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Saam gaang yi (2004)

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52 comments in total

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31 out of 34 people found the following comment useful :-
Wow, 4 November 2005

Author: mowskviz from United States

Wow, just went to go see these three shorts last night, which are about 45 mins a piece. I agree that "Cut" was one of the most enjoyable horror experiences I have had since High Tension. Takeshi Miike is probably the biggest name in the Asian horror biz, but I have to say that I miss the style of his earlier work, like Audition and Happiness of the Katakuri's. "Box" was very strange but it leaves little explanation for what has actually occurred, and I wish it delved a little deeper. And oh my! Mr. Fruit Chan, I have never heard of you before last night. "Dumplings" was by far one of the most deranged things I have ever watched. And the sound that was used in this short was was of the most intense, stomach curdling noises that are still sticking with me today. This was a very fun watch, and I am glad I got to see it before it left the theater. My recommendation....don't eat a big meal before you start!!!

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23 out of 25 people found the following comment useful :-
Some uncomfortable moments with this one, 13 March 2006

Author: bonnie91 from Ventura, California

This movie is incredibly cruel and unrelenting. It plays as a single feature divided into three sections: "Dumplings", directed by Fruit Chan of Hong Kong, "Cut" directed by Park Chan-Wook of Korea and "Box" directed by Miike Takashi of Japan. Each section is like a dissertation in horror, although "Dumplings" could also be classified as an exploitation film.

All of them are beautifully produced and directed, and I especially found "Box" to be quite lavish in sets, costumes and atmosphere. They each show a lot about the culture of the respective countries they were made in and also provide new takes on the terrifying and the appalling. They are each original in their own right, although "Cut" could be compared to the "Saw" or Hannibal Lecter franchises in that there's a psycho who's trying to get a message across by way of murder and mayhem.

I don't want to give details on the plots of any of them because I think that viewers need to experience them for themselves with no preconceptions going in, but what I can say is that "Dumplings" has the most plot and is probably the one with the highest "squeam" factor, "Cut" covers a rather familiar premise but with lots of fun moments (you'll see) and "Box" is more of an artistic endeavour with not much of a plot, but for some reason I was enthralled and couldn't look away; it's the one I liked the most.

A solid 8 out of 10 for the efforts of these genius Asian directors.

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37 out of 54 people found the following comment useful :-
Fantastic ... simply fantastic, 25 November 2004
Author: Splattii from A Region Free World

The idea of having Chan-wook Park, Takashi Miike and Fruit Chan as part of the same DVD set is enough to warrant a purchase. This was the sole reason I watched these three shorts.

While Miike's offering was very enjoyable, and had some interesting scenery and Chan's Dumplngs was also very entertaining, Chan-wook Park stole the show in my opinion.

I now wonder if CUT isn't what SAW should have been.......?

Unfortunately I can't speak on the film too much as I could ruin the story, but if you are a fan of either OLDBOY or Sympathy for Mr Vengeance this short IS A MUST. Chan-wook Park continues to impress me with his creativity, and the camera work in this film was GREAT. There are two directors that I currently find to be very interesting, and I will watch anything they produce. Micheal Haneke is one, Chan-wook Park is another.

I have heard rumours of Sympathy for Ms Vengeance, and I can only hope they are confirmed.

This was an easy purchase.

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18 out of 26 people found the following comment useful :-
Excellent Anthology, Must See, 18 February 2005

Author: Indyrod from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

watched "Three... Extremes" last night, and it was insanely good. All three stories I thought were very thought provoking, and again a little frustrating. Here's a short review...

Box-Takashi Miike (Japanese Language) This is a nightmarish tale of a woman's horrifying dreams becoming reality, but then again, maybe not. That's the difficulty with this story, there is so much surrealism, that it's hard to tell. I liked the story, some of which was very frightening. The ending however is completely totally bizarre, and it totally left me clueless as to what Miike intended for the viewer to take away from this, if anything. This is the weakest of the three stories, but still very interesting and definitely requires multiple viewings.

Dumplings-Fruit Chan (Chinese Language) This little story is my favorite of the bunch and also very very disturbing and pretty gruesome. Not because of gore or anything like that, but because of the subject matter. It's no secret or spoiler that this movie is about vanity and a women's need to enhance her physical appearance to try and win her husband back from his whoring around. It concerns as most of you know, the grisly meat a former lady abortionist uses to treat her rich clients vanity needs. This movie made me squirm on more than one occasion as the woman chomps down on the dumplings with a wicked crunching sound of tiny bones. This story has a lot of humor but it is very dark and totally black humor. Some may call it totally sick humor, and all would apply in my opinion. The ending is very confusing for me, especially one particular scene and I hope somebody explains it to me. I'm not talking about the grand finale, where the leading lady commits the ultimate gross-out, but the scene with all the blood where some guy has been attacked by a women. This appears to happen at the apartment of Aunt Mei, and then it shows her packing up and leaving. What was that all about? Who was the woman covered in blood, and the guy that was attacked? Anyway, the grand finale as Ching looks directly into the camera and commits what must be THE ultimate sin is flat out creepy as hell. Excellent short story, and now I'm thinking whether I need to see the extended version.

Cut-Chan-wook Park (Korean Language) Now this is one gruesome story, which revolves around a movie director (Lee) and a former extra of his that's gone completely insane and terrorizes the director and his wife at their home. Park's short story touches on adultery, relationships, regret, fame and childhood memories - as well as featuring amputation, torture, child abuse, and a crazy set - as Lee and his kidnapper spar until the shocking (but not altogether satisfying) end. In fact, the ending is the only bad part about this otherwise intriguing story. This is the most graphic of the three stories, and the most brutal. But the twists and turns that happen towards the end, tend to confuse the whole story. Nevertheless, this is a great little horror movie, and now I'm very hyped to watching my new DVD of Park's "Oldboy".

Summary This is one of the most entertaining dvds in the horror genre to come out of Asian for a long time. With three short movies totally over two hours, it makes a great evening of demented entertainment by three exotic filmmakers. The second disc which contains a text portion which explains the plot of each story, and then a "Making Of" extra for all three stories is very good. It's always interesting to see how these directors work and the interviews with the actors is excellent. The other thing I found interesting with this package, is that each movie is in a different language which intrigues me. Since I'm watching so many Asian movies recently, I find the languages of the Chinese, Korean, and Japanese to be so different, but then again similar. This is especially true with "Cut" which has the psycho maniac speaking in a totally different Korean dialect which is almost funny to me being a Westerner, and the other actors speaking in the standard Korean language. Not sure why they did that, but the interview with the actor playing the psycho said he had a very hard time learning and speaking that interesting dialect. I had to watch several parts of each movie over again after I finished the first viewing, because it's pretty hard to figure out what the hell's going on with one viewing. I'll never forget those chilling eyes of Ching in the closing scenes of "Dumplings" and that crunching sound as she enjoys her latest and most extreme serving of dumplings. yum yum........

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26 out of 43 people found the following comment useful :-
wow a really good and mind blasting movie, 25 November 2004

Author: gizoune7 from Canada

more a drama than a horror movie, dumplings is so wonderfully acted that his strange subject have become believable and disturbing . The picture is astonishing ,the color perfectly fit the backgrounds so that it creates a special atmosphere. for the fans of gore don't't suspect a lot of goo. But still, a couple of scenes will disturb you.. Very intelligent, this movie provides a lot of thinking; incest, abortion, cannibalism and the search for youth are the topics approached. Those taboos will make you see horrible things that happens in everyday's life around the globe. The use of the incredible music is done with professionalism so it helps a lot on the spooky mood of certain scenes.

The end pour vrai là.

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16 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
pretty disturbing stuff, 24 April 2006

Author: TheatreX from Louisville, KY

Three....Extremes has some pretty disturbing stuff in it for your viewing...pleasure. "Dumplings" is the nastiest, with a woman that seeks to regain her beauty by eating dumplings made with a special ingredient. Box, by Takashi Miike, is probably the weirdest (big surprise, eh?) and the offering from Korea is probably the least effective of the three but is still OK. Box is about a woman haunted by dreams of her younger sister who died when she was a child, in an accident that she seems to have caused, but is it just a dream? Of course if you watch "Dumplings" and you haven't got a strong resolve then you may not make it to the other two films. Overall this is a pretty sick & disturbing trio of films and it will stick with you long afterward. Recommended for fans of Asian Cinema but bring a strong stomach & sense of adventure. 8 out of 10.

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10 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
A disturbingly good movie!!, 5 November 2005

Author: t-fukuhara from United States

This is an excellent blend of three horror films that characterize the ideal representation of Asian cinema. Each story is presented with ordinary people displaying qualities of evil and depravity. These directors use powerful cinematic storytelling elements in exploring their genres. This is not an ordinary horror film with a ghost or a slasher/killer with a knife but a combination of people who are capable of psychotic behavior. While all of the films are not perfect and contain some mildly dull aspects, watching all three will leave you intrigued with the art and approach of the horror genre utilized in various countries Asia. If you can hold your stomach through the first film "Dumplings", you will certainly enjoy one of these stories and won't be disappointed. A disturbingly good movie!!

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12 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Three short films that are plenty extreme, 19 November 2005

Author: christopher-underwood from Greenwich - London

Three short films that are plenty extreme and if the endings of all three leave us wondering maybe that is good. I did however find the end of Cut more than a little baffling. There again 'unsatisfactory' endings of Eastern films as judged by Westerners is nothing new. All three are beautifully shot with great camera-work and excellent use of colour. I found Miiki's the most perfect if not as much like his usual output as many would like. Park's Cut is a little pedestrian at times but so gloriously over the top and bewildering at others. Dumplings is a little predictable and I am surprised that it is said to still work at 90 minutes as it seems very much a single idea film. It's a good idea though and not without social interest and it has to be said the grossest of the three. The sound of tiny bones being crunched - aagh!! I watched all three on separate occasions, fearing that otherwise they might blur into one another - no fear of that though so I'll watch them again soon, all together. Good effort by all concerned

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Three...Extremes, 29 February 2008
Author: MichaelElliott1 from Louisville, KY

Three…Extremes (2004)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Three Asian directors were brought together for this horror anthology, which makes recent American films look like the work of Ed Wood and Jerry Warren. The first story is Box from director Takashi Miike, which is the story of an adult woman who's haunted b her dead sister. The second film, Dumplings, from director Fruit Chan, centers on an aging movie star who starts to eat secret dumplings so that she can regain her youth. I won't mention what these magical dumplings are made of. The final film, Cut, from director Chan Wook Parks, has a crazed extra kidnapping a horror director and making him choose between killing a child or having his own wife tortured. The weakest film for me was the first one from Miike, not because it's a bad movie but because the last two are simply brilliant works that are damn near masterpieces. The Miike story has some very creepy moments and his direction is right on the mark by building up some wonderful atmosphere. The film dealing with the dumplings was just downright disturbing, gross and in some ways very shocking. I wonder how many people have stopped or walked out of the film at the point when the secret is revealed? The third film is one people should compare to the similar Saw. Everything wrong with that film and its sequel are fixed in Cut. I viewed the Asian cut of this film from a Hong Kong DVD, which features the stories in the order I mentioned. I believe the American cut is in a different order.

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7 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Three Short Films By Three Talented Asian Directors, 10 October 2005

Author: EVOL666 from St. John's Abortion Clinic

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

A short synopsis and vote on each of the 3 films in THREE...EXTREMES:

BOX (Takashi Miike) - Kyoko is haunted by the accidental death of her sister. She has severe nightmares and has a hard time differentiating between her nightmares and reality. How much of what Kyoko envisions is dream, and how much is reality... 7 out of 10

DUMPLINGS (Fruit Chan) - centers around a woman who uses a sickening "special ingredient" for her dumplings, which causes age-reversing effects in those that eat them... 8.5 out of 10

CUT (Park Chan-Wook) - A film director who apparently lives the "ideal" life, is thrown into a hellish nightmare when he is confronted by one of his previous employees... 8.5 out of 10

I enjoyed THREE...EXTREMES for the most part. Each film had a unique style and vision, and all were good in their own way. I preferred BOX the least because it was the most slow and plodding, and it was the one I could make the least sense of. In fact all 3 films have strange, abstract endings that leave a lot open to individual interpretations. I have read many peoples ideas on the endings of each of these films, and many reviewers have some decent insights - but I still think it's up to the individual to take what they will from these films. Also, BOX has the "creepiest" atmosphere, but the least actual violence. DUMPLINGS had a very sickly humorous, almost exploitative feel to it. In fact, the whole time I was watching it, I was thinking "This would have made a great premise for one of the mid-90's Hong Kong Cat III films"- it just had that sort of feel to it. DUMPLINGS, in my opinion, had the most "squirm-inducing" scenes, although they were not extremely graphic and mostly implied, and were apparent due to the subject matter of the film. CUT had a good story and a decent amount of gore (though nothing "too" out-there...)and really just needs to be viewed to be "understood".

All the films in THREE...EXTREMES have some decent things going on, although as much as I like a lot of Miike's work, BOX just didn't do a whole lot for me - but DUMPLINGS and CUT were definitely worth the price of admission for these films. 8/10 overall - definitely recommended

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