Danny and Oxide Pang, Hong Kong filmmakers based in Thailand are probably best known for 2002′ The Eye, a stylish piece of J-Horror (yes I know they’re not Japanese), that has now inspired a Hollywood remake, though 1999′ excellent Bangkok Dangerous also demonstrated they have the chops to tackle grittier gangster films with an imaginative flair. There’ a certain gloss and style, a precocious inventiveness to much of their films, a visual creativity that often overcomes some of their more formulaic material. Re-cycle is similar in this respect, yet it’s also very curious – feeling like an attempt to shake things up. It initially seems to be following in the traditions of The Eye, a stylish horror with plenty of abrupt jolts and cliches, like creepy Asian women with straight black hair and strange supernatural allusions. However there is an abrupt shift (not unlike Dusk Till Dawn), into a totally new realm. We enter a fantastic kind of Alice In Wonderland, Wizard of Oz alternate world, that allows the brothers to go ballistic with remarkable CGI generated imagery. Zombies, decrepit carnivals, and all manner of weird and wonderful objects and creatures inhabit this bizarre post industrial landscapes, a place where all the rules are changed and our heroine doesn’ know who to trust. Obviously it’s not anything that we haven’ seen before, however visually some of the scenes are quite breathtaking. The sound design however is beyond hysterical, so over the top that it must be heard to be believed. There is no restraint such is their desire to give form to the thrills and spills that everything from camera movements to stationary lights have these violent surges of sound – and this is before we enter the mystical other world, It’s dumb Hollywood sound design on steroids, so heightened that you have to believe it’s tongue in cheek. In fact aside from the visual flair of the Pang’, the insanity of the sound design is well worth the price of admission, just try not to gag on the sickening unsubtle right wing twist at the end.
Extra Features:
Trailer
Bob Baker
