LouHomey From my favorite movies..

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

d_in_chi If you were to put Speed and the Saw series into a blender, strain out the guns, explosions, and most of the gore, then add a dollop of Stephen Chow and garnish it with lemongrass, you might just get 13: Game of Death.13 is a lot of things: wacky, sadistic, chaotic, frantic, absurd, and a lot of fun.I have never watched a movie this versatile. It changes gears so quickly and frequently, covering dozens of bases: horror, thriller, comedy, drama, action, mystery, slapstick, satire, and everything in between.While this makes it sound like a mess, it's far from it. The screenplay is brilliant, the directing is sharp, and though nothing is gradual and the story is herky-jerky, everything is paced perfectly. Of course, the film mostly operates in the realms of horror and extreme dark comedy. I'm not talking the usual blend of sight gags and one liners piled into zombie movies. It's very similar to the American film Chop in how it juggles the 2; the main character is drawn into a sick, goofy situation, the absurdity and despair of which are used for an almost Marxian comic effect. But where Chop is more gruesome and confined, this movie is more story-based and wide open, which it uses to a greater advantage.In addition to transnavigating types of fiction, it also tiptoes around all the landmines that destroy horror films: from the protagonist's method of coming to terms with what he's involved in, to the final piece of the puzzle being revealed.13 is able to do this because it is constantly self aware and it demonstrates that gracefully. It knows when to be serious and when to crack a joke. More importantly, it knows how to do either. It also benefits from an excellent script, with an ending that's impossible to predict and even somewhat poignant (a tall task for horror).I can't say enough good things about this movie, and there are no weak points other than a fairly poor CGI scene which can be forgiven. If you like off-the-wall movies and don't watch horror with strict expectations, this is the first thing I'd recommend to you.

Anthony Pittore III (Shattered_Wake) Phuchit (Krissada Terrence) receives a phone call on the same day he loses his job at a music center. The man on the line gives him a strange offer: complete 13 different tasks and win 100 million Baht (about $3 million US). Chit agrees to take part in this 'game' and his missions commence. . . ranging from the trivial (swatting a fly) to the unthinkable (you'll see). The biggest catch: He must complete ALL the tasks. . . or lose all the money. Will he beat the game, complete all the tasks, and win the huge cash prize? Or will the game beat him, as the rest of the world has been doing as of late? Dimension Extreme, the distributor of Diary of the Dead, Black Sheep, Inside, etc., delivers to horror fans yet another violently original new film. . . and this one is just as good as, if not better than, the aforementioned. Sadly, I did overlook it more than a few times. I'd pass it by in stores thinking that, due to its cover & plot line, it was just another of the dozen or so Saw ripoffs that have been released over the past few years. With a storyline like this, I don't blame myself. However, I was more-than-pleasantly surprised to find that the film is blurs the lines between horror, paranoia thriller, and comedy, and it does it very well, making it an unbelievably fresh and stirring film. There were times where I was equally overcome by the tension, comedy, disgust, sadness, and loathing. . . sometimes separately, sometimes together. Technically, the film is extremely well made. The direction and writing work perfectly well together, although the acting does leave a bit to be desired at some points (excluding Krissada Terrence who delivers a great, great performance). But, the thing that makes this film shine is the revelation/conclusion along with the way it was shown. . . it was so emotionally stirring that I'm surprised it's not more talked about. I suppose it's so little spoken of because it's so little seem. . . and that's a shame, because this is a truly, truly great modern horror/thriller that utilizes many different elements of both genres, including quite a bit of comedy to keep the more disturbing elements tolerable. See this one if you can.Final verdict: 8.5/10.

kai ringler First off this is a very unique movie, for starters dummy me, i didn't know that the movie was in Japanese, but the subtitles make it easier, this kind of reminds me of the T.V. show Fear FActor. A man is having a very bad day,, gets fired, gets his car repossed, and his g/f dumps him,, so his cell rings, and low and behold it's the answer to all of his problems, a game show offering money , for each challenge that he completes.. the challenge starts off harmlessly enough,, killing a fly,, then swallowing it.. then of course the challenges get harder and more moral choices to face.. the movie is very fast paced, and i liked it as a whole, but there were a few things that didn't make sense, like the video cameras,, it's obvious the police could have rounded him up,, if the show is airing on live T.V. the ending of the movie left me confused,, it didn't go with the flow of the whole movie,, but hey there are quite a few movies that are good,, just screw up the ending for ya,, but all in all this is a very interesting film,, that should be given a try by all.

dschmeding This is a nice movie from Thailand that basically deals with the subject of movies like "Running Man", "The game" and similar movies... that is reducing life to a thrill-seeking reality show. Where "13 - game of death" starts is with salesman Pusit. His life is rather on the way down at the moment. Sales are slow for his job in a musical sales business where a colleague steals his best customers. His car gets repossessed, his mum needs to borrow money from him and it seems he still struggles with the loss of his girlfriend. To top things off his boss fires him and just as it couldn't get any worse his phone rings and someone tells him he was chosen from a pool of unlucky people who need some money to participate in a reality game show. There is no information about the show, he is just contacted by cellphone and presented with one of his 13 challenges... if he masters all 1Million Dollars is his.The first challenges start of rather harmless... Pusit has to kill a fly, then eat the fly and you can guess they crank up the demands of their challenges. Where the movie starts of in a drama/Thriller fashion it soon incorporates some comedic elements when Pusit has to go to a playground and make some children cry which is a rather odd scene. He is soon looked after by the police for beating up people and no one knows he is just following the orders given through his cellphone that has a pretty annoying car alarm sound ring-tone. Beside the comedy elements the movie tends to freak out with some gross scenes where Pusit chucks down a nicely garnished plate of poo in a restaurant or he has to get a decomposed corpse out of a well. The mixture of these offbeat elements with fights, comedy and chases is kind of interesting and different and to top it off there is a lot of social commentary in the movie. I especially like the black humor that is incorporated like when Pusit has to beat the boyfriend of his ex-girl unconscious with a chair but the guy just won't get knocked out. Every time he wants to explain to his ex-girl he has to get back to work and beat the guy again. You can guess that it soon leads to questions of life or death and the question if Pusit will become a murder for money. In the end you realize that all the challenges and the game have more in common with Pusits life than you thought and this is where the movie takes a fall. There sure are several flaws like he duration of 120 minutes which start to drag after a while or the bad English dubbing and some rather bad acting and plot holes. But the finale doesn't just keep the whole game show concept obscure but also adds elements that make absolutely no sense in how the challenges were chosen and how they monitored the whole city with Pusit running amok. If you like a littleoffbeat movies give this one a try but don't expect to much plot-wise because it really gets pretty messy in the script towards the end.Anyway, it kept me entertained for most of the time... only thing thatjust didn't get into my head was the final scene with the girl on the bench... what the hell was that supposed to mean?