Pluskylang Great Film overall

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

ivony Gwai wik starts out like most standard Asian horror films, particularly with the expectation that we're about to see yet another long haired female ghost. However, the film soon takes a dramatic turn towards the surreal. What starts out as typical soon twists into anything but, creating something of a love child between Pan's Labyrinth and Ringu. Gwai wik is hauntingly beautiful in its twisted landscapes and strange zombie-like creatures, pulling the viewer into a surreal dream-like and sometimes nightmarish world. The film covers territory regarding things we throw away, delving quite a bit into social commentary. This isn't meant to preach but rather shows the internal struggle a person feels when trying to do what they believe is right...and may not end up being so years later. It's a beautiful tale of love, loss, redemption and inner struggle. The biggest flaw is its hokey 'twist' ending that tries too hard to bring the film back around on itself. Nevertheless, it's an experience and a film I am happy to have seen.

Jan Strydom RE-CYCLE is a visually stunning and also a thought provoking film, it certainly makes you wonder about the things you discarded, as it is set in a world created by things and ideas that people abandoned over the years, the story begins when a novelist decides to write a horror novel and unknowingly opens the door to an alternate dimension that is home to all the things people have rejected in life.The film gets you thinking in an odd way about as I said before about things people discard, directed by the Pang brothers who also did the better version of THE EYE, it is a very well made film, it may start off as a scary horror film but as soon as the main character enters this other world, the film strays from its horror elements and becomes more of an ALICE IN WONDERLAND story only its not for kids, you can also tell that one of the films influences is SILENT HILL, as you might notice a few nods towards a few similar ideas.The storyline is of course very original and extremely intelligent, I recommend this film to any horror or film fan in general, you will certainly be treated to a visually gripping film

generalwong Re-Cycle is something completely different than you would expect if you are familiar with the Pang brothers. It starts off as a horror movie, but than continues as a fantastic and inspired fantasy film. The movie has a deep and disturbing message, which really took me by surprise. The music and sound effects are amazing and pull you even further in the story. The story has a less is more approach which really suits the message. The computer animated pieces aren't always as stunning as you would hope, but they do the trick. This movie is really worth it to be seen. With this movie the Pang brothers have proved to be not only masters of horror, but also masters of fantasy.

ebossert I blame no one but myself for not loving this movie the first time around, as Re-Cycle is the posterchild for viewer-induced disappointment. For me personally, I expected something that mirrored the Silent Hill videogames – and considering how those Californian simpletons mucked up their attempt at a Silent Hill movie, I was drooling at the mouth to see if Re-Cycle succeeded where they had failed.Obviously, I deluded myself into believing that Re-Cycle was trying to be something it was never meant to be. Needless to say, I was severely disappointed after an initial viewing. Where were all of the incredibly disturbing, blood-soaked images? Where were the detailed puzzles? Where were the violent death scenes? They were nowhere – and I was angry that Re-Cycle turned out to be its own movie with its own themes. Go figure.Months later I started to think of the movie more and more. I thought to myself, "Yeah, that movie was mediocre, but that one scene was really cool." Then I pondered, "Wow, that other scene was sweet too, and that other one was awesome." Eventually, I decided to give it another go. That "other go" happened last night, and I ended up watching one heck of a movie.The fantasy elements kick in at around the 40-minute mark, but Re-Cycle doesn't stoop to boring you during the opening segments with superfluous exposition. From minute one it grabs you with some well-executed (albeit conventional) horror elements that become much less conventional during a second viewing when you identify references to the main theme of the film.Once the fantasy elements hit, Re-Cycle becomes a non-stop fantasy adventure. I cannot remember a horror film in recent memory with such relentless pacing. Much of this is owed to its fragmented transport of the lead protagonists. They may escape one danger by going through a door, but on the other side of that door is a completely different environment that is no less perilous. Some have criticized Re-Cycle for being scattershot and unfocused, but I would respectfully disagree considering how almost every single horror element references back to the overarching theme of the film. It's no masterpiece, but it works quite well – especially when you identify the references upon a second viewing.I truly feel sorry for Hollywood fanboys. East Asian cinema already mops the floor with Western cinema in terms of scriptwriting, cinematography, hand-to-hand action sequences, sound, youthful acting talent, and sheer originality (just to name a few). Now, they've given us a fantasy film that mops the floor with the excessively bloated, overrated, self-indulgent twaddle known as Lord of the Rings. Take the ending to Re-Cycle as an example. The finale within the Transit realm is quite simply the most intense, incredible fantasy sequence I've ever seen. I must admit that I've rewatched that scene about 30 times over the past few days. I'm totally, unequivocally ADDICTED to it. It's so much better than any scene in LOTR. Better yet, I didn't have to slug through a bunch of generic characters speaking painfully generic dialogue while walking very, very slowly within vast landscapes for 600 friggin minutes like LOTR. Nor did I have to sit through half a dozen superfluous, drawn-out endings stacked one on top of the other. That might be the formula for winning Oscars and attracting moviegoers who like their fantasy films as vanilla as humanly possible, but I personally like my fantasy films with some – oh, I don't know – emotion. In a nutshell, Re-Cycle elicited some excitement (especially near the end), whereas LOTR stagnated in a realm of perpetual boredom. On a side note, I can't really understand why Oxide Pang is so relentlessly criticized (to the point of unreasonableness) by so many people. It's exceedingly ironic that the people who complain about his scripts are the very same people who shout "masterpiece" when referring to those Japanese horror flicks from the 1960s (which will remain nameless) that have some of the worst scriptwriting in the history of horror cinema. In addition, Oxide's use of camera and sound is exceptional, and probably second only to Ryuhei Kitamura or Christopher Doyle. Nothing this guy does is ever good enough for anyone, even though his movies are better than 90% of everyone else's. Diary, The Detective, Abnormal Beauty, Re-Cycle, The Eye, and Revenge (from the Bangkok Haunted anthology) combine to form the most impressive recent horror/thriller portfolio outside of Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Compare Oxide Pang to any American horror director and guy becomes an instant legend.