Other Titles • Three... Extremes (2004) • Three, Monster • Saam gaang yi (2004)
Synopses for Saam gaang yi (2004)
1.
The idea of unleashing three of Asia's wildest directors in the same omnibus film is a terrific one, and putting the likes of Miike Takashi and Park Chan-wook to work in the Twilight Zone-style mini-feature is mouth-watering for fans. (Just look at what happened when Miike made an installment of Showtime's Masters of Horror series--it was deemed too crazy for broadcast.) Alas, the results are a letdown. First up, "Dumplings," is from Hong Kong's Fruit Chan, and it's the most cogent (and ickiest) of the bunch. Bai Ling plays a specialist in preparing dumplings that promise to restore youth and health for her customers; the weird part is she also runs a particular clinic on her premises. Ugh. The Korean offering from Park Chan-wook is "Cut," a warp on filmmaking about a self-centered director who gets trapped at his home (or is it the set of his new movie?) by a deranged former extra. The sadistic machinations here make Hannibal Lecter look reasonable, and the segment gets points for weirdness, but Park's take on revenge fantasies is much more exciting in Oldboy and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. Miike represents Japan with "Box," which really is in the spirit of an old Outer Limits episode, complete with a "gotcha" ending that doesn't seem worth the trouble. Sure, twins are always a good topic for horror, but this segment is a long way to travel for not much. All three segments look good--there's little hint of the grindhouse cheapie here--but overall it's a disappointment. --Robert Horton
(15 votes)
2.
From The Nightmares of Asia's Horror Masters Exploring the out limits of the macabre, Three...Extremes is a bracing anthology of horror stories uniting three of East Asia's most compelling director - Japanese cult figureTakashi Miike ("Masters Of Horror," Audition), Hong Kong's Fruit Chan (Hollywood Hong-Kong, Durian Durian) and Korea's award-winning Chan-Wook Park (Oldboy, Sympathy For Lady Vengeance). Box (Takeshi Miike) A beautiful female novelist, still guilt-ridden over the childhood death of her twin sister, receives a mysterious invitation to meet at the site of her sister's demise... Dumplings (Fruit Chan) A retired actress longing to retain her beauty seeks the rejuvenating effects of a doctor's "special" dumplings, only to discover they contain one horrifying ingredient... Cut (Chan-Wook Park) A film director is abducted by a vengeful stranger and forced to make an impossible choice that will change his life forever.
(15 votes)
3.
BOX
Kyoko is a successful writer who suffers from insomnia due to her nightmares. Her nightmares always seem to end the same way each time with never a real ending. One day, her editor and friend gives her a antique box which Kyoko recognizes from her past. The box soon opens up an old traumatic childhood experience which is also the key to her nightmares - and her dead baby twin sister . . .
CUT
A successful director (Lee Byeong Heon) finishes a shoot and drives home one night. Upon arriving home, his electricity seems to fail and as he goes to check out the light switches, holding only a cigarette lighter in hand, he is knocked out after someone blows a can of hairspray against the flame. As he awakens, he finds that his wife (who is a pianist) is also captured, strung up and her fingers super-glued to the keys on the piano. His capturer appears to be a disgruntled, psychotic film extra who is envious of his talent and wealth. The culprit apparently also captured a little girl and tells the director that he must kill the girl to save his wife and with every five minutes of debate, he will cut off one finger on her hand unless the director kills the kid. Of course, nothing is what it ever really seems . . .
DUMPLINGS
Married to a wealthy tycoon (Tony Leung Ka Fai), the aging ex starlet Ching (Miriam Yeung) is disturbed to find out that her husband if chasing much younger skirts. Determined to win him back and preserve her beauty, Ching tries to turn back the hands of time by contacting a former mainland doctor Auntie Mei (Bai Ling), who is rumored to do miracles. The mysteriously carefree Auntie Mei steams, boils, and serves little delicacies for Ching to eat, prompting her that the dumplings are made with herbal ingredients passed down from her family to stop the aging process. Soon after she starts her unusual diet, Ching starts to experience strange and ghastly visions . . .
(15 votes)
4.
THREE...EXTREMES brings together an Asian scream team of filmmakers, featuring a trio of short works by Hong Kong's Fruit Chan (DURIAN DURIAN), Korea's Chanwook Park (OLDBOY), and Japan's Takashi Miike (AUDITION). The trilogy opens with Chan's disgustingly entertaining DUMPLINGS, which he has also turned into a full-length film. DUMPLINGS stars Miriam Yeung Chin-Wah as Ching, a former TV star who is afraid of facing middle age. She visits Mei (Bai Ling), whose secret recipe for dumplings helps women look and feel younger. But when Ching discovers what's actually in the pot-stickers, she has some deep soul-searching to do. In Park's brutally violent CUT, Lee Byung-hun stars as a movie director who has everything going for him--a beautiful wife, hit films, a fabulous house, and an upstanding reputation. But an extra (Gang Hye-jung) decides to spoil the fun by placing the director in a no-win situation that could end in murder. Finally, Miike closes the frightfest with BOX, a brilliant psychological thriller in which a reclusive novelist (Kyoko Hasegawa) is haunted by her dead twin sister and a dark family secret. Although Miike is highly regarded for his comic ultraviolence, he turns off the blood quotient in this smartly paced, very creepy tale.
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