A Bloody Aria (18)

A violent and silly Korean Grand Guignol about an opera singer and his young protegée heading down a country road and into the embrace of a gang of Deliverance-style mouth-breathing psychos.

What happens next is predictable enough in outline, but springs a surprise or two along the way; the build-up of aggression is nicely paced, and the film displays a primitive but intermittently effective sense of humour. On the down side, the action proper, once it does get under way, seems to go on an unconscionably long time; and as well as some distasteful sexual violence, we get an unusually revolting screen kiss. I suspect it falls between two stools: not nearly grisly enough for the aficionado of extreme Asian cinema, rather too grisly for everyone else.