Three

An ominous package consisting of three short films by different Asian filmmakers, Three suffers from the same set of issues that plague most anthology films. Each story has its positives & negatives. Each tackles an intriguing idea which it fails to explore or execute to the fullest. And coz of that, the end product as a whole feels decent at best.

The first short is Memories. Directed by Kim Jee-woon, it benefits from its ominous mood, flexible camerawork & smooth tracking in addition to excellent use of sound. The story isn't that riveting or original but the execution of the plot is still the best of the bunch. The uneasy aura, foreboding tone & graphic imagery alone make it look better than it actually is.

The second one is a Thai short called The Wheel. Directed by Nonzee Nimibutr, it is the least impressive of the three segments. It deals with puppet & voodoo elements but its characters remain distant while unfolding events fails to pique our interest. A better grasp of Thai culture may alleviate some confusion but that still won't make it better than the other two stories.

The third & final short is Going Home. Directed by Peter Chan, it is easily the most original of the three. The concept is an interesting one and the inhospitable setting & creepy vibe provide the right environment for the plot to unfurl. What undoes it in the end however is its half-hearted execution & overdone sentimentality. Compared to the other two, it still leaves a better impression.

Overall, Three makes for a serviceable horror anthology that's satisfying to an extent but there is nothing about it that stands out from the norm. Kim Jee-woon's name in it is why I went for it and although his segment impresses in bits n pieces, he is capable of much more than what he delivers here. Horror anthologies are more a miss than hit, and Three unfortunately ends up with the same fate as most.

The Asian anthology movie "The Three ", in which three directors from three different countries ( South Korea/Thailand/Hong Kong ) craft individual tales unrelated & wonderful !

A)- The 1st anthology from South Korea (( Memories )){40 minutes} by "Ji Woon Kim" where he presents segment of mystery that try to be so scary . - He's the same director who's presented to us on 2003 , Korea's No.#1 Horror Movie (( A Tale Of Two Sisters ))

*Abu Jarrah's Rating 4/5

B)- The 2nd anthology from Thailand (( The Wheel )){36 minutes} by "Nonzee Nimibutr" who presented his big budget for the ghost story in his well-known film "Nang Nak" inside his segment he's presented an tale of cursed Doll .

*Abu Jarrah's Rating 3/5

C)- The 3rd anthology from Hong Kong (( Going Home )){53 minutes} by "Peter Chan" is the most powerful segment in anthologies .

Who the produced of the famous Hong Kong horror movies as " The Eye 1 & 2" he also produce of "The Eye" remade , and he's the same who directed the pretty romantic first-love film "Comrades: Almost a Love Story"

*Abu Jarrah's Rating 5/5

By the way: There's another version for this segment "Going Home" called [Going Home : Director's Cut] It contains eight minutes of extra scenes not included in the original release ! [61 Mins] (to the best of my knowledge)

Three Extremes 2 (2002)

** (out of 4)

Lions Gate is releasing this title next week but it's original title is Three, the "inspiration" for what would become Three Extremes. I guess the popularity of that title is why Lions Gate selected to make this appear as a sequel when it's actually the first film. Kim Jee-Woon's Memories has a woman lost in the streets without any memory of who she is. She has one phone number that she keeps trying to call but when she can't reach anyone she just continues to walk around hoping her memory will return. Nonzee Nimibutr's The Wheel has an old man dying and leaving behind puppets, which are cursed and start to come to life. Peter Ho-Sun Chan's Going Home has a cop searching for his missing son when he is kidnapped by a man who keeps his "wife" locked inside their apartment. These three films aren't any good but the first and third one are the most interesting. The second film dealing with the puppet is quite poor without any good moment. The first and third stories are the best.

Three, internationally marketed as 3 Extremes 2, consists of three horror short films by renowned Asian directors. All three short movies had something different to offer and were quite entertaining since they didn't overstay their welcome. However, these short movies aren't among the directors' greatest hours either.

The first short film is entitled Memories and was created by South Korean director Kim Jee-won, who made masterpieces like the psychological drama A Tale of Two Sisters, comedy western The Good, the Bad, the Weird and grisly horror shocker I Saw the Devil. Memories tells two stories that slowly but surely intertwine. The first story is about a man whose wife has disappeared and who suffers from memory loss as he can't remember why or how she left. The second story revolves around a woman who wakes up in the middle of a street, can't remember who she is and tries to figure out her identity and what happened to her. On the positive side, the movie convinces with gloomy atmosphere and moody cinematography. On the negative side, the story is somewhat predictable and slow-paced.

The second short film is called The Wheel and was created by Thai director Nonzee Nimibutr, who is known for action movie Dang Bireley and the Young Gangsters, romantic horror film Nang Nak - Return from the Dead and romantic drama Jan Dara. The Wheel revolves around cursed puppets that haunt a group of puppeteers living and performing in rural Thailand. The curse starts when the master puppeteer puts his soul into said puppets but later on orders his wife and child to get rid of them. His wife and child drown and the old man burns alive in his house. A rival puppeteer plans on using these puppets but other grisly events soon start to take place as performers collapse on stage, commit suicide or start to see ghosts. On the positive side, this film is the grisliest of the three and includes several haunting deaths. The locations in rural Thailand are stunning to watch. The movie also introduces us to a part of Thai culture which isn't very known outside the country. The film's sinister conclusion is also memorable. On the negative side, the acting performances are a little bit stiff at times and the movie was obviously suffering from a very low budget.

The third and last short film is called Going Home and was created by Thailand-born Hong Kong filmmaker Peter Ho-Sun Chan, who directed movies such as romantic comedy drama The Love Letter, historical drama The Warlords and action epic Dragon. Going Home tells the story of a single father and cop who moves into a decrepit apartment complex with his infant son. His son soon befriends the strange daughter of the only other family living in the building and then goes missing. His father suspects the weird father of that family who nurses his mysterious wife back to health to be responsible for his son's disappearance. On the positive side, the characters in this movie are really strong, the story takes a few unexpected turns and the movie even has a romantic underlying message which one couldn't expect from a horror movie. On the negative side, several questions in this movie remain unanswered which make it feel somewhat unfinished. This movie should have been elaborated into a full length movie to have a bigger impact.

In the end, all three movies have their merits but also a few minor disadvantages. Expect solid psychological and supernatural thrillers but no grisly horror episodes. All of these short films were entertaining and are worth to be discovered, presented or watched again.

Three is an omnibus supernatural horror film comprised of three one-hour long mini-features. Each one was produced in a different country, Peter Chan representing Hong Kong, Kim Ji-Woon representing South Corea, and Nonzee Nimibtr representing Thailand.

The opening film, Kim Ji-Woon's "Memories" follows two individuals as they grapple with seemingly missing memories: a man who's wife is missing and a woman who's trying to figure out who she is. The work actually foreshadows a lot of what will eventually show up in Kim's following feature, A Tale of Two Sisters, which I really liked. While the film does feature a number of eerie moments, it also suffers from a lack of a strong story. There's not much to its revelation and the characters are fairly static. To its merit, it's probably the most technically proficient of the three films and certainly the scariest.

The second piece is Peter Chan's "Going Home" and this is probably the best overall of the bunch. While its production values are actually the roughest of the three, the story is probably the highlight of the three. The story is divided into two segments, the first where a cop and his son move into an aging complex where few people live and is seemingly haunted. The second, the cop grapples with a seemingly mad homeopathic doctor who is appearing to pursue the resurrection of his dead wife. The film grasps well its theme and the story has a few interesting revelations to provide while also having something to say about the power of love/hope.

It's not a scary piece for the most part, but despite the production values, the direction appears sure and makes great use of its setting and limitations.

The final film is Nimibtr's "Wheel", which is about an arts troupe grappling with the curse of an evil puppet. This is probably the weakest segment. While it does have some good imagery to offer, the story is confusing, aimless and the scares are without method or meaning. Some of the visuals are chilling, but because of the rather slapdash and sometimes illogical story, the overall effect of the piece is muted.

All in all, I have to say that Three isn't a complete waste of time due to the solid piece by Peter Chan and the stylish opening act. On the other hand, it's weakened by the third piece and while the three do try to take on the same overall concept, they seem to be too divergent to really make a cohesive whole, with Nimibutr's "Wheel" really on a different plane than the other two. Probably better viewing for genre lovers of horror or supernatural films and perhaps for more curious cinephiles, but I don't see that it's going to be particularly impressive for anyone else. 6/10 for Memories, 8/10 for Going Home, 4/10 for Wheel. 6/10 overall.

Note: The US release of this film changes the order of the films around so that it opens with Memories, then goes to Wheel and closes with Going Home. I'm not certain how the Hong Kong and Thai versions of the film orders the three; I watched the Corean version.