Re-Cycle

Where the lost things go
Imagine a dimension where all things that have been discarded and abandoned go -- broken toys, unwanted babies, the forgotten elderly, even fictional characters who never made the cut.

After a run of relatively disappointing movies, Danny and Oxide Pang return with a vengeance in "Re-Cycle," a hauntingly vivid journey that sends Angelica Lee into such a world. This is not your typical Asian horror movie with ripoffs of "The Ring" -- this is a dark fantasy journey into a ghastly, bittersweet otherworld full of secrets and lost things, like a Lewis Carroll horror story.

Ting-Yin (Lee) is a bestselling author riding high with her "My Love" trilogy, which is being adapted into a movie. Her next book, a horror novel named "Re-Cycle," is announced as well.

All seems perfect, save for an ex-boyfriend (Lawrence Chou) who has just divorced his wife and wants back. And when Ting-Yin starts writing "Re-Cycle," she starts glimpsing a strange long-haired woman in...

I'm Glad I own it inspite of its flaws
THE PROS....
This film starts out with some of the best chill/thrill/ photography that I have seen in a long time. It also works off the stark beauty of the lead actress whose subtle emotional displays are frequently seen in close up. Blu-ray is usually showcased with nature scenes, but its ability to capture the human face is what most interests me. The special effects here are also beautiful and run seamlessly along side of a variety of camera and editing techniques. It is a feast of the small stuff done well, like chopping a few seconds of film out of an action sequence to create a feeling of dimensional shift and unreality. Each scene is artistically framed for maximum effect. Especially in the begining of the film, the edits literally keeping you jumping. Elements of traditional Asian masks are blended with simple make up techniques to keep the film from becoming bogged down with too much flashy CGI. Often I find that CGI films have one or two scenes that everyone talks...

Spectacular Visuals, but.....
Ting Yin is writing a new book about the supernatural called RECYCLE. As she begins writing, the world of RECYCLE starts to come alive, and as she journeys from the real world into this decaying reality where what we abandon goes, she sees many incredible and disturbing sights.

It's ambitious, but it just doesn't work. This film can't seem to decide whether to scare or amaze, and though it does the latter very well in several scenes (the alleyway filled with amusement park rides was breathtaking) it doesn't save it from embarrassments like the cave of abandoned fetuses, or the cheap looking zombie hoards... cringeworthy! And even when the visuals are high quality and evocative, the synthesized score overpowers any quiet eeriness they're trying to convey and makes the action seem cheesy and comic.

If this film had been shorter, had less (or just NO) dialogue, and a better score, it would've made a nice art movie.

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