(2007) ***1/2
A doctor and a group of nurses make some lucrative money on the side by selling body parts on the black market. When one nurse threatens to expose their racket, the decision is made to silence her permanently. Murdering Tahwaan protects their secret and it gives them one more corpse to work with. The plan is executed flawlessly but the one thing they do not count on is… a vengeful ghost! I can feel you rolling your eyes right now and I can’t say I blame you. Vengeful ghost movies have become as formulaic and predictable as a Garfield quote of the day.
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| Oh just shut the fuck up Garfield. |
Sick Nurses is still worth a look even if you feel like Asian ghost movies have nothing left to offer you. One thing that distinguishes it from
One Missed Dark Ring Grudge Water is that despite the scares and extreme violence, the ghost is clearly in the right and you want to see her take down the jerks that killed her. There is little reason to care about her victims after they demonstrated that they have no regard for human life. The characters are a bit cartoonish but not exactly one dimensional. Their back stories and relationship with the doctor are revealed slowly over the course of the film, albeit in a twisted Thai soap opera manner.
But forget that - goddamn, you do not want to wind up on Tahwaan's shit list. She has some vicious ghost powers at her disposal that she brandishes in creatively sadistic ways. Hair has been used as an effective creep-out tool in the past but never quite like this. Additionally she can take over body parts and force people to do terrible things to themselves and each other. I’m being purposefully vague for the sake of a spoiler free review.
If you’re in it for the sexy nurses then prepare to walk away frustrated. Many outraged 14 year old reviewers on Netflix grumbled about the irresponsible lack of nudity. I do find it peculiar that the director goes out of his way to titillate the audience with sexy nurses but stops short of showing skin. One nurse even showers with clothes on.
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| 14 year old minds wanna know: how do her boobs ever get clean? |
This probably has more to do with Thailand’s bizarre censorship laws (that once banned
Schindler’s List because of a nude scene). According to Wikipedia “The censorship Board continues to operate on the 1930 Film Act, where theater owners and broadcasters must submit films that they plan to show to the Film Censorship Board for review.”
Don’t let that deter you.
Sick Nurses is not a must-see classic by any stretch but it is winning blend of gore, dark humor and just plain darkness.
7 comments:
I've had this in my queue for some time and I'm glad to hear that it delivers. Excellent review Mr. Pants, the Garfield reference cracks me up.
Great review. I do feel bad that so many 14 year olds wasted, like 90 minutes of their lives, though.
if i were a director operating in such a country, i'd be sure to shoot a director's cut version of everything just to get my own fix of boobage. submit the tame version to the Ministry of Joykill, and then rake it in with foreign releases of the director's cut.
hell, i'd shoot a director's cut just so *i* could watch it with boobs. i wouldn't even have to release it.
clothed shower scene. pffft. are these Arrested Development characters?
I'm sure they exist, but what other vengeful ghost movies are there in which we know the ghost pre-death and can root for their cause? Sounds pretty damn good!
Nice breakdown, Mr. Pants. I will always want to know about clothed shower scenes in advance.
I haven't totally burned out on Asian horror so I may take a look at this one. Plus I do like the idea of rooting for the ghost.
Also, One Missed Dark Ring Grudge Water is totally going to be the name of my band. In the alternate life where I have a band.
Ha ha! I loved One Missed Dark Ring Grudge Water!
me also fan of one missed dark ring grudge water!
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