The Vampire Cleanup Department is a task force that deals with Goeng Si, Chinese vampires, while being disguised as a regular trash and cleanup department. Not long after Tim Cheung joins his uncle on the force, he meets with a sweet vampire named Summer who changes how he wants to do things.
Tag Archives: Foreign
Broken Sword Hero (Thong Dee Fun Khao) (2017) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]
A young fighter goes on a quest to learn as much as he can to perfect his fighting skills following a hard loss. He travels his province in search of many masters to learn from and makes friends along the way.
Written by Suwan Takongkaew and Preayaporn Boonpa and directed by Bin Bunluerit, Broken Sword Hero is an action film with a quest at it center and a philosophical angle to how it approaches some of the fights and the learning the lead does during his travels. The way this is approached is interesting here but ultimately feels a bit long. The story around the fights makes this a film about more than just the fights, but also about the different techniques and the human element. Unfortunately, the film feels a bit uneven between the fighting being very strong and entertaining and the story parts feeling a bit slow and a lot less entertaining. This leads to the whole of the film feeling a touch long with some pacing issues.
Footnotes (Sur quel pied danser) (2016)
A young woman begins working in an old school shoe factory as it is under closure threat from the company trying to save a buck and move the production to a less expensive country. Through the fight to save the factory and the jobs, she and her co-workers learn a lot about themselves, each other, and life in general.
After Love (2017)
A couple divorcing after 15 years together is navigating life and its changes while still living together and trying to find a way to make things work as best they can.
Written by Fanny Burdino, Joachim Lafosse, and Mazarine Pingeot, with collaboration by Thomas van Zuyken, After Love is directed by Joachim Lafosse who navigates through this divorce story with an unflinching look at how a couple that is no longer functioning as such try and make things work through their separation, divorce, and division of assets. The film created here is an honest look into the lives of two people who are a bit lost and definitely trying to have a better life. The way this is developed makes it into a realistic look into a divided family unit, a franc view of what it’s like to divorce with two kids in the situation, what it’s like to divorce with assets, and what it’s like to not want to give up on your principles while doing this.
Prey (Prooi) (2016) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]
As a lion wreaks havoc on the city of Amsterdam, a zoo veterinarian gets involved in its chase along with her boyfriend and ex.
Written and directed by Dick Maas, Prey is a horror comedy film with its comedy very dark and its horror a bit light. The film takes the wild animal on the loose premise and moves it to the city of Amsterdam where the idea of a killer lion on the loose is particularly ludicrous. The way the film develops this and adds hunters, both experienced and not so much, who once paired with the local police becomes a bit of a mess in terms of lion-chasing but a fun watch in terms of horror-comedy. The film shows an ability to pit characters against each other in a way that is entertaining while they all face the lion threat. The comedy is often situational and takes advantage of the characters’ flaws in a way that works well here. The direction is rather on point for the comedy and fairly good on the horror. However, as a horror film, it has just about no scare factor.
Blade of the Immortal (2017) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]
A talented samurai is cursed by a witch to live forever following a battle for the ages. Haunted by the past, he accepts to assist a young girl with her quest for revenge. As he goes through with his mission, he discovers a few things about the world and himself.
Le Serpent aux mille coupures (Thousand Cuts) (2017) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]
A man on the run hides in a farm house, taking the family living there hostage. As the search for him intensifies, dead bodies start to pile up. Who is he and what has he done, who is killing these other people and why.
Based on the books by DOA and adapted for this film by DOA and director Eric Valette, Le Serpent aux mille coupures is a tense French polar, a sort of Thriller the French way. The film takes its premise, adds extra bad guys, and pushes the limits a bit while still keeping a fairly simple way of going at things. This creates a tension and suspense while the police and others are looking for a killer who tortures horribly his victims before killing them, while the man in hiding may or may not be this killer. All the tension comes from how the story unfolds even after the audience knows who is doing what, something that is a sign of strong writing and directing.