The Handmaiden (2016)

Director: Park Chan-wook
Notable Cast: Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jeong-woo, Cho Jin-woong, Moon So-ri

Clearing this up front, Park Chan-wook is my favorite working director. That said, there are certain things in his films, without going into a long tangent before even starting this, that I dislike. So, this isn't a fanboy review, and I will try to refrain from geeking out in a biased manner. I do love his works, and he has inspired me greatly, so naturally, that will likely shine in this review. Onward to The Handmaiden, Park's newest, and one of his best.

Set in Japan, The Handmaiden (Ahgassi) weaves an intricate and twisted tale of love that blossoms from an unexpected place, between two women of two opposing classes of society, during the 1930s. Korean man, Count Fujiwara (Ha Jeong-woo), living the facade of an upper class Japanese, hires pickpocket Sook-hee (Kim Tae-ri), to infiltrate a rich family to steal an inheritance, that Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee) is having bestowed upon her, living the life of her own personal Handmaiden.

Tunnel (2016)

Director: Kim Seung-hoon
Notable Cast: Ha Jeong-woo, Bae Doo-na, Oh Dal-soo

Lee Jung-soo (Ha Jeong-woo) is a salesman for Kia Motors, making his rounds and traveling about one day. He's got a cake for his daughter, topping the car off with fuel, and heading home. On his way, he calls his wife to let her know how things have been, when suddenly a tunnel he is passing through (newly opened and everything) decides to cave in and trap him inside his car with nowhere to go. With that set up out of the way, let's dive in to one of my favorite films of the year so far, Tunnel.

Given director Kim's previous film, A Hard Day, I went into this new film with high anticipation. Add to that the fact that the trio of leads in the film are some of my favorite performers in the region, and you have a recipe for a delicious slice of Korean film goodness, and it most certainly is just that.

The Blood Splatter: 2016 Horror Vol. 1 [#Horror, Nina Forever, Mexico Barbaro]

There is only enough time in the day to write so many reviews, edit them, and format them for the site. Yet we still receive a ton of requests to cover films that may not fit into the schedule. So Blood Brothers has developed a series called The Blood Splatter where our reviewers do three quick takes on various films for our readers that may have not fit into the full review schedule.

One of my focuses as a writer here at Blood Brothers is to dig through a lot of the newer genre material to find the potential cult films from the year. This is actually quite the task and it takes me to some interesting corners of the cult cinema realm. As part of The Blood Splatter series, I will attempt to give some time and thoughts to some of the recent genre films that I haven’t been able to cover in full for the site that have been requested for us to cover in some shape or form. This first article will focus on some of the horror films I have recently watched including #Horror, Nina Forever, and Mexico Barbaro.