L.A.M.P. is a new, occasional feature here. I'm not announcing this because I plan on writing about Asian movies with increased frequency. Mostly, I just thought L.A.M.P. was a cool acronym.
And, if by some chance someday, one of the world's 1.5 billion internet users says to another internet user, "Hey, what should we watch tonight?" And the second one says, "I don't know! Let's check LAMP."
Well, then my life would have meaning.
Last weekend I saw Coming Soon - a very solid Thai horror with a cool anti-piracy theme. I walked out of the theater having learned that if you pirate a movie, you run the risk of having your eyes dug out by a ghost who could scare Norman Bates' mother.
The premise is someone makes a horror movie about a crazy lady who kidnapped children before she was hanged by angry villagers. Whoever watches the movie is subsequently haunted by the woman's ghost. Sound familiar? I promise it was much scarier than The Ring, and all that phone-call-equals-death baloney.
There were plenty of good jumps (but then, I'm a cheap scare), just enough gore, and noooo prolonged sadism. That's my biggest problem with American horror of late - too much torture (Hostel, Hills Have Eyes remake, etc.).
I love The Shining and Halloween. Bring on the chainsaws, just no rape and no pliers-on-fingernails action. It's no fun and it's too easy: A successful horror is one where I'm about to pee my pants when the protagonist is doing something mundane - like brushing his teeth - but the scene has been built up in a way so it's super spooky. If I have to cover my eyes while the villain slices through some mope's Achilles tendon? That's nothing special.
Not sure if there's an American release date, but here's the trailer for Coming Soon. See it before someone sticks Sarah Michelle Gellar in a forgettable American remake.
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