Mother Knows Best

I've been a fan of Korean cinema since seeing 2003's A Tale of Two Sisters, so I get really excited any time Korean flicks make their way to our shores. I have yet to see Park Chan-wook's vampire odyssey Thirst, but Bong Joon-ho's Mother has just made it to the top of my list. This is his first feature since 2006's The Host, and from the looks of it Mother has more real-life substance and power. Already being praised as a Hitchcockian masterpiece, Korean television star Kim Hye-ja is poised to freak out overbearing moms everywhere.

Via Flavorwire

Up All Night

When times are tough we turn to fantasy. Vampires, werewolves, zombies - anything to distract us from the misery of reality. Getting chomped by a Viking vampire is way better than catching up on stock market trends... am I right?! The answer is a resounding 'Yes'. This isn't the first time pop culture has been fascinated by the undead. Like fashion and music, pop culture is cyclical and we've once again found ourselves in a dark corner. With the recent arrival of even more vampire fodder (BBC's Being Human, CW's Vampire Diaries), this bloodsucking trend is seeing new heights of saturation. But I'm not complaining, I just want to school some of the young ones. Flashback to 1979, when Academy Award nominated German director Werner Herzog (Aguirre: Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo, Rescue Dawn) reconceptualized the famous 1922 film Nosferatu, for modern audiences. Starring one of Herzog's muses, the bone-chilling Klaus Kinski, Nosferatu The Vampyre still ranks amongst the best vampire films of all time. Herzog's films are dark journeys layered with uneasiness, and this version of Nosferatu blends his style and popular Vampire mythology perfectly. Protect your necks:

The Genius of the Japanese

I'm one of those people that nurtures obsessions. From a really early age I realized that when something captivated me, it was all over - it would become the focus of my existence. It happened when I discovered The Beatles in fourth grade, and listened to 'With The Beatles' over and over again on my yellow Walkman. It happened again after the onset of puberty, when I realized that boys were exceptionally cuter when they had British accents. I became obsessed with everything British - I was the most hardcore anglophile Montreal had ever seen.

My latest longstanding obsession is Japan. It started in college once my status as an anglophile had receded, and I was working at the Fine Arts Library at UofM. I discovered all these books about traditional Japanese tattooing, and Samurai armor and I was hooked. Then came the kicker: Japanese horror movies! I'm thoroughly convinced that the East produces the best horror films in the world. And obviously I'm not the only once since almost every popular Asian horror film of the past few years has been redone in the U.S. (The Ring, The Grudge, One Missed Call, The Eye). Of course the originals always blow the remakes out of the water (sorry Naomi Watts! Love you.)

Next up from Japan is the ridiculously kitschy RoboGeisha. Yes, the film is exactly what you would expect: robotic Geishas with all kinds of killer appendages. Gorey, shocking, and seriously funny.