Dei yuk dai sup gau tsang (2007) Reviews

• No need to count to nineteen to figure this one out

  Adorable2007-11-17

  It's a sad thing when you need to recycle the Pang Brothers' Re-Cycle, for that one to begin with wasn't much more than impressive CGI vistas and little in the way of story. Naraka 19, apparently titled so to make us think it's one of those high-schooler oriented Japanese horror flicks, admittedly has more atmosphere to it than Re-Cycle did, but its visuals don't come close and in terms of story it's just as shallow. This Gillian Chung vehicle purveys only one major thing: mood. It was shot mostly in Hong Kong's Chinese University campus in the hills overlooking Shatin, and as such is eerie and foreboding in a way. But beyond this and a few instances of excellent cinematography, Naraka 19 (referring to the 19th level of hell) is a pale, clumpy haired afterthought with almost no lasting power. They also apparently decided to be inspired by Flatliners, since here too characters are pulled into a vicious game where their worst memories come alive and haunt them to a bitter end. Since most of Naraka 19's target audience are too young to remember 1990, this can be overlooked. But A-Giu's lackluster performance here can't. As college student Rain, she experiences first hand how a demented horror-survival game, based on the wonderful plot device of cell phones, whisks away her friends to some nether realm where they one by one meet with grisly outcomes. Of course, Rain also gets involved, but the same can't be said of Gillian. Acting-wise, she's probably even less appealing here than in 49 Days. Patrick Tam makes an appearance as Dr. Yan, a university shrink that's either trying to help the girls or quite the contrary. Also into the mix are thrown cop Inspector Yip (Shaun Tam, who's the best among all performers here) and Bonnie Xian as Rain's friend Mandy. She's also pretty decent, but her fear of monkeys does grate after a while. A few harsh words must be uttered regarding the production's decision to go with Nokia as sponsors. Forget the product placement, we're cool with that, but cell phones as the main engine for a story? Isn't that so 2001? And the exaggerated clicking sounds whenever a phone gets picked up or used are just too over the top. So the basic premise of fears coming to life and biting people in the posterior doesn't cut it, what else? Well in a proper B movie the women would be hot and get a bit naked, but of course this doesn't happen in HK movies. Effects and graphics? Some of them are OK, but nothing particularly artful or memorable ever transpires, we're sad to report. The imagery is kind of generic, even though there's a story arc about European cultists and lunatic-fringe artisans that doesn't get fully explored. Even a cameo by Twin Charlene doesn't help much. Naraka 19 is by no means a horrible film. It has virtually no merit but nor does it outright suck. If you have nothing better to get you in the mood some late, rainy evening, you could do worse. For more significant product from director Lai, check out sentimental The Floating Landscape.

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• well made at the beginning but had a terrible ending

  Tokyo-19972010-10-14

  This is only an average movie for me. The first 2/3 of this movie was done very well, but the last 1/3 of this movie sucked. The opening scene of this movie was terrifying and seem to give me the impression that this is one of the better horror movies ever made. The opening scene starts of showing someone that was caused to feel very depressed and ends up killing himself. It quite reminds me of Kairo, except that in Kairo, the depressed victims vanishes. Hence, the idea used in this movie seems to be very creative. Another depressed victim eventually cuts of her tongue. The main character went to investigate these mysterious suicides. The use of cellphones to cause the victims to enter the levels of hell is not original, it reminds me of One Missed Call. I personally found this movie to be underrated and deserves a higher score. Overall, this movie is original and has some terrifying scenes. The cinematography in this movie was well done. The atmosphere for the 1st level of hell and the 4th level of hell was fantastic. Knifes dropping down from the sky was really creative. In the 1st level of hell, the ghost attacks the victims on a small boat. I thought the idea was creative. However, this movie is far too fast paced. It should be made into a 3 hour movie to explain the different levels of hell. Before you know it, the main character has already entered the 18th level of hell. What made this movie bad was the last 1/3 of the movie. That part really sucked. The ending was extremely hanging in the air, and possibly one of the worst endings I have ever seen in cinematographic history. What happened in the end??? The man was about to open the door, and I thought that the climax of this movie was about to occur, and 'boom' the movie ended, without even having a sequel. Another really major complain I have about this movie is that What is Wrong With the 19th level of hell??? I was expecting so much to happen in that level of hell. What turned out to be in the 19th level of hell is much worse than the other levels of hell. Don't expect something great to happen in the 19th level of hell, because the 19th level of hell is just filled with rocks and rocks and rocks. Its ridiculous. The 18th level of hell was overcome to easily(even seemed easier than the other levels of hell). The atmosphere for the 18th level of hell is also a terrible one with just walls and walls and walls. Overall, this was an average movie for me, it started off very well with a good middle portion, but a terrible ending. Score: 7.3/10

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• Time killer

  zhenwofong12007-09-16

  I was expecting lots of horror elements within the movie, but to my surprise, it's an adventure movie. There are lots of stories and contents within the baseline due to the fact that the movie is created from a famous novel. However, the stories are not designed to create tense and it makes you feel no roller-coaster kind of up&down thrill feeling. The design of the sceneries of hell isn't so fantastic. The Gate to the Hell, the Hell itself, and the things in the Hello are not making audiences feel that they r in the hell~! If there were an adventure ahead in the hell, there must be more horror things and more "real" things seen in there. The character of the Cop isn't impacting the movie so much, since there isn't many of secrets to be discovered. The design of Cop is trying to add more of romance element rather than mystery or thrill. But you can still catch the show if u have time to kill. The actors/actresses are quite good.

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