Starring Eli Roth, Henry Thomas, Kevin Corrigan, Elena Satine, Daniela Sea, Reshad Strik
Directed by Fruit Chan
Distributed by E1 Entertainment
When I first watched the trailer for Fruit Chan’s English language remake of the J-Horror classic Joyu-rei, the only thought that raced through my mind was, “SOLD”! Sadly, after seeing the final product, I’m suffering from a bit of buyer’s remorse. We’ll get to that in a second. First the nitty gritty.
Led by his paranormal visions, director Marcus Reed (Strik) heads to Romania to shoot a horror remake based on an ancient curse gone horribly wrong involving a demon, an old woman and a young girl who is home to the demon’s seed. A seed that when carried to term yields results about as far away from natural childbirth as you could possibly get. Reed is dead set on remaking an unfinished movie from the Twenties in which the entire original crew met with horrible fates thanks to the vengeful spirit of the aforementioned demon seed carrier. Once on location with cameras rolling, his current crew members begin dropping like flies (hundreds and hundreds of flies, most of which are CGI) because the evil spirit is back and more pissed off than ever.
What saves it, you ask? Three words — director Fruit Chan. You should be familiar with Fruit thanks to the psychotic little film Dumplings. If not, go find it IMMEDIATELY. This guy knows how to push both boundaries and buttons, and if it weren’t for his keen eye and insane imagination, this flick wouldn’t have even made it near the mediocre point. Henry Thomas also does his fair share to elevate things.
E1 Entertainment has given this film both the Blu-ray (yes, it looks and sounds better; you should know this by now) and the DVD treatment. No matter which package you pick, you’ll be doing okay since both are home to the same extras. Speaking of which …
We get a very good making-of featurette that not only kept me watching but made me appreciate exactly what they were trying to do here a hell of a lot more. Color me surprised because I didn’t think that could have been possible. Also included is some standard behind-the-scenes footage from the set. Competent, but certainly nothing above and beyond.
Don’t Look Up is a very Asian film sprinkled with American flavor that never quite rises to the occasion that it should have. Not even the most powerhouse of directors can save a movie if its actors aren’t up to snuff, but wow does Fruit give it a go. If you’re a fan of Chan’s films, then this is a must-see flick if only for a sampling of just how visionary he can be. Everyone else may not want to look up, down, left, right, or at all for that matter.
Special Features
2 1/2 out of 5
Special Features
2 1/2 out of 5