DVD Review: HAUNTED CHANGI (2010)

HAUNTED CHANGI (2010)

Label: MVD Visual
Region Code: 1 NTSC
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 81 minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: 16:9 Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Andrew Lau
Cast: Farid Azlam, Sheena Chung, Audi Khalis, Andrew Lau

I gotta say that the found-footage and faux-documentary films still seem to have some bite left to 'em, from THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, REC., TROLLHUNTER (review HERE), THE LAST EXORCISM on through to the wildly successful PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and it's two sequels theatre goers are still jammin' the multiplexes to get their fix of found footage frights. Away from the theatres we have a plethora of indie direct-to-DVD entries too; from EVIL THINGS (review HERE) to PARANORMAL ENTITY, it's a sure sign of pop culture success when The Asylum cranks out a copycat film. That said, despite the continued demand and the sub-genre's success I do tend to elicit a low groan whenever I hear of a new entry, such as the rumored sequel to the FRIDAY THE 13th re-imagining, fuck me, say it ain't so. So, when I first opened up a package from MVD containing HAUNTED CHANGI I can't say that I was enthused at the prospect of it's value based on it's rather lame artwork, but 81 minutes later and a few beers in I was pleasantly surprised by what the film had to offer.  

The story goes something like this; in January of 2010 a group of local young filmmakers began exploring the famously haunted Old Changi Hospital in Singapore with terrifying and tragic results. What we see in the film are pieces edited together from the original Haunted Changi film crew's footage to tell their tragic story. It's pretty simple stuff. First up we meet our documentary crew; the director Andrew, cameraman Audi, producer Sheena and soundman Farid, all pretty likable folks. The four announce that they are setting out to document one of the most notoriously haunted places in all the world, the aforementioned Changi Hospital in Singapore. The property is a series of buildings left abandoned since the 1990's when the hospital was decommissioned. The hospital has a dark and disturbing history beginning during WWII when the location was used by the Japanese to torture and kill hordes of enemy Chinese and British combatants, after the war the property was re-purposed as a military hospital treating ill and wounded soldiers. Now two decades after being decommissioned the structure is said to be haunted by the legions of souls who met their fate there. It's an eerie place for sure and it brought to my mind the sanitarium from Brad Anderson's masterful SESSION 9, a labyrinthine decaying urban enviorment coated in graffiti art, thick with atmosphere and steeped in creep factor.

In a nice expository maneuver the film dumps some vintage newsreel footage on us to explain the location's history, a few man on the street type interviews with the citizens of Singapore to set-up it's reputation as a place of supernatural activity and then we get to some footage from within the hospital captured by our crew that's rife with the expected variations on the found-footage aesthetic we've come to expect; night vision, creepy darkened hallways, eerie shadows and spooked filmmakers running scared through corridors. Not a ton of originality here; it's definitely BLAIR WITCH meets SESSION 9 with some cool j-horror elements but it works and is a pretty effective little chiller that raised the hairs on my neck more than a few times.

There's a fun bit during the film when the Singapore contingent of Ghost Hunters shows up to aide the documentarians but are scared off the property by some headless apparitions that appear on a thermal cam, this is very much what I think would happen if any of these "ghost hunters" on TV ever really encountered anything more than each other making random fart noises in darkened spaces.

The slow build-up of the film is quite effective, well-paced and satisfactorily spooky. Andrew, the director of the documentary, increasingly becomes obsessed with the location, returning on his own to meet-up with a mysterious woman all the while becoming sickly ill. Meanwhile, Sheena becomes more and more unhinged by the place after an eerie, shadowy encounter that leaves her physically sick and unwilling to return to the location. The film's shortcomings for me include questionable actions on the part of the crew, it's the rare found-footage film that doesn't irk me that way, motivations and actions are oftentimes preposterous. Also, while the film's finale is pretty chilling it doesn't quite live up to the dread and suspense of the first two thirds of the film, but  it's still a pretty effective chiller and a nice found-footage exercise that should please fans of eerie supernatural thrillers and found-footage films.

DVD: The film is presented in 16:9 widescreen (1.85:1) and looks pretty good for a hand-held shaky cam flick, it's not completely hand-held but it's well in line with what we've come to expect from a found footage/faux-documentary  narrative film. The English Dolby Digital 5.1 sounds pretty good to with some nice use of the surrounds to accentuate the film's creepier elements, good stuff. The English subtitles are optional but I found I kind of needed 'em on what with the actors thick accents, not a criticism just a fact.

The film comes with a nice selection of bonus content; the first being that this DVD features "enhanced footage"not seen during it's theatrical run, three text chapters from a book written by a character from the film, more of the archival WWII footage seen in the film and an easter egg with some behind-the-scenes footage.

Verdict: Not the final nail in the coffin of found-footage film by any means, this is a fine low-budget supernatural chiller, very well done and worth a watch. It may not be a classic of the genre but it's a good watch on a Friday night. 3 outta 5

REGION 2 DVD REVIEW: SHOCK LABYRINTH 3D (2009)

SHOCK LABYRINTH 3D (2009)

Release Date: January 31st 2011

LABEL: Chelsea Films
DURATION: 93 Min.
RATING: Cert. 15
REGION CODE: Region 2
DIRECTOR: Takashi Shimizu
CAST: Yuya Yagira, Shoichiro Masumoto, Ryo Katsuji, Ai Maeda, Suzuki Matsuo

PLOT: When a small group of young friends spending the day at a theme park near the foot of Mount Fuji sneak into the park’s haunted house attraction after hours, the innocent children’s escapade results in the mysterious disappearance of one of them, Yuki. On a rainy evening ten years later, Yuki inexplicably reappears, turning up at the apartment of one of the girls who was present when she disappeared. Yuki is soon reunited with her friends but shortly afterwards collapses and the group rushes her to a nearby hospital where they are unable to find anyone to treat their friend. With little option but to wait in the hospital, they begin to look for help but soon find things are not as they seem. As the night wears on, the friends begin to relive the events from a decade ago and soon come face to face with the terrible truth behind Yuki’s disappearance.

FILM: When it was announced that Japanese master of horror Takashi Shimizu (JU-ON-THE GRUDGE) would be filming Japan's first-ever 3D J-Horror flick I was pretty excited. Whom better to helm a haunted attraction film then Shimizu? The Grudge is a fantastic ghost story and Shimizu's surreal and haunting style would seem to lend itself well to the concept. It was when I realized that the film was based-on 'The Haunted Hospital' the world's largest walk-through haunted house I was less excited. There's something about properties based on theme park attractions that just saddens me. Don't get me wrong, I think the amusement park is a great setting for a horror film, just check out FUNHOUSE (1986) and ZOMBIELAND (2009), good stuff. That the film industry is so unwilling to fund new and innovative film properties that it plunders theme parks and board games for inspiration is what's disheartening. My initial excitement for the film was now tempered by the fact 1. I realized I haven't seen any of Shimizu's films since The Grudge and 2. the basis for the film was a theme park attraction. It was with this cynicism in mind I entered the 3D world of Shock Labyrinth 3D.

A group of friends are startled when Yuki (Misako Renbutsu), a childhood friend whom disappeared ten years previously at a theme park attraction, reappears at the door step of Rin (Ai Maeda), a young blind woman. Shocked at the incredible news the group of childhood friends reassemble. Shortly after the awkward reunion Yuki collapses unconscious to the floor. The friends rush her to the hospital where she disappears once again. While searching for Yuki the group discover that the hospital is deserted, the rooms are eerily empty and as they explore the upper levels of the hospital things only get weirder. They come to realize that somehow they've returned to the haunted attraction where Yuki disappeared a decade earlier. From here the film quickly loses reasoning as each of them begin to have flashbacks to the events that unfolded that fateful day. All the while they are haunted by the reoccurring images of her death, a floating rabbit and they're own guilt ridden memories.

Shock Labyrinth looks quite beautiful at times, vibrant colors, great set dressing and a creepy atmosphere. It definitely feels like a haunted house with all it's novel 3D parlor tricks. Quite a few things worked against the film for me. The first would be some lazily rendered flashbacks framed in hazy halo which I found annoying. The acting is only passable, the characters undeveloped and the PG13 equivalent rating does not allow for anything approaching actual fright. Sure, there's some spooky stuff here but nothing that stirred me and the 3D effects are mostly gimmicky and give little depth to the goings-on. That sorta makes sense as the film is based on a gimmick to begin with but it does little to enhance the film. That's not to say that all is lost here, there are bits and pieces that intrigued me. The fractured non-linear narrative made for some fun viewing as we jump through the past and into present, the overlapping time lines added a sense of the unexpected to the proceedings and the ending caught me by surprise. In the end Shock Labyrinth just seems to be aimed at a much younger audience than myself and will probably play well to the 13-15 mall rats looking for some superficial, creepy fun but not to die-hard horror fanatics.

DVD: Shock Labyrinth 3D is presented with 2-D version on double disc Region 2 DVD with a 16x9 enhanced widecreen transfer with a decent 5.1 surround mix. The films looks quite good with a vibrant color palette. The 3D probably looked pretty good in theatres with RealD)) glasses, no doubt. Unfortunately the cardboard framed red and green 3D here is nearly unwatchable in my opinion. The films is rich in saturated colors and lighting in 2D but the 3D washes it out and lacks definition so much so that halfway through the film I switched to 2D and restarted the film. There's a decent amount of features here but nothing essential. We get an array of behind-the-scenes featurettes regarding the 3D process, press junkets and on-set interviews with the cast and crew.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Interviews with: Takashi Shimizu (Director), Yuya Yagira (Cast), Ryo Katsuji (Cast), Ai Maeda (Cast), Erina Mizuno (Cast), Misako Renbutsu (Cast)
- The haunted house and the scary dummies
- The Secret of the Stereoscopic Camera
- Cast + Crew fooling around and shooting last scenes
- Venice Film Festival with Takashi Shimizu
- Press Conference and Opening Day

VERDICT: At it's heart Shock Labyrinth 3D is a rather pedestrian teen-haunting flick mixed with some elements of psychological horror and gimmicky 3D. It was surreal and at times visually intriguing but the characters fell flat, there's no emotional center, no connection for the viewer. It's a novelty, it doesn't push the 3D technology but is a pleasant enough diversion, just don't expect THE GRUDGE as this is a lesser film. Shock Labyrinth 3D is released with 2-D version on double disc DVD by Chelsea Films on January 31st 2011. As of press time there is no Region 1 release currently scheduled.
**1/2 (2.5 out of 5 stars)

Here's the UK trailer: http://onlinemoviepromo.com/newplayer.php?id=3828