elle-six Reviews

Finale (I) (2018)

Really not that good.

[2/10 · 16 January 2024]

It started off alright. 2 girls working in gas station... some weird stuff happening. Add a few strange characters for audience to guess who will be the actual perpetrator. Then occasionally they jumpcut to a different timeline where the protagonist trying to escape some dungeon or sewer tunnel. A little confusing but probably foreshadowing whats gonna happen later.

Towards the 2/3 of the film, they introduce the ring master character. Turns out it some sorta low budget circus theme snuff. Then you get the ring master speaking in english like he's trying to teach english language and pretending to be a villain from 80s cartoon. Its so cringey that i forget about the actual gore action. I keep thinking 'who the heck speaks like that?' It so corny.

There's a female narrator introducing the circus show and at one point she says "our ringmaster is a determined conversationalist. Dying to dive into deeper dialogue with our starlet. He masters the art of oral examination." Wow... cool right? Ringmaster asked the victim whats her name, her age and her job. Thats it. Master of oral examination indeed.

Yeap. Thats the most horrible part of this horror film. 2 stars for effort.

Silent Night (2023)

Terrible

[2/10 · 29 December 2023]

Visuals are great. But the actions make no sense. Everyone just wanna get shot on screen because John Woo says so.

So this robocop guy wanted revenge because gangsters accidentally shot his kid. He trained up in close combat and firearms. Pretty cool. When it comes to actual practical use, he still terrible at it. Ok, i get it. He's not robocop.... just a civilian. Fine.

He drives his car into a gang war shoot out and go round and round while shooting random gangsters. Wouldnt it be smarter to camp in a corner and pick off targets with an AR? Nope... driving into the zone and risk getting shot is John Woo's way.

Then we get people rushing from rooms with handguns end up getting shot by protagonist. That is so 80s HK gangster film. Hey... you have a gun. Gun shoots bullets. I dont need to rush out and hug the protagonist. Bring a gun to a gunfight only to use it as a knife or something?

Suddenly there's a girl with a submachinegun spraying bullets at protagonist and the cop. Wait... why did the cop came without backup? Anyways... when the girl ran outta bullets, the protagonist got a chance to shoot her... but no. This girl tried to kill me but its only right for me to let her go and shoot me with a handgun, just to be sure she really have intentions to kill me and the cop. Good job, genius. Who approved this idea?

Lastly... the main antagonist. Ok, at this point i just didnt pay any attention anymore because i booted up my laptop to write this review. Who died? All of them died? Who cares.... im just gonna put this 2 stars here. Gonna go watch Death Sentence again. Way way better than this.

Into the Dark: Blood Moon (2021) Season 2, Episode 12

Its alrite i guess.

[5/10 · 30 November 2023]

Think most of the viewers already would have guessed its a werewolf or a demon boy from start. And mommy wanna protect him from the world. Pretty common troupe.

She move to different town everytime poop hits the fan. So happened she came to this town with majority scumbag vibe (except for the hardware store old man). The deputy sheriff is sus. Heck, even the sheriff seems a little rapey.

The bar owner where the girl works seems sus as well, eventhough other characters says he's legit. Like who goes to the employee's home for the 1st time, met the kid for the 1st time and just barge into the basement without permission? Total scumbag move. I get it, he's trying to impress the girl cuz he's despo. Still there are boundaries.

Overall it's ok. Not as good as some other episodes. Not as bad as some other episodes also.

Into the Dark: Pooka Lives! (2020) Season 2, Episode 7

Redeeming entry for season 2.

[8/10 · 28 November 2023]

I gotta say that i enjoyed this episode more than the Pooka in first season. The first Pooka is kind of a drag... more like a relationship drama than horror. Now this one is pretty fun.

So its about this writer who wrote a book that offended a famous KOL and he moved back to his hometown to hide while the KOL sorta summon his fans to harass the writer. Then writer got a job with the pooka company. Crazy stuff happening. You get different 'mutations' of pooka going around. Pretty cool creature design.

I like how they approached this installment with some humor. Some of the dialogues are pretty funny. Then there's some violence and gore. Nothing too over the top though.

Hope to see the 3rd part of the story... maybe in season 3?

Into the Dark: My Valentine (2020) Season 2, Episode 5

Another sad episode...

[3/10 · 27 November 2023]

Now this is a different level of horror. Millennial horror. New genre of horror.

Psycho bf of an upcoming pop star gone crazy. Bribes the bartender to clear out the location so he could get some sorta payback from his 'investment'. Ok. I dont really know what he wanted. He like manipulating the girl, in a super cringey way.

Then all the other characters are like braindead. Ana Akana fights a knife-wielding idiot by getting stabbed. Like really? So many items that you could use to defend yourself against knife and you choose your stomach? The main girl decided to use a heavy cinderblock and lost balance and dropped it. I was wondering if all the tables and chairs around the bar are screwed to the ground. Or location manager tells the crew not to touch anything.

I can imagine the person who wrote this story, showed it to friends and everyone says "its awesome, babe", cuz they are the characters from the previous episode, Midnight Kiss.

I give 3 stars for colourful lighting and nice songs.

Into the Dark: Midnight Kiss (2019) Season 2, Episode 4

Too many kisses...

[2/10 · 27 November 2023]

Honestly, i wouldnt choose to watch this if it wasnt part of the Into the Dark series. I was binge watching the series and enjoying the stories, till this one.

Bunch of gay friends gathering in a private location. One of them is a killer. But whats with all the kissing scenes?. Yea, we get it... they are gay. But do we really need to keep watching them kiss like every 10 mins? We are just here for the horror, at least i am. I stayed to the end only because i wanna know why the killer kills. Didnt expect the reason to be so lame. I was thinking that the killer kills because this group caused the death of his brother or lover or whatnot during one of their crazy parties. But no. Its just because he feels butthurt. Ok, pun intended.

What do i know, right?

Also.. why the guy from the 1st scene get killed? Is he part of this group? Why everyone still happily partying if they knew one of them died? I probably missed out some parts. Oh well...

Kûhaku (2021)

Absolutely worth watching...

[9/10 · 16 November 2023]

Being a fan of revenge film and reading the synopsis, i was expecting it to be something like Kokuhaku. Parent getting some sorta violent payback.

Instead, there alot of emotions goin on with each of the characters. I think its not entirely the shop owner's fault, but he indirectly caused the accident. I cant imagine how that feels like. Tough situation. And the media makes it worse. As for the dad, its only human to blame others... till he cant anymore. Life must go on. The young guy that works for the dad, what a great guy. We need more people like that.

The ending really took me by surprise. Not in a bad way. I ended up cutting onions a little. And the last guy that looks like a hooligan, talking to the shop owner when he's working odd jobs. That's one of the best part. Also the painting... so good.

Guess we shouldnt beat ourselves up too much... Great film.

The Alpines (2021)

with friends like these....

[3/10 · 10 November 2023]

I dont get it. A bunch of old friends goin on a trip to secluded cabin only to find out they all likely hated each other for various reasons. Why do they even bother? Seriously.

I wouldnt even consider if my crappy friends ask me out for lunch. Those rubbish friends probably wanna sell me insurance or want to borrow money to fuel their tiktok facade BS.

And yet this bunch of frenemies pretend to be happy with each other and then dwell on their past dramas. Really? Do these kindda scenarios really happen in real life?

Guess im not invited, thats why im sitting home watching this film. LOL. Id rather watch this than hanging out with bunch of scumbags playing truth or dare around campfire, forgetting the suspicious circumstances that they all being there in the first place.

Last 10 mins is just yap yap yap...

5 Centimeters per Second (2007)

Drifting petals make me sad...

[9/10 · 7 November 2023]

Thats what we are... just drifting petals falling away from each other.

Story about 2 childhood friends being separated due to circumstances. They vowed to keep in contact... writing letters to each other. Sweet naive stuff that keeps them thinking about each other all the time. At that point, it seems like they were soulmates. Watching that bit makes me feel like i did that back when i was young, but actually i didnt... wish i did though. Anyways, thats the 1st part of the story.

The 2nd part is where the guy moved to another school where there's a girl that likes him. Unable to express herself, she gets frustrated. The guy seems nice to her but not in a romantic way.

Then the 3rd part is when they all working adults. Guy still missed the 1st girl. 2nd girl missed the guy. 1st girl apparently moved on and got married. Guy gone into minor depression not knowing what happened to 1st girl. Life goes on... as it does.

Visuals are amazing. Very beautiful shots of mundane stuff in Japan. Lots of details. Almost like flipping a photography book. Cant help but to feel a little sad towards the end, because the only thing that happened is the 5 centimeter fall of sakura petals per second. Ok now i want to draw my curtains and curl up in a fetal under my blanket in my dark room for 3 days, contemplating about all the things i didnt do.

One on One (2014)

Human, space, time and ecological pyramid.

[8/10 · 25 October 2023]

I watched this many years ago. At that time it felt like low budget production, so i didnt really pay much attention to it. I watch it the 2nd time recently. Now i understand the story a little better.

It started off with a school girl getting murdered by a bunch of guys, and they report to their boss. Their boss then report to someone higher up. Then they cut to the other side of the story where a bunch of 'agents' kidnapping and torturing some guys for written confession. Turns out 'victims' are the ones who killed the girl. These agents are just regular people with their own individual problems. One of the scene seems to have abit of Fightclub vibe to it. Waiter being bullied by scumbag patron and wanted payback.

They do show parts before the kidnapping where these killer have a meal with gf, wife, friend, etc.... where they casually brush off any question when being asked about their job. Shows their attitude towards nasty things they did.

The leader of the agents has hidden agenda. We find out that the school girl is related to the leader of the 'agents'. His daughter probably. The agents themselves are against each other when the leader gets overboard with his quest of justice. In the end, i think the message is about survival and ecosystem... and how messed up humans can be.

But the weird thing bout this film is that one of the actor plays multiple role. Its confusing at first. He's like the abusive boyfriend, the scumbag mechanic boss, the monk, one of the killers, scumbag patron, etc. No idea why is that...

Sin Samejima Jiken (2020)

not that bad.

[7/10 · 1 May 2023]

Just watched this. It started off pretty creepy where the protagonist being stalked by 'something'. Most of the time the show is mostly vid conference or some facetime screen. Bunch of friends wanted to do a zoom call drinking session (covid times), end up having ghost disrupting it. Party pooper. Lots of screaming and screen glitches.

The story itself is about a curse by a male criminal that got murdered by vigilante, but i dont get why the ghost seem to be a lady. Maybe ive missed out some parts.

We have the elevator scene... you know, the kindda elevator with a small window so you could see the ghost on every floor. Though done before many times (dark water, etc), its still creepy. Then we have the mirror cabinet in the bathroom troupe. There's a little surprise there (or the lack of). Also ghost appearing in cupboard.

The ending track is good. And there's a short post credit scene.

Scream VI (2023)

this magic ghostface killer is getting ridiculous

[4/10 · 28 April 2023]

So these 2 sisters and bunch of friends were survivors of the 1st reboot, as they mentioned many times in the film itself. Ok. I have forgotten what happened in the 1st reboot. But what is the deal with the ghostface being superhuman and all. Like he could go through walls and enter pples home magically. He has like super stamina, running around, deflecting attacks and take a truckload of beating but still ok. Cmon. Marvel should just recruit this guy as the new avengers. He could have saved humanity from aliens rather than killing young adults.

One girl got stabbed in the train full of people, no one saw anything... seriously. Not a single person saw. And they had to make sure u knew no one saw by panning the cam to a girl who was standing next to them... sleeping. Of all the things u could do in a train full of pple. Stand and sleep.

Also... dont make sure the killer is incapacitated. Never ever do that in a horror film.

Thats it. This is the last scream im gonna watch unless he joined MCU as avengers.

Ending track is pretty good though.

Cry for the Bad Man (2019)

home invasion gone wrong...

[2/10 · 27 March 2023]

Home invasion film could have been good till the characters do stupid things... as usual.

Bad a$$ lady defending her home from 3 thugs that tasked to terrorize her to give up her home or something. Crooked cop doesnt seem like he cares.

Wounded 2 baddies and let the worse one walk off in a hostage exchange for her dumb daughter who happens to stand around and chit chat about school days till the bad guys capture her, turning the situation around. Did i mention she lets the bad guy take his pistol back before leaving? Who does that? Did she forget why they brought guns to her home in the first place?

How dumb can characters get? Ohh... i get it. Stretched it's 20 min duration to 1hr. Fair nuff.

Limit (2022)

C for effort.

[3/10 · 13 January 2023]

I gotta say... things the characters in this movie do make no sense. It started off alright. Kid from rich family got kidnapped and the cops trying to get the kid back. While doin that, the kidnapper captured one the mommy cop's kid as well. So mommy cop trying to get her kid back.... sounds good.

Then there are 2 villain sidekicks. A creepy looking guy and a psychotic girl. One of the scene where they were at the amusement park trying to kidnap a kid. The mommy cop tailing them. For no reason, the psycho girl just pull out a gun and start shooting while their boss told them to escape after realizing mommy cop is there. To the point that she ran out of bullets, she still pretending to shoot as all the cops shot her down.

Then there's a fight scene between creepy guy and mommy cop in the forest. Obviously creepy guy is a born killer (as depicted in the scene where he killed the doc). He ended up rolling down hill and got up for like 1 minute before getting hit by a car. Cmon... drivers dont seem to react to human in the middle of the road. Cars have breaks, for goodness sake!!!

The last boss... creepy school nurse. Keeps shooting her gun and for no reason purposely shot her accomplice who is trying to leave when the mommy cop arrives. Why? Just get on the boat and leave with all the 'goods'...

I dont even know why the initially kidnapped kid's mom trying to fake the kidnapping to get money outta her husband. Just lost interest in that plot.... whatever.

The Cage (I) (2014)

are you kidding me?

[1/10 · 20 November 2022]

Happened to watch part of this film on tv. Probably the early part of it where the 1st victim died.

So the 'show' is in a cage on a stage with bunch of audience, maybe 50 of them. Some old, some young. And all of them just watch people being murdered and occasionally clap, laugh, gasp, etc. Sure, they think its part of the act. Then you get the trapped actors begging them to call the police. No one reacted. Still thinking its part of the act.

Then u get the actors crying and screaming.... cmon, none of the audience ever thought "what the heck am i watching? Why am i spending my time watching this crap?" at least thats what i would have thought if i had to buy tickets to watch this stage show. In fact, i'd walk out of the theater and write a review about it.

In the cage, there are many props.... from chairs, wooden boxes, metal structures, etc. No one ever thought of breaking those props to use them. Throw at the audience or breaking the seemingly flimsy wall next to the fake safe with a phone in it. Looks like its made out of thin plywood. If its that thin, im sure anyone could punch a hole through it. More fun than screaming at each other.

I got to the point where 3 of the actors died on stage. One got stabbed, one shot with a sniper rifle or whatnot and another got tied up, lifted and dropped to the ground. Audience still oblivious about the situation.

Halfway through, i just switched off the TV. 6.1 rating for real? Thats even higher than Suicide Squad!!!

Soft & Quiet (2022)

this is really scary

[8/10 · 11 November 2022]

I love horror films but this is one of the scariest ive seen all year. No ghost, no monsters... just humans. Scary humans.

The movie started off with a gathering of friends that seem like regular people, till they reveal the berry pie. Then you hear someone saying "cant take a joke?" or something to that effect. I didnt know what i was watching, to be honest cuz i didnt really read the synopsis. Probably the best way to watch a film? Or not. Anyways, i really thought the pie was a joke and then the friends would probably murder each other due to some misunderstanding or whatnot. Boy, was i dead wrong.

Since some of the reviewers already talked bout the story, im just gonna say this is some disturbing content. Its because it feels very real to me. The one-take treatment makes it more believable. All it takes is an instigator, and a bunch of like-minded mob. Just like bunch of drunk guys throwing furniture into a pool... but instead of that, we get sober hateful ladies conducting misdemeanor that escalates to murder. All in the name of so-called "entitlement". And they are proud of it. Proud of messing with people that wronged them.

Yep. This film scares me more than ghosts. I liked it.

We Need to Do Something (2021)

We need to know why of all places they get stuck in a bathroom

[2/10 · 26 October 2022]

Yes. Thats is exactly the question. Why the whole family gather in a bathroom in times of disaster? Is that like the only place they are allowed to shoot their film when they rented the location?

No one ever thought bout bringing any supplies, tools, etc. The only things that have are cellphones and a flask. Guess what? All their cellphones got no charge. And the only one that has, the character had to lose it. How convenient. How dumb. No one ever thought of removing the shower curtain and get the metal bar to pry open the door? That could probably work, right?

A big tree so happened to block their doorway? Like how? Is the bathroom situated outside... like a modern outhouse? Then we get a psycho rattlesnake. Like just cover it with yr shirt and beat the heck outta it with a shampoo bottle.

Halfway through the film, i just feel like giving up. Then an army character showed up outside the bathroom. That how i got the feeling that the bathroom is outdoor. No one would go inside a random house if they are doin a sweep around the area.

In the end... erm. Nothing.

Detective vs. Sleuths (2022)

From potentially good to ridiculous...

[3/10 · 22 October 2022]

After Mad Dective, i was expecting this to be good. Sean Lau plays more or less the same character, a detective that could see strange stuff that helps him solve crime (in a sense). At the beginning of the film, everything looks promising. Serial killer on the loose, no one believes the crazy ex-cop, etc. As the story progress, it gets more absurd in a really bad way.

All those crime victim's kins turn braindead cult member with unlimited firepower and bad shooting skills. We get many scenes where people shooting guns like crazy but hit no one, even when the target just stood there or pretend to dodge bullets.

And then there are moles in police force. Fine. But how did a few psychos manage to become police? Dont they do background checks or evaluate their sanity?

Could have been better if they just have a serial killer police acting alone. Whole gang of vengeful youths being brainwashed by the antagonist is just too far fetch. Also... leave out the CG gargoyle.

Old People (2022)

Old folks vs incompetent adults.

[3/10 · 8 October 2022]

Old folks turn murderous zombies when they are not invited to party. Ok. I get that they are feeling sad and abandoned at the badly maintained nursing home. If they had the kindda energy to go out and murder people, they could have just organized their own rave party.

Either they move real fast or the adults spend too much time hesitating what to do every minute. I have never seen such terrible decisions (or lack of) made by healthy able adults. Seriously.... in times of danger, they'd rather hug each other than grabbing any sorta weapon to protect themselves. Hug their kids, rather than grabbing a gun to keep everyone alive.... especially after witnessing your friends getting murdered by all these old psychos. Did i mention them old folks moving very fast... like they are on drugs?

Seems like all the adults are reluctant to fight back everytime they encounter these monsters. Ok, respect the old folks. But they'd bash yr head in with a make-shift monkey fist. Also they move like a ninja... entering houses without a sound. No creaking floorboard... no foot steps... no knocking over stuff or fall over and break a hip. Like i said, they could have just started their own rave party at the nursing home.

The ending is just lazy and illogical. Girl walk out the door, stood there for like 20 seconds looking at her grandpa without noticing a psycho old guy standing next to her.... ever heard of peripheral vision?

Then she has the time and mood to sing a song while almost getting her throat slit. By the time i wanna throw my controller at the TV, the movie ends.

Only thing i liked bout it is the gore effects. Thats well done.

Speak No Evil (2022)

I dont know which is more disturbing...

[6/10 · 18 September 2022]

Same as all the other reviewers, i gotta question why didnt the couple fight back when things go south. Makes no sense.

Why didnt they just go home on their first attempt? Forget about the stupid bunny toy. Forget about explaining why they are uncomfortable staying... just make up some excuse about sick relative, job emergency, house on fire, etc. And get the hell outta there.

Stupid decisions after stupid decisions.

When the father realized those are killers, he just get his family out of there but all the time, didnt tell the wife they are facing dangerous people. Whole drive... not a single word about it. He drives to some dirt road and get stuck instead of driving all the way to police or something... and still didnt tell the wife to watch out for serial killers when he left the car.

The mom just pretended to struggle when the man came and take her daughter away. The dad just sat there and did nothing. What would Rick Grimes do? Rip off the bad guys throat!!!

The last scene, i thought the killers had guns. No. They did not.

The stupid couple just obey and did absolutely nothing to save themselves.

The BGM is pretty good. It warns you that bad stuff is gonna happen even when the scene looks normal.

Overall, the idea is pretty disturbing and frustrating to watch. Dont trust nice pple.

Still (II) (2014)

Still.... not satisfying.

[5/10 · 24 August 2022]

Slow burn story about a father grieving over the death of his son.

Now i was totally expecting Kevin Bacon's Death Sentence... maybe in a subtle way at least. But no... there's a little bit of punching and throwing and thats about it.

When the protagonist realized his son is part of the gang of underaged thugs, he just forgotten all the nasty things that scumbag did to him for the past hour of the movie? Didnt even ask for the names of the rest of the gang...

Im gonna go watch Dead Man's Shoes again.

Death Hunt (2022)

whats with the music?

[3/10 · 25 July 2022]

Anyone else feels that the bg music kindda out of place?

Like during the hunt... they played a loud epic music. The kind that usually played during epic medieval battle with horses, swords and stuff.

This is so weird.

The story is basically some guys kidnapped a couple and hunt them for sports in an island.... with loud epic music.

Crimes of the Future (2022)

strange as expected.

[8/10 · 10 July 2022]

I enjoy cronenberg's films... this one reminds me of existenz (the strange organic props) and antiviral (by cronenberg's son).

Basically its sorta like body horror + politics + artsy performances. The starting scene got me interested. The mom warned the kid not to eat whatever. I didnt understand what was goin on. Next thing you see the kid eating a waste bin, and i thought maybe they create edible household stuff in the future... just like how we have edible cutleries made out of flour. Kid you not. We are halfway there.

The orchid pod bed and autopsy machine is cool... but i dont get how the feeding chair works. So weird. Its supposed to help the user to digest food better, but i imagine myself sitting on that strange moving chair while having a meal, im sure i'd puke. Its like trying to eat while your brother holding your shoulders shaking you around just to annoy you. Happened to me once or twice if i remember correctly.

Growing new organs sounds interesting. That could happen. Who knows how our genes gonna mutate as the world getting polluted or whatnot.

Ok. I didnt really talk about the plot.... cuz i dont know where to start. Its weird in a good way. Go watch it if u like weird films.

Wyrmwood: Apocalypse (2021)

welp...

[5/10 · 10 July 2022]

I love post apocalyptic films (madmax, doomsday, the road, snow piercer, the day, carriers) and i love zombie films. Now mixing both together would be awesome, right? Not really.

They had to add some super power hybrid with contact lenses in there to make it cheesy. Mind control powers? Geez.... i cant even...

production value is alrite.... props look good. CG explosion quality, not so much.

And mind control powers? Really?

Terror on the Prairie (2022)

strange decision

[3/10 · 7 July 2022]

The starting scene got me interested for awhile...

I dont understand why the lady invite the bunch of rowdy looking men to her home while the husband gone to town, then take their weapons and kick them out the next minute. Anyone could have guessed what would happen next.... like she is itching to play Rambo. She basically put everyone in danger (including her kids & cow)

"you dont have to do this." is like a common phrase used but 110% ignored. Like why do they even bother to say that?