Wuxia film review: The Assassins (2012) Chow yun Fat

The Assassins

I think this might be the 500th movie made in China based on the novel The Three Kingdoms.

This movie is worth seeing if you are a Chow Yun Fat fan. He is fantastic in this film. If you didn't like Curse of the Golden Flower however you might want to avoid this movie. It is similar in it's back story family royal palace melo-drama. I enjoyed it and some might consider it better paced than Curse, but I didn't see it that way. During the movie I found my thoughts straying to fantastic moments in Curse of the Golden Flower and thinking about how well that movie was composed and directed.

That said I liked this movie a lot. There were wonderful character moments and Chow Yun Fat was great. There is a scene about an hour in between Chow and his son in the movie that is so tense that I just loved it. Pretty good over all.

My Top Ten Horror novels: #6 A serial killer novel that makes Seven look like disney!

My #6 top horror novel is:

I enjoy doing top ten lists and I have meant to do this one for awhile. The art of the horror novel is a very special one for me. My first horror novel that I remember reading was The Stand by Stephen King, it was my seventh grade year(I still have that copy which has note in the inside cover to do a Social Studies report!). Skeleton Crew by King and Clive Barker's Books of Blood had a bigger impact on me personally were talking novels at the moment. Over the years I have grown to love the feeling of closing the book on a well written horror novel.

Generally you have been taken on a journey, often it is one filled with terror. The most important elements often come from well defined characters. For a horror novel to work to have to either care about the characters or imagine yourself in the shoes of the character. No story can be scary if you can't imagine yourself in the moment with the characters.

Imagine for a moment you lying in bed at 2 AM and someone starts to bang on the door. You will likely go to the door confused and sacred. In a novel that might not seem to be a scary moment but if you put yourself in the moment it will scare you. These are novels I find scary, and why. You may have read them already, and if not I hope you'll check them out. Leave a comment tell me what you think I missed.

David Agranoff is the author of two published novels the Wuxia Pan style horror fantasy crossover "Hunting The Moon Tribe," and the satire "The Vegan Revolution With Zombies. He is also the author of the Wonderland award short story collection "Screams From a Dying World." His next novel Bootboys of the Wolf-Reich is due to be released soon by Deadite press.

Number 10: (tie) Testament by David Morrell & The Girl next Door by Jack Ketchum

Number 9: A Perfect Union by Cody Goodfellow

Number 8: The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner

Number 7 The Keep (Adversary cycle #1) by F.Paul Wilson

Number 6 is: Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z.Brite

EC could have easily been higher on my list. This is a fantastic horror novel that transcends the serial killer sub-genre and creates one of the creepiest reading experiences I have ever had. It is a novel that works on multiple reads as well. Written by the very goth word smith Poppy Z.Brite. Brite made a spalsh on the horror scene with a strong collection Wormwood and a very punk feeling vampire debut Lost Souls. Brite followed up the strong debut with a fantastic haunted house novel Drawing Blood which was one of the most romantic and heart breaking horror novels. (Just happens to be about gay characters).

Brite was quickly establishing herself as a master of the horror novel when her third novel Exquisite Corpse hit like a ton of bricks. The saddest part in horror terms this was Brite's horror swan song. After this she published a few character driven novels set in the New Orleans restaurant scene.

EC is a serial killer novel but not corny in James Patterson sense, and not bloated in a Thomas Harris way. The story of killer Andrew Compton who escapes from prison in a fantastic prologue really sets off this novel strong. He admires the work of transgressive artist Jay Byrne. The two men entered a demented romance that includes sex, murder and many gore drenched moments that had me cringing constantly as I read. The two killers stalk the artist underground and turn their attention to Tran a young Vietnamese-American DJ who they find too exquisite to resist.

Tran is a fully realized character who readers grow to like quickly, that sympathy essential to a horror novel character in jeopardy comes from his family. Watching Tran deal with family and their attacks on his sexuality and life style are heartbreaking and well written. All three of Brite's novels have well realized romances between gay men, while Drawing Blood probably did this most effectively. Exquisite Corpse on the other hand features a romance between nasty killers in that sense the novel is like tip toeing on a sharp razor edge. This novel just bleeds nasty-ness.

EC is a bit of a time capsule released in 1996 in some ways the book is dated in the sense that AIDS is still the terror-inducing automatic death sentence that it was at the time. It operates on many levels but the suspense is there, the nasty gore is there, and most importantly the strong characters are there. This novel is not for everyone but damn it is good.

Book Review: Cold in July by Joe R. Lansdale

Cold in July by Joe R. Lansdale

Paperback, 234 pages Published 2001 by Phoenix (first published 1989)

While Lansdale writes across many genres his southern crime novels are some of the best you'll ever read. I decided to read this novel after David Morrell (author of First Blood)commented that it was a novel that only Lansdale could write. Between my decision to read it and finding the book a movie was green lit based on the novel. Directed by Jim Mickle, whose horror film We Are What We Are just played at the Cannes and Sundance Film Festival. I have not seen that yet, but I enjoyed his earlier film Stakeland. The movie picked up steam when Michael C. Hall made it his first post Dexter gig.

The novel is a short but jam packed thriller, that takes many turns that I didn't see coming. I trust Lansdale enough that I went into the novel cold on the plot and I think I benefited from that. This is an early novel and the narrative was not as strong or sarcastic as Lansdale's more recent work. That said I am glad I read this as it was an important step in his development.

Ok if I have already sold you quit reading and go order the book. The plot is interesting, the main character shoots a man in self defense. Every seems to agree that he was justified, except the father of the burglar he shot. He wants revenge and as interesting as that it is, that is really just the tip of the iceberg.

I have not read a Lansdale novel yet that I didn't like. It is not as strong as his newer work, but Lansdale's weakest novel is stronger than most novels you'll read. Great early novel. Hopefully the movie will get this book new attention.

Movie review: Painted Skin II: The Ressurection

Painted Skin 2: The Ressurection

I liked the first Painted Skin movie, I don’t remember it well but it felt more like a horror-Wuxia Pan dark Fantasy crossover. It also benefitted from a role played by Donnie Yen. The second film doesn’t feel as horror to me, but it feels like a big budget Dark Fantasy along the lines of Bride with white Hair. The plot is crazy weird…How about I just use the description from IMDB…

“An ancient fox spirit embarks on a diabolical quest to become human after escaping an icy prison, and becomes bound to a disfigured princess who seeks the love of a noble guard as her kingdom crumbles in this lavish supernatural epic. Confined to a frozen cell for centuries, malevolent fox spirit Xiaowei (Xun Zhou) regains her freedom and seeks to preserve her beauty by seducing men and consuming their hearts. Should a man offer her his heart willingly, Xiaowei will become mortal, breaking free of the underworld and experiencing living among the living. Meanwhile, as a dark cloud falls over her kingdom, Princess Jing (Wei Zhao) flees, hiding her deep facial scars under a mask of pure gold while seeking the love of her former protector, who remains haunted by his failure to save her years prior. When destiny brings Xiaowei and Princess Jing together, the battle for the princess' heart begins.”

If your keeping count that is to white fox demon movies in a row. I think overall this is better than the first movie. It looks amazing. The story might be a little hard to follow but boy does it look good.

Movie Review: Sorcerer and the White Snake

Sorcerer and the White Snake

This was the movie I was most excited to see all year. I am a huge Jet Li fan in general, I loved most of his films made in China. I am also a huge fan of this movie’s director Ching Siu Tung who directed two of my all time favorite films Duel to the Death and A Chinese Ghost Story. As a director he has made several weird Kungfu movies not only the Chinese Ghost Story Trilogy but also weird ones like Witch from Nepal. Ching Siu Tung has not directed a movie in awhile, mostly directing fights notably in Zhang Zimou’s Hero and house of Flying Daggers.

This is a strange and goofy kungfu movie that I found to be pretty fun. It was not as good as the Chinese Ghost story movies but those are the closest comparison. Jet Li plays a monk fighting lots of CGI demons, snake demons and white fox demons. The bonus features on the DVD were my favorite part, getting to watch Ching Siu Tung and Jet Li work together.

Jet Li said this was his most tiring role to date because he had to hold back every punch against his opponents while they went all out on him. I laughed when one of the other actors said “I spent all day working on my moves Jet learned them in two minutes.”

Trailer: New Ronny Yu Movie:

From the director of two of my favorite movies...Bride with White Hair and Jet Li's Fearless. Looks cool.

My Top Ten Horror novels # 7 Kicks off two epic horror series at the same time

And Number 7 is:

I enjoy doing top ten lists and I have meant to do this one for awhile. The art of the horror novel is a very special one for me. My first horror novel that I remember reading was The Stand by Stephen King, it was my seventh grade year(I still have that copy which has note in the inside cover to do a Social Studies report!). Skeleton Crew by King and Clive Barker's Books of Blood had a bigger impact on me personally were talking novels at the moment. Over the years I have grown to love the feeling of closing the book on a well written horror novel.

Generally you have been taken on a journey, often it is one filled with terror. The most important elements often come from well defined characters. For a horror novel to work to have to either care about the characters or imagine yourself in the shoes of the character. No story can be scary if you can't imagine yourself in the moment with the characters.

Imagine for a moment you lying in bed at 2 AM and someone starts to bang on the door. You will likely go to the door confused and sacred. In a novel that might not seem to be a scary moment but if you put yourself in the moment it will scare you. These are novels I find scary, and why. You may have read them already, and if not I hope you'll check them out. Leave a comment tell me what you think I missed.

David Agranoff is the author of two published novels the Wuxia Pan style horror fantasy crossover "Hunting The Moon Tribe," and the satire "The Vegan Revolution With Zombies. He is also the author of the Wonderland award short story collection "Screams From a Dying World." His next novel Bootboys of the Wolf-Reich is due to be released soon by Deadite press.

Number 10: (tie) Testament by David Morrell & The Girl next Door by Jack Ketchum Number 9: A Perfect Union by Cody Goodfellow Number 8: The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner

Number 7 The Keep (Adversary cycle #1) by F.Paul Wilson:

The first thing many must do is shake off the terrible movie that was very loosely based on this novel. Lots of talented people were involved including scott glen, Ian Mckellen and it was directed by the usually first class director michael Mann. Yet, it is a serious turd.

The novel is however a classic for a reason. Lets start with the creepy setting, World War II, in the most gothic of locations a Castle in Transylvania. This castle is controled by Nazi soldiers but something is killing them one by one. Something so evil it has the nazis shaking in their boots. The castle is build with ancient crosses everywhere when one is removed that is when the evil is unleashed.

The writing is great, the characters and the setting outstanding. The Keep is a fantastic high concept horror novel.

While this novel is excellent and stands on it's own it's greatest strength is that it kicks off a saga that is played out over two dozen novels and two series -The Adversary Cycle (six novels) and The Repairman Jack (17 novels). Be Warned if you read this you might get hooked and the story while it stands alone just find get extended inwonderful ways over two dozen books and comes to an end in the amazing Nightworld ( That novel is both Adversary #6 and Repairman Jack #15).

Nightworld is a a stunning climax to this story and could have been on this list easily but The Keep is where it begins!