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Khemjira (Thai Series)

I honestly think this might be the first time I’ve actually enjoyed a proper horror BL. I’ve checked out a few others in the past, but they usually felt a bit unpolished or amateurish—I can’t even remember their names, to be honest. This one is definitely a slow-burn rather than a fast-paced romance, tucked away inside a world of supernatural mysteries and fantastic secrets. You can tell the production is high-quality and well-researched; it feels like the creators really pushed themselves to give the audience something fresh. If you’re into BLs mixed with suspense and ghost stories, this is right up your alley. Just a heads-up: it’s a massive time investment. There are 12 episodes, each over 75 minutes, and the finale is basically a two-hour movie. The story follows Khem, a young guy in his twenties whose life is getting harder by the second because of a heavy family curse that lets him see ghosts. There’s this terrifying rule in his family where the boys don’t live past age 20, so hi...

¡Corten! (Spanish) [Cut!]

I am not sure how to review this film. A self-spoof of sorts, the film never takes itself seriously even for a second. The film is about a flop director making ridiculous films, who really doesn't care about what other people think and seeing that really unfold in front of you in precisely what the film is about is just meta film making to another level. Part of me feels that the director was smart enough to know exactly what he was making and make spoof on himself but is he dumb enough to actually do that?

A unsuccessful filmmaker is hell bent on making his next film, a queer giallo. Giallo is when a series of murders happen. But while he is shooting for the film, a series of terrible murders start to happen around him. And somehow all the murders can be traced back to him. It starts with a waitress who the maker offers a part in the film, then actor who is supposed to be killed in the first scene in the film, then a famous drag queen who was supposedly the star attraction of the film, then a young boy he picks up at a bar and the list goes on. During all this, there is a young man who has travelled from Madrid who desperately wants to feature in the directors films. All this is being investigated by a lesbian cop and a male guy with a trans partner. The film continues to operate in the meta zone with even the identity of the killer sort of merging between the film and the film within the film.

Its not surprising that the actual director of this film also happens to be the actor playing director in this film. And this is just the beginning. At one point the character exclaims : “Because films need to be made… No matter what!” Which so well describes as to what really is happening in front of you. Throughout the film, I was confused as to how am I supposed to consume this film. A spoof, or a genre that I am not yet familiar with. Apparently the director of the film has already built up a loyal audience and even his own trademark style, which fuses camp and B movie with unbridled send-up, which is fantastic. But this leaves viewers like me confused. The eventual suspense reveal at the end of the killer is still a nice surprise, which most people probably didn't see coming. All in all, this is one of the weirdest meta movies I have seen, although admittedly I have seen only very few of them. (3.5/10)

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