Seventh Moon
If you want to see how different two societies are you need look no further than their films. Here is where you see the differences in myths, the different in culture, and you see how different each culture sees the world. It has been interesting through the years to see how Hollywood tries to adapt foreign films because what you see over and over again is a need to ‘Americanize’ the movie so the ignorant masses of the States can understand the film. How on earth that gets into their head I will never know. With Seventh Moon we have an interesting experiment that mostly works and that is American filmmakers trying not to remake or adapt a foreign product but to make an American film that has the traits, myths, and heart of an Asian film. Ya know what? It works.
An American couple is celebrating their honeymoon in China so the husband can introduce his new bride to the part of his family that lives there and are having the time of their lives. Things take a decidedly dangerous turn when the driver the couple hired abandons them and the car in an isolated ghost town. When the couple investigates what happened to their driver they find that the town is not abandoned at all but simply shuttered, the center of the town full of animals that they slowly realize are there as sacrifices. Fleeing from the town the couple cannot find their way free of the area and come across the things that the sacrifices are meant for, and if the only way to survive, is to live through the night.
Effectively made and very scary, this is another movie that fell between the cracks and is worth a look. The acting is solid, the directing is very good, but the star is the atmosphere, which is totally nailed. This is essentially a Chinese ghost story (of a kind), and that feel is hit, where you may not always get the exact Why of things but you get the dread of the situation. A creepy little movie that may not be the most memorable, or most lauded, but which is a solid effort and an effective movie. Well worth your time.
8 out of 10
The Spooky World of Chris Ringler 