As the festival arrives and the blood-soaked entertainment builds to a frenzy, Laine and Chase win a VIP tour to a Creeper Themed Escape room, where they will be joined by a film crew and the disturbing tour guide Stu (Peter Brooke). Laine believes that something unearthly has been summoned... and that she is at the centre of it.

Movie Review:

A sense of déjà vu instantaneously slinks in as soon as Jeepers Creepers:Reborn opens up with a drone shot where the pair of ill-fated pensioners, merrily belting out tunes in their car as they cruise along the highway get to witness something that they should never have. The opening scene of the film that is alleged to be the first of the trilogy, successfully manages to pull the crowds into the storyline but not enough to drown in it. It begins falling back a little before the CGI-refined Creeper and his albino raven hastily launches the characters into the plot before we even know it. And what ensues would be the screams, the tears, the blood, the gore and all other visceral elements of a generic slasher movie.

Chase (Imran Adams) who is a diehard fan of cosplay gets too curious about the urban legend and takes his girlfriend (Sydney Craven) on this road trip to attend the gore fest dedicated to horror buffs. And in what’s dubbed as the ‘Coachella of Cosplay’, the creeper draw is held. The guiltless duo wins the ticket even without partaking in it. The grand prize is, of course, a night’s stay at the big old antebellum mansion in the outskirts of the sleepy town. Will the young couple along with other unassuming beings trapped in the haunted house set-up keep the audience glued to their seats? Or is it just one of those movies that uses the escape room premise? Let’s dig deeper.

Getting To Know The Creeper

What sets the Creeper apart from the rest is how he picks his victim. The Creeper is actually a Confederate-states ghoul that awakens to go on a killing spree every 23 years. He can't necessarily be classified as a traditional slasher though. He would often kill to attain a certain body part to consume and there are even times where he wouldn't kill because they didn't have something that he actually wants. Being a picky ‘eater’ himself, he does feed off humans, only if he approves of their genotype which is still quite a mystery to us audience. And in the event of losing a limb or part of himself, he would tear off that exact part of his victim to fix it onto himself. The Creeper also possesses some skills up his raggedy sleeve, where he would whistle a deafening trill that can cause one's ears to ring for minutes. Oh, and if the victim is preggo, then it's a slap-up meal for the Creeper.

Every 23 years the Creeper awakens to feed again and if the makers of this American horror number had waited till 2024, it would have been exactly 23 years since the first instalment of the Jeepers Creepers franchise. But they chose to go ahead with it to most likely emphasise on the fact that this is something entirely different from Victor Salva’s original trilogy. And perhaps, that’s exactly why it is labelled as “Reborn.” Albeit being an entirely different series under the same franchise, it is apparent that the makers wanted to set it apart from Salva’s original trilogy, given his conviction for paedophilic crimes back in the late ‘80s. It does offer the Jeeper Creeper 2 vibes, except that they aren’t trapped in a bus this time.

And there are two possibilities for someone to laugh while enjoying a horror movie. One has to be a self-soothing gesture to counter any fears and anxieties caused by the film’s content, almost as if to subconsciously assure oneself that it’s just a movie. The other reason has to be that the scenes are ridiculously funny that it evokes such a response. And the latter applies to some outlandish scenes of the 88-minute thriller. With poor performances that fail to create the kind of tension that we are familiar with when it comes to horror movies, it honestly feels more like a reboot than a fresh start of the trilogy. This slasher movie that conventionally features a lone killer, sadly sinks lower than the third instalment that was super iffy with its horror elements.

The Could Have, Would Have, Should Have

With many wishing upon the backstory of Creeper’s first kill or even a prequel to the first instalment that explores the story of the missing prom couple, Kenny and Darla, (whose head was later found sewn back on her body in the House of Pain) it could have resurrected the entire franchise. Wouldn’t it have been great if it was made into a trilogy series that delves deeper into the origin of the Creeper himself too?

Considering the fact that the dilapidated house is in the middle of nowhere, it gets one questioning on the bright interiors with light sources coming from outside. It would definitely make a tad bit of difference with dimmer and darker lights, thus making it naturally sinister.

Jeepers Creepers:Reborn would have been on an upswing if only it had been a spin-off series on Netflix with perhaps a different POV for the franchise to have enjoyed better success.

Movie Rating:

(The Creeper is REBORN this season for a reason! A typical date night slasher flick that is creepy, bloody and visceral. If you are an ardent fan of Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers or Freddy Krueger then this blood and guts horror B-movie with jump scares by the number may be for you)

Review by Asha Gizelle Mariadas

SYNOPSIS: Queen Latifah and Chris Bridges star in this road trip thriller about a mom of two kids who relocates across the country with her kids and brother. The family’s move to the southland is thrown into complete chaos when they witness a murder on their road trip. Now, the murderer will stop at nothing to find them.

MOVIE REVIEW:

End of the Road is no Are We There Yet? You know that cringing unfunny road trip movie starring Ice Cube. However this Queen Latifah starrer which is no comedy actually fares better in terms of laughs. Most of the time, unintentional of course.

Queen Latifah plays Brenda Freeman, a mother to two teenage children who has to relocate to Texas after the death of her husband. It’s a long road trip to her mother’s place and tagging along is her younger brother, Reggie (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges), a weed-smoking assistant manager at Chick-fil-A.

Instead of a dysfunctional family grieving over their deceased father/husband or having a little wild adventure along the trip like National Lampoon’s Vacation, the script by Christopher J. Moore and David Loughery turned End of the Road into a half-baked crime thriller with run-of-the-mill car chases and a surprise finale worthy of a third rate M. Night Shyamalan plot twist.

Basically, the Freemans got to all sorts of trouble, first a pair of racist rednecks in which Brenda deescalate the situation by apologising although there were not in the wrong in the first place. Then while spending a night at a motel, they encountered a shooting in the room next door and Reggie being Reggie took a bag of money which supposedly belonged to a drug cartel named Mr Cross.

When Brenda’s younger son gets kidnapped halfway through, she offers to return the money to Mr Cross only to meet a gang of misfits where she gets to mouth a hilarious one-liner after shooting a guy on his leg. Everything seems so predictable and routine that there’s hardly any surprise or suspense. Even the handful of action sequences end up being more clumsy than thrilling.

Even for a title than runs at a nifty 90 minutes, End of the Road feels incredibly lacklustre. The villains are paper-thin and the obvious message about racism can’t quite salvage the wobbly premise. Queen Latifah sure can play a kick-ass heroine but she needs better material at least Ludacris has the Fast and Furious franchise to fall back on.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee

SYNOPSIS: A boy and an aging billionaire bond over books — and their first iPhones. But when the older man passes, their mysterious connection refuses to die.

MOVIE REVIEW:

As a fan of Stephen King’s short stories, it’s heartening to know that Mr. Harrigan’s Phone is adapted to the screen at such lightning speed consider the novella was published only in 2020. Instead of yet another tiresome remake of Carrie, Firestarter or Pet Sematary, this is definitely a breath of fresh air.

A boy named Craig (Jaeden Martell) who stays with his widowed father in a small town is hired by an eccentric billionaire Mr John Harrigan (Donald Sutherland) to read to him thrice a week. It’s a simple job all right and Craig develops a somewhat close, quiet relationship with Mr. Harrigan over the years despite earning only a meagre sum and lottery scratch cards from the aging billionaire.

The duo mainly talk about life, books and discusses Craig’s future until one day, Craig won a sum of $3000 from one of Harrigan’s scratch cards. To repay the old man’s kind deed, Craig blessed him with the newly launched iPhone and taught him the tricks of accessing the stock market, navigating the internet and choosing his preferred ringtone.

Expectedly, Mr. Harrigan dies one day from heart disease and Craig bizarrely slips Harrigan’s handphone into the casket. When Craig encounters a bully in high school and “confides” the incident in a voicemail to Harrigan’s number, the bully turned up death the next day. Could it be the ghost of Harrigan that served out the justice? Or is it a mere eerie coincidence?

If you have read the short story, you will realised writer and director John Lee Hancock stays faithful to King’s work right down to the ending. There’s little altering to the original story in fact there’s hardly any, so no unwanted surprises for fans of King. Hancock (The Blind Side, Saving Mr. Banks), a newcomer to the horror genre pulls no cheap jump scares and gruesomeness for the record. What Hancock is good at is telling heart-warming stories filled with strong characters. Craig and Mr. Harrigan are great examples of that.

Non-readers might find the entire movie a disappointing affair with not much of a solid payoff. The pacing is sluggish and of course, no clear, obvious explanation of the supernatural happenings. To a certain extent, King has weaved technology into some of his horrifying tales notably Cell. In Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, King once again attempts to disguise the evils of technology advancement into the horror scene.

Again, the movie from Blumhouse and renowned producer Ryan Murphy is not as flashy or scary as other King’s cinematic adaptations. This is closer in spirit to Apt Pupil, just less intrigued. Lower your expectations and we are sure you will find it’s a decent well-acted tale about morality and the perils of technology.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Drama/Horror/Sci-Fi
Director: David Cronenberg
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux, Kristen Stewart, Scott Speedman, Welket Bungué, Don McKellar, Yorgos Pirpassopoulos, Tanaya Beatty, Nadia Litz, Lihi Kornowski, Denise Capezza
Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins
Rating: M18 (Disturbing Scenes and Nudity)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:

Opening Day: 29 September 2022

Synopsis: CRIMES OF THE FUTURE takes a deep dive into the not-so-distant future where human kind is learning to adapt to its synthetic surroundings. This evolution moves humans beyond their natural state and into a metamorphosis, altering their biological makeup. While some embrace the limitless potential of transhumanism, others attempt to control it. Either way, in this perfectly crafted Cronenberg world, “Accelerated Evolution Syndrome” is spreading fast. Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen) is a beloved performance artist who has embraced Accelerated Evolution Syndrome sprouting new and unexpected organs in his body. Along with his partner Caprice (Léa Seydoux), Saul has turned the removal of these organs into a spectacle for his loyal followers to marvel at in real time theatre. Soon, Saul is forced to consider what would be his most shocking performance of all.

Movie Review:

Let this be fair warning for the uninitiated – if you’ve never seen a David Cronenberg picture, we’d advise you not to start with this latest. As tantalising as its title may sound, ‘Crimes of the Future’ is as far from casual viewing as it gets, so those looking for an easy science-fiction fix should simply look elsewhere.

Returning to the body-horror genre synonymous with his name, Cronenberg fashions a cerebral puzzler set in a decrepit, polluted techno-future where mankind has evolved into an unfeeling, pain-free species immune to both trauma and disease. Despite such leaps and bounds, evolution isn’t done yet, with Viggo Mortensen’s performance artist Saul Tenser as a case in point. Not only is he afflicted with the growth of seemingly functionless body organs, Saul is unable to perform basic human tasks like eating or sleeping without the aid of quasi-organic devices.

Saul is introduced to us alongside Caprice (Léa Seydoux), his partner professionally and in life, both of whom are celebrities in a world obsessed with surgery as if it were the new sex. Their art involves Saul lying inside a modified sarcophagus originally intended for autopsies, with Caprice using a conspicuously vaginal remote control to remove the latest growths he’s sprouted within his body. Saul’s admirers include the two bureaucrats in charge of the National Organ Registry, Wippet (Don McKellar) and Timlin (Kristen Stewart), who in the last act will reveal their own personal agendas.

Besides Wippet and Timlin, there are others lingering around Saul’s orbit. These include a father named Lang Dotrice (Scott Speedman) whose child is seen in the prologue munching contentedly on a plastic bin before his distraught mother smothers him dead with a pillow; a pair of female technicians Berst (Tanaya Beatty) and Router (Nadia Litz) who work for the company called LifeForm Ware that manufactures the contraptions which are integral to Saul’s day-to-day living; and last but not least a detective Cope (Welket Bungué) of the ‘New Vice’ division investigating Lang and his cult of evolutionists that have chosen to modify their digestive system to be able to eat plastics and other synthetic chemicals.

Intriguing though they may be, Cronenberg gives the characters short shrift in a largely moribund narrative with little sense of pace or build-up. His reputation has enabled him to assemble quite the ensemble here, but their high-concept performances cannot quite compensate for the sheer lethargy at which things unfold, which will test the patience of even the most patient viewer. In addition to frustrating those waiting for the various plot strands to come together in a meaningful way, it doesn’t help that Cronenberg uses his characters to explain his symbolism with overindulgent exposition that illuminates little.

What there is to savour is strictly for hardcore Cronen-heads, especially the tableau of horrors which Cronenberg has curated, including a dervish-dancing man with multiple ears all over his body and a woman who mutilates her own face for the delectation of her audience. Such outré images and pulsating shots of human viscera are signature Cronenberg, but they are here devoid of the sharp social commentary which elevated the best of his works, so much so that ‘Crimes of the Future’ operates purely at the visceral level to shock.

And that is a pity, for at the age of 79, Cronenberg isn’t short of ideas at all; in fact, there are glimpses here of his desire to speak to our modern-day anxieties about technology, genetics and environmental degradation. Yet these ideas remain trapped in delivery, without sufficient narrative impetus to make any impression on its viewer. Indeed, as much as we admire Cronenberg and his body of work, ‘Crimes of the Future’ is a tedious disappointment that is all the more maddening for the potential it ultimatelt squanders.

Movie Rating:

(Unless you're a hardcore Cronen-head, David Cronenberg's return to the body-horror genre is ultimately too dull, deliberate and deadening for even the most patient viewer)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Biography/Crime/Drama
Director: Tony Stone
Cast: Sharlto Copley, Drew Powell, Christian Calloway
Runtime: 2 hrs 3 mins
Rating: M18 (Mature Theme)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website:

Opening Day: 15 September 2022

Synopsis: From the mind of acclaimed director Tony Stone comes TED K - a bracing, cinematic journey into the tortured mind of The Unabomber. Deep in the American Rocky Mountains lived a man who sought refuge from modern society. His dark writings forewarned of a society ruled by technology. As the outside world encroached on his mountain sanctuary, he slowly became radicalized with rage. What began with small acts of sabotage, culminated with deadly bomb attacks, national media attention, and the largest manhunt in American history.

Movie Review:

Few movies aim or succeed at depicting their subject with as much verisimilitude as ‘Ted K’. In order to immerse his audience into the mind of Ted Kaczynski, better known as the infamous domestic terrorist ‘Unabomber’, director Tony Stone painstakingly recreated his subject’s original cabin in the Rocky Mountains near Lincoln, Montana, where Kaczynski had lived alone without running water or electricity for 25 years. And for the most part, ‘Ted K’ is an intriguing character study, anchored by a harrowing performance by Sharlto Copley that grips you from start to finish.

For the uninitiated, between 1978 and 1995, Ted’s homemade bombs resulted in a number of horrible injuries and three deaths, his targets ranging from an airline executive to a computer shop owner to a lobbyist. As the opening information crawl says, Ted was a brilliant student who skipped grades to attend Harvard at the age of 16 to earn a PhD in Mathematics. Yet a year into his professorship, Ted turned his back on society and went to live up in the mountains, where his disdain for technological progress and anger at the environmental destruction he was witnessing around him drove him from small-scale sabotage to some of the worst acts of domestic terrorism in US history.

Of the many ways he could have chosen to make a film about Ted, Stone decided to try to do so by dramatizing his psychological state. Told entirely from his point of view, we descend into Ted’s mind through voice-overs of sections of his extensive writing. These narrations by Copley are sobering to say the least, in particular that from his 35,000 word manifesto called ‘Industrial Society and Its Future’ where he muses about the harmful process of natural destruction brought by technology that not only forces humans to be subservient to machinery but also in time creates a sociopolitical order that suppresses human potential.

Ted’s state of being is also glimpsed through a number of one-sided phone booth conversations with his estranged brother. It is no secret that his brother was the one who tipped off the FBI, leading to his arrest and current lifetime incarceration, and these conversations show just how much he resented yet depended on his brother. There is also one other conversation early in the film with his mother, through which we learn he blames for his resulting lack of sexual experience by putting him ahead two years at high school. As with ‘Joker’, Ted constructs a fantasy world with an imaginary girlfriend known as Becky (Amber Rose Mason), another sad reflection of his loneliness and yearning for companionship despite his deliberate isolation.

It is intentional that ‘Ted K’ comes across more as a mood piece than a well-plotted crime thriller. Through cinematographer Nathan Corbin’s stunning outdoor scenery and composer/producer Benjamin John Power’s (aka Blanck Mass) thundering electronic score, Stone underscores his subject’s grandiose delirium. On his part, Copley delivers a tour-de-force performance of visceral intensity, conveying not just his character’s palpable fury but also Ted’s fragility. Watching Copley recreate Ted’s monastic routine is nothing short of fascinating, and it is credit to his dedication to the role that we ultimately feel a tinge of sympathy for a man whose misgivings about modern society while misplaced have proven somewhat true.

‘Ted K’ isn’t an easy or comfortable film to sit through, but those willing to dive into the world of an iconoclast will find themselves rewarded with an intriguing portrait of someone so disenchanted with the world that he decided that he could no longer do nothing about it. It may not be as nuanced as some may expect it to be, but ‘Ted K’ is still an expressionistic character study that is often absorbing and at times downright compelling. At the very least, it will remind you of a time not so long ago when with hindsight, we should have been more circumspect about the impact of our actions on nature and the environment, as well as more sceptical about how technology would come to shape modern society as we know it today..

Movie Rating:

(Told with absolute verisimilitude, this unblinkered portrait of the domestic terrorist known as the Unabomber is an intriguing character study of disenchantment, vulnerability and wrath)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Director: Shinji Higuchi
Cast: Masami Nagasawa, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Akari Hayami, Daiki Arioka, Takumi Saitou, Kenjiro Tsuda, Issei Takahashi, Koichi Yamadera, Koji Yamamoto
Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Cathay Cineplexes
Official Website:

Opening Day: 15 September 2022

Synopsis: With the emergence of giant, violent monsters known as “S-Class Species,” the Japanese government has formed the SSSP to study and formulate how to defeat them. During one such monster attack, the SSSP is shocked to gain a new ally in their fight against the monsters: a silent silver giant who they name “Ultraman.” Yet, what are Ultraman's true goals? Why is he helping humanity against the monsters? And how does this all connect with SSSP veteran Shinji Kaminaga and his sudden personality shift after rescuing a child during Ultraman's first appearance?

Movie Review:

After the success of Shin Godzilla, Shinji Higuchi and Hideaki Anno returns to resurrect another familiar decades old fantasy character, Ultraman, the kaiju fighting superhero that hailed from a technologically advanced planet.

A slight improvement over the incredibly talky Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman opens with the SSSP (S-Class Species Suppression Protocol) hot on the heels of an energy-sapping kaiju in the countryside of Japan. But before the SSSP and the army manages to do anything other than tapping hard on their laptops, Ultraman appears from the sky and defeats the monster.

And before you get a chance to take another sip of your Coke, another Kaiju appears to attack a nuclear plant. And as expected after a round of furious battle, Ultraman defeats the monster and fly off with its limping corpse to space. Hooray! So far so good for a movie that takes its roots from the original 1966 TV show.

Thereafter, we are introduced to the members of SSSP which includes team leader Tamura (Hidetoshi Nishijima from Drive My Car), nerdy physicist Taki (Daiki Arioka), biologist Yumi (Akari Hayami) and analyst Asami (Masami Nagasawa from Kingdom), we learned that Ultraman has took the form of SSSP strategy officer Shinji Kaminaga (Takumi Saitoh from Ramen Teh) who has earlier sacrificed his life to save a young boy.

Instead of continuing its kaiju-bashing antics, Shinji Higuchi and Hideaki Anno once again takes a dig at modern Japan bureaucracy although this time, there is less focused on the government and political figures. Still, there are some sharp subtle references to Japan’s overreliance on America and the European Union and a laugh-out-loud joke about why Kaiju only attack Japan.

Unfortunately, the story starts to waver by the end of the first hour as an intelligent alien being named Zarab (disguised clumsily in a trenchcoat) kidnaps Shinji while forcing the Japanese government to sign a peace treaty with him not knowing that the latter is planning to take over planet earth. Then this is follow by another alien named Meflias (Koji Yamamoto) whom you guessed it, plans to take over the world because homo sapiens simply is not worth saving. But Ultraman having a heart of gold (assuming he has one) decides once again to save mankind from the powerful Meflias and his powerful Beta system only to have Ultraman’s superior, Zoffy to interfere in their battle.

There’s so much discussion and talk about saving humanity between Ultraman and Zoffy towards the end that it’s seem like a cost effective way for Toho and Tsuburaya not to bust their budget. They can of course pull it off for a 20 minutes long TV episode but it just looks ridiculous for a full-length movie. In short, Shin Ultraman basically loses its momentum which they had impressively built earlier with endless lengthy exposition. Homo Sapiens are worth saving and yes we get it! Can we see more of Ultraman bashing Kaiju?

Despite being all CGI, the filmmakers utilise some good old-school action movement from the men-in-suits days to create the brawl between Ultraman and kaiju. The once painstakingly built miniature landscapes and buildings in the background looks stunningly believable except it’s also built on computers. Even some of the sound effects and music cues came from the old TV episodes making it a real nostalgic affair.

For the younger generation who grew up on Hollywood version of Godzilla and Mecha/Kaiju from Pacific Rim, Shin Ultraman is naturally a tough sell. Indeed there are two battles in the beginning that are worthy for the masses however the monster flick don’t quite rise to the occasion given the increasingly preaching of global crisis, humanity and stifling bureaucracy matters.

Movie Rating:

(Old timers might love the “new” and improved Ultraman but might be hard to win over new ones)

Review by Linus Tee