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August 8, 2021

The Divine Fury (2019) Movie Review

I actually didn’t plan to write up a review on this film. I wanted to spend the evening watching a Korean horror movie and just enjoy it. WELL…it’s the next day and I’m still thinking about how much I liked the film, despite its few flaws, and wanted to share, okay? STOP ASKING STUPID QUESTIONS!

Anyway…

Since this film just came out a couple of years ago, I will do my best to remain spoiler free. I don’t promise shit, but I’ll try.

The Divine Fury is, at its core, a movie about faith. It’s dressed up with MMA fighting and bare chested healthy young men (*ROWR*), kick ass fight scenes, cool special effects, and a kicking soundtrack. But if you take all that away, it’s about faith. And I think I can even stretch that to say it doesn’t necessarily have to be about faith in one God. It could apply to faith in anything or anyone.

Let me break it down a bit more.

Yong-hu has grown up (movie starts off with him around 10 years old perhaps?) without a mom. She died during childbirth. He and his dad, a local police officer, live out their days as happily as they can. Right off the bat, the issue of faith in God and the power of prayer is established in Yong-hu. He doesn’t understand that even though his dad prayed really hard, Yong-hu’s mom still died. And after his father is severely injured in a hit and run, the local priest tells Yong-hu that if he prays really hard, God will save his dad.

Well, what do you suppose happens?

From that moment on, Yong-hu has no faith, doesn’t believe in God, and every time he sees a cross or some kind of Christian religious symbolism, he flies into a rage. 20 years later that helps with his MMA career, but his soul? Not so much. By holding on to that hatred and anger, he allows demons to surround him at all times. The voice in his head, that he thinks is just his own, is the manipulation demons uses against him.

After suffering from nightmares, Yong-hu develops a stigmata in his right palm. Not sure what to do, his driver suggests a legit shaman – the driver’s niece. She tells Yong-hu he needs to go find a priest at a church not far from his home and he’ll help.

Yong-hu finds the priest during a hella exorcism and ends up helping the older priest on his missions. During all of these, we learn of the Black Bishop, someone who uses religious rights to summon demons. This BB is in town and he’s wreaking havoc. They need to stop him PDQ.

Evil never looked so sexy...

In his journey helping Father Ahn exorcise demons, Yong-hu realizes that his father’s ring, and the energy his father passed along before he crossed over to Heaven, gave Yong-hu some powerful blood that can dispel demons. Handy that he’s got stigmata, amirite? His blood and a little douse of Holy Water sets those demons aflame and back to Hell. So Yong-hu ends up battling the Black Bishop, saving everyone in town from the powers of evil.

 

Now, full disclosure for anyone new, I have a bias toward South Korean television and movies. I’m addicted to K-dramas, to put it bluntly, and Korea does a great job with horror films. So I probably liked this movie more than a ‘normal’ person would. There are flaws here, for sure, but for the most part I could overlook them because I enjoyed so many other aspects of the film.

For the bad: this movie is 2 hours and 15 minutes. No movie needs to be that long, seriously. Not just for the short attention span folks of my generation (I blame MTV) but also just the comfort level. I can’t imagine watching this in a theater. Even from my cozy couch, my back got stiff and I fidgeted a lot to remain comfortable. We didn’t need four to five examples of how the bad guy gets what he wants from the main demon. That was established with two. Didn’t need three to four exorcisms with Father Ahn to understand how taxing and difficult they are. Not exactly sure how the awkward fan interactions with Yong-hu progressed the story in any way (spoiler: they didn’t).


Bitch, I look good.

The CGI was a mixed bag. I always appreciate practical effects when they can be utilized, but I do understand some stuff just has to be done by computer. Unfortunately, some of it was not the highest quality and came off as cartoonish. But some was really cool and certainly enhanced the story. As for the story, most of it is well written and developed. Though there are quite a few trite and cliché moments throughout the film, you quickly forget about them as the action picks up or the character development progresses.

Mostly those were my issues. The story, cinematography, soundtrack, fight choreography, editing, sound, acting, and directing certainly made up for any flaws. Many of these can be subjective (any kind of artistic direction or music choice, for sure) but there’s no doubt as to the acting talent. Park Seo-jun (Yong-hu) shows us a young man consumed with anger toward God who then evolves and can finally let go of that blackness to help those in need. Ahn Sung-ki (Father Ahn) has been acting since he was 5-years old. Though Father Ahn is fighting demons throughout the film, the character is so gentle and patient with Yong-hu, despite the younger man’s vitriol aimed at him.

But I think my favorite actor was Woo Do-hwan (Ji-Sin, aka The Black Bishop). He plays this attractive, smooth, unassuming club owner. His subversive nature, though, is in service of a terrible snake demon and the way he manipulates people to do what he wants is rather unnerving. He has no qualms about removing ANY obstacle and doing what’s necessary to achieve his evil goals. And guess what? He didn’t need to kill the dog to show us. Now, what he does with the dog…I won’t tell you but (and maybe this makes me a monster) it was awesome.

Also his transformation at the end looked pretty fucking tits. From what I could tell, it was practical latex/foam or something to that effect. Looked completely real and natural, you know, as far as a snake demon would look. Even as he pulled off his wet cloak, it looked like a snake shedding its skin. So fucking cool.

So if you enjoy a good versus evil story, redemption films, or demons in general (and who doesn’t??), and you don’t mind reading subtitles (please don’t watch dubbed foreign films if you don’t have to), check out The Divine Fury. You won’t be disappointed.

3.5 Hatchets (out of 5)






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August 1, 2021

Static Age #17: Return of Ultraman (1971 – 1972) [Complete Series 04]




Return of Ultraman (1971 - 1972) BD box art

This Static Age’s spotlight goes to Return of Ultraman (1971 – 1972), ‘On a mission to save Earth, Ultraman has returned’ as per the front cover tagline of Mill Creek Entertainment’s excellent Region A Blu-ray box-set [Complete Series 04], which contains of all 51 episodes in their original Japanese (DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0) with optional English subtitles and a stunning 1080p High-Definition 1.33:1 transfer. The set also comes with a booklet that is featuring an introductory article to the series, and several guides (hero, episode, kaiju, character, and key technology).

 

Although Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) was planning to wrap the Ultra series with its previous installment, fan demand and merchandise sales forced the studio to bring Ultraman back, this time a little different. Fans originally called this version of the hero New Ultraman, but later went with Ultraman Jack.

 

The first episode, ‘All Monsters Attack’ is epic in scope, as Weather awakens all monsters and all hell breaks loose, but it is also a fascinating episode in terms of story as we are introduced to our hero, as well as in terms of visuals especially when director Ishiro Honda opts for psychedelics and weird sci-fi. Ishiro Honda’s second chapter, ‘Takkong’s Great Counterattack’ brings more mayhem as the titular monster is unleashed again. ‘The Monster Realm of Terror’ kicks off with a mysterious monster roar and then it is all about kaiju battles. ‘Fatal Attack! Meteor Kick’ is featuring the awesome Kingsaurus III monster, that Ultraman will be able to defeat only with a special kick. The title of ‘Two Giant Monsters Attack Tokyo’ is self-explanatory, but it should also be added that they resemble nasty cockroaches. The battle continues in ‘Showdown! Monsters Vs. Mat’. The chameleon-like Gorbagos monster makes an appearance in ‘Operation Monster Rainbow’ and MAT will try to defeat it by painting it in the rainbow colors, giving an extra queer touch to the proceedings. ‘Monster Time Bomb’ is about Ghostron a monster with a time-bomb in its body, threatening to explode a dynamite factory! MAT’s New York headquarters develop a special monster detector in ‘Monster Island S.O.S.’. Biology in general and evolution in particular come up front in the eerie ‘Dinosaur Detonation Order’ episode when Stegon, a sympathetic dinosaur fossil comes to life. The Mognezun monster swallowed poison gas in Poison Gas Monster Appears’ and is now far more deadlier. In ‘Revenge of Monster Shugaron’ we’ll get to find out whether the titular monster has a connection with a famous painter or not. In ‘Terror of the Tsunami Monster: Tokyo in Peril’ the Seamons and Seagorath monsters initiate large and deadly waves; the story continues in ‘Terror of the Two Giant Monsters: The Great Tokyo Tornado’. In ‘Revenge of the Monster Boy’ the Eledortus monster gets his power by sucking up electricity! In the eerie ‘The Mystery of Big Bird Monster Terochilus’, unexpected snow and a mysterious red gas cause misery and madness; the story continues in full action mode in ‘Monster Bird Terochilus Big Air Raid of Tokyo’. The Bemstar monster that resembles a flying turtle and that is sucking up gas cannot be defeated by Ultraman, so ‘Here Comes Ultraseven!’. Ultraman returns solo to fight Sartan, a monster that resembles an elephant, in ‘The Invisible Giant Monster from Outer Space’. Ultraman has to fight the Magnedon monster that resembles an alien bull in ‘The Monster is a Shooting Star in Space’. ‘The Monster Channel’ is as eerie as it sounds. Ultraman has to face a trash-eating, web-spitting, and missile-catching monster in ‘Leave this Monster to Me’. In ‘Spit Out the Stars, Dark Monster!’ we are introduced to Zanika, the Cancer monster. In ‘Horror! Birth of the Apartment Monster’, a kid grabs a small part of an alien creature recently destroyed by MAT and nurtures it until it becomes the dangerous Kingstrom monster. ‘Leaving My Home Planet, Earth’ is less about the monster on display, but rather about a kid obsessed with guns.

 

And now, let’s switch our focus towards some recent series…

 

The cast of Penny Dreadful - Season 3
The 3rd season of Penny Dreadful (2014 – 2016) finds Sir Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton), Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett), Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway), and Vanessa Ives (Eva Green) separated in various far away locales around the world, as we are also introduced to Dr. Henry Jekyll (Shazad Latif) and Count Dracula. In the meanwhile Dorian Grey (Reeve Carney) acquires the help of Frankenstein’s monsters and other misfits in order to aid him with the world domination plans that he has.

 

Stunning art from Doctor Who - Season 9
The 9th season of Doctor Who (2005 – present) continues with more adventures of the titular time-lord (Peter Capaldi) and his sidekick Clara (Jenna Coleman). Airplanes are stuck in the sky in ‘The Magician’s Apprentice’, and Clara looks for explanations as well as the Doctor. Clara does find both in ‘The Witch’s Familiar’, but the Doctor has to employ his rock star qualities in order to save the day. The U.K. cultural phenomenon keeps on getting better and better. ‘Under the Lake’ brings The Doctor and his sidekick to a secluded underwater facility, the inhabitants of which live under the terror of the local ghosts; the story continues in ‘Before the Flood’ in which we are introduced to the evil Fisher King and get to question the origin of Beethoven’s 5th symphony. In ‘The Girl Who Died’ we are introduced to Vikings (sometimes I wish today’s people would be as tough as Vikings, because due to us citizens being vanilla, we exchanged our privacy for access to social media, essentially becoming as dumb as to swallow laws that destroy many of workers’ rights and project no sense of reaction to our future being stolen by the ruling class) and Ashildr (Maisie Williams), who in the next episode, entitled ‘The Woman Who Lived’ becomes the beauty in a sort of Beauty and the Beast tale set in 1651 England. ‘The Zygon Invasion’ is about the titular aliens who have integrated well on planet Earth, until some of them betray the mutual trust between them and humans; the story continues with Clara playing a double part in ‘The Zygon Inversion’. By employing the legend of the Sandman as well as shaky video footage, ‘Sleep No More’ is one of this season’s most eerie episodes. The very original ‘Face the Raven’ episode is about a strange number tattoo initiated by a raven and is basically a countdown to the person’s death; the story continues in the excellent one man show episode ‘Heaven Sent’ in which The Doctor has to deal with loss; and the story concludes with the season’s grand finale in ‘Hell Bent’.

 

Knives Out (2019) poster
Also, please allow me to speak a word or two about some recent mainstream films…

 

Knives Out (2019) takes the whodunit genre to exciting horror comedy territory, benefiting from an unconventional, intelligent, and original script by Rian Johnson (who also directed) and a great cast that includes Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, and Jamie Lee Curtis. It comes highly recommended and I can’t wait for the sequels.

 

And finally, I would like to let you know that I enriched my bookshelf with the following additions… Stuart MacBride’s ultra-violent police procedure thriller Flesh House (2020), Stephen King’s kinetic and frenetic Firestarter (1980) and the non-fiction opus Danse Macabre (1981), and six books by Roberto Saviano [Il Contrario della Morte (2007), Il Bellezza e L’inferno (2009), Vieni via con me (2010), ZeroZeroZero (2013), La Paranza dei Bambini (2016), and Bacio Feroce (2017)].


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