Three... Extremes (2004) User Reviews (98)

Some uncomfortable moments with this one

[bonnie91 · 8/10 · 13 March 2006]

This movie is incredibly cruel and unrelenting. It plays as a single feature divided into three sections: "Dumplings", directed by Fruit Chan of Hong Kong, "Cut" directed by Park Chan-Wook of Korea and "Box" directed by Miike Takashi of Japan. Each section is like a dissertation in horror, although "Dumplings" could also be classified as an exploitation film.

All of them are beautifully produced and directed, and I especially found "Box" to be quite lavish in sets, costumes and atmosphere. They each show a lot about the culture of the respective countries they were made in and also provide new takes on the terrifying and the appalling. They are each original in their own right, although "Cut" could be compared to the "Saw" or Hannibal Lecter franchises in that there's a psycho who's trying to get a message across by way of murder and mayhem.

I don't want to give details on the plots of any of them because I think that viewers need to experience them for themselves with no preconceptions going in, but what I can say is that "Dumplings" has the most plot and is probably the one with the highest "squeam" factor, "Cut" covers a rather familiar premise but with lots of fun moments (you'll see) and "Box" is more of an artistic endeavour with not much of a plot, but for some reason I was enthralled and couldn't look away; it's the one I liked the most.

A solid 8 out of 10 for the efforts of these genius Asian directors.

Disturbing and Intense Trio of Horror

[andrew_hawkins · 7/10 · 3 January 2009]

This compilation movie of three horror stories is dark and disturbing. The first story concerns a woman's greed for beauty and the bizarre path she takes to get it. The second story centers on a director who gets held captive by a film extra with an agenda. This leads to torture and a strange game of cat and mouse. The final story regards a writer with a twisted past. This part is surreal and at times awkward in storytelling and direction. I enjoyed this film as a fan of the horror genre. The elements of surrealism and paranormal activity were effective in each story. While the movie did have a relatively slow pace, the intensity of each stories climax made for a fulfilling watch. Recommended for fans of Tales from the Darkside, Tales from the Crypt, The Twilight Zone and admirers of Takashi Miike and Chan-wook Park.

Three short films that are plenty extreme

[christopher-underwood · 7/10 · 19 November 2005]

Three short films that are plenty extreme and if the endings of all three leave us wondering maybe that is good. I did however find the end of Cut more than a little baffling. There again 'unsatisfactory' endings of Eastern films as judged by Westerners is nothing new. All three are beautifully shot with great camera-work and excellent use of colour. I found Miiki's the most perfect if not as much like his usual output as many would like. Park's Cut is a little pedestrian at times but so gloriously over the top and bewildering at others. Dumplings is a little predictable and I am surprised that it is said to still work at 90 minutes as it seems very much a single idea film. It's a good idea though and not without social interest and it has to be said the grossest of the three. The sound of tiny bones being crunched - aagh!! I watched all three on separate occasions, fearing that otherwise they might blur into one another - no fear of that though so I'll watch them again soon, all together. Good effort by all concerned

Fantastic ... simply fantastic

[Splattii · 25 November 2004]

The idea of having Chan-wook Park, Takashi Miike and Fruit Chan as part of the same DVD set is enough to warrant a purchase. This was the sole reason I watched these three shorts.

While Miike's offering was very enjoyable, and had some interesting scenery and Chan's Dumplngs was also very entertaining, Chan-wook Park stole the show in my opinion.

I now wonder if CUT isn't what SAW should have been.......?

Unfortunately I can't speak on the film too much as I could ruin the story, but if you are a fan of either OLDBOY or Sympathy for Mr Vengeance this short IS A MUST. Chan-wook Park continues to impress me with his creativity, and the camera work in this film was GREAT. There are two directors that I currently find to be very interesting, and I will watch anything they produce. Micheal Haneke is one, Chan-wook Park is another.

I have heard rumours of Sympathy for Ms Vengeance, and I can only hope they are confirmed.

This was an easy purchase.

Fone film shorts

[wrlang · 7/10 · 8 August 2006]

3 extremes were 3 short stories about extreme situations. Each story has very different qualities and gave the viewer something to enjoy. Not American style, scream queen, psychobabble laden horror films. More intellectual and artistic as the characters are made to look good rather than deviant. Shorts were you can turn off the subtitles and still understand the plot are hard to come by, but these fit the bill. I wish I could speak the languages of the films because the English translation detracted from the emotional content and context. If you like slasher movies and jump out of your seat scary, pass on these. If you like more artistic, intelligent, and subtle horror films, then these shorts are for you. Some blood and minor amounts of gore. A job well done.

Definitely worth a watch.

[El_Lep · 7/10 · 28 February 2007]

When three famous Asian directors work together to make a three part horror film you know you're in for a good ride. Written by Fruit Chan, Chan –Wook Park and Takashi Miike they each have their own 45 minute slot to make you cringe with fear yet cannot turn away, three films entitled 'Dumplings', 'Cut' and 'Box'. The first film of the three is 'Dumplings', staring one of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World 1998", Bai Ling and Miriam Chin-Wah Yeung. We follow the story of Qing a retired actress trying desperately to win her husbands love back with various anti ageing solutions. When she hears about Aunt Mei's Dumplings are the best things to regain your youthful looks, she knocks on the flat door of the unusually young looking Aunt. After consuming a number of Aunt Mei's dumplings for a couple of weeks she starts to develop some unusual side affects. Because of the great success of this film, the director went on to make a feature length version of 'Dumplings' with a run time of 91 minutes. The next instalment of the three is 'Cut' directed by Chan-Wook Park (famous for his Vengeance Trilogy) and stars Byung-hun Lee and Won-hie Lim. One way to describe this section of the film is the Asian version of 'Saw'. It tells the story of a director on the set of his latest film, but he's not to do work. he has been kidnapped by a jealous extra in his films and put into a life threatening situation, hands bound and a rope around his waist he is set a task, on one side of the room is an abducted girl and on the other his pianist wife, both of them securely tide up. The director must decide to either strangle the little girl, or his wife gets a finger chopped off every five minutes. I had a lot of problems with this story, first of all there were a collection of open flamed candles behind the director, I'm sure he could have used those to burn through the ribbon joining his hands together, and also there was a number of times were the extra came so close to the director that he could have easily swung for him, instead he just listened to him talk. After I put both of those things aside I really enjoyed this short film, it had some very tense parts as well as some strong horror, 15 minutes through you get sucked in and wish it also had a separate feature length. The third and final part is by Takashi Miike (most famous for Audition and Ichi the Killer) his film is called 'Box' this story contains a woman's worst nightmares as they become reality. Staring Kyoko Hasegawa as struggling writer Kyoko, the story mostly focuses on the flashbacks of her childhood when she ran a sideshow act with her sister and father. The shows success is great until the attention comes away from 10 year old Kyoko and onto her sister Shoko; her jealousy causes her to play a nasty trick on her sister that goes horribly wrong. I looked forward to this the most of the three and was the most disappointed, there was hardly any dialogue so most of the film was purely based on assumptions, and it also got quite boring watching the same flashbacks over and over again. On the other hand people that I watched this with found it to be their favourite; I guess it's a love-hate kind of thing.

Over all I give this film 7 out of 10, manly because of the first two films, they each got you involved with the characters and had a great ending, the third made me drop the score by a couple of marks, if they had 'Dumplings' as there final piece I would have enjoyed this film a lot more, a good thing about the films is the length of them, as some of the times you may not have the time to watch a two hour feature you can choose to just watch one of the stories and turn it off afterwards. I do recommend this film to fans of horror or Asian cinema, if not then try something new, this films a good catch and worth watching.

A mixed bag that ultimately disappoints

[Hector_The_Toad · 6/10 · 18 December 2006]

This intriguing showcase of three short films from Asia's primary horror directors is, in most, a hit-and-miss affair ranging from the downright shocking to the disappointing. The series, when watched on the R4 DVD, begins with the Hong Kong segment by maverick Fruit Chan. In classic Cat III form, we are dealt intense subject matter and some scenes of extreme perversity in Chan's 33 minute DUMPLINGS, which revolves around a backyard abortionist who has found an elixir of life in the form of eating fetuses. Some of the set pieces in DUMPLINGS are pretty extreme - the abortion scene is one of the sickest scenes to come out of Asia in 2000s and certainly one of the most perverse set pieces to be commercially released for the Western world. Of lesser extremity is South Korea's segment CUT. Directed by Chan Wook Park of OLDBOY fame, this sees a crazed extra hold a director and his wife hostage, simply because the filmmaker is 'too nice' and makes him look bad. CUT is the most conventional of the three and, save for some quintessentially Asian horror moments, plays out like a slick Hollywood thriller with some Hostelesque torture sequences. Finally there is BOX, the segment I was most looking forward to by famed Japanese horror and yakuza director Takashi Miike, renowned for his overly violent genre pieces. The convoluted plot of BOX circulates an author who has been living as a recluse all her life after the untimely death of her sister. This segment is truly terrible and lets the whole trilogy down. It is so boring, so mind numbingly sublime that it makes the final forty minutes spoil the culminated two hours. Not only do the segments play out from most extreme to least but also from best to worst: DUMPLINGS is the most accomplished and is truly disturbing stuff. If you can find this and Park's episodes individually, jump at the chance, for lovers of Asian horror will not be disappointed. But avoid Miike's BOX at all costs because, for me, it spoiled the whole film.

Wow

[mowskviz · 9/10 · 4 November 2005]

Wow, just went to go see these three shorts last night, which are about 45 mins a piece. I agree that "Cut" was one of the most enjoyable horror experiences I have had since High Tension. Takeshi Miike is probably the biggest name in the Asian horror biz, but I have to say that I miss the style of his earlier work, like Audition and Happiness of the Katakuri's. "Box" was very strange but it leaves little explanation for what has actually occurred, and I wish it delved a little deeper. And oh my! Mr. Fruit Chan, I have never heard of you before last night. "Dumplings" was by far one of the most deranged things I have ever watched. And the sound that was used in this short was was of the most intense, stomach curdling noises that are still sticking with me today. This was a very fun watch, and I am glad I got to see it before it left the theater. My recommendation....don't eat a big meal before you start!!!

Disturbing Horror Shorts

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 29 December 2012]

"Saam gaang yi", a.k.a. "3 Extremes", is composed of three segments

(1) "Dumplings", by Fruit Chan, is the best segment. I saw the complete film ("Jiao Zi") on 25 August 2007 on DVD released in Brazil with the title "Escravas da Vaidade" ("Slaves of the Vanity"). The gruesome tale tells the story of an aging actress that seeks out a mysterious woman that cooks dumplings with a special ingredient that rejuvenates those who eat them. My review is available in http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472458/reviews-21

(2) "Cut", by Chan-wook Park, is a tale of cruelty and insanity. An insane stranger breaks in the house of a film director and ties him up with his wife and a boy in the room. The strange tries to force the director to kill the boy, otherwise he will cut the fingers of his wife that is a pianist.

This segment is very cruel and insane, and has a surprising conclusion.

(3) "Box", by Takashi Miike, is a confused tale. The twenty-five-year- old writer Kyoko has nightmares with a box and also with her sister Shoko. One day, she receives an invitation to visit the place where she saw her sister for the last time.

This segment is messy and predictable, with a disappointing conclusion. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

A disturbingly good movie!!

[t-fukuhara · 9/10 · 5 November 2005]

This is an excellent blend of three horror films that characterize the ideal representation of Asian cinema. Each story is presented with ordinary people displaying qualities of evil and depravity. These directors use powerful cinematic storytelling elements in exploring their genres. This is not an ordinary horror film with a ghost or a slasher/killer with a knife but a combination of people who are capable of psychotic behavior. While all of the films are not perfect and contain some mildly dull aspects, watching all three will leave you intrigued with the art and approach of the horror genre utilized in various countries Asia. If you can hold your stomach through the first film "Dumplings", you will certainly enjoy one of these stories and won't be disappointed. A disturbingly good movie!!

Disturbing and effective, but also rather simple omnibus

[refresh_daemon · 7/10 · 3 February 2007]

Known as Three... Monsters in Korea, where I bought the DVD, Three... Extremes is an omnibus horror film like Twilight Zone: The Movie and similar omnibus horror films, containing multiple shorts, often unrelated, with separate casts and actors.

In this case, we have three notable directors from east Asia: Japanese director Takashi Miike, Hong Kong director Fruit Chan, and South Korean director Chan-wook Park. Each presents their own short visions of horror, although perhaps it's more appropriate to say that although these are horror movies, they are more disturbing than outright frightening.

The first short, entitled Box, by Takashi Miike, relates the story of a young writer who is having some difficulty distinguishing between her dreams and reality. It's the most supernaturally oriented of the three films and the most ambiguous. There are no particularly outright scare moments, but the ambiguity of the story and the elements of the story are why the short can be a little disturbing. Primarily contemplative in nature, it's ambiguity also serves as its foil, as it's hard to draw anything more from the short than simple emotion and a sense of confusion.

The second short, entitled Dumplings, by Fruit Chan, is undoubtedly the most disturbing of the three. The film actually deals with some particularly relevant issues, particularly the things that we do to be considered attractive and to return to former glory, but the means by which the film makes such a commentary is very unpleasant. I'd have to say that it's a pretty effective film, but certainly not enjoyable. I've discovered that a longer 90+ minute version of this film exists as well and it'd be interesting to do a study comparing the two--if I could ever handle watching it again.

The final short, entitled Cut, by Chan-wook Park, is the the most lively and comical of the works. Wrapped in a maniacal revenge story is a comment about the nature of evil, in particular, the reasons for which evil is committed. It's certainly the most glossy of the films, utilizing CGI effects, an elaborate set and dynamic camera-work. The short is weakened by the ending, which doesn't appear to be prompted or meaningful, and we can only guess at the reasons for which the ending occurred the way it did.

All in all, the three shorts are fairly effective works and compose a whole by their disturbing nature. There is nothing particularly compelling, also Dumplings does make a particularly strong effort and Cut is particularly vibrant, if a little shallow. Either way, if you're looking to see three notable east Asian directors give their disturbing short takes on horror, this is almost as good a place as any to see it. 7/10.

Excellent Anthology, Must See

[Indyrod · 9/10 · 18 February 2005]

watched "Three... Extremes" last night, and it was insanely good. All three stories I thought were very thought provoking, and again a little frustrating. Here's a short review...

Box-Takashi Miike (Japanese Language) This is a nightmarish tale of a woman's horrifying dreams becoming reality, but then again, maybe not. That's the difficulty with this story, there is so much surrealism, that it's hard to tell. I liked the story, some of which was very frightening. The ending however is completely totally bizarre, and it totally left me clueless as to what Miike intended for the viewer to take away from this, if anything. This is the weakest of the three stories, but still very interesting and definitely requires multiple viewings.

Dumplings-Fruit Chan (Chinese Language) This little story is my favorite of the bunch and also very very disturbing and pretty gruesome. Not because of gore or anything like that, but because of the subject matter. It's no secret or spoiler that this movie is about vanity and a women's need to enhance her physical appearance to try and win her husband back from his whoring around. It concerns as most of you know, the grisly meat a former lady abortionist uses to treat her rich clients vanity needs. This movie made me squirm on more than one occasion as the woman chomps down on the dumplings with a wicked crunching sound of tiny bones. This story has a lot of humor but it is very dark and totally black humor. Some may call it totally sick humor, and all would apply in my opinion. The ending is very confusing for me, especially one particular scene and I hope somebody explains it to me. I'm not talking about the grand finale, where the leading lady commits the ultimate gross-out, but the scene with all the blood where some guy has been attacked by a women. This appears to happen at the apartment of Aunt Mei, and then it shows her packing up and leaving. What was that all about? Who was the woman covered in blood, and the guy that was attacked? Anyway, the grand finale as Ching looks directly into the camera and commits what must be THE ultimate sin is flat out creepy as hell. Excellent short story, and now I'm thinking whether I need to see the extended version.

Cut-Chan-wook Park (Korean Language) Now this is one gruesome story, which revolves around a movie director (Lee) and a former extra of his that's gone completely insane and terrorizes the director and his wife at their home. Park's short story touches on adultery, relationships, regret, fame and childhood memories - as well as featuring amputation, torture, child abuse, and a crazy set - as Lee and his kidnapper spar until the shocking (but not altogether satisfying) end. In fact, the ending is the only bad part about this otherwise intriguing story. This is the most graphic of the three stories, and the most brutal. But the twists and turns that happen towards the end, tend to confuse the whole story. Nevertheless, this is a great little horror movie, and now I'm very hyped to watching my new DVD of Park's "Oldboy".

Summary This is one of the most entertaining dvds in the horror genre to come out of Asian for a long time. With three short movies totally over two hours, it makes a great evening of demented entertainment by three exotic filmmakers. The second disc which contains a text portion which explains the plot of each story, and then a "Making Of" extra for all three stories is very good. It's always interesting to see how these directors work and the interviews with the actors is excellent. The other thing I found interesting with this package, is that each movie is in a different language which intrigues me. Since I'm watching so many Asian movies recently, I find the languages of the Chinese, Korean, and Japanese to be so different, but then again similar. This is especially true with "Cut" which has the psycho maniac speaking in a totally different Korean dialect which is almost funny to me being a Westerner, and the other actors speaking in the standard Korean language. Not sure why they did that, but the interview with the actor playing the psycho said he had a very hard time learning and speaking that interesting dialect. I had to watch several parts of each movie over again after I finished the first viewing, because it's pretty hard to figure out what the hell's going on with one viewing. I'll never forget those chilling eyes of Ching in the closing scenes of "Dumplings" and that crunching sound as she enjoys her latest and most extreme serving of dumplings. yum yum........

Mixed Reviews, But Makes an Impression Nonetheless – 6, 8, 7

[jimboduck · 7/10 · 22 December 2005]

I saw this Asian trilogy of terror a couple days ago with my buds, the Oscillator and Mr. VMU. The Oscillator was impressed by the Japanese one. Mr. VMU liked the Chinese one. My favorite was the Korean one. That makes three viewers, each liking a different segment of the trilogy. As a litmus test, it just goes to show that different people are always coming from different perspectives. Without a doubt, THREE EXTREMES will elicit three distinct reactions from your tripartite gut. What else would you expect from a trilogy where each short film comes from a different country?

First of all, I thoroughly enjoyed the juxtaposition of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese cultures, and I hope to see more in the future. What would I recommend for future CKJ trilogy releases? Horror might be the genre to stick with, maybe something set in medieval Asia, warlord style. Maybe something with Genghis Khan and Francis Ford Coppola vampires. But before I get carried away, I had better check whether THREE EXTREMES made money at the box office. I'm supposing that it did not.

Dumplings (6.0) Fruit Chan, director of Public Toilet

Both the Oscillator and Mr. VMU were impressed by the shock value in the first installment. I agree, some of the scenes strike the nerve like cold lightning, but I wanted more shock. There seemed to be a lot voodoo floating around, what with the cursed fetus and all, but it pretty much went over my head. I have to admit, I'm not up to speed on my Chinese voodoo. Unlike the latter two short films, Dumplings features select scenes taken from a longer full-length movie. I think watching the whole movie would fill in some of the holes where I was plain lost. What are these dumplings supposed to do? Why don't they work? Who are these people?

Cut (8.0) Chan-Wook Park, director of Oldboy

The Korean installment features some lengthy sermons. The villain goes off ranting about the nature of society, so on and so forth, as the bound Byung-Hun Lee listens helplessly. I got kind of bored by the speeches myself, but after THREE EXTREMES was over, I realized that I liked Cut the best out of the three. It reminded me of the existential plays that Tom Stoppard used to write. The symmetrical film has four characters, two of which are bound and gagged. The weird, absurd situation produces a cozy environment where we can explore both the humor and terror behind psychosis. As Sartre said himself, hell is other people.

Box (7.0) Takashi Miike, director of Iishi the Killer, Audition, Visitor Q

I have a feeling that Miike is the main reason most people come to watch THREE EXTREMES. Besides, who really prefers Chinese or Korean movies over Japanese film anyway? Box is slow and quiet. That's all well and good, but during the whole installment I was waiting with breathless anticipation for needle-point shock. I'm sad to say that, there is no shock. Most of the terror comes from hidden uneasiness as opposed to in-your-face grotesqueness. I really wanted to see the bag monster from Audition. Thus "Box" gets a lot more interpretive than I had hoped for, and that means it gets boring. I am also not a fan of Atsuro Watabe, the male lead. His acting is annoying, and more often than not gets on my nerves more than the coat-hanger does.

JY

Jimboduck-dot-com

Super boring

[MagicMurderFan · 3/10 · 21 April 2020]

Dumplings- meh. You learn the "secret" right away with zero follow up. It was meh. Like a tales from the crypt with no lesson. Cut- was just f%#?ing stupid. Just gross and dumb. I guess they were trying to be profound and horrific. Fail on both accounts. Box-I was more distracted by the grossly oversized shoes on the actress. By that point I was exhausted. Sadly, I'm on quarantine and I still couldn't force myself to finish this trifecta of low budget weirdness. Too bad too, because I love finding these weird little gems. This however is not one.

The Third One Matters

[tedg · 24 January 2008]

I wonder what is behind projects like this. I suppose because it is easy to attract talented filmmakers to do a 45 minute project. Such a thing is usually under our expectations of "long form" meaning that the cinematic effect can be direct and uncomplicated.

I thought "Eros" was extremely interesting in the freedom it gave its directors. Three men usually obsessed with elaboration were freed from that expectation and could give a poem rather than a novel.

The results here are mixed though. That's because Asian horror is often never long form at all. Its one scene extended for a long time and surrounded by explanation.

The disk that came to me had "Dumplings" by Chan first, then "Cut"and "Box" last.

Dumplings was for me the most fascinating. I'm challenged when I see multiple versions of something and among the most interesting of these is two versions of the same film by the same filmmaker. I had seen the extended "Dumplings" which I assume was filmed at the same time and simply edited differently. It had a completely different feel to it in the long version. The unsettling thing about that was that it was more real. The sound effects of the eating and the copulation were identical, a remarkable effect.

In this version, its more otherworldly, and there is one special effect at the end that underscores this and for me took all the horror out of what the woman was doing at the time. Its still Chan and why I watched the disk.

Second up was something from Korean Chan-wook Park I know only his "Old Boy" which is a remarkable mix of junk and genius. The setup here is mostly on the junk side. You can skip it if you watch movies the way I do.

The amazing surprise for me was Takashi Miike's "Box." I was very impressed with "Audition," but for some reason haven't followed up. He's amazingly prolific and it seems that he doesn't think things through before he starts. But this little thing is nearly perfect.

Its a Japanese ghost story with a twist that makes it even more sharp. Its cinematic at its center. You can literally watch it with no voice. Its beautiful, and I will include a few of its scenes in my list of films that handle fabric architecturally. (In this case that includes plastic sheets.)

Its folded in the way I study. It involves three persons, a family. Performers. It involves them performing for audiences and each other, connected by performance, sex, kinship. We have performances of all these types, dreams, visions, hallucinations all neatly nested within each other. Physically, you will see that "in a box" will have several meanings, along the lines of groundhog day (so as not to spoil it), body, enclosing space and spiritual being.

It really is perfect and lovely and haunting. You will watch it over and over.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Three Directors, Three Stories, Three Visions, Three Extremes.

[Matt_Layden · 7/10 · 11 March 2006]

Three...Extremes is a film with three different stories being told. Dumplings, Cut and Box. All of which have a horrific tale routed in it's story.

Three extremes take two talented directors and one unknown (from my perspective anyway) and let them carve their own original piece of a puzzle that fits together in Three...Extremes. While I'm still impartial to Miike, he does have talent. He has beautiful imagery in his films, it's just that they also tend to have some story lacking. With his short, BOX, Miike gets you to think about what the outcome is going to be. His films are always twisted in some kind of way and asks the audience to look deeper into what they just saw. With BOX, he ultimately disappoints with the ending. Cut, the second short directed by Park has an uncanny resemblance to "SAW", as some might say. It deals with the psycho kidnapping someone and getting them to play a game, or someone dies.

CUT was my favourite segment out of the three and throws the viewer a curve ball at the conclusion. Which leads you to believe one of two things. Do you believe the events that you just saw and take them as face value, or is there some mind tricks at play. Finally, the first short actually, is Dumplings from Fruit Chan. A name I never heard of but would like to hear more of. Dumplings doesn't have the edge that CUT has, or the beautiful images that BOX has, but it does have the disturbing factor. Which lands Dumplings in the good books.

CUT is my favourite segment and Park did a great job at hinting that the film is not EXACTLY what it seems and it has the "oh so cool" factor that this film needed. BOX, being the second film that I've seen from Miike still leaves me in the grey with him. I want to seek out more of his work, but am hesitant because it hasn't impressed all that much. BOX isn't all that bad, it's just not all that good and the viewer feels cheated by the end. Some might feel the same with CUT and be left very confused with the actions of some characters, but it worked out it's in favour for some strange feeling.

I'm going to let the cat out of the bag and tell you what Dumplings is about...eating aborted fetuses. Gross? Yes. Disturbing? Yes. Why did I like such a thing? Fruit handled it very well, I have yet to see the full cut of the short but it leaves me wanting to know more. The ending...again with these endings, left me very confused. What was with the tongue? It didn't flow with the rest of the film? Is she human?

Finally, if you're a fan of Asian cinema, give this a little taste test. It's three for the price of one, and you'll get some sort of enjoyment out of at least two of them. If you're the type that is uneasy hearing the crunching sounds of a women eating an aborted fetus, you might want to skip these and look for Bambi.

KungFu_tse, here's my reply

[chernhwei · 7/10 · 6 November 2005]

I've seen the 90 minutes version of "Dumpling", it's much better. And I think it will tell you more than what you saw on screen. I never think it ended too abruptly. The director had already passed on the message he wants to tell. And PLEASE, NEVER suggest a Hollywood remake! Hollywood only rapes Asian horror flicks with screwed-up remakes!! Look at The Ring, look at The Grudge and Dark Water. My goodness!! There are always some flaws in movies, Hollywood ain't perfect! They made so many stupid movies every year. So do you suggest Asia to remake all of them? What I would say is, Asians have more heart in making movies, rather than Hollywood. Even a lot of European movies are much better!

3 different styles of horror and all good

[saraccan · 7/10 · 1 April 2018]

This is a 3 part anthology horror movie. Dumplings, Cut and Box.

They turned Dumplings into a feature film after releasing this but i saw that first and it was very good so this one felt kinda incomplete cause it was just a very short version of that. (I highly recommend it). Its about a woman who makes dumplings from unborn baby fetuses and sells them to aging women that wants to stop their aging.

Cut was pretty captivating. A movie director and his wife are held hostage by an extra. He is pissed off about how unfair life is.

Box was probably my favourite out of the three. A tragic story about a magician and his two young gymnast assistants.

Three unique visions of horror.

[lewiskendell · 8/10 · 14 September 2011]

Three...Extremes is an anthology of three horror films by three respected Asian directors. 

"Dumplings" - Directed by Fruit Chan

In Dumplings, an actress who has entered middle age and begun to lose the attention of her husband to an affair with a younger woman visits Aunt Mei, an old woman who still has the looks of her youth. Aunt Mei has a secret recipe that makes anyone look years younger, but such an unnatural benefit comes from a truly abominable source. I found Dumplings to be absolutely stomach-churning. A horror movie that doesn't even attempt to scare you, but actually tries (and succeeds, in my case) to horrifying you. Not for the squeamish. Even the sound effects eventually became almost more than I could bear. Disturbing and entertaining. - 8/10

"Cut" - Directed by Chan-wook Park

A talented director and his wife are taken captive by a murderous, utterly insane movie extra. Cut is darkly comedic, utterly absurd, and far more meta than the other movies in this collection. It took me a while to figure out whether I liked it or not, but by the end of the segment, I was won over. Like Dumplings, Cut isn't frightening in the conventional sense. Instead, it's flat-out zany (in a good way). - 7/10

"Box" - Directed by Takashi Miike

The most haunting of the three segments. Box is about a jealousy-fueled tragic accident involving two young sisters. The surviving sibling suffers from suffocating (literally) dreams and disturbing visions of her deceased sibling, even years later as an adult. Box is probably the creepiest of the three, and it has a psycho-sexual aspect to it that makes the whole thing even more unsettling. Definitely more of an atmospheric, "mood" movie than the other two. - 8/10

I liked all three segments, as well as the movie as a whole. I found Dumplings to be the most effective/entertaining, but I recommend the entire anthology. The three short films are not only memorable and very different from one another, but they're also fairly unique among the other horror movies that I've seen. 

Overall - 8/10

It makes the cut thanks to the Cut

[gridoon2024 · 6/10 · 22 October 2016]

This hyped-up Asian horror "event" certainly lives up to its name: nothing is off limits, not fetus cannibalism, not incest, not dismemberment! The film is uneven: out of the three stories, "Dumplings" is simply repulsive and "The Box" is frightfully pretentious, but "The Cut" is a stunning, uncomfortable masterpiece of sickness and blacker-than-black humor. I really couldn't believe what I was seeing, but I couldn't look away for a second. That's why I think the original Asian-release order of the three episodes is preferable to the American order: it saves the best for last, giving you something to look forward to. My ratings (out of 4) would be ** for "Dumblings", *1/2 for "The Box", and ***1/2 for "Cut".

wow a really good and mind blasting movie

[gizoune7 · 10/10 · 25 November 2004]

more a drama than a horror movie, dumplings is so wonderfully acted that his strange subject have become believable and disturbing . The picture is astonishing ,the color perfectly fit the backgrounds so that it creates a special atmosphere. for the fans of gore don't't suspect a lot of goo. But still, a couple of scenes will disturb you.. Very intelligent, this movie provides a lot of thinking; incest, abortion, cannibalism and the search for youth are the topics approached. Those taboos will make you see horrible things that happens in everyday's life around the globe. The use of the incredible music is done with professionalism so it helps a lot on the spooky mood of certain scenes.

The end pour vrai là.

Liked each segment individually

[KineticSeoul · 7/10 · 10 September 2010]

This is basically a film of three stories in one movie, each of them being creepy and bizarre and each of them being around 45 min. The first segment is my least favorite and yet the most messed up one out of the three about some women that eats dumplings, except the ingredients are from dead infants. But for the most part it was boring, there is a longer whole movie version from this segment with a different ending from what I heard. That I didn't check out yet, but probably better than the shortened version. The second segment is my favorite out of the three, everything about it was intense and interesting. Especially the mind games the director and the stranger play against each other, it was a great horror experience. Some may compare this to "Saw" movies, but this short segment is much better than most "Saw" movies, and Park Chan-wook Park did a great job with this. Some complain because the characters were not likable, but it just shows that everyone makes mistakes and I personally didn't dislike the characters from a few mistakes they made in the past, except the stranger. The segment the "Box" is my second favorite although it doesn't really explain what is going on deeply and leaves it up for the audience to decide. It is also the strangest segment out of the three and subtle. Now that I think about it I actually kinda liked how it left things unsure, like a dream and left it up for the audience to decide. I like one more than the other, but liked each segment individually and is pretty darn good as a package.

7.8/10

Three Short Films By Three Talented Asian Directors

[EVOL666 · 8/10 · 10 October 2005]

A short synopsis and vote on each of the 3 films in THREE...EXTREMES:

BOX (Takashi Miike) - Kyoko is haunted by the accidental death of her sister. She has severe nightmares and has a hard time differentiating between her nightmares and reality. How much of what Kyoko envisions is dream, and how much is reality... 7 out of 10

DUMPLINGS (Fruit Chan) - centers around a woman who uses a sickening "special ingredient" for her dumplings, which causes age-reversing effects in those that eat them... 8.5 out of 10

CUT (Park Chan-Wook) - A film director who apparently lives the "ideal" life, is thrown into a hellish nightmare when he is confronted by one of his previous employees... 8.5 out of 10

I enjoyed THREE...EXTREMES for the most part. Each film had a unique style and vision, and all were good in their own way. I preferred BOX the least because it was the most slow and plodding, and it was the one I could make the least sense of. In fact all 3 films have strange, abstract endings that leave a lot open to individual interpretations. I have read many peoples ideas on the endings of each of these films, and many reviewers have some decent insights - but I still think it's up to the individual to take what they will from these films. Also, BOX has the "creepiest" atmosphere, but the least actual violence. DUMPLINGS had a very sickly humorous, almost exploitative feel to it. In fact, the whole time I was watching it, I was thinking "This would have made a great premise for one of the mid-90's Hong Kong Cat III films"- it just had that sort of feel to it. DUMPLINGS, in my opinion, had the most "squirm-inducing" scenes, although they were not extremely graphic and mostly implied, and were apparent due to the subject matter of the film. CUT had a good story and a decent amount of gore (though nothing "too" out-there...)and really just needs to be viewed to be "understood".

All the films in THREE...EXTREMES have some decent things going on, although as much as I like a lot of Miike's work, BOX just didn't do a whole lot for me - but DUMPLINGS and CUT were definitely worth the price of admission for these films. 8/10 overall - definitely recommended

Dumplings is worth the package alone

[amonteirojr · 7/10 · 3 January 2018]

I think this short story is a masterpiece, smart, provocative, very well acted and directed, and wonderfully shot by freaking Roger Deakins, it reminded me of the best body horror from Cronenberg, it was successful enough to get a stand alone full lenght version but, even with the same people involved, felt bloated and unnecessary but maybe it's because I was spoiled by this one.

The other stories aren't bad, Miike's ghost story is competent but was disappointing because he was so restrained, Park Chan's segment is more interesting and wild but also a bit of a disappointment, despite my criticisms overall this is one of my favorite horror anthologies, it's only that I hold these directors in such a high standard that I always expect more.

Three....Extremely boring segments!

[susamoy_blood · 1/10 · 26 May 2011]

Simply a piece of monkey cr@p! This movie is nowhere near a Horror movie. Yeah...u can try to frighten a kid or mentally handicapped person. Maybe the director & the writer was high on weed...then they made this movie. I had a high expectation & ended up reviewing this junk!

Don't waste ur precious time...if u're looking for some horror movie. better watch some Japanese horror. This movie is a wanna be art-film (not even that much thrilling)...I assure u...even Scooby-doo is more scarier than this one!

Take care Susamoy