10 Horror Anthologies You Must See Before You Die

Unlike many a horror anthology, the terrible tales told in Three… Extremes aren’t related or interlinked by a framing story. Rather, the film offers three separate but equally disturbing segments from three of east Asia’s top filmmaking talents.

Hong Kong director Fruit Chan’s Dumplings follows an aging actress who turns to a stomach-churning solution in an effort to stay young while South Korean director Park Chan-wook of Oldboy fame offers a segment called Cut about a film director kidnapped and tortured by a movie extra. No live octopuses are eaten thankfully, but Cut’s just as gut-wrenching as you’d expect from Park.

Topping the trio is a segment from Japanese director Takashi Miike who previously gave us such macabre movies as Ichi the Killer and Audition. Named Box, it tells the creepy tale of twin sisters and features a terrifically twisted twist ending.

Though unconnected, what unites these three stories is a bent for the brutal, morbid and stylish. In other words, each tale is every bit as beautifully filmed yet unsettling as we’ve come to expect from Asian horror.

Standout Segment:

Fruit Chan’s ‘Dumplings’ is definitely the story that stays with you the longest in a nauseating kind of way. Without spoiling too much, let’s just say the titular dumplings contain a rather gruesome ingredient that supposedly delays the aging process. It was later adapted into a feature-length film and it’s recommended not to see either on a full stomach.