Art of the Devil II - horror review

Art of Devil was a Thailand horror film. A story of the reunion of six souls commences, a haunting past binds the circle of friends in an evil world filled with black magic and doom.

It’s all about revenge of their teacher named Boom was pregnant from an affair. One of her student captured a video of their sexual moment, and used this to leave him and his family alone. Furious… she goes to a witch doctor and has him use black magic against her ex-lover and his family. They all die in disbelieving scene.

Forget all the run through, violence and mish-mash of Khmer magic and folklore, what it comes down to is the repercussions of your actions; reaping the rewards or paying the price. Choices are strange and often trivial, split-second moments of time and space, but the fallout is often long-lasting and drawn out. Like the shaman suggests, the choice of the teens to lay the curse will affect them to the very day they die. Thus is the penalty for their actions and they must be distrustful of this annoyance wherever they go, symbolically and factually. The same ‘laws’ apply to the teacher and the coach as well – with their lustful choices come appropriate consequences. There is almost a downward spiral or domino effect implied in the screenplay for all involved, like telling a lie that leads to deeper and deeper lies. Each action the characters take leads them to another more important action, and in turn, more terrible consequences.

Release Date: June 27, 2006
Director: Tanit Jitnukul
Writer: Tanit Jitnukul
Starring: Arisa Wills Supakson Chaimongkol Krongthong Rachatawan Tin Settachoke Somchai Satuthum
Studio: Tokyo Shock

The Ruins - Mayan with flesh eating plants

The Ruins – a bloody horror film directed by former fashion photographer Carter Smith, breezes by, feigning at both character and plot without bothering to develop much of either.

Horror moment center in Mexico, when the Americans Jeff, his girlfriend Amy, her best friend Stacy and her boyfriend Eric befriend the German Mathias in the swimming pool. Mathias invites the group to visit the ruins of a Mayan temple with his Greek friend Dimitri in an archeological field where his brother Henrich and his girlfriend are camped eighteen kilometers far from the resort.

The scenic Mayan ruins, covered with a monstrous plant, should have served as an ideal location for the unfolding of a horror film. Smith though, tosses this fertile ground to the side and chooses to focus "The Ruins" on a handful of gory set pieces. The most graphic of these, an anesthesia free double amputation, shocks, but like the rest of the film, never truly grabs. The primary actors, Jenna Malone the most recognizable of the bunch, never get much to do other than cower, cry, and eventually die.

I believe 3 among the group “jeff,amy,eric” are going to be alive if they never panic, so well the story make themselves complicated.

"The Ruins" drama, when it works, is drawn not so much from the threat of the vines—although that is ever-present—but from the threats that the characters present to one another. In a situation previously unimagined by these coddled American college students hard decisions become even harder. Agreement among the group is rare, and when it comes it's usually from conciliations that will come back to stir the pot. The film never truly allows these relationships to breathe though.