Product Details

• Actors: Lau Siu-Ming, Lawrence Chou, Lee Sin-Je, Zeng Qiqi, Rain Li
• Directors: Danny Pang, Oxide Pang Chun
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: Cantonese
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Image Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: September 30, 2008
• Run Time: 109 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001BEK860
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #82,330 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Genre: Foreign Video - Other
Rating: R
Release Date: 23-SEP-2008
Media Type: Blu-Ray

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where the lost things go, August 29, 2008

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Re-Cycle [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

Imagine a dimension where all things that have been discarded and abandoned go -- broken toys, unwanted babies, the forgotten elderly, even fictional characters who never made the cut.

After a run of relatively disappointing movies, Danny and Oxide Pang return with a vengeance in "Re-Cycle," a hauntingly vivid journey that sends Angelica Lee into such a world. This is not your typical Asian horror movie with ripoffs of "The Ring" -- this is a dark fantasy journey into a ghastly, bittersweet otherworld full of secrets and lost things, like a Lewis Carroll horror story.

Ting-Yin (Lee) is a bestselling author riding high with her "My Love" trilogy, which is being adapted into a movie. Her next book, a horror novel named "Re-Cycle," is announced as well.

All seems perfect, save for an ex-boyfriend (Lawrence Chou) who has just divorced his wife and wants back. And when Ting-Yin starts writing "Re-Cycle," she starts glimpsing a strange long-haired woman in her apartment -- and ends up inadvertently wandering into a desolate, ruined city full of zombies, stairs, creaking carnivals and masked children. It's a dimension of the discarded, and it stretches through nightmarish forests, cities, fields and decaying bridges filled with witchlight.

When she's attacked by ghouls, Ting-Yin is rescued by a little girl who offers to help her get back home. After consulting with an old man in a vast library, Ting-Yin is told that she must find the Transit that leads back to her world. But Ting-Yin and the little girl Ting-Yu -- who seems strangely familiar to her -- are being pursued by a strange faceless woman, who is determined to keep Ting-Yin there forever

"Re-Cycle" is a very different movie from anything the Pang Brothers have done before -- it's fantasy rather than straight horror, and more in the vein of a grimier "Mirrormask" or a more horrific "Pan's Labyrinth." You could even consider it a sort of nightmarish "Alice in Wonderland," if Notsowonderland were populated by zombies, ghouls, fetuses and the occasional weird little old man.

For the first twenty minutes, "Re-Cycle" looks pretty much like a standard Asian horror movie, with a black-haired woman darting around in the shadows and lots of weird occurrences. But when Ting-Yin wanders into this other world, suddenly things become pure dark fantasy, and this rather generic character blossoms as she becomes close to little Ting-Yu.

And the Pangs' direction is pretty brilliant. They flood the skies with strangely coloured light, and give the fields and cities a mummified, dead feeling. There's not a lot of dialogue in this movie, which makes the vivid imagery all the more important -- we travel from a land of crumbling buildings and grotesque forests to sunny fields and floating mountains. It's poisonous, yet somehow still beautiful.

Yet there are also moments of whimsy, such as Ting-Yu riding in to the rescue on a giant toy horse. And while there's some straight-out horror like the faceless woman and the whole fetus cavern scene, the Pangs also imbue some scenes with poignancy. One particularly heartbreaking scene takes place among the elderly who were neglected and forgotten, and who plaintively hold up their hands to Ting-Yin in hopes of receiving a grave flower.

Angelica Lee is the glue that holds this movie together -- rather than doing the standard horror performance of running around looking scared, she gives a subtle, layered performance with moments of dread, surprise, tension, sorrow and love. And Yaqi Zeng gives a magnificent performance as the mysterious Ting-Yu, who has a heavily foreshadowed connection to Ting-Yin. Their final scene together is utterly heartbreaking, yet somehow satisfying.

The ending is a bit of a brain-twister, though. It makes sense in a bizarre way, given what has been written before, but it feels vaguely incomplete and leaves you wondering just what will happen next.

"Re-Cycle" is a haunting, horrifying ride through a strange world where the abandoned things end up, and shows the Pang Brothers in top form. Not your typical Asian horror flick.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I'm Glad I own it inspite of its flaws, December 9, 2008

By 

bunnyrabbit4 (New Orleans, LA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Re-Cycle [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

THE PROS....
This film starts out with some of the best chill/thrill/ photography that I have seen in a long time. It also works off the stark beauty of the lead actress whose subtle emotional displays are frequently seen in close up. Blu-ray is usually showcased with nature scenes, but its ability to capture the human face is what most interests me. The special effects here are also beautiful and run seamlessly along side of a variety of camera and editing techniques. It is a feast of the small stuff done well, like chopping a few seconds of film out of an action sequence to create a feeling of dimensional shift and unreality. Each scene is artistically framed for maximum effect. Especially in the begining of the film, the edits literally keeping you jumping. Elements of traditional Asian masks are blended with simple make up techniques to keep the film from becoming bogged down with too much flashy CGI. Often I find that CGI films have one or two scenes that everyone talks about and once you've seen them the funs over. This film uses a variety of subtle color shifts, camera movements and sets to approach each scene with a fresh cinematic voice. Speaking of voice, you really don't have to worry about the film being in Cantonese. Once the films gets going there is minimal dialog.

THE CONS....
I was so visually engaged by the film that I did not began to worry about the plot until the last 15 or 20 minutes. Even after the social issue theme intruded on what had been a very good visual ride, the film managed to shift gears again at the very end and give me something to mull over as the credits rolled. But that last 15 could have been so much better. If I could edit this film I would take out a jarring, sugary sweet montage sequence near the end. I felt like it removed me too far from the film's psychological edginess. Exiting the lead character from her strange world while her pain over a loss was at its zenith would have made the film and last few minutes work much better. Horror films that seek to send moral or emotional messages frequently make this kind of mistake since the message is invariably part of the plot resolution. I agree with another reviewer that the script deserves a three, but the photography and CGI are 5 star. I can't wait to share this one with friends.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Spectacular Visuals, but....., August 26, 2009

By 

Robert S. "geek hipster" (Luray, VA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Re-Cycle [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

Ting Yin is writing a new book about the supernatural called RECYCLE. As she begins writing, the world of RECYCLE starts to come alive, and as she journeys from the real world into this decaying reality where what we abandon goes, she sees many incredible and disturbing sights.

It's ambitious, but it just doesn't work. This film can't seem to decide whether to scare or amaze, and though it does the latter very well in several scenes (the alleyway filled with amusement park rides was breathtaking) it doesn't save it from embarrassments like the cave of abandoned fetuses, or the cheap looking zombie hoards... cringeworthy! And even when the visuals are high quality and evocative, the synthesized score overpowers any quiet eeriness they're trying to convey and makes the action seem cheesy and comic.

If this film had been shorter, had less (or just NO) dialogue, and a better score, it would've made a nice art movie.