Silk is not so much a horror movie as it is an action movie with some suspense, sci-fi, drama, and ghost elements. What feeling did I get when watching Silk? I felt pure unadulterated pleasure. You see, over my short lifetime I’ve found that movie making is a lot like sex. To little foreplay and attention can get boring and not make the juices flow. Too much foreplay, especially the incorrect type or rhythm is just as disappointing. Many people enjoy sex in many different ways and can’t always agree on what good sex is. In my opinion, the same can be said of movies. Many movies attempt to be more than what their genre calls for, only to fail miserably due to improper execution. If a movie just doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. Silk works. When Writer-Director Chao-Pin Su made Silk he nailed it. If his sexual ability were any indication of his story telling, he must be a maverick in bed. This movie successfully transcends the typical overplayed long dark haired Asian ghost story, morphing it into an action, sci-fi adventure, thus making it a worthwhile experience.

Basics of the story. The Anti Gravity Team, lead by Hashimoto (Yosuke Eguchi), are, on the surface, trying to find a way to prove that humans can humans defy gravity. In doing so they found a way to harness energy, via the Menger Sponge, and have caught a ghost. Their mission is to find out how the ghost has acquired and retained its energy.

Side note, the Menger Sponge is a mathematical reality found in the 1920’s by Austrian Mathematician, Karl Menger. No, it can’t do the odd things that are imagined in this movie, but wouldn’t it be cool it if could? I’m not one to watch movies of this type expecting scientific fact. I expect to be entertained, regardless of whether the theories, of the fantasy, that is movie is making, are correct or not. I enjoy seeing people doing things that I can’t do. Like, survive a car crash then run down the street to a subway, hop on, not get arrested, call my girlfriend, shoot a ghost, then die or not die. Tung (Chen Chang) is the lip reading sniper action hero with a heart of gold. His mission is to follow the ghost, accomplish all the neat things mentioned above, and more.

Silk contains shoot outs, car accidents, death, a nice corpse scene, greed, guilt, suicides, blood, shootings, bombs, and of course a girlfriend to be saved via bullets at long range. I am of the ilk that believes that Horror can transcend cheap tricks and shoddy scare after scare. I think that if a storyteller is great at what he or she does they can transcend the boundaries of a genre. When movies are too formulaic, predictable, and boring, they can resemble the worst monotones sex of your life.

Don’t expect a specific formula to be followed. This movie seems to have many. In my opinion, to be too linier in any one story, is to deny the viewer the thrill and excitement of living in another world for just a short period of time. This move sparks imagination, it takes the viewer on an enjoyable ride, one that does not involve checking my watch to see when the hell it will be over. This is the story of the bonds of mother and son, people’s agendas, and of finding a better life in death.

A little forewarning, be ready for heavy mother son relationships, there are two main mother son relationships, they can be, at times, hear warming and other times real tear jerkers. However, they are never cheesy or unnatural feeling. They support the story and the characters actions.

Mother/son relationships are something that Writer/Director, Chao-Pin Su chose to heavily explore. If you don’t like emotions in your movies you will not like this movie. Certain types of movie watchers who only like excessive amounts of sex, tits, and blood in their movies will be disappointed and will probably not like this movie. No exposed breasts and no sex. Then again, if you think that is what makes an amazing action/horror movie you already have many other issues to work on, aka pleasing others or even another. So don’t waste your time with it. If this is you, sit down with a horror porno and get your jerk off.

Technically speaking I have no complaints in regards to Silk. I think it is nicely shot, with awesome set design, great acting performances, is worth seeing, and for me, worth owning. I can’t stress enough that if you don’t like emotions in your action/horror/sci-fi then you probably wont like this movie. If you don’t mind them, sit back, relax, press play, and enjoy the ride.

Four our of five skulls