Ре-цикл (2006) Online

"Gwai wik", the Chinese title, means "ghost land". "Re-cycle" however is more apt in conjunction with the subject matter of the movie. Some may be tempted to think along the line of reincarnation but that is not really what this movie is about.

Very simply put, the movie is an ungentle reminder of the consequence of wasting, as things we discard purportedly end up in this limbo zone of "gwai wik". The most graphic example is a fictional character for a book, a tall, slender, long-haired women created by an author in the form of a few scribbled words on a piece of paper, but quickly discarded. The crumpled piece of paper in the garbage basket starts a sequence of strange events – creepy shadows, strands of abandoned long hair, menacing phone calls – that end up taking the author to "Gwai wik" where this "re-cycled" character materializes as a faceless apparition. But this is only one of many examples, which unfold in succession throughout the movie, culminating in one final revelation in a twist that is key to the whole movie.

The author Ting Yin is played by Angelica Lee, who possesses a face of a marvelous combination of loveliness and intelligence. Since winning the triple best actress award (Hong Kong's Oscar and Golden Bauhinia, as well as Taiwan's Golden Horse) in 2002 with "The eye", Lee has been considered one of the most talented actresses in Asia. Her rare combination of vulnerability and defiance has made her a prime choice for the horror thriller genre, although she has not particularly courted such roles. Still, in 2004, she did "Koma", and now "Re-cycle".

The first third of the movie follows the familiar path of the genre, depicting a frustrated author's strange encounters in her apartment, going through a period of creativity drought. Once she enters "Gwai wik", the movie become not unlike an old movie Tron (1982) when the protagonist enters a virtual world of imagination and goes through a series of adventures trying to escape. The faint-hearted may take comfort in that there is little gore in Re-cycle. The herd of zombie-like figures actually reminds me most of the scene in the Temple in Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Jesus Christ Super Star" ("See my eyes I can hardly see…..") more than any horror movie.

As Ting Yin goes through one "trial" after another in this maze of "Gwai Wik", a process best understood by those familiar with computer games, the layers of meanings and messages also gradually unfold, until the common theme of abandonment and re-cycling climaxes in one final revelation, which adds another dimension to various sub-themes such as throwing away toys, discarding creative ideas and neglecting regular cemetery visitations. More I'll not disclose.

The CGI in Re-cycle does not suffer by comparison with any big-budget Hollywood movie. While still looking unreal, as any CGI will, these images are particularly strong on details. Various colour filters have been used liberally and do succeed in providing an appropriate mood. While there are support roles, Lee carries the movie, and it is difficult to fault her superb acting. The movie also provokes some thought although there is really nothing new. Is sum, this movie is more than the average horror genre, and well worth watching.

The premise of this film is startling: Imagine a place where everything abandoned and forgotten, all the thrown-away toys and the unwritten books, the unfulfilled plans, the dead and the unborn are still somehow present. This is a premise that easily attracts all kinds of stories and images, emotions and philosophical ruminations. What would you find in the Re-Cycle? What would you seek, and what would you come across that you were not thinking about? It is quite hard to make a totally bad film from this premise.

And "Re-Cycle" is not a totally bad film. It just misses most opportunities the premise offers. The Pang Brothers decided to film it as a mixture of horror and computer game, and the good stuff is struggling under the load of annoying genre conventions. It is sad to watch when the heroine has to solve some superfluous task ("Cross the bridge without breathing, or the dead will chase you"), when there is so much more interesting and meaningful that could happen instead. How else could you turn a person's inner self into a series a landscapes? Also, the relation with the little girl never gains the substance it needs to make the ending convincing. Sure, there is some amazing imagery here, and some of it even makes sense. But the film left me longing for a remake by somebody who handles both the imagery and the complexity of the idea.

By the way, if you feel the same, check out "After Life" by Hirokazu Kore-Eda. It is very low-key visually, but explores a similarly striking idea in great depth and with great humanity.

The best way to enjoy this film would be to experience it knowing as little as possible. I've tried in the review to say as little as possible, however there is a chance I may have said too much. You may wish to consider seeing the film first before proceeding.

The problem with this movie is that unless you go in and take it for what it is, with no preconceived notions odds are you are going to be disappointed. For me, seeing this after reading some less than stellar reviews I was ready for a film that was going to disappoint. To my shock and amazement I was surprised to find that the film is a flawed masterpiece and probably one of the best films of the year.

The story of a young writer who ends up stuck in her own novel (literally) and has to find its way out is being marketed as a horror film pretty much across the board. The problem is that after the first twenty five minutes of creepy scary build up the film shifts gears and becomes something else. Certainly there are still horrific elements but the film is more a mythic quest along the lines of Alice in Wonderland, or one of the classic quest tales or perhaps even Andre Tarkovsky's Stalker.

The bulk of the film set in The Re-Cycle (the films English title) is set in a place were everything lost or forgotten goes. People, toys, characters, city blocks, memories, everything goes to this place. Its a jumble of places and people many half remembered. Its a place that is visually stunning to look at and is often amazing to look at. The films story line is also a jumble of pieces that refer back to other films or comics or books (for example Neil Gaiman's Sandman, What Dreams May Come, Spirited Away, Night of the Living Dead). Some have said that the film makes no narrative sense and is more candy for the eye instead of the head, but I would argue against that since a world as jumbled as this would create a series of quests as equally jumbled. Its as if you dreamed about the five different movies you watched before bed and then linked them in your mind as you slept. The structure and seeming referential nature of the set pieces seems to support this idea.

As I stated at the start the film also suffers from the not being a straight horror film all the way through. There is more than just the notion of scaring the audience at work here. Yes the film has a couple of good scares and a few moments where your stomach knots in unease, but the film is actually about something else. What that is isn't really clear until towards the end so the film ends up shifting tones three or four or five times in its two hour span. I know this shifting gears and recreating itself as something else probably going to disappoint hardcore horror fans, but ultimately it allows for a growth of characters and story lines into places you might not fully expect.

This is a masterpiece.

In the interest of full disclosure I do have to say that the film isn't perfect. Some of the creatures are a bit too rubbery and fake, which is at odds with much of the fine work on things like the long necked corpses. There are also a few lapses in the visual effects where its clear that things are not real, which is often glaring considering that many of the films vistas, from deranged amusement park to mountains in the sky are so real as to be almost matter of fact.

I really loved this movie a great deal. Its rare film that not only tries, but succeeds in being more than just one thing. It manages to take old things and turn them into something new. Its just a wonderful experience for those who are willing to be open to what it is, and not what you thin it should be.

What's the worst in Re-Cycle is an absence of story. Purposeless journey, groundless twists, meaningless dialogs, loose ends all way round. To avoid misunderstanding, the script isn't simple or stupid, it nearly doesn't exist.

The only thing, which shines are creative, scary, stylish, surprising visuals/sets. Those sets with recycled books, rotten town, waiting deads almost took my breath away from either visual or creative points of view. Worth mentioning, last time it happened to me with Silent Hill. Extra marks.

Special effects and scares are not novel for those, who have seen previous Pang brothers features, but they are mixed in quite a fresh way. Across the movie one may also experience feelings resembling The Cell, Silent Hill, and even Matrix.

Avoid if looking for traditional horror movie, but watch rather to widen your imagination and to have several strong scares. Provision yourself with patience to neglect the absence of the story.

This film from the Pang Brothers stars Lee Sin-Je (also known as Angelica Lee), who becomes more assured with each film. She plays Ying-Tin, a successful novelist who is experiencing writer's block. As she begins to write her novel, strange things happen. She gets phone calls which are just noise, she sees visions. She goes out of her apartment and into another world entirely, which looks life a post-apocalyptic Hong Kong. What once appeared to be heading for a straight horror film becomes more of a supernatural thriller. There are many interesting images and the film looks great. The outcome of the story itself is tied to an old relationship she had, and you'll understand the message of the film as you go along. If you like films like this and/or like Ms. Sin-Je, you'll find this very watchable. Ms. Sin-Je, who looks great, gives a good performance, carrying the film on her shoulders pretty admirably.

The Law of the Conservation of Energy. That law basically states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be "messed with". We can change it and rearrange it but we can't make more of it or delete any of it. This film takes great artistic license with that law and plays with it (the scientifically bent need not register the "errors", they are well understood and such complaints need to note the reference to "artistic license" above). If you imagine something, you give it energy. If you half imagine it and then change your mind and dump the idea ... observing the Law of the first sentence ... that which you half created doesn't magically vanish. It has energy, it has reality, it exists ... but not enough to post in our daily reality. So where does it go? It's (by the rules enacted in this film)... "re-cycled". I kept thinking, while watching this mesmerizing film, that question belonging to the modern phone-call world ... "where is "hold"? Where do things we create, when we no longer need them, go? They have energy, tangible presence and interact with our world until they've lost our interest. Do they just ... go away? Not according to the Law of the Conservation of Energy. According to that law, they have to become ... something. That "something" is the hub of "Re-Cycle". It wisely centers on a writer who bleeds her life into her work. Maximum giving energy to thoughts and ideas. She eventually has to confront all those entities and ideas she created and summarily dumped when she was through with them, condemning them to a wasteland waiting to be re-cycled ... energy cannot be created or destroyed ... only changed. It finally becomes a morality tale, too personal to have to fiddle with political correctness. Beginning ties to end ... nicely. There are a lot of "What the (bleep) was that?" scenes I'm certain additional viewings will help (which I intend to have). For me, a knockout. But I want to leave you with a phrase ... just something to think about ... "embryo rich vaginal tunnel". Light you up? It did me.

This one isn't a "I've seen", this is an "I own".

Re-Cycle is something completely different than you would expect if you are familiar with the Pang brothers. It starts off as a horror movie, but than continues as a fantastic and inspired fantasy film. The movie has a deep and disturbing message, which really took me by surprise. The music and sound effects are amazing and pull you even further in the story. The story has a less is more approach which really suits the message. The computer animated pieces aren't always as stunning as you would hope, but they do the trick. This movie is really worth it to be seen. With this movie the Pang brothers have proved to be not only masters of horror, but also masters of fantasy.

After writing three best-sellers about love story based on her own experiences, the successful writer Tsui Ting-Yin (Lee Sinje) is without inspiration and having difficulties to write her new novel in the horror genre entitled "Re-cycle". While drafting the text, spooky events happen at her apartment and her former boy-friend of eight years ago visits her, after his divorce, proposing Tsui. When Tsui sees a supernatural long-haired character of her book, she follows him and is trapped in his world of terror. But she is saved by the young Ting-yu (Qiqi Zeng), who discloses a secret about her to Tsui.

"Gwai wik" is visually very impressive, with a great cinematography and eerie and bizarre situations and atmosphere. The premise is good and original, but the screenplay is too short, basically an extension of the storyline and does not work well. I expected much more from the Pang brothers based on their previous works. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Assombração" ("Specter")

I blame no one but myself for not loving this movie the first time around, as Re-Cycle is the posterchild for viewer-induced disappointment. For me personally, I expected something that mirrored the Silent Hill videogames – and considering how those Californian simpletons mucked up their attempt at a Silent Hill movie, I was drooling at the mouth to see if Re-Cycle succeeded where they had failed.

Obviously, I deluded myself into believing that Re-Cycle was trying to be something it was never meant to be. Needless to say, I was severely disappointed after an initial viewing. Where were all of the incredibly disturbing, blood-soaked images? Where were the detailed puzzles? Where were the violent death scenes? They were nowhere – and I was angry that Re-Cycle turned out to be its own movie with its own themes. Go figure.

Months later I started to think of the movie more and more. I thought to myself, "Yeah, that movie was mediocre, but that one scene was really cool." Then I pondered, "Wow, that other scene was sweet too, and that other one was awesome." Eventually, I decided to give it another go. That "other go" happened last night, and I ended up watching one heck of a movie.

The fantasy elements kick in at around the 40-minute mark, but Re-Cycle doesn't stoop to boring you during the opening segments with superfluous exposition. From minute one it grabs you with some well-executed (albeit conventional) horror elements that become much less conventional during a second viewing when you identify references to the main theme of the film.

Once the fantasy elements hit, Re-Cycle becomes a non-stop fantasy adventure. I cannot remember a horror film in recent memory with such relentless pacing. Much of this is owed to its fragmented transport of the lead protagonists. They may escape one danger by going through a door, but on the other side of that door is a completely different environment that is no less perilous. Some have criticized Re-Cycle for being scattershot and unfocused, but I would respectfully disagree considering how almost every single horror element references back to the overarching theme of the film. It's no masterpiece, but it works quite well – especially when you identify the references upon a second viewing.

I truly feel sorry for Hollywood fanboys. East Asian cinema already mops the floor with Western cinema in terms of scriptwriting, cinematography, hand-to-hand action sequences, sound, youthful acting talent, and sheer originality (just to name a few). Now, they've given us a fantasy film that mops the floor with the excessively bloated, overrated, self-indulgent twaddle known as Lord of the Rings.

Take the ending to Re-Cycle as an example. The finale within the Transit realm is quite simply the most intense, incredible fantasy sequence I've ever seen. I must admit that I've rewatched that scene about 30 times over the past few days. I'm totally, unequivocally ADDICTED to it. It's so much better than any scene in LOTR.

Better yet, I didn't have to slug through a bunch of generic characters speaking painfully generic dialogue while walking very, very slowly within vast landscapes for 600 friggin minutes like LOTR. Nor did I have to sit through half a dozen superfluous, drawn-out endings stacked one on top of the other. That might be the formula for winning Oscars and attracting moviegoers who like their fantasy films as vanilla as humanly possible, but I personally like my fantasy films with some – oh, I don't know – emotion. In a nutshell, Re-Cycle elicited some excitement (especially near the end), whereas LOTR stagnated in a realm of perpetual boredom.

On a side note, I can't really understand why Oxide Pang is so relentlessly criticized (to the point of unreasonableness) by so many people. It's exceedingly ironic that the people who complain about his scripts are the very same people who shout "masterpiece" when referring to those Japanese horror flicks from the 1960s (which will remain nameless) that have some of the worst scriptwriting in the history of horror cinema. In addition, Oxide's use of camera and sound is exceptional, and probably second only to Ryuhei Kitamura or Christopher Doyle.

Nothing this guy does is ever good enough for anyone, even though his movies are better than 90% of everyone else's. Diary, The Detective, Abnormal Beauty, Re-Cycle, The Eye, and Revenge (from the Bangkok Haunted anthology) combine to form the most impressive recent horror/thriller portfolio outside of Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Compare Oxide Pang to any American horror director and guy becomes an instant legend.

I was walking in Hong Kong past a movie theater on my way home from work and saw that Gwai Wik (Re-Cycle) had just come out. Being ever so curious to know what the heck the movie was about (and also being in awe by the gorgeous movie posters), I bought myself a ticket and watched the movie.

Let's just start with these few words: OH MY GOD.

I have always enjoyed reading up on horror movies that come from Asia, with their quasi-disturbing and thoughtful plots, but I had never really seen one and experienced it myself; Re-Cycle fails to disappoint, containing of a mixture of mind-blowing horror (from extremely terrifying noises to grotesque and eye-twitching visuals) and a true perspective on human nature, on the idea of neglect and the desire to be loved.

I'm trying my best to stay away from spoiling the movie, so I'll explain examples from the trailer: The different worlds in Tang Ying's nightmare are just beautiful for the eyes and horrific for the mind at the same time; from the playground to the toys to the ghostly bridge, you are just unsure how Tang will both understand where she is and how she can escape this world; when she leaves one, it seems that she goes to another nightmare. It's amazing how all of these locations combine to add up the main point of this nightmare, and when Tang finally realizes it, well, I'll save that part for you to find out.

I know this review is extremely amateur and probably has a lot of holes in it, but let's get one thing straight: I loved this movie, and a person who gets obsessed with a movie probably wouldn't be able to think straight for a while. Yeah, I'd say that's how I'm feeling right now…

Oh, and by the way, I went to watch it again, and it dug even deeper into my mind. It's one heck of a movie to think about.

10/10

Gwai wik starts out like most standard Asian horror films, particularly with the expectation that we're about to see yet another long haired female ghost. However, the film soon takes a dramatic turn towards the surreal. What starts out as typical soon twists into anything but, creating something of a love child between Pan's Labyrinth and Ringu. Gwai wik is hauntingly beautiful in its twisted landscapes and strange zombie-like creatures, pulling the viewer into a surreal dream-like and sometimes nightmarish world.

The film covers territory regarding things we throw away, delving quite a bit into social commentary. This isn't meant to preach but rather shows the internal struggle a person feels when trying to do what they believe is right...and may not end up being so years later. It's a beautiful tale of love, loss, redemption and inner struggle. The biggest flaw is its hokey 'twist' ending that tries too hard to bring the film back around on itself. Nevertheless, it's an experience and a film I am happy to have seen.

Be careful what you wish for, because sometimes, they just might come true, whether you like it to or not. A writer's inspiration can also be adapted from real life events, with a dash of dramatic license added to spice things up for the reader. And an environmental message which is worked quite effortlessly into the narrative, makes one wonder in awe too.

Re-Cycle is the latest horror thriller from the acclaimed Pang Brothers, whose Bangkok Dangerous I had enjoyed tremendously. Perhaps an Asian answer to Hollywood's Wachowski Brothers with their flair for interesting visuals and stories which thread on many levels, Oxide and Danny Pang's latest movie stars Angelica Lee (or Lee Sin-Je if you prefer), already having her fair share of spook fests in her filmography.

Ting Yin (Lee) is a successful writer whose love stories are literary blockbusters. Infusing elements of her life into her stories, she gets troubled as she attempts to break genre and work on horror instead. And it is this introductory act that things really go bump in the dark, incorporating the Asian dark mood and eerie atmosphere which have become staples of horror movies this part of the world. Familiar scenes like long hair (The Wig?), water (Ju-On?), and dark frightening shadows make their necessary appearance, coupled with extremely loud music and screams and the right moments, I admit my heart skipped.

But Re-Cycle took a different path thereafter. Gone are the horrific elements used to shock. and in comes a whole lot of atmosphere and computer generated graphics, designed to awe. The centre piece of a slum-like deserted street and dilapidated buildings, with its silently deserted streets, and then plenty of zombies, reminded me of yet another moody horror movie Silent Hill, with its fair share of graphics enhancement. Initially I thought that from the trailer, it looked like a carbon copy of Constantine's Hell sequence, but I was wrong, and I'm still amazed by Thailand's advancement in post production and computer wizardry competency - simply awesome.

Stunning effects aside, the story progressed more into the thriller and mystery realms, tracking Ting Yin's desperation to escape from this unreal world, back to her own. It's like Alice in Wonderland, except that this is no childlike fantasy world with danger lurking at every corner. For those who have enjoyed Neil Gaiman's Mirrormask, this movie's story threads along the same lines in having the protagonist seeking an escape, while going from scene to scene, and place to place, encountering weird surreal locations, and different, out of this world characters. For those who disliked or found the narrative style of Mirrormask wanting, you might feel the same about Re-Cycle too.

However, there is a strong, rational theme unifying these seeming disparate scenes and events. They're not just pretty for the sake of being pretty to look at, but ring home the obvious message on abandonment, through the plot device of re-cycling. Many strange scenes are crafted from this message, while at the same time, bringing a sense of familiarity for an audience to identify with. Therein lies the strength of this movie.

Angelica Lee had plenty of room to showcase her acting skills - being frightened to her wits end, sharing emotional scenes, smelling of desperation or be it in a state of bewilderment, she carries the movie forward aptly, despite slower moments during certain sequences.

My initial thoughts about the movie were not flattering, choosing to harp on the nicely done, yet familiar special effects, and scenes which were somewhat familiar in some other movies. But having pondered a little more into the storyline, I thought it was quite neat, and if not for the spooky introduction, I might just want to watch this movie again.

All writers ruthlessly re-cycle ideas, characters, memories and experiences. The creative mind is littered with discarded snippets of people and places all waiting to be remembered and put to use. In Re-cycle, Ting-Yin is a successful writer who turned a failed romance into three bestsellers. She is now working on a supernatural novel and strange things are happening in her house. Is this her inspiration, or is her story coming to life? The film's beginning is classically horror, but when Ting-Yin stumbles out of reality it becomes much more fantastic and really feels like a video game. She moves from one bizarre landscape to another, dealing with zombies as she goes.

Beautifully shot, the production is slick, but the story is more melodramatic than frightening.

I saw this one on Fantasporto 2007, in Porto, Portugal.

I went to watch this one without expecting anything in particular from it. I like to go into films like this, quits the preconceptions brought by the excess of knowledge about the people involved. Apparently, i know it now, the directors are part of a new generation in the Hong Kong cinema, and they've produced some hits on that basis. To me they were unknown.

The film is complex, but not always for good reasons. It starts with a very smooth environment, borrowed (i guess, but not necessarily) from the psychological "apartment" thrillers by Polansky. This beginning was thrilling and promising, very good moments. The main character played a writer, i was guessing some kind of game with this characteristic (contemporary good cinema loves to explore these things). But no, what we watch are successive radical cuts between sceneries, story, etc. It moves on to present some fantastic scenery, having something to do with Japanese animé, a kind of Miyazaki filmed with live sets instead of animated ones.

But it fails deeply in trying to produce intense drama environment, in order to pass the environmental global message; instead we get a non pretended comedic portion of film (at a certain time laughs were the most heard sounds in the room).

The thing is, to my view, it gathers too many ways of doing it, to many cinematic theories, in a trick of associating the proliferation of materials and waste with the proliferation of cinematic "moods" and so cause the breathless sensation in the line of the intended message. I guess some contention and simplicity would apply perfectly in this case.

Story is completely irrelevant (not necessarily bad), but it is tiring and without motivation trying to follow it or understand it. Nevertheless this is a film with good production values, not always completely believable, but overall solid.

Some imagery is impressive, and well worked out in the relation with the soundtrack (also not bad), but i don't consider it enough to justify the time it lasts. Unless you ave a very special interest for this kind of movie, i don't recommend it.

My evaluation: 2/5

I don't know why some say Re-cycle had no story as I followed the story just fine. A woman who is a writer, who feels despondent, lonely, creatively blocked, becomes drawn to the supernatural, in some ways likely suicidal, lost, reaching for anything, opens the doorway to another world... a supernatural darkness, where all things abandoned reside, a sort of collective unconscious dumping ground, but she cannot leave on her own...

Remember Dante's Divine Comedy and how it begins. I found myself alone in a dark wood... like Dante, she finds herself so lost.

This movie has a "Nothing" likened to The Neverending Story that erodes the world of the Abandoned, that the energies can be recycled back into the collective consciousness. Although in TNS the Nothing was simply humanities lack of belief in this magical world, here it is simply part of the process.

I actually really liked this movie because it tied in to so many ways I perceive the world and what makes it tick.

One of the reasons the Pang Brothers' films are so engaging is they have an excellent grasp of sound design and good taste in music. Both this film and Diary (an Oxide solo effort) reached operatic proportions at times. They are not content to hire up a few jingles and play them over and over throughout the film in some sort of branding effort. Each scene has its own soundtrack. Often times the soundtrack seems to lead the scene. I hesitate to call it music video-like because that smacks of demotion, but it is like a music video in the sense that the music is as important as the video.

Re-cycle reminded me of Terry Gilliam's work, but not as desolate or oppressive. It's a beautiful film made edgy by the Pang Brothers tendency to genre hop, mixing in horror as well as melodrama. I think most would agree the Pangs are quite skilled and creative in the visual department but seem to lack a command of the story telling part. I say, "so what". I'm happy to be fully engaged while the film is playing and my only after thoughts be fond memories. I don't always need to have a deep philosophical discussion of what a film was trying to say.

There may be better ruminations on the basic idea of this film, and it's a good one--exploring a place where all that's forgotten or abandoned congregates--(Spider Forest comes to mind), but few will be as engaging as this multimedia masterpiece. I had no idea this film was going to take off into fantasy land. And stay there for the duration of the film. It came as quite the surprise, and kept surprising me.

I really liked Angelica Lee's man-shoes, and ... is there anything more adorable on this planet than an eight year old Chinese girl? Big round of applause for Yaqi Zeng!

The Pang Brothers book marked a creatively grim, if disconnected little supernatural horror film balancing that of a novelist (a perfectly pitched performance by Angelica Lee) trying to write a horror novel, but finding out what she writes is personally happening to her. Being haunted by her work with the growing expectations, or a former if complicated love coming back on the scene. She enters a dream reality (where the title comes in to play), mixing the stark horror and fleeting happiness in what is a journey of discovery… up until its undermining ending. I was actually liking the (traditional, but stimulating) build-up (consisting of eerie sounds, lurking figures and a sense of danger) until she enters this fantasy world (like a nightmarish spin of 'Alice's in Wonderland'), where the story felt more like clips (well that's how memories kept hidden, waiting to be remembered simply come and then go) and being cluttered with crazy CGI… which wasn't badly projected, as some sequences were amazing, but eventually I grew tired of the routine. The Pang Brothers' surefooted handling is slick, letting the flowing cinematography craft out haunting frames and wonderfully strange imagery. Inspired, but emotionally starved and the story really loses momentum.

This movie has a writer who has some trouble in her life at the particular moment the movie starts. An old love has resurfaced and she is having difficulty with her next novel. She is seemingly being haunted by a figure she wrote about, but then tossed away then she is somehow pulled into another realm. The movie does start off a bit slowly as there is a bit of set up with a few scares here and there like the typical Asian horror movie. Then when she gets to the other realm the movie is suddenly totally cool as it is so like watching a Silent Hill movie instead. I mean these strange ghosts start chasing our heroine and they move just like the ghosts in Silent Hill 4, she encounters a cliff like in any of the Silent Hill games and she enters an area that looks like the industrialized zone in part 4. Then she runs into an old man and the movie slams on the breaks and you get a few more great visual scenes, but the movie never has the energy it did when the heroine first enters this strange realm. There are still a couple of good visuals such as the mysterious creepy hanging people and the bridge and well. However, there are a few to many scenes that seem to need a push as it takes a while for them to get going and there are a lot of talking scenes and the final confrontation is very anti climatic. Then the ending comes and they throw a twist on top of the rather predictable twist and movie over. All I could think is what could have been if we had more scenes like that where she first arrived rather than say the scene with the flowers and neglected dead people which had no energy and rather light music. This movie also seems to want to be original, but it does not even come close. Other than Silent Hill there is also bits of The Neverending Story, Wizard of Oz, Spirited Away, and a host of other movies. I guess the makers of this film wanted to recycle a lot of other ideas where they might have been better off using just one or two.

What do you get if you take a mixing bowl and toss in The Cell, The Grudge, some Stephen King, Alice In Wonderland, The Lovely Bones and a not-too-subtle anti abortion message? You get ReCycle, a visually unbelievable, absolutely terrifying, boundlessly imaginative Chinese horror fantasy that no one saw, got overlooked to the max, and occupies an eternal spot in my DVD collection. Novelist Tsui (The Eye's Anjelica Lee) is suffering from writer's block following two bestsellers, expected by her publisher to churn out another one posthaste. Plagued at first by paranormal visions in her apartment, she's suddenly thrown headlong into the otherworldly dimension of ReCycle, a place that can turn from beautiful to hellish and back again within minutes. Picture a surreal, abstract realm where everything that's ever lost, forgotten or abandoned ends up, thrown together in a gorgeous but threatening dream world with various levels, planes and passages, seemingly endless and never predictable. The dead also reside here, as she soon learns, some of which don't take kindly to intruders and can be pretty volatile. Forced to flee from one area of the realm to others and beyond, she's joined by the spirit of a lost little girl, and put through one hell of time trying to find her way out. Included are dilapidated, haunted amusement parks, fields and mountains that extend for millions of miles, eerie forests where the ghosts of hanged prisoners leer out at them, vast crumbling cities, acres of forgotten children's toys and in the film's most wtf sequence, a giant gooey room filled with aborted fetuses that spring to life and slime anyone within reach. That's right, the filmmakers aren't really subtle with their pro-life sentiment, especially near the end, but as long as you can get past that, the rest is all incredible. The sheer scope of the film commands attention though, and anyone who daydreams or lets their imagination run wild will get an absolute kick out of it. It's kind of like the world's weirdest video game in cinematic form, structured like a play-through but given all the disorienting unease of your worst nightmare.

Tsui Ting-Yin is a best-selling author and for her new book she decides to change genre and instead of writing love stories focus on the supernatural.When writing a chapter for her new book,entitled Re-Cycle,the supernatural she writes about appears to her in real life in the form of a woman.Afraid at first,Tsui Ting-Yin later follows the long-haired woman that appeared to her in order to be able to write more and is soon plunged into a world of fantasy and horror."Re-Cycle" plays more like a fantasy flick than horror.The film certainly looks truly beautiful and features some jaw-dropping scenery,unfortunately it lacks scares and is simply dull at times.Unlike their previous films,the building of nail-biting tension and creepy suspense did not play as big a part in "Re-Cycle".Overall,I expected more from the makers of "The Eye" and "Ab-normal Beauty".A solid 6 out of 10.

Re-cycle tells a story of an author Tsui Ting-Yin (played by stunningly beautiful angelica Lee) who is struggling to find the inspiration for writing her latest novel. Throughout a series of mysterious and eerie moments, she finds herself trapped in a world unlike ours.

This world is filled with strange gruesome creatures and events, that seem to defy the laws of physics. The world is somehow linked with Tsui Ting-Yins past and what she has done or left undone. Her past haunts her in this world, where she meets a mysterious little girl played by Yaqi Zeng. Together they begin their journey to discover the truth and to find the way out of there.

Pang Brothers have managed to create a true masterpiece in the field of fantasy. Directing, CGI, plot, acting, everything seems to function perfectly in this movie. The cinematography does owe a lot to Silent Hill-games and Spirited Away, but that shouldn't keep anyone from enjoying this movie. Actually the best use of CGI I've seen so far has been in this movie together with Pan's Labyrinth. Neither should the plot be a problem, it really shouldn't be judged until watching the movie until the very end and thinking, what this movie was really about.

I truly liked this movie. In the beginning it feels like a truly scary horror movie, which is the reason I rented it the first place, because I wanted to watch a horror movie. After she stumbles into the other world, it starts to become more like a fantasy, with horror still in the background. Now I like fantasy too, but as I said earlier, I rented it for the horror, and the fantasy part just isn't that scary as the movie was in the beginning. I find resemblance to Silent Hill games in the early parts of the "Other world". Also, during the Re-Cycle, I seem to be thinking about Stephen King's Langoliers. During the movie, as it becomes apparent that she is in a land where forgotten and forsaken go to, I find the setting similar to that of Peter Pan's Never-Never-Land, from hell I'd say though. Of course, Neverland is a place for the lost, not forgotten, but still. There is one thing that really gave me something to think about. The aborted children. Now if every woman who are thinking about having an abortion would see this movie, I think they would have second thoughts. At least it would be a scary thought for them. At the end of the movie, I'm confused. Sure I understand that she gets into the character she writes about, but why are there two of them in the end. Is the hero of this movie only a character that somehow ends in the real world. But confusion is nice, it makes you think about the movie after it ends and maybe you have to watch it again for it to make sense (thinking about 12 Monkeys).

The first part of the movie was giving me the creeps ... the creeps that my worst fears about this Pangs'Brother film will come thru ... they just delivered another stinker as they did with Abnormal Beauty.

The background story was badly cut n paste together, giving very little likability to the character (specially the main lead Lee Sinjie). The male actor that was supposed to play Lee Sinjie's love interest lacked the x factor to keep the audience interested too (lucky he didn't had much to do with the film beyond the first act). I just don't buy a moment that he was the inspiration for Tang Yin's previous best seller but then again, he did score well for the repulsive side and if that what's he was suppose to do, then i guess he did his job well.

And the most unbearable part was the ear piercing audio effect that Pang Brother uses in this film to try to create some scares(which was exactly the same trick they used in Abnormal Beauty). Its either their fault or the cinema operator didn't set the volume correctly I was about to write this movie off as another Pang trash until the movie hopped into the rabbit hole and wah la, welcome to "Alice In WonderLand" cum "Silent Hill" Adventure.

Yup, Something click and soon, I was getting in awe mode when Tang Yin enter the nightmare of her life. It's like being washed over by a beautiful horror visual fest. It's not too scary (by my standard) and picturesque enough to remind me of Silent Hill. Morbid visions of bodies dropping from buildings, huge old toys and the viking swaying scaring above a park and ferris wheel, even threatening to fall were just visually arresting.

What this film got was more than Silent Hill was the number of emotions rolled in, specially at the final acts and while it didn't really made sense (or rather the impact was kinda weak) in Silent Hill for the actress to go thru the stages (specially if she not a computer game player), Re-Cycle had a couple of good ones and particular memorable ones.

In this "Wonderland", all things that are abandon in our world comes here to wait for their existence to come to an end. That includes toys, books, ideas, unwanted babies and even tombstones.

It was the tombstones scene that got me liking this film. During Qing Ming, when I accompanied my folks to clean up the graves of our ancestor, I always wondered what about those tombstones that no longer have anyone to visit them annually. It's always sad to see a tombstone that been neglected or don't have anyone to visit them anymore. That kind of sadness was poetically capture in this segment of the film.

Then comes characterization. While it didn't really build much when Tang Ying was still in the real world, the endearing factors about her character start coming in when she encounter spooks after spooks in "wonderland". It got me rooting for her character to survive her ordeal and question the fate in store for her.

Another build up in the lead character will definitely benefited from the friendly young guide that offered to help her out of this mess. This young actress score a better grade in acting and reeling the audience's emotions than the male love interest.

Another actor that I was strangely please and surprise to see would be Lau Siu-ming. One of the old veteran actors in Hong Kong film industry who I last remember seeing him as a sharp old banker in some children drama series had always shine in parts that he appeared in and this time round, he got my attention too, even tho he only got limited parts in this film. His character appearance gave Tang Yin the much needed clue to the predicament that she is in and seeing him just gave me the assurance that we can expect better acting now.

Lastly, the pay out ! the reason why we were treated to this horror adventure and why Tang Yin got trapped in this nightmare. Well I have to say, I didn't see it coming at all. It kinda added up as a surprising and touching finale.

The only other Pang Brothers film I had the misfortune of watching was The Eye, which I was told was a must for Asian horror fans, being bewitching and suspenseful. However, one hour into the film I was so bored I couldn't have cared less about where it was going that I turned if off.

So I approached Re-Cyle with caution. In the first half an hour I was pleasantly surprised - the direction wasn't uninteresting like The Eye at all. There was some good cinematography, effective subtle use of suggestion to employ chills and uncertainty, and even the soundtrack was well used.

However, from the point where our heroine goes into the 'other world' the whole thing collapses. The imagery is too reminiscent of Silent Hill to be original, there are more Ringu-like girls with long hair creeping around, and the undead zombies have such laughable makeup they could have walked off a Romero set.

The main problem with this film is not its ideas but their execution. It's a great idea that for every killed or abandoned creature there is a world that they go to to live out their uncared-for lives, but the way the Pang Brother put this across is so cheap and naff that I was laughing and cringing in my seat. Scary babies, zombies, and following a map to get 'out' made the whole thing turn into some 90s computer game. As well as this, the end sequence with its poignant and tearjerky flashbacks and cutesy music was so cheesy I'm surprised my DVD player didn't turn into a wheel of Stilton.

Overall Re-Cycle is not a bad film, but it's certainly not a good one either. If you prefer the classier and more subtle Asian films like Uzumaki, Sorum and The Isle, this won't be for you. It's far too heavy and stodged down by pseudo-meaning, cliché and over the top visuals. However, if you happen to own several Lord of The Rings box sets, some Star Wars costumes and never miss a Stratovarius gig this may be for you.

This movie is the epitome of paradox. Whether or not it is a scary movie does not even bother me. I am so fed-up by it I am not even going to spend much effort in writing this review. So here are the people who deserves to be Re- Cycled.

First: editor. The entire movie is a series of snapshots fading in and out of the screen. There is no continuous or coherent scene. Most of the time, you get flashes of a shadow or a hand. The shots are angled, out of focus, and pointless. If the movie was trying to be abstract, it failed miserably. I can't see a darn thing! I am refraining myself from using words that are not permitted here.

Second: the directors. To tell the truth, other than The Eye (the first movie), the rest of their works are mediocre, even borderline lousy. This movie pushes it over that borderline. One of the signs of weak direction is the inability to know when a scene should stop, and it is so evident here.

Third: sound director. Did they run out of budget? Give me a break.

Fourth: actor. I never like Lee's acting but I thought she was decent in The Eye. In this movie, I got sick looking at her, and most of the time, it is her that you see. She is the focus of every single shot, and she was able to show only one expression. Fear/anger/confusion; I can't decide which it was. Oh, and the dialog. Were they on a dictation contest? Does anyone in the cast and crew knows the meaning to the word 'acting'? At least at one point I feel for the little girl, but the best thing is, it wasn't the point where I was supposed to feel for her.

Fifth: writer. I can appreciate and even respect the idea presented in the movie. Yes, abandoning things are bad and we should recycle. So what's the point of the movie? Exactly, there is none. It teaches you neither to abandon, nor to recycle. Well, they do tell you the horrid of aborting a child, but I think the moral value is lost when you can't even make it to that point of the movie without losing your patience, and your mind. Oh and I think everyone who has watched at least one movie would have figured it out by then. I think they wanted to make the movie only because they thought the idea was nifty, but never really did any actual work on writing or reading the script. The movie spent the first 30 minute developing something that only affects 5 minutes at the end of the movie, and that was the gist of the one and a half hour movie. Please! And people dropping from the sky? Come on, help me out here.

Sixth: writer. Yes, he/she/they deserves to be buried twice. The entire story is a paradox. 'Why is everything here so horrible?' Lee said, squatting on a rock with a sweet child amidst a beautiful river with a small waterfall and lush greenery's. 'This is the place that I belong', Ting-Yu (the child) said when her mother was holding her in her arms, crying, wishing they could live together happily ever after. Need an explanation? The place is for abandoned things, and she has a mother that wants her, so she is not abandoned anymore and hence she no longer belongs there.'Anything you threw away can be found here' the child said, and then everything got sucked away by the wonder known as Re-Cycled. So what's the point again? They are thrown away, gather in this place, only to be thrown away again? Someone stop me please.

The lowest rating a movie can get here is 1. I gave this movie 2. The extra point was for the visual effect. The environment was nicely built, especially the toy graveyard. I think they made the movie BECAUSE of that. I would have given another point for creativity, but I took it back because the movie looked like a cross between The Langourliers and Silent Hill.

Why do I sound so angry you ask? Simple. I spent my money, my time, and my effort to watch a movie. I watch any movie with an open mind, and I try to justify the movie for what it is. I have enjoyed many movies, but when I watch a movie such as this, I get angry. I strongly suggest that they do not make another movie again. Excuse me while I go watch Dorm again.