The Exorcism of Cha So-mi: Devils Stay (2024) Review

Director: Hyun Moon-Seop

Notable Cast: Park Shin-Yang, Lee Min-Ki, Lee Re

Within the last year or two, Korean cinema has seen a small boom of quality horror films, with the likes of Sleep, Metamorphosis, and even this year's standout in genre, Exhuma, all leaping to mind. Needless to say, quality fluctuates for the genre in South Korea, just as it does with any other country, but horror seems to be making a big comeback that we haven't seen from the region since the early 2000s, and I'm here for it. This year alone, I've seen quite a few Korean horror films, and I've enjoyed my time with each to varying degrees, but where does the latest religious-based themed horror Devils Stay land? Well, I'd say it is a good time, but it certainly has a bit of a bumpy presentation overall as a film, which I hope to express my thoughts on here.

The Action We Knee-d: Striking Rescue (2024) Review

Director: Cheng Siyi

Notable Cast: Tony Jaa, Chen Duo-Yi, Eason Hung, Xing Yu, Philip Keung Ho-Man, Yu Bolin, Mao Fan

 

Although Tony Jaa has seen his fair share of little cameos or more minor secondary roles throughout the years, lately, he’s taken chiefly roles as part of an ensemble or as a second lead to someone else. Were the days of a Tony Jaa lead film already over?

Well, if there’s any industry that can revitalize a career in action with minimal risk and maximum reward, it’s the damn Chinese streaming industry. So, in a strange twist of fate, it’s not flirting with Hollywood that would reignite Jaa’s leading man career, but it’s a straight-to-streaming action flick like Striking Rescue. Not that this one is going to find a ton of new fans, but it’s definitely going to light the fire for a lot of action fans with its blend of baseline action drama, brutal action beatdowns, and a very shouty, darkened performance by our leading hero, the hero of elbows and knees. Striking Rescue is the kind of film his fan base has been asking for - light on plot, heavy on beatdowns.