Monday, July 21, 2008

Censored in Singapore: Art of the Devil 3

Art of the Devil 3 is playing in cinemas in Singapore, and it's reviewed by Stefan on A Nutshell Review.

Much of the review is spent trying to unconfuse people about its confusing chronology. It's the third film in the Art of the Devil series, but is only related to the storyline of the second film, hence it's name Long Khong 2. But even more confusing, it's a prequel to Long Khong. And it's not related at all to the first film, Kon Len Khong.

Still confused? Well, then take to heart this bit of advice from Stefan:

But watching Long Khong 2, I felt one would be better off in having no background knowledge from the previous film, and approach this clean.

Thanks in large part I think to the graphic posters and the fierce trailer, the film series has gained a reputation for goriness. Unfortunately for Singaporeans, the gore has been cleansed. Stefan has more:

Unfortunately for us in Singapore, despite its R21 rating, we still get this in edited format. Worse, these jarring cuts were made usually at the final moments of a black magic delivery, cutting away most of the gore that audiences turned up in droves for. Even the movie's climatic scene as suggested in the trailers, the one involving pins and the human eye, doesn't get spared the censor's scissors, and what's left intact of course were the more tamer sequences that even made Final Destination look better. And you'd have to wait quite a while before sorcery gets used, and when it got delivered in edited mode, you can't help but to feel short changed. Some deja-vu moments courtesy from scenes covered in the earlier movie didn't help too, making this feel like it's running on repeat.

This is one movie that the trailer had made it to be more frightening that it actually was, but for those curious to want to see this despite the edits, heed my advice - if you've watched Long Khong, rent the DVD to watch it again just before you watch Long Khong 2, but if you haven't, then forget it and watch this first, before the previous movie.

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Posted by Wise Kwai at 7:58 PM
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousJuly 22, 2008 at 3:14 AM

    So sad to hear of the severe edits,as it's yet another subtitle free DVD out now in Thailand.

    This is one I was hoping to get out of Singapore on DVD, guess I'll be pinning my hopes on the HK release instead.

    Thanks for the nice review, though... any heads up is always appreciated while I'm waiting to see it myself.

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