With Asian cinema exploding in popularity here in the United States and elsewhere, companies are always looking for the latest and greatest horror they can get their hands on. At one point it was samurai cinema, but that’s changed quite a bit. With some of the most famous Asian directors being from different counties, I suppose that it was a natural decision to combine their talents into one product.

3 Extremes brings together the works of China’s Fruit Chan, Korea’s very own Chan-wook Park, and a certain Japanese director that has won over fans across the world, though I personally don’t care much for his work; Takashi Miike. This isn’t a combined effort however and instead, you’ll find three different tales all packed together on one DVD. It’s much like what we saw legends George A. Romero and Dario Argento do years back with Two Evil Eyes or you could even compare it to Asia’s answer to Showtime’s Masters of Horror series.

Fruit Chan is the first director on the list with his tale called Dumplings. Mei (Bia Ling) is know for make some of the best dumplings, but it’s not just the flavor, but what they do. As the locals tell it, these can not only increase your life but make you look younger and that’s exactly what an aging actress, Mrs. Li (Miriam Yeung) is looking for. When she discovers her husband is cheating on her however, she wants to speed the process up and Mei thinks she can accommodate her, but then comes the revelation of what is actually in her special recipe, and it’s not a blend of secret herbs and spices.

Dumplings is a bit of a disturbing film focusing on cannibalism to some extent. You see, what Mei is using for her tasty treats isn’t just human flesh but the tender and youthful skin that can only be obtained from babies. She’s got a nice connect at the local hospital as well and even does some home abortions when necessary. We learn very quickly what’s going into the dumplings, so that makes watching them be devoured even more unsightly.

This is the first work I’ve seen from Fruit Chan and he has a very good eye.  The settings and camera work are outstanding and he knows exactly what to focus on and when to do it. He captures everything necessary to make the piece work; from emotions to close-ups on the dumplings being eaten. Blood and guts and quite what he’s after, but there is enough bloodshed to keep things enjoyable and entertaining.

Chan-wook Park has been making waves recently particularly with his Vengeance trilogy; Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. Cut shows a definite theme and connection to these films. A director (Byung-hun Lee) has been doing quite well with his craft, but when he returns home after a days shoot, he finds nothing but horror awaiting him. A mysterious man whom he later realizes was an extra on some of his films is holding both he and his wife captive and tormenting them. In his mind, he’s contrived quite a devious game, all at the expense of the wife who is losing her fingers one by one.

In some ways, Cut has the same type of diabolic feeling to it as Saw. The extra is looking for an excuse to cut of the wife’s finger, and he delights in doing it. Some may find Cut to be a rather debase and grisly piece of work, something that actually combines extremely well with the rather ritzy and glamorous home that the film is set in.  Torture and ridicule are both in high demand during this segment. However, Park does something interesting and instead of just making this the type of film where you find characters being abused in one form or another, there is a great deal of dialog to further flesh out the characters, making them human to some extent, but even so, there are times when you’ll be wincing at the events that unfold.

Finally, there’s Takashi Miike and his short The Box. Novelist Kyoko (Kyoko Hasegawa) keep having vivid dreams of her past. She and her twin sister were once part of a magicians act until her own jealousy grew too strong. In her anger, she locked her sister in a small box they used for their act but the magician grew outraged and the tent was set on fire, killing her sister in the process. Now she’s living with the guilt of that moment and it seems that her dear sister has come back to haunt her.

I’m going to be straight forward; I don’t like Miike’s work for the most part, and having seen a number of his films, I have found two that I actually had an appreciation for. Like many of this film, The Box is incredibly slow moving. He tends to linger on shots that could just as easily be cut away from in order to transition to something else to move the story along. There isn’t much dialog, thus the need I suppose for long shots. Of course, in his usual style, there is also reference to some of the more taboo things in the world, pedophilia in this case, but it’s not really something that makes the short any better.

Only Miike I suppose could take an already bland idea and make it worse. The film tends to cycle over and over again on the same ideas. Some might call this art, but remember, not everyone has the same idea of what art is. It’s not that I get what Miike does, I certainly understand, but I’m not impressed by it in the least. As a matter of fact, I think that there are probably quite a few people here in the states that call themselves “fans” of his work merely because it seems like everyone else loves his work. It’s sort of the same thing you find with David Lynch, and while he does have films that I enjoy, there are many more that I dislike, but I would never say that I’m a fan and don’t’ feel the necessity to buy each and every movie that he does. The same is true of Miike, and he does have two movies that I like presently, but of the others I’ve viewed, I find that his work is entirely too lackluster for my liking.

3 Extremes isn't a single DVD release, but instead is two separate discs. The first DVD not only contains all three features, but also includes commentary on The Box by Takashi Miike, something you can image I’m simply trilled to listen to. The second DVD actually has a full, two-hour version of Dumplings, as well as a making of feature.

3 Extremes, or rather two as I see it, brings together director's that are widely respected and even a few that are disliked. Now, I know quite a few people love the works of Miike and will pick this up just because he has a short included on it, but don't discount the other directors either. You may find that they are just as good, if not better, than the one name that for whatever reason has become iconic with Asian cinema.

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