22 Anticipated Dramas for 2022

Last year I made a list of the dramas that I was excited for this year, and while a lot of that list didn’t end up airing because of various reasons, it was still fun to take some time to dive into the dramas that are expected to air for this coming year. I narrowed the dramas down to 22 picks. A lot have very little information on them, and I’m expecting like last year a lot will be pushed - in fact, some of the dramas on this list are from last year. While I tried to vary my picks, kdramas are really the only dramas that have the most information on what’s coming for the new year, and thus make up the majority of my list.

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-All of Us Are Dead (Netflix: January)
horror/youth/sci-fi

High school students trapped in their school during a zombie outbreak. What more to love. No official date, but it is in Netflix’s coming soon section and by all accounts should start in January. King2Hearts director Lee Jae Gyoo and screenwriter Chung Sung Il (recently LUCA: The Beginning) are attached to the drama.

-Connect
mystery/horror

More of a hope that it will be out this year, than an actual knowledge, Connect will be the first kdrama Japanese director Takashi Miike (Audition) will work on. It's about a story of a man who has a part of his body stolen by organ hunters and becomes connected with the person who receives it. Jung Hae In and Go Kyung Pyo have been cast, and if I had to guess this might be making it’s way to Netflix (both were in the recent Netflix production, D.P.).

-Deep
horror/mystery/action

There’s is very little known about this but it is adapted from the webtoon by Towoo and Kim Tae Heon of the same name and follows the story that takes place when a long-lost family returns.

-Goosebumps (Daum Kakao TV)
thriller/horror

The drama will contain short stories of the horrors that are often encountered in everyday life and props. Minho from SHINee will be starring.

-Grid (Disney+)
thriller/sci-fi

Starring Seo Kang Joon and Kim Ah Joong, as well as a slew of other notable names, Grid will be Disney+'s next kdrama after Snowdrop. It follows a mysterious entity who saved humankindi n the past, but has reappeared to help a serial killer escape. This was Kang Joon’s last drama before enlisting. Lee Soo Yeon is the screenwriter and has worked on Stranger and Life, and I have hopes that this is going to be a good one.

-Heaven and Hell: Two Psychos
thriller/mystery/comedy

A remake of a Japanese drama that aired the beginning of 2021, the drama is the story when the souls of a detective and a murder suspect swap. No cast has confirmed nor production team - really stretching on picking this one - but I think it might have a chance to be a lot of fun.

-Island (tvN)
action/thriller/horror

A drama that was scheduled last year, but because of delays and casting changes it was pushed to this year. Filming has already started with Kim Nam Gil and Lee Da Hee as leads. It was slated as a ten episode two season drama, but it might drop all at once because of delays. Island follows Mi Ho who's father assigns her to work at high school in Jeju, where evil roams free.

-Minamdang: Case Note (KBS2: May)
mystery/comedy

Another comedy. I know, who am I? I don't know, this one just looks interesting, Go Jae Hyun is the director, and I really like his previous works. It's about a profiler (played by Seo In Guk) and a suspicious cafe.

-Monstrous (tvN)
thriller/horror/supernatural

The drama follows and archaeologist (Kyo Hwan) who searches supernatural phenomena for a magazine and YouTube channel. I know I’ve said this in the past, but this one sounds like an episode of The X-Files and I am very much here for it. The cast looks great with Koo Kyo Hwan, Shin Hyun Bin, Kwak Dong Yeon, and Nam Da Reum.

-Shoutai (WOWOW: Mar 12)
thriller/mystery

The first jdrama on the list. The drama follow Keiichi (Kamenashi Kazuya) who is arrested as a suspect in a murder case but escapes.

-Snow White Must Die
mystery/drama

Two detectives go in search of mysterious incidents that happen in a village.

-Somebody (Netflix)
thriller/mystery

Somebody focuses on a social media app that leads to murder. Kim Young Kwan stars.

-Superior Day (OCN)
thriller

Despite not much a summary, the drama seems perfect for me. It follows a guy who finds out his neighbor is a serial killer. Lee Won Keun is rumored to be playing the serial killer and I just can't wait. The director is the same from Tale of the Nine-Tailed.

-The Journalist (Netflix, Jan 13)
thriller/drama

One of the jdramas that will be airing on Netflix, The Journalist is about a journalist (Yonekura Ryoko) who pursues the truth about a government corruption scandal. One of the screenwriters, Yamada Yoshitatsu, worked previously on Million Yen Women.

-The Mansion
thriller/mystery

Ji Na (Im Ji Yeon) is on a search to find her missing sister. Residents at an apartment building may know the answer.

-The Murder’s Shopping List (tvN)
thriller/mystery

Lee Kwang Soo plays a supermarket cashier who observes things that happen in his neighborhood.

-The Police Station Next to Fire Station (thriller)
drama

The drama follows a joint operation between a fire department and police force. The drama kind of sounds like one you’d find on NBC, like Station 19.

-The Youngest Son of a Conglomerate (jTBC)
thriller/fantasy

The plot for this sounds incredible. After an employee is framed for embezzlement and murdered, he is reborn as their son to seek revenge. It's directed by W/I'm Not a Robot director Jeon Dae Yun and stars Song Joong Ki.

-Thirty-Nine (jTBC: February)
drama

The only non-thriller on the list, Thirty-Nine is about three friends who met in high school and are now in their late thirties. I love a good female friendship story and with Son Ye Jin, Jeon Mi Do, and Kim Ji Hyun this can only be great.

-Through the Darkness (Jan 14)
thriller/crime

Starring Kim Nam Gil and Kim So Jin the drama is about criminal profilers, which is an automatic add for Jessie.

-Urban Myths: Tooth Worms (Netflix)
thriller/horror

The second season of the short horror anthology Goedam that aired in 2020, this has already been to a film festival so it has to show up this year. This time the cast features mostly idols.

-When the Day Breaks (jTBC: February)
mystery/crime/drama

After a body is found in a suitcase, a former forensic pathologist is suspected of the murder. The drama is an adaption of a Chinese book The Long Night by Zi Jin Chen which is also 2020 cdrama. The cast looks great including Han Seok Kyu and Jung Yu Mi and Hye Ran.

What are you looking forward to this coming year in dramaland? Let me know!

Last year’s list can be found here.

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The Silent Sea (2021)

Minor spoilers below.

For the final review of the year, I’m focusing on the drama that just dropped Christmas Eve, The Silent Sea. The Silent Sea had been one of my most anticipated dramas since it was announced and I was really happy when it finally got a premiere date. I had some other things that I needed to do the day that it was uploaded, and didn’t think that I’d end up getting around to it. And then I did…at 10:30 pm and then stayed up all night watching it. The drama follows a crew as they depart to the moon to collect samples at a research base that suffered a catastrophe years prior, in hopes to find a clue for another source of water.

On a whole, I enjoyed the drama. It wasn’t everything that I had expected or wanted, but I by no means thought it wasn’t entertaining. It kept me interested and engaged, and there was no time in my binge that I felt the need to stop to return to it later. I did find with the first two episodes we kind of got baited into thinking that the drama was going to skew much more into the horror side than it ended up being, and I would be lying if I didn’t say I was a bit sad it didn’t keep that up. There were also a few parts in the middle of the drama that I felt were a bit draggy, but with the episodes being so short the drama didn’t spend much time in that area. I do wish we got a bit more look at the other members’ lives on Earth and found that the parts we did get with Yun Ja (Gong Yoo) and Ji An (Bae Doo Na) were interesting, leaving me wanting to see more about the situation on Earth.

Kim Shi Ah who played Luna was fantastic. I thought she did well in her role as the younger version of Ashin in Ashin of the North (the prequel/side story of Kingdom) and it was nice to see her in this larger role. Being so young and carrying a role such as hers is a challenge she pulled off effortlessly. Bae Doo Na was incredible as always, as was Gong Yoo. Kim Sun Young doesn’t get many leading roles, but I’ve had a fondness for her since her character in Because This Is My First Life. I thought she was great in her role and had good chemistry with Bae Doo Na and the rest of the cast. Lee Joon was also phenomenal. I wasn’t expecting a pseudo-serial killer angle to come, especially not with his character, and the drama played it up well grounding it with the backstory of what happened at the research center previously, and his PTSD that eventually led to his decisions, and Lee Joon carried that transition well.

Some of the popular takes that I’ve heard so far about the drama have been about how slow it was and thought that it left too many unanswered questions. While I did think parts were draggy in the middle, on a whole I loved the slow burn it gave us. Especially as it started to shift to a full-blown thriller from horror, and worked with the mystery of what was going on, almost mimicking the sense of silence and stillness that outer space inherently has. I didn’t think the questions that I had needed to be explained. The drama didn’t set us up to believe that we were going to get all the answers, nor would it have been able to. In a way, it mirrored the character’s journey in the drama. Their questions were left unanswered as well. Yun Ja spends much of the first part of the drama telling Ji An to stop asking questions and keep on task to collect the samples. Answering questions was not why they were there, and the answers they do get are not the ones they want.

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Random Asian Horror News 12.13.21

It’s been quite a while since I last posted a roundup of all the latest Asian horror news that has popped up around the web, but I figured it would be good to get one in before the end of the year. News has been fairly slow and quiet, so there’s not too much that I’ve missed but there is some fun things coming up soon, and I’m sure we’ll hear more about what’s in store for 2022 closer to the end of the month.

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Casting

-SHINee's Onew has been cast in the horror series 4:44 Seconds. Not much word on the Korean series, hopefully we’ll see it some time beginning of next year.

-Ong Seong Wu in talks of OCN thriller Blind. The drama is in the very beginings of casting, and there’s no word on date or a solid synopsis.

-Go Kyung Pyo in talks for the Takashi Miike kdrama, Connect.

-Lee Wong Geun cast in OCN's A Superior Day as Kwon Si Woo who seems nice but is actually a serial killer.

-Kim Yoon Hye is confirmed to lead upcoming occult horror movie The Scene as Siyoung, who is cast for an experimental film and caught in a mysterious accident on her way to the filming.

-Kim Nam Gil, Lee Da Hee, Cha Eun Woo and Sung Joon confirmed cast for tvN drama Island. Filming began in October and is expected for release the beginning of next year.

General

-Infinite Studios and the streaming service Catchplay will co-produce the Indonesian horror series Losmen Melati, scheduled for release next year. (source)

-Hellbound director Yeon Sang Ho when asked about second season of the drama says that nothing has been decided and plans to release a webtoon following the events after the series. (source)

-The 2019 horror thriller Repossession directed by Goh Ming Siu and Scott C. Hillyard will be getting a North American digital release on the 21st of this month.

-Korean thriller Midnight won the Best Feature Award at the British film festival Grimmfest.

-Shinya Tsukamoto's Hiruko the Goblin will be available on Blu-Ray January 24th. It has been restored and includes special features such as audio commentary and interviews.

-The music director for the Netflix kdrama D.P. confirmed that season 2 is in the works.

-Malaysian supernatural thriller ROH was released on VOD on the 29th of October.

-Shudder Original Raging Grace will be the first British-Filipino produced film in history. It’s scheduled to be released some time next year. (source)

-Takashi Shimizu's Suicide Forest Village has been acquired by Cinedigm for North American rights and is scheduled for release next year. (source)

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Doom At Your Service (2021) Review

Doom At You Service had been on my list of dramas to watch this year, but by the time it came out I was just not feeling it nor did I have the time to watch it. I ended up being asked to record an episode with the K-BAE Podcast who have been recapping each episode of the drama. For the podcast I originally had decided to just watch the first episode and then skip to the episode that we were discussing (episode six). Their podcast is fairly loose, and that setup would have been fine for me to be able to participate, but when I started the watch one episode became two, then three…and by the time I recorded the episode I was half way through the series. Surprise, I liked the drama. I figured at that point I was already in the binge and ended up finishing the rest of the episodes the next day or so. Before coming into the series I had heard some mixed reviews from the people I knew that was watching it, and the general Twitter users I saw. Most of what I saw didn’t look favorable, so I was surprised when I started to watch it and found that I was enjoying it. The drama is by no means my favorite of the year, and I did find there to be faults, but it generally was a great watch. I had fun with the stories, I generally liked the characters, and found the overall watch to be a nice one. So much so that I decided that I should do a full review on the drama.

There are no major spoilers in this review, so if you haven’t watched it yet you should be fine reading this.

What I found most interesting with the drama and what I think pulled me in much more than I was expecting was the lack of a second male lead. The person closest in the second lead spot, Lee So Hyuk’s character, is not a love interest in a way. In fact, he’s barely a friend - he begrudgingly becomes a friend of Dong Kyung (Park Bo Young) and his story lies in the secondary plot between Hyun Gyu (Kang Tae Oh), and Ji Na (Shin Do Hyun). It’s an interesting device in the drama, as it is bulit like as a drama within a drama, and the usually tropes live inside of that secondary story line. Instead the main drama decides to focus the tension on the supernatural bits, and the general transformation of Sa Ram (Seo In Guk). The leads already have a lot of obstacles from the very beginning, and not having to drag them into a love triangle on top of that helped the story move along for me.

I saw that a lot of people found the Ji Na/JooIk/Hyun Gyu story line to be weird. I think the true hindrance of the story line wasn’t that it was written as a secondary story, it was that the the actors didn’t have that much chemistry between them. In fact the two male characters felt much more natural together and it felt off when pairing Ji Na with either of the two. I don’t think it was necessarily the fault of the actors, the main story line that they are given that pulls all three together didn’t work out as well as it could, and it didn’t mesh well with what was going on because of this and felt a little incomplete. These are characters that would normally not have much depth in favor of the main leads, and it’s felt in this.

Doom lies in the area of dramas I enjoy, less comedy and more romance and melodrama and found the drama enjoyable because of it. It had large breaks from the comedy, and it tended to not go as far as others. I suspect that this was also the problem with the drama for most. Because the secondary storyline was the ‘romcom’ story of the drama, and paired with the lead actors previous works, a lot of people came into this drama thinking it would be more comedy than it was. It’s largely a melodrama, a lot of parts tended to be bleak and dark and didn’t try to constantly be bright or happy until the jump back to the humans of the story. It’s actually part of a greater problem I’ve personally have run into with other dramas. A lot of people label dramas with romance and any level of comedy as romcoms. The lack of no popular genre tag in Asian dramas for the inbetween of romcoms and melos adds disjointedness when you come in thinking this was one or the other. While the main story line not being a true romcom didn’t bother me (in fact, I enjoyed it much more than if the main lead lived in the romcom parts) I can see how it would be a turn off, and nothing kills a drama faster than the wrong audience viewing it. I also suspect that this wasn’t as jarring for me because I watched it as a binge and not week-to-week, not having to wait long to figure out what was happening with the plot.

I generally like both Park Bo Young and Seo In Guk as actors. They are good actors and can handle leads well. I thought they played off each other really well and were good at focusing on the tension in various parts of the drama. I did find a lot of - at least the first half - of the drama and the couple’s dynamic a bit hard to watch. It lives in a tricky spot, where at it’s core it is an enemies to lovers where the enemy is an actual threat, one that is constantly talking about killing her and showing the power dynamic imbalance on how he could and would. It’s hard to get into a love story when you have that, and despite it being a supernatural and non-realistic take it still left an air of weirdness when they got close. I do think the drama did a fairly good job towards the later half of showing his character development and reminding the audience that he was essentially a dangerous non-human being that can’t be viewed as a human transforming, but felt the drama didn’t handle it well in the first couple of episodes.

One of the aspects of the drama that I was most surprised about, and heard next to no one talk about was the cinematography and set design. I think it’s executed really well and a lot of the shots were interesting and different. The director and crew used a lot of angles to portray the emotions and intent of the scene, well more than I had expected from the drama. It being a supernatural fantasy it also allowed them to set up fantastical shots. Showing Sa Ram’s world as black and white, only colored when Dong Kyung comes closer was gorgeous and added to the fantastical love story. Sa Ram’s bedroom melding into Dong Kyung’s bedroom was a fun set pick. A lot of the time the sets and shots were meshed together to bridge the fantasy/god world and what was going on in the real world and the drastic difference between the two was interesting visually.

All-in-all I thought the drama was an entertaining one, accomplishing what it personally set out to do, and am glad that I finally hit play.

Listen to my episode with The K-BAE now:

Doom At Your Service is currently streaming on Viki.

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December Premieres

A good amount of dramas premiered last month that are still airing and several projects got pushed to next year, but there’s still a good variety of dramas and movies coming out this month that I’m personally excited for.

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-The 2015 action comedy film Veteran is coming to Netflix on the 1st about a detective (Hwang Jung Min) who pursues a man on the run (Yoo Ah In). It did really well when it was released in theaters, it's the 5th all-time highest grossing film in history.

-Thai horror movie The Whole Truth will be available on the 2nd on Netflix. It is directed by Sid Wisit Sasanatieng who wrote the thriller Deep (also on Netflix). The movie follows two siblings who find a strange hole in the wall at their grandparent’s house.

-Thai drama 55:15 Never Too Late premieres on the 6th. The fantasy drama is about second chances, following five high school friends. It should be available subbed on GMMTV.

-Psychological thriller kdrama Artificial City premieres on the 8th from the Mystic Pop Up Bar director Jun Chang Geun. The drama looks like more of a makjang, and is about power struggle and greed of the wealth.

-Indian crime series Aranyak drops on Netflix on the 10th about two cops trying to figure out a puzzling murder.

-Netfix will drop the Vietnamese horror film The Guardian (Thien Than Ho Menh) on the 16th about a backup singer who is pushed to the front due to the sudden death of a pop star. The movie was released in theaters earlier this year.

-Amazon Prime jdrama No Activity: Honjitsu mo Ijou Nashi premiers (potentially drops all of its episodes?) on the 17th. It follows a former detective who joins up with a rookie to work an undercover drug case. No word if it will be accessible internationally on the platform, but if I had to guess: no.

-Starring Lee Dong Wook and Wi Ha Joon, the Korean drama Bad and Crazy premieres on iQIYI also on the 17th. It is about a superhero who decides to become a champion for justice against police corruption. The Uncanny Counter director/screenwriter team is working on it.

-Bulgasal: Immortal Souls will begin airing on Netflix on the 18th. The fantasy kdrama revolves around two characters, one a woman who remembers her past lives and keeps reincarnating and a man who used to be human. The screenwriters for The Guest (Seo Jae Won and Kwon So Ra) will be writing for the drama.

-While the upcoming kdrama Snowdrop is not a horror, thriller, or fantasy, it is worth mentioning on this list. The drama is set in 1987 and adapted from notes from a man who escaped a political prison camp in North Korea. It’ll kick off Disney Plus’s Asian content as the service’s first kdrama on the 18th.

-And finally as a Christmas Eve gift Netflix drops the long-awaited sci-fi/thriller, The Silent Sea about a team traveling to the moon who uncover a mystery at an abandoned space station. The drama stars the best of the best in Korean actors and I have been literally waiting years for this one.

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November Premieres

It feels like so long since I’ve just done a regular post that’s not a review! November has a lot of dramas premiering, and a lot that I’m personally excited for. It’s going to be a heavy watching month for me, especially with some other dramas that premiered during October.

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-The supernatural romance Thai drama Prajan See Daeng will be out today, the 1st, about a boy born cursed to turn into a tiger-man during the red moon, and his journey to try to find the only way he can break the curse.

-Not a new movie, but the 2020 Korean horror The Closet will be available on Shudder today. The film follows a widower who enlists the help of an exorcist to help him find his daughter after she goes missing.

-On the 3rd the cdrama Wisher premieres on iQIYI. The sci-fi thriller tells the story of a mysterious organization that creates an app that allows users to make a wish - if they do the assigned task. It is part of iQIYI’s Light On Series, iQIYI produced dramas that are in the suspense genre.

-Also coming out on the 3rd in celebration of Apple TV+ being available in South Korea is the sci-fi thriller Dr. Brain - the first original Korean drama on the platform. It’s director/writer is Kim Jee Woon, known for being the director of the movie I Saw the Devil. I have high hopes for this one.

-While Dead and Beautiful may not be a by-the-book definition of an Asian horror film, it does follow an almost entirely Asian cast and is partially set in Taipei. A group of friends bored with their socialite lives go out for the night…and end up vampires. It’s been making the rounds at film festivals but will be streaming on Shudder starting on the 4th.

-Another older movie, the 2014 Japanese movie The World of Kanako will drop on Shudder on the 5th. The movie follows a former detective who uncovers a secret about his teenage daughter.

-Kdrama Happiness begins on the 5th about a deadly virus that spreads throughout a city, and the apartment building that has been sealed off from it. It looks super interesting, and the team behind it is really good.

-The webdrama Find Me if You Can will premiere on the 9th about a four-way love…square? And a stalker who is obsessed with the main female lead. The drama will star almost the entirety of the kpop group ASTRO.

-Korean horror drama Hellbound drops all of its episodes on Netflix on the 19th. The drama is about people being able to hear predictions on how they’ll die and are able to see the death angel in front of them. Director/writer Yeon Sang Ho is known for Train to Busan. This is one of my top dramas this month.

-Taiwanese drama Light the Night will be streaming part one on Netflix on the 26th. Set in 1988 Taipei Red Light District about the lives, love, and struggles of the club madam, and their hostess ladies.

-On the 27th the kdrama One Ordinary Day premieres. The drama is about the murder of a woman, and the person in jail who might not be the culprit. It is a remake of the BBC series Criminal Justice.

No Date:

-There hasn’t been much movement or information on the kdrama Goosebumps after some casting news, so there might be a good chance this one won’t be out this month. It’s directed by Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum director Jung Bum Shik so I’m interested and hopeful it’ll appear.

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31 Days of Asian Horror: Blood (2015)

Switching gears a bit from a full review of a movie (and technically not horror but let’s just let that one slide), today I’m focusing on my first impression of the first two episodes of the 2015 kdrama, Blood. Written by Park Jae Bum (God’s Quiz) and directed by Lee Jae Hoon (Run On, Ghost Detective) and Ki Min Soo (Good Doctor), the series follows top Ji Sang (Ahn Jae Hyun), a doctor that specializes in a specific surgery who is also a vampire, and his colleagues at a top cancer treatment center.

Blood has always been on my radar, but I never quite pulled the trigger to put it on my watch list, mostly because it was always sort of pitched like a romcom to me. With my aversion to most romcoms, I steered clear of the drama for a while. I wish I had looked into it sooner, not realizing who was behind the project. Director Ki Min Soo’s recent works include some of my favorites of recent date. Park Jae Bum wrote most recently for Vincenzo, and is the writer for one of my favorite kdrama series, God’s Quiz. While the drama is not fully a romcom, it does have some of those elements and is a closer follow to the structure of older kdramas, having heightened exaggerations of situations and heavily leaning on the clash between Min Soo and the female lead, played by Ku Hye Sun. I’m not a fan of those tropes and is a turn-off for a good bit of the scenes concerning the two. The drama does have enough of a rotating cast, and because it’s a medical drama more excitement or intrigue than if the drama had to follow just their relationship.

For me, the biggest draw of the series is the integration of his vampirism within the drama. It’s a unique take on the trope, and from early on we see the struggle he has with being a vampire. It plays into some interesting storylines, and also helps introduce him as a doctor. It’s doesn’t seem as corny or off the wall. Having the scenes when he’s younger feel compassion towards others while fighting his demons worked with the drama and with the death of the parents the drama set up some mystery for a larger issue that I’m interested to see. I also liked that we didn’t have to wait around for a tangible reason why he can be out in public or out in sunlight. The drama sets up a lot of the questions regarding him being able to do what he does fairly early on, allowing the viewer to not have to dwell on it. I respected how tight everything was in that regard, and it didn’t needlessly bog down the episode with these types of unanswered questions on the logistics of him operating as a vampire.

That being said, I know I will have trouble with the main pairing. This time period of kdramas have some pretty insufferable female leads, and it makes it hard to really get into the drama because of that. I also find that Hye Sun’s acting, in general, tends to be overexaggerated a bit too much despite the project she is working on, and it interrupts my care for her the characters she performs. It also presents a specific problem within a medical drama where her character has literal lives in her hands, and feel that she is jeopardizing those patients to show off and not being held accountable. I have a hard time believing in characters being truly good and empathetic when they show that they’d rather place a patient in harm’s way than to be upstaged by someone, a long-time hated trope that is very much present in this drama.

Will I continue the series? Honestly, it’s a possibility. I was intrigued by the first two episodes enough to want to continue the series but it is a longer drama, coming in at 20 episodes. Add elements that I know will be a struggle (that will take a longer time to settle and resolve in the story), and I’m not in any rush to continue watching. I do have some hope for the rest of the series, though, even if I end up completing it and it’s not a top drama for me. The team is pretty stacked in favor of this being a generally good series for me. Another factor that is preventing me from picking it up fully is that I do have a lineup of dramas that I’m currently watching, as well as a November packed with new dramas premiering that picking up the drama now just doesn’t seem as feasible. At the very least I intend to keep it on my list so that I can watch an episode or two here and there, but not commit to watching it in one sitting or in any time frame.

Blood can be found on Viki and Kocowa.

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October Premieres

October seems like a fairly quiet month in comparison to previous months, which is a good thing so we can all focus on rewatching all of our Halloween favorites and just generally catch up on things. I personally have a lot of things going on in October, and while I will still be watching a lot I won’t be able to get to many new things. However, there is some great content heading to Shudder this month that I’m super excited for.

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TBA/No Date:

-The kdrama Crime Puzzle follows a criminal psychologist who is sent to prison for murdering a political candidate, who is met with a former lover who is a criminal profiler trying to figure out a murder that occurred at the prison he is in.

-Some of the Drama Special Season 12: TV Cinema will be premiering this month. Here is this list of the darker drama offerings for October:

• F20: A psychological thriller about two mothers, one whose son has schizophrenia.

• Landscape of Pain: A thriller that tells the story of three people who are caught up in a bizarre murder case.

Confirmed:

- On the 3rd the jdrama Solomon no Gisho premieres, an adaption of the 2016 Korean drama Solomon’s Perjury and previous Japanese movies from the same source.

-Remember You is a Thai drama remake of the kdrama Hello Monster that premiered back in August, but Netflix will be dropping the subbed episodes on the 5th.

-The Labyrinth finally has an official premiere date on the 6th.

-While V/H/S/94 is not necessarily an Asian horror film, it does feature Indonesian director, Timo Tjahjanto. It’ll be available for streaming on Shudder on the 6th.

-Based on a true story about an incident that happened to a band that went on a trip to Chuncheon, Fearsome premieres in Korean theaters Oct 7th. The teaser looks interesting and has a pretty good cast lineup.

-Taiwanese drama Danger Zone S2 will be airing starting on the 8th following the previous season. iQiyi had the English subs for season one, so I assume it’ll also sub this season.

-The Taiwanese movie, Detention, will be hitting select US theaters on the 8th. The 2019 horror film is based on the horror game with the same name. Set in 1962 during Taiwan's White Terror period the movie is about two students trapped in a high school. There is also a Netflix limited series that is also based on the game that was released end of last year.

-The Medium will be available on Shudder for streaming on the 14th. I’ve talked about this one before, and am super excited for it. I’m glad that Shudder was able to get rights.

-Rasen no Meikyu: DNA Kagaku Sosa follows Detective Genji Ando (Yasuda Ken) who’s wife has been killed by a serial killer, and the DNA expert that he reaches out to help with the investigation. The jdrama starts on the 15th.

-Also on the 15th, Netflix will drop all the episodes of a kdrama I’m personally excited for, My Name, starring Han So Hee who plays Ji Woo, a member of a crime ring who goes undercover as a police officer.

-The Japanese remake of the 1997 Canadian film by the same name, Cube, will premier on the 22nd. 6 people are locked in a mysterious cube-shaped room, if they don’t decipher the code they won’t get out of the cube. No word on International release yet, but I assume this is one of the films that will get one sooner than later.

-Jirisan/Cliffhanger, one of the most anticipated kdramas of the year is finally coming out this month. Starring Jun Ji Hyun and Joo Ji Hoon and written by Kingdom screenwriter, Kim Eun Hee, the action/thriller follows the mystery surrounding the mountain and the rangers trying to rescue the survivors and lost trekkers. It’ll be available Internationally on iQiyi on the 23rd.

-Rounding out the month on the 30th is the OCN drama, Chimera. A present-day case leads to evidence being uncovered that relates to a series of murders from 1984.

Want some more new dramas and movies to watch? Check out what happened in September.

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Random Asian Horror News 8.16.21

I’ve once again rounded up some of the Asian horror (…and thriller/fantasy/sci-fi) news. I’ve decided to try to keep up with casting news however, it’s a bit harder for anything outside of Korea so it might not be as varied. A lot of film festivals are currently happening, and I expect that we’ll start to see more movies picked up for International release because of that. Check back at the end of the month for all the movies and dramas premiering in September.

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CASTING

-Jin Ki Joo is confirmed for lead in the fantasy romcom, Showtime From Now, with Park Hae Jin. The kdrama is scheduled for the first half of 2022 about a police officer and a magician.

-The casting for the tvN kdrama, Monstrous and includes Koo Kyo Hwan, Shin Hyun Bin, Kwak Dong Yeon, Nam Da Reum, Kim Ji Young, and Park Ho San. The drama, scheduled for the first half of next year, and follows the various characters as they react to the town’s bizarre phenomena.

NEWS

-Since the release of the special Kingdom episode, Ashin of the North, there has been a lot more updates. Director Kang Yun Sung is reportedly directing a second special episode, Kingdom: The Crown Palace. There is still no confirmation for season 3, but writer Kim Eun Hee states: “It’s hard to say, as nothing has been confirmed yet regarding Season 3. However, if I’m to tell you my personal thoughts: if Season 3 does get made, I’ve already decided how I would like to conclude the story.” (source)

-The fantasy horror film starring SF9 member Chani titled, White Day: Broken Boundaries, will be released in theaters September. The film is tied to the video game, White Day: A Labyrinth Named School, which just had it's 20th anniversary. Chani will play Hee Min, the successor of a top exorcist. (source)

-The Taiwanese horror The Sadness has released a trailer, currently being screened in film festivals. The film follows a Taiwanese couple who attempt to reunite amidst a viral pandemic that turns people into bloodthirsty maniacs and is written and directed by Canadian animator Rob Jabbaz for his directorial debut.

-The 2019 Japanese horror film, Howling Village (written and directed by Takashi Shimizu - Ju-On) will be available on VOD starting tomorrow.

-The Korean fantasy-thriller Spiritwalker has won the Award for Excellence at NYAFF. Starring Yoon Kye Sang, the film follows a man who is unable yo remember his own identity and wakes up in a diffrent body every 12 hours. (source)

-The 2018 Indonesian film, Seven Angels (Tujuh Bidadari), is available in the US on VOD. It is about an all-girl band that travel to Australia and used as sacrifices to bring back a demon. (source)

-The Korean movie, Guimoon: The Lightless Door premieres on the 18th has released more detail for their multiple viewing formats including ScreenX, which provides a 270-degree viewing experience with multi-projection on three walls, whereas 4DX adds a multi-sensory experience to ScreenX with moving seats and water and wind effects.

-The upcoming Korean film, Scream of the Forest: People Who Disappeared, has released a trailer. Find it here. It is scheduled to be released in Korean theaters at the end of this month.

-The Japanese psychological thriller drama, Alice in Borderland’s season 2 has begun filming and doesn’t expect to be done filming until late December because of Covid and Olympics delays. (source)

-The trailer for Cube, the Japanese remake of the 1997 Canadian sc-fi horror film, has been released. The movie will be in Japanese theaters October 22.

-Netflix’s Hellbound, starring Yoo Ah In and Won Jin Ah, will be the first Korean drama invited to Toronto International Film Festival. (source)

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Fantasia Film Festival 2021

The full lineup of the Fantasia Film Festival was released and tickets are on sale (and probably sold out), and while I would love to eat PB&J sandwiches for the next month to cover the cost of the tickets, I can’t because I spent all my money on Dreamcatcher and 2PM. Since I have to live vicariously through everyone else covering, I figured I would go through the schedule and share what movies I would have tried to watch if I got to attend. Maybe next year I can will into existence being cool enough for a press pass. While some of them are Asian and horror, it’s not true for all of the movies listed below.

Descriptions are pulled from Fantasia Film Festival’s webpage. The festival runs August 5-25.

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THE 12 DAY TALE OF THE MONSTER THAT DIED IN 8 (Japan, 2020)
Sci-Fi

Director/Writer: Shunji Iwai

Like so many actors, Sato (Takumi Saitoh, playing a version of himself) is out of work due to COVID-19. He sits at home, and wonders what to do. Until tokusatsu director and kaiju expert Shinji Higuchi (of ATTACK ON TITAN and SHIN GODZILLA) suggest he buy capsule monsters online – to defeat the virus! Thus begins a bizarre series of videos in which the unemployed actor raises little play-putty monsters, which take on increasingly familiar, yet alien names. He is not alone: Youtube stardom forms around the phenomenon and soon his colleague Non (JELLYFISH PRINCESS, this year’s HOLD ME BACK) even starts fostering an alien! But as isolation blues kicks in in earnest and popular fictions blend with reality, one rightfully asks: What is going here?

ALIEN ON STAGE (UK, 2021)
Comedy, Documentary, Sci-Fi

Directors: Lucy Harvey & Danielle Kummer

A high-spirited group of British bus drivers set their minds to launching a homemade stage play adaptation of Ridley Scott’s ALIEN in Lucy Harvey and Danielle Kummer’s debut documentary ALIEN ON STAGE. With a Christopher Guest-esque charisma that particularly recalls his community theatre classic WAITING FOR GUFFMAN, the film follows the ups and downs of the delightfully DIY production, with its second-hand costumes and cardboard sets, and the charming crew determined to make it succeed.

ALL ABOUT LILY CHOU-CHOU (Japan, 2001)
Drama

Director/Writer: Shunji Iwai

Mysterious, ethereal dream-pop star Lily Chou-Chou dominates the charts, and the hearts of middle schoolers across Japan. Among them, the shy Shuichi (Hayato Ichihara) and the bullish Shusuke (Shugo Oshinari). Lily Chou-Chou’s music becomes a shared gateway into their tumultuous lives over the course of a few, formative years of adolescence. The teens discover their identities, affirm their passion and the slippery distinction between right and wrong as their embattled psychic landscapes are laid bare on the virtual walls of an Internet chatroom – pulsing to the pangs of a powerful, all-consuming fandom.

ALL THE MOONS (Spain, 2021)
Drama, Horror, Fantasy

Director: Igor Legarreta ∣ Writers: Igor Legarreta, Jon Sagala

As war rages through 1876 Spain, an orphanage is bombed and a young girl (Haizea Carneros) is gravely injured. She is rescued by a woman (Itziar Ituño) whom she perceives to be an angel, and who heals her wounds, while telling the girl she must now avoid the daylight. She also promises the girl that she will see many more full moons, and when more soldiers attack, they are forced to flee into the wilderness. The two become separated, and the girl is forced to take shelter, facing an uncertain future – and one that will last far beyond that of ordinary human beings.

APRIL STORY (Japan, 1998)
Drama, Romance

Director/Writer: Shunji Iwai

Uzuki Nireno (Takako Matsu), a shy girl from the countryside of northern Hokkaido, is heading to the big city for university. Settling into a new, exciting life, she comes to admit to herself that she might have ulterior motives in determining her choice of university: what if she came to Tokyo chasing a crush? To be near a boy, whom she fell in love with, before he moved away to work at a bookstore? What then? Like FIREWORKS, APRIL STORY is a remarkable example of Iwai’s talent as a chronicler of youthful experiences, here moving on from elementary school to tackle the momentous transition between high school and university – the first taste for complete independence, the shaping of identity, the new friendships and discoveries, the particular texture of light in a new apartment – with great pathos and an irresistible nostalgia. Featuring one of the all-time great umbrella scenes in the history of the medium and a joyful, magnetic performance from pop star Takako Matsu, APRIL STORY is an Iwai classic. – Ariel Esteban Cayer

BRAIN FREEZE (Canada, 2021)
Comedy, Horror

Director: Julien Knafo ∣ Writer: Jean Barbe, Julien Knafo

In the small, middle-class community of Ile-aux-Paons (Peacock Island), a new fertilizer is spread on the golf courses to allow the rich to play year-round. But the experimental fertilizer contains an active component that contaminates the population, turning them into zombies interested only in multiplying. This is how André (Iani Bédard), a young teenager who is taking care of his baby sister, crosses paths with Dan (Roy Dupuis), a security guard. As they journey across their quarantined island, they try to find the source of the evil and save themselves!

CAUTION HAZARDOUS WIFE THE MOVIE (Japan, 2020)
Action, Comedy, Drama

Director: Toya Sato ∣ Writer: Yukiko Manabe

Appearances can sometimes be deceiving. The inhabitants of the coastal town of Tamami will find this out soon enough. A methane hydrate processing plant is about to be built on their shores, a project dear to the government, and the stink of corruption reaxches for miles around. In addition, attacks on opponents of the project are on the rise. There is also the discreet Nami (Haruka Ayase, CYBORG SHE) who hides a secret that she herself has forgotten. The clumsy, unremarkable housewife is in fact a formidable secret agent who suffers from amnesia since a head injury suffered during a mission. A victim of strange dreams in which she confronts Russian mercenaries, she undergoes therapy to recover her memory, but receives mixed support from her husband Yuki (Hidetoshi Nishijima, CREEPY), who keeps a close eye on her. And what about Juri (Kenshi Okada), the cosplay-loving café owner who seems to shun certain people? Tamami is not nearly as peaceful as it seems. And its citizens, especially Nami, haven't seen anything yet!

COMING HOME IN THE DARK (New Zealand, 2021)
Thriller, Horror

Director: James Ashcroft ∣ Writers: Jam Ashcroft, Eli Kent

This extraordinary neo-noir is a blisteringly tense road movie into hell that plays like a home-invasion thriller set largely in a moving car. Based on the 1995 short story by award-winning New Zealand author Owen Marshall, described by David Hill as “one of the most harrowing narratives in our literature.” Official Selection: Sundance 2021, Calgary Underground Film Festival 2021.

THE DEEP HOUSE (France, 2021)
Horror

Directors/Writers: Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury

Two daredevil Youtubers with a passion for abandoned urban edifices film themselves as they take a deep dive into the bottom of a lake where there lies a mysterious house with a sinister past. Award-winning French genre maestros Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury (INSIDE, KANDISHA) display numerous filmic skills with this intelligent found footage style feature. The immersive darkness, the floating strangeness, THE DEEP HOUSE takes us down and further down, from mere unfamiliar discomfort to absolute and unfathomable terror.

DIGITAL VIDEO EDITING WITH ADOBE PREMIERE PRO: THE REAL-WORLD GUIDE TO SET UP AND WORKFLOW (South Korea, 2020)
Romance, Horror, Comedy

Director/Writer: Hong Seong Yoon

A mysterious ghost keeps appearing in the shots of a film as it’s being cut, causing its editor and director to bicker to death. An innovative “screen life” horror comedy trading the usual desktop for the editing software and skillfully blending expected long-haired scares with Hong Sang Soo-esque petty drama! – Ariel Esteban Cayer

DON’T SAY ITS NAME (Canada, 2021)
Horror

Director: Rueben Martell ∣ Writer: Rueben Martell, Gerald Wexler

When an environmental activist is called back to the world of the living after a suspicious accident takes her life, an ancient spirit is reborn outside a small northern town. With a wealth of Indigenous talent both in front of and behind the camera, DON’T SAY ITS NAME, the eerie feature debut from director/co-writer Rueben Martell, builds its chills with compellingly real characters and strong performances from Madison Walsh (SOMETHING UNDONE), Sera-Lys McArthur (OUTLANDER), Samuel Marty (GODLESS), Carla Fox, and Julian Black-Antelope (HOLD THE DARK).

FOLLOW THE LIGHT (Japan, 2020)
Drama

Director: Yoichi Narita ∣ Writer: Yoichi Narita, Yu Sakudo

Freshly arrived from Tokyo to a fading village in the Japanese countryside, Akira becomes fascinated with an isolated girl who is obsessed with a crop circle in her grandfather's fields. This multi-layered, sci-fi coming-of-age story by first-time director Yoichi Narita is a true gem with a dazzling narrative. The majestic, rich cinematography, which highlights the magnificent rural landscapes, and judicious use of music recall Shunji Iwai's masterpiece ALL ABOUT LILY CHOU-CHOU. FOLLOW THE LIGHT will leave a lasting impression with its soft visual splendour and sensitive storytelling.

FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT (Japan, 2005)
Drama, Comedy, Sci-Fi

Directors/Writers: Katsuhito Ishii, Hajime Ishimine, Shunichiro Miki

If you look at them just right, the most mundane elements of daily life can seem utterly bizarre. Conversely, the strangest, most inexplicable things can seem perfectly ordinary. That's the lunatic logic behind 2005’s FUNKY FOREST, a sprawling omnibus of the obvious and the oddball, the casual and the completely insane. FUNKY FOREST's daringly disjointed narrative is a mishmash of blackouts, non-sequiturs, flashbacks, lucid dreams, magical moments and so much more. Life's little disappointments are woven together with all sorts of extraterrestrial freaks and incomprehensible biological curiosities, music-video mayhem and mind-bending theatrics, and psychedelic surrealism of the finest grade, delivered with a deadpan shrug.

GLASSHOUSE (South Africa, 2021)
Thriller, Sci-Fi

Director: Kelsey Egan Writers: Emma De Wet, Kelsey Egan

A memory-shredding neurochemical permeates the atmosphere like airborne dementia, but safe within an airtight glasshouse a family preserves their past through rituals of collective memory. Sensual and savage, GLASSHOUSE weaves aspects of dystopian science fiction with notes of folk horror and perverse, brooding, Gothic melodrama to craft a taught existential tale that ultimately explores the importance of storytelling and memory. It’s a stunning feature debut from South African filmmaker Kelsey Egan, starring Adrienne Pearce, Jessica Alexander, Anja Taljaard, and Hilton Pelser.

THE GREAT YOKAI WAR - GUARDIANS (Japan, 2021)
Fantasy, Advenutre

Director: Takashi Miike ∣ Writer: Yusuke Watanabe

Like many children his age, Kei learns to control his fears and constantly quarrels with his little brother Dai. One night, a strange creature comes to visit him, then a mysterious portal opens in his room. He is transported to the magical world of the Yokai, the gentle Japanese demons, each with an unusual shape and unique character traits. They tell him that a terrible war threatening their world will devastate downtown Tokyo in the form of the colossal Yokaiju. Worse, the emergency meeting of the great international council of Yokai, where Dracula, the mermaid, what looks like a Trumpist, and their cronies have abandoned them, has designated Kei and Dai as their only hopes, as they are the last descendants of a legendary fighter. Frightened, Kei refuses. When he returns, Dai has disappeared. Kei must find the courage to fulfill his destiny in order to save his brother, the Yokai, and Tokyo.

HELLO! TAPIR (Taiwan, 2021)
Drama, Animation, Fantasy

Director: Kethsvin Chee ∣ Writers: Kethsvin Chee, Chris Leong, Yoon Yee Teh

It has the body of a pig, the trunk of an elephant, the ears of a horse and the feet of a rhinoceros. At night, it passes through sleeping villages and gobbles up people’s pesky nightmares. This huge, fantastical beast, called a tapir, is real, and eight-year-old Ah Keat’s father once told the boy he had in fact seen one when he himself was young. One grey day, the family’s fishing boat is towed back into the village harbour, and Ah Keat’s father is not on it. The adults around him – his distraught grandmother, his anxious mom who has returned from Taipei – are not forthcoming with Ah Keat about what has happened. He wants his father back, and he believes the tapir can help, so he and his friends begin a quest to find the gentle, benevolent beast.

JOSEE (South Korea, 2020)
Romance, Drama

Director/Writer Kim Jeong Kwan

After an incident that leaves her electric wheelchair disabled, Josée is rescued by Young Seok, who she then brings in to discover her unique imaginary world. A beautiful, moving, charming, and visually polished film by Kim Jeong Kwan faithfully adapted from the popular novel Josee, the Tiger and the Fish. Official Selection: Busan International Film Festival 2021.

KRATT (Estonia, 2020)
Comedy, Fantasy

Director/Writer: Rasmus Merivoo

Ah, children. The source of much joy, hope and innocence for many, but truth be told the little monsters are out to kill us all. Let's be honest, they're all selfish wretches who do nothing but drive you crazy and suck up your will to live. And now, in a small Estonian village, two narcissistic little brats (Nora and Harri Merivoo, the director's kids!), dropped off at their Grandmother's (Mari Lili) farm for a few weeks while their parents attend a self-help retreat, may bring about the end of human existence as we know it. Complaining about the actual work they're expected to do, these little snot-nosed pests bring the local legend of the Kratt – a Terminator-like demonic spirit that must always be fed work, or else – to life just so they can take it easy, but in doing so they may have set in motion the destruction of Grandma, her village and perhaps the world with it. And all because they couldn't get internet access.

LOVE, LIFE AND GOLDFISH (Japan, 2020)
Action, Comedy, Romance, Drama

Director: Yukinori Makabe ∣ Writer: Harumi Doki

They say it's unhealthy to bottle up your emotions. Makoto, an elite employee at one of Tokyo's biggest banks, has learned this the hard way. The poor guy is so closed off, and has built up so much frustration, that when he is about to receive an important promotion, he can't help but shower a volley of gratuitous insults on his boss. As a result, he finds himself transferred to a small rural town, in the middle of nowhere. Once there, he meets the sweet Yoshino, the owner of a strange establishment where the customers compete in goldfish fishing. He immediately falls in love with her, but strongly resists this unwanted feeling. Then there is the exuberant local pub owner, Asuka, who seems to have a crush on him. Caught up in an emotional whirlwind, Makoto will have to learn to tame and express his emotions before he explodes again, and unwittingly sends everyone packing.

MIDNIGHT (South Korea, 2021)
Thriller

Director/Writer: Kwon Oh Seung

A wave of murders hits the city and, lurking in the shadows, a killer has just identified his new prey – a deaf woman. South Korea has become the go-to source for fans of dark, intense, unpredictable thrillers that deliver cutthroat tension, and Kwon Oh Seung's debut feature MIDNIGHT follows in this tradition. A breathless tale boasting hallucinatory sound design that relishes in testing the nerves of even the most seasoned viewers.

THE NIGHT HOUSE (USA, 2021)
Thriller, Horror

Director: David Bruckner ∣ Writers: Ben Collins, Luke Piotrowski

From director David Bruckner (THE RITUAL, THE SIGNAL) comes THE NIGHT HOUSE. Reeling from the unexpected death of her husband, Beth (Rebecca Hall) is left alone in the lakeside home he built for her. She tries as best she can to keep it together – but then nightmares come. Disturbing visions of a presence in the house calling to her, beckoning her with a ghostly allure. Against the advice of her friends, she begins digging into her husband’s belongings, yearning for answers. What she finds are secrets both strange and disturbing – a mystery she’s determined to unravel. THE NIGHT HOUSE stars Rebecca Hall (GODZILLA VS. KONG), Sarah Goldberg (Barry, Elementary), Vondie Curtis Hall (DIE HARD 2, EVE’S BAYOU), Evan Jonigkeit (Togetherish, Sweetbitter), and Stacy Martin (VOX LUX, NYMPHOMANIAC).

OFFICE ROYALE (Japan, 2021)
Comedy

Director: Kazuaki Seki ∣ Writer: Bakarhythm

Naoko (Mei Nagano, RUROUNI KENSHIN) is an innocuous office worker at Mitsufuji, a company like any other. Colleagues talk about the latest developments in their favourite TV series, discuss their diets, and many have a good time during lunch hours. Naoko steers clear of the clique war between three departments led by ruthless, backside-kicking bosses. Then a new employee arrives – Ran Hojo (Alice Hirose, THE TRAVELLING CAT CHRONICLES). She has the charisma and strength of a manga heroine. Ran defeats the clan leaders one by one and becomes the undisputed leader of Mitsufuji. She also befriends Naoko, who is not interested in office fights. The legend of Ran is spreading and the female warriors from other sections are constantly challenging her, without success. But what if she is dethroned by another gang, seeking to wrest control of Mitsufuji? Who would stand up for the company's honour?

REMAIN IN TWILIGHT (Japan, 2021)
Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

Director/Writer: Daigo Matsui

Six high school friends reunite for a wedding ceremony. They reconnect as if no time has passed, recall old nicknames, joke around and get ready to perform a trademark – and delightfully embarrassing – dance routine from their youthful days. But an unspoken weirdness lingers: Yoshio (rising star Ryo Narita of HOMUNCULUS) should not be there. At all. Metaphysically speaking, that is. And yet… His friends are able to see him, hear him, and touch him. As the day progresses, painful memories start blending with the present and an old flame makes an appearance, building towards a reckoning for all involved. No one wants to face the obvious: the lost Yoshio has remained in twilight.

THE SADNESS (Taiwan, 2021)
Horror

Director/Writer: Rob Jabbaz

In an alternate version of Taiwan, a rapidly spreading pandemic suddenly mutates into a rabies-like affliction, and the infected find themselves unable to control their id. A nightmare vision steeped in unspeakably upsetting moments of violence, Rob Jabbaz’s THE SADNESS plays like a return to the no-holds-barred shock sensibilities of ’90s Hong Kong Category III films. Electrified with an existential fear that punches spikes of panic energy straight into your nervous system, and told with incredible style, THE SADNESS is a force to be reckoned with. Fantasia is proud to be bringing this extreme horror rollercoaster to North American shores, hot off its bow at Locarno.

SAKURA (Japan, 2020)
Drama

Director: Hitoshi Yazaki ∣ Writer: Masa Asanishi, Kanako Nishi

As a young adult, Kaoru (Takumi Kitamura, TREMBLE ALL YOU WANT) returns home after a long absence. He is welcomed by his father (Masatoshi Nagase, MYSTERY TRAIN, SUICIDE CLUB), his mother (Shinobu Terajima, DARE TO STOP US) and his sister Miki (Nana Komatsu, BAKUMAN), but most of all he seems to be happy to be reunited with Sakura, the family dog. Gentle yet strong, sweet yet mischievous, she has been a significant part of their lives in the 12 years since they adopted her as an adorable puppy. Kaoru remembers this during his stay with his parents; he also thinks about his older brother Hajime (Ryo Yoshizawa, BLEACH), who was a star baseball player in school, but whose life was turned upside down by a curveball of fate…

SEOBOK (South Korea, 2021)
Action, Thriller, Sci-Fi

Director: Lee Yong Joo ∣ Writers: Yeom Gyu Hun, Lee Jae Min, Jeo Min Suk, Lee Yong Ju

A former secret service agent (Gong Yoo, TRAIN TO BUSAN) struggling with a brain tumor must return to duty for a mission of the utmost importance: protecting Seobok (Park Bo Gum, COIN LOCKER GIRL), the first human clone who has unnatural powers. Few mainstream films integrate ethical reflection with breathtaking, high-octane entertainment to this incredible extent.

THE SLUG (South Korea, 2021)
Drama, Fantasy

Director/Writer: Choi Jin Young

Chun Hee (Kang Jin Ah, MICROHABITAT) has yet to come out of her shell. Reeling from trauma harking back to her parent’s death, she still lives in her childhood home and goes about her business in a rather solitary but empathetic way – peeling inordinate amounts of garlic for restaurants and trying to connect with other people. Until she is struck by lightning – an event she not only survives, but which manifests her younger self (Park Hye Jin) into her life, in flesh and bone, awaiting explanations for this sad state of affairs.

TAIPEI SUICIDE STORY (Taiwan, 2020)
Thriller

Director/Writer: KEFF

A receptionist at a suicide hotel in Taipei forms a fleeting friendship with a guest who can't decide if she wants to live or die. A festival hit throughout the pandemic and winner of the Narrative Grand Jury Prize, Audience Award and Acting Prize for Tender Huang at Slamdance 2021, KEFF’s latest (following SECRET LIVES OF ASIANS AT NIGHT) is a uniquely poignant tale of resilience amidst alienation, set two minutes into our ever-uncertain futures.

UZUMAKI (Japan, 2000)
Horror

Director: Higuchinsky ∣ Writer: Takao Niita

Strange events are afoot in the small town of Kurozu – and schoolgirl Kirie seems to be caught in the maelstrom of it all. Her boyfriend’s father becomes obsessed with spirals. First, the patterns on a snail’s shell, then the movement of a washing machine or the whirlpool one makes with chopsticks when mixing fish cake into a soup. At school, a student starts dripping inordinate amounts of sweat – only attending class on damp, rainy days. Meanwhile, another classmate develops imposing curls. The sky darkens; spirals seem to be everywhere at once, exerting an irresistible fascination on all things.

VOICE OF SILENCE (South Korea, 2021)
Thriller, Crime

Director/Writer: Hong Eui Jeong

It's back to business as usual for Chang-bok (You Chea Myung, BRING ME HOME) and his assistant Tae In (Yoo Ah In, #ALIVE), who has lost his voice. They go to the village to sell their eggs, then change clothes and go to fulfill their contract with gangsters to prepare and clean the scene of an execution. Finally, they return home after disposing of the body. Their discretion and professionalism are so well respected that a gang leader gives them an unprecedented task: to fetch a person and hide them for 24 hours. When they arrive at the designated place, they are stunned. It’s a little girl. They bring her back and fulfill their part of the contract, but no one comes to claim her. So the antisocial Tae-in has to take the child back to his home, hidden deep in the land he shares with his little sister. Everything goes wrong when he and his colleague arrive at their new assignment, and find out that it’s their employer.

WHAT JOSIAH SAW (USA, 2021)
Horror, Thriller, Drama

Director: Vincent Grashaw ∣ Writer: Robert Alan Dilts

In director Vincent Grashaw’s Southern Gothic nightmare WHAT JOSIAH SAW, an estranged family grapples with the sins of the past… yanking the skeletons right out of their closet, kicking and screaming all the way! The superlative cast includes Robert Patrick, Nick Stahl, Kelli Garner, Tony Hale, Scott Haze and Jake Weber. It’s this year’s THE DARK AND THE WICKED.

WONDERFUL PARADISE (Japan, 2020)
Comedy, Fantasy

Director: Masashi Yamamoto ∣ Writers: Suzuyuki Kaneko, Masashi Yamamoto

The debt-ridden Sasayas are moving out of their big house in the suburbs of Tokyo. Misinterpreting her father’s suggestion to “make fun memories” instead of focusing on the material move, Akane, the family’s daughter, posts an open invitation on Twitter: “Let’s have a party!” Soon, a homeless man comes to pray at the altar of the kitsch Greek statue in their driveway, and thus begins the bacchanal! Guest after guest pours into the house: movers first (of course), the family’s estranged mother second, a couple looking for a place to wed, the neighbourhood drug dealers, a confrontational aunt, and soon, with the unflinching logic of an ever-escalating matsuri gone utterly and irreversibly wild, jilted lovers, supernatural surprises, and delights of the kaiju variety…

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Random Asian Horror News 7.19.21

I’m back with what I guess is now my semi-regular roundup of all the Asian horror news and articles that I found around the web since the last post. You know how I said that I didn’t like finding news? I take that back, because I did enjoy focusing on finding all the Asian horror news I could find and here we are with more than enough for a post. Because of this, and because I haven’t personally found any place that only talks about the Asian horror news, I’m going to be doing these much more often than I had originally expected to. I’ll also be switching up the layout a bit and will try to keep these up to date with movies and dramas premiering soon in theaters, VOD, or for sale. Sort of a mashup of what I would do for monthly wrap-ups or the short-lived premiere posts. These will probably focus on more than horror, but will stay in the darker genres.

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NEWS

-Fangoria magazine’s first movie to be produced under their newly established Fangoria Studios will be Sitora. It is inspired by the lost Malay film Sitora Harimau Jadian and will be directed by Diffan Sina Norman. The film centers on “a tyrannical shaman who puffs up the threat of a supernatural half-man, half-tiger as a means of preserving his feudal control”. (source)

-Not necessarily specific horror news, but news that will effect the type of content we see, Netflix has announced the plan to open a post-production studio in Mumbai with forty editing rooms for directors, editors, sound designers to help their interest in producing Korean content. I wrote about their See What’s Next conference that Netflix Korea held back in February which they announced their further plans for creating Korean content, and along with this push I think we’ll be seeing more of an upswing in Korean content very soon. (source)

-The international rights to the Korean horror film Ghost Door has been picked up by Finecut. It is scheduled to be released this year. (source)

-TVING announced the Korean drama, I'm Watching You, a crime drama using CCTV footage. To be released in August. (source)

-KBS (Korea) confirmed that four of their ten dramas for the 2021 Drama Special will be in the horror/thriller genre.

-Variety put out an article talking about the effect that COVID had on the South Korean film industry, and how the shift to digital because of it has made theater studios consider this shift to stay around as the industry rebuilds itself and the rise of foreign viewership as well as foreign streaming services (such as Disney Plus) enter the Korean market.

-Vietnamese thriller, Nguoi Lang Nghe: Loi Thi Tham (Listeners: The Whispering) continues to win awards at various film festivals, most recently the International New York Film Festival where it won best feature film with a budget under $250,000. (source)

-I talked about the joint Thai-Korean horror The Medium in my last post, but it continues to dominate news and is one of the most anticipated horror releases this summer. It’s currently no. 1 in Korean ticket pre-sales and has been bought by even more countries for streaming and viewing rights. (source) (source)

-A new Kingdom spin-off is rumored to be in production, Netflix has yet to confirm the information. (source)

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COMING SOON

For this post I’m including some dramas and movies that premiered recently along with those that will premiere in the next two weeks.

-The 2019 Japanese comedy-horror, Ghost Master, arrived on VOD July 13th. An assistant director working on a rom-com’s horror screenplay comes to life and starts possessing the cast.

-Netflix released the Thai sci-fi/thriller DEEP on the 16th. I did a non-spoiler review of the film that you can read here.

-The TVING Korean drama, The Witch’s Diner, premiered on the 16th. Staring Song Ji Hyo, the fantasy drama is about people who come to eat a magical dish that grants them their wishes. It’s available now on VIKI.

-The 2020 Thai horror movie, The Maid, will be available for streaming July 20th,. Joy is hired as a maid by a wealthy family where she experiences odd occurences. The Blu-Ray will be onsale August 17.

-Korean horror-comedy I Can Only See will be released in Korean theaters July 21st. Starring former 2AM member Jung Jin Woon, the movie is about the appearance of a supernatural entity appearing at a film site and terrorizing the crew.

-Daum Kakao TV Korean drama, The Great Shaman Ga Doo Shim, premieres July 30th. Kim Sae Ron and Nam Da Reum play high schoolers who become involved in a series of mysterious incidents.

-Kingdom: Ashin of the North, premiers the 23rd on Netflix. It is a spinoff of the Korean zombie drama series, Kingdom and follows the mysterious character Ashin, who is shown in the second season.

-The Cursed: Dead Man's Prey, the sequel movie to the 2020 tvN Korean drama, The Curse, will be out on the 28th.

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DEEP (non-spoiler) Review

I wasn’t going to do a review on this movie since I’ve been trying to limit the amount of non-Korean horror content I post until the end of August, but since it just came out I figured it might be good to put one up in case someone was trying to feel out the movie and whether it was worth it to watch. I ended up watching it when it premiered on Netflix a couple of days ago, and after watching I knew that I maybe needed to focus a review on it.

Desperate for cash, Jane (Care Panisara Rikulsurakan) joins a study on insomnia that implants a chip to make sure you stay awake. The project spirals out of control as her and three other students try to get out.

Deep had so much potential to be a fairly decent movie, but ultimately fell flat. I wish I had liked the movie more, and I wish that it had pushed the boundaries a bit more. It had an interesting concept, and the cast did relatively well with the script they were given, so I know that if they had a more fleshed out story they’d be able to carry it. You could see where the movie was supposed to go at multiple times, but they never attempted to or tried to go in any of those directions. For the first half of the movie, it’s barely a thriller or even sci-fi movie. We don’t see much about the actual study of what the chip does. For the most part it’s just about a group of teens finally being free to be themselves and finding friendships with all this extra free time they have. During the pivotal turning points, it was boring and uninventive. It never kept you on the edge of your seat and the climax was equally as boring.

While the movie is obviously for a younger crowd, I don’t think that it even lives up for them. I know that if you had asked me if I enjoyed the movie when I was like 13 I’d still feel the same sense of emptiness out of it. I probably wouldn’t pick up on things like the weird dialogue and deliveries, but the thriller aspect of the movie was really not there, and I would have been as disappointed then as I am now.

Should you watch this? I’d say no, there are several other sci-fi thrillers that are much better that this can definitely be skipped. I’d say that unless you have teens or preteens who like this type of movie and want to find something you both can watch together knowing that there isn’t going to be any sex scenes or bad language, this isn’t the movie night for you. It is by far not the worst thing I’ve sit through but ultimately I’d say watch something else.

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21 Anticipated Kdramas (Update)

Since it’s somehow already the middle of the year, I thought it would be fun to refer back to my 21 Anticipated Kdramas list that I wrote back in December of last year, and see what has come out and if any of the dramas that I predicted that I’d like were correct. It was fun looking back on this list, but a lot of the dramas on this list have yet to air, and there are no updates as to if and when they will. This list also doesn’t reflect the dramas that were announced after making it that would have been more a priority than the ones below.

I used MyDramaList to find these dramas initially. While they are good, the information is not perfect. I knew that I’d probably also miss listings. Along with new dramas that would be popping up after I created the list, I knew that it would have some flaws. I also have a full list of over 30 dramas that I had made when I was writing the original list that I had used to whittle down to the 21 below, and I know there is at least one drama on that list that I’ve watched and completed (Vincenzo).

Currently Watching:

-Beyond Evil / 괴물

-Voice 4 / 보이스 4 (airing)

-Hospital Playlist 2 / 슬기로운 의사 생활 2 (airing)

Completed:

-Sell Your Haunted House / 대박부동산
I actually love that this drama in particular was a drama that I didn’t think I would like and yet it has ended up being one of my top dramas. I was wary that it was going to be a comedy, and the drama unexpectedly caught me off guard about how good it was. I loved every episode, the characters had great arches and worked well with each other. I highly suggest watching if you haven’t yet.

-Taxi Driver / 모범택시
I suspected this one to be good back at the time I wrote the post, and I was right. Another one of my current top dramas for the year, Taxi Driver was engaging, had a good amount of action and I really respected the direction it took in focusing a lot of the injustices with current laws and how they affect the citizens unnecessarily. Check out my blog post on the true stories behind the stories in the drama here.

-Joseon Exorcist / 조선구마사
Oh the drama that could have been. I really loved the first two episodes of this one, and that’s sadly all we got. I was really into it. I even have a first impression post up that I was working on when the news broke that you can find here. I wasn’t expecting this kind of disappointment.

-Dark Hole / 다크홀
I joked that this one was going to be my X-Files drama, and it started out being that. The first two episodes could have been from The X-Files and I was so into it but the story was lacking a lot. The middle was boring, and there were storylines I just didn’t care about and felt didn’t bring anything to the drama. The first part and the last part would have made a great movie.

On Hold/Undecided:

-Luca / 루카
I haven’t gone back to this one after the first two episodes that I watched, but there was something that intrigued me about it to not fully drop it from my list. I know that the general consensus was that this one fell flat, but I still have a hope that it’s a drama for me. It’ll stay on my on-hold list for now.

-Doom At Your Service / 어느 날 우리 집 현관으로 멸망이 들어왔다
Probably the most talked-about drama right now, and very divisive. I have yet to start it, and don’t plan to for a bit just the way that my watching list falls and what I’ve been prioritizing. I’m still intrigued and have heard that the drama might turn out to be a better binge.

-Times / 타임즈
I ended up not making time (ha) for this one, and I don’t think I will. Maybe if I do something towards the end of the year to come back to some dramas that came out as some sort of thing, maybe. But right now it’s not a priority.

-Busted 3 / 범인은 바로 너! 3
I’ve sadly used this as one of those shows I just kept pushing back to make room for others. I really need to make the time for it soon, I promise I will watch it before the end of the year.

Dropped:

-Sisyphus the Myth / 시지프스: The Myth
While I was entertained by the first bit of this one, I haven’t picked it up since I stopped watching it on episode 4. Or 6. At any rate, while I don’t think it was terrible, I just don’t think I will ever want to come back to this one and ultimately decided to drop it.

-Mouse / 마우스
Oh, this one was such a disappointment. The first episode was phenomenal and I loved loved it…but then it just tanked the following episodes. It switched from a great thriller-horror to a makjang and I just hated the kookiness of it all. I tried, but it wasn’t the same drama from the first episode and it’s probably the greatest letdown on this list.

Hasn’t Aired (good chance for this year):

-Cliffhanger / 지리산
Currently scheduled to start airing end of October, and has already started filming.

-Island 1&2 / 아일랜드
Seo Ye Ji has left the project, and Lee Da Hee is slated to replace her. No word when this will start airing, but they’ve had several cast announcements so I would assume fairly soon, especially since one of the cast - Cha Eun Woo - just left his gig on Master in the House.

-Hellbound / 지옥
No date on this one, but the cast has been solidified. As it’s a Netflix drama (and only 6 episodes), I’d assume this one is probably already in post-production.

-The Silent Sea / 고요의 바다
I just don’t believe in any world that this drama hasn’t been completely done since last year. I really don’t know why there’s a delay on this one for any news. I would have expected at least a date since this was part of the lineup Netflix had shared during their summit they had earlier this year.

-All of Us Are Dead / 지금 우리 학교는
Another drama that we have no word from. Maybe it’ll show up soon? Or maybe Netflix is trying to push this as an October release? Again, it was talked about, so it’s got to come soon, right?

No Update/Delayed (potentially not airing this year):

-Duke City / 공작도시
This is currently scheduled for January 28, 2022.

-Link: Eat, Love, Die / 링크: 먹고 사랑하라, 죽이게
No word on this one. I have no clue if it’s going to end up coming out this year. The only person it had attached to it for the cast, Kim Seon Ho, declined the offer.

-Bloody Finger / 블러디 핑거
Also no word on this one, I’ll be surprised if this ends up being released this year. Again, a drama without a cast as most of the actors given contracts have declined the offer.

If you know any more information on any of the dramas that are scheduled to come out let me know in the comments.

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Premiere: Mouse

Today the crime/thriller drama from tvN, Mouse, premiers!

I don’t know much about the drama purposefully to avoid any unintentional spoilers, but psychopaths? Serial killers? I’m so, so very into it. And it stars Lee Seung Gi! (Rest of the cast can be found here.) The previews have been creepy with that little kid, and even the press conference has got me excited:

Through their press conference today, tvN #Mouse says that the first ep is rated 19+ as there will be scene that might have disturbing parts to be as real as possible and to show the psychopath's true nature.

It's premiering tonight! https://t.co/qnbsxnb3Y6 #KoreanUpdates RZ pic.twitter.com/IYffLZT3o5

— KoreanUpdates! (@KoreanUpdates) March 3, 2021

Mouse airs Wednesdays and Thursdays and it’s going to be a long one (20 episodes). Viki has it in their coming soon section, so hopefully it shows up subbed soon (it’s at 0% as off posting this and I’m dying).

Who’s also excited?

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