Apartment 1303
When The Ring, (that is the original Japanese version and not the American remake,) was released it set a precedent for all horror movies. Japan and Tartan Asian Extreme basically turned around and said “Hey America, here is the bar, come join us.” The brutal, scary and sometimes weird movies such as Audition, The Eye and Dark Water could not be out done by modern (I said modern) movies; even when they try to remake. And boy, do they try to remake.
(That's from the Author. Not the dirctor or screenplay writer...from the author.)
2007 film Apartment 1303 hops on the bandwagon a little too late. Apartment 1303 (ooooooo 13….unlucky,) is about an apartment where every resident has jumped to their death. When Sayaka falls during a celebration of getting the flat, her sister Mariko hops on the cliché and sets out to prove that her sister’s death wasn’t a suicide. And yes, you guessed it. It wasn’t. Something spooky is going on and it is up to Mariko to seek the truth before someone else gets offed by….dum dum dum..Apartment 1303.
Why is it bad?
(This is how the produces got the actors involved. Ghost scripts.
OH NO! WAIT GHOST TYPE WRITERS!)
Because it is. Everything about this movie is terrible. The plot is an over-used yarn that is predictable to the very last “mother hated daughter” back story. The whole film is filled to the brim with worn out horror devices. Scary children? Cops who believe but still aren’t sure? A “shocking” ending? Yes, yes and thrice yes! Apartment 1303 throws all of this in with ridiculous acting, bad CGI and special effects. Nothing here to entrances you to the film or makes you care about the characters. The acting is so hammed up that you can’t take anything seriously; which would work if the directors and producers weren’t taking them seriously (like Scream did before them.) What’s worse is that it isn’t scary. The final reveal of the spectre isn’t spine chilling as Sakura was. There are little jumps here The apparition (after scratching her leg,) even attacks with hair. WITH HAIR!
(all because she wasn't worth it.)
Why is it good?
It’s not. In fact, nearly the whole thing goes from mildly ok to excruciatingly bad to watch. Damn near every scene is tripe. And it’s hilarious for it. It strolls merrily into the “so bad it is good” because ten minutes in, you have to laugh at it. But the main reason I am urging you to go and find yourself a copy of this movie (I don’t care how,) is for one scene and one scene only; the climatic party scene. Huh? I here you ask. Let me explain. In the course of Mariko running around after ghosts and newspaper clippings, the sleazy landlord who is still renting out the apartment (because he is sleazy) gives it to a few students. Cue a party where, lo and behold, the ghost appears! When Mariko arrives, three girls are clinging for their lives from the balcony. One by one fall off. The deaths are so horrifying…for their bad uses of CGI. The best death comes when the final girl hits the tree and ricochets into a tail spin off a tree. I nearly wet myself rewinding that.
After that, you can’t help but have some fondness for the film. It is atrocious but hey, it’s good fun. And yes, the main hilarity happens at the end (1 hour and 19 minutes in) so you have to sit through the rest. But it is worth it for the giggles.
I’d go watch it before you see the American remake starring Mischa Barton. Because unfortunately, their CGI won’t be this bad.
The movie will be though…
(She just saw the original.)
TTFN
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