Re-cycle

R

2006

1h 48m

Fantasy

Horror

List

50%

Tomatometer

6 Reviews

59%

Audience Score

2,500+ Ratings

After writing a successful trilogy based on her affair with a married man, bestselling author Tsui Ting-Yin (Lee Sinje) begins working on a supernatural fiction follow-up. Creatively blocked, Tsui is further unnerved after meeting her ex-lover, who has just been divorced and wants to marry her. While struggling with her book, Tsui stumbles into a fantasy world full of decaying cities, monsters and ghosts. Only a strange young girl, Ting-yu (Yaqi Zeng), can help her get back to the real world.

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Derek Elley

Variety

Re-cycle is a feast for CGI geeks but famine for auds requiring narrative and character development.

May 30, 2006

Full Review

Andy Klein

Los Angeles CityBeat

The plot is intriguing -- it took me some time to really figure out what the ending meant -- but the execution is too much like Silent Hill, i.e., like a video game.

Nov 12, 2008

Full Review

Andrew L. Urban

Urban Cinefile

The first thing that strikes you is the beauty and clarity of the images (fabulous transfer to DVD, almost like HD), the brilliantly effective use of music and the artful use of the camera

Nov 8, 2008

Full Review

Steve Biodrowski

ESplatter

Re-cycle...seeks to discover previously unexplored pathways sheltering unfamiliar frights. If, in the end, the trip rambles aimlessly through some dull patches, you have to admire the Pang's effort to boldly go somewhere new.

Aug 23, 2008

Full Review

Sam Sweet

L.A. Weekly

The film's final minutes erupt in a display of politicized melodrama so hysterical that it could almost be taken for camp if it wasn't so noxious.

Aug 14, 2008

Full Review

Luke Y. Thompson

LYTRules.com

The imagination in some of these sequences is reminiscent of the likes of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Terry Gilliam, which is why it's a shame the story isn't on the same level.

Nov 17, 2006

Full Review

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Audience Member

Underrated, visually striking, and flawed. Fans of late nigh fringe cinema and surrealist horror should not pass up Re-Cycle- once the first 30 minutes of watching paint dry are over, shazam! You're watching scenes from a nightmare world that would make David Lynch cover his eyes. The only appropriate comparison I can think of would be the world in the Silent Hill video games. It is brilliant, highly unconventional and terrifying. But then this beautiful, original supernatural currency is squandered on what amounts to a highly conventional adventure-escape plot. Still, it's well-worth viewing just to experience the most inspired pieces. There's a jaw-dropping yet incomplete work of art here.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Cool visuals don't make up for an overly saccharine and preachy third act. 2 stars

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

What a stupid idea for a story. Couldn't even be bothered to watch the end of it. Waste of time.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Not the typical Asian horror film. Great idea but not the best execution.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Dreadful CGI monstrosity.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Like "What Dreams May Come" or "The Cell", it's an fx overload that's pretty barren of connecting emotionally for me. This seems to be like a mini Dante's Inferno for a writer, done as a live-action anime by the masters of chinese horror The Pang Brothers. That is all you should know going in because that's about all there is to it.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

Full Review

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Oxide Chun Pang

Director

Danny Pang

Director

Lee Sin-Je

Actor

Rain Li

Actor

Lawrence Chou

Actor

Jetrin Wattanasin

Actor

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Synopsis

After writing a successful trilogy based on her affair with a married man, bestselling author Tsui Ting-Yin (Lee Sinje) begins working on a supernatural fiction follow-up. Creatively blocked, Tsui is further unnerved after meeting her ex-lover, who has just been divorced and wants to marry her. While struggling with her book, Tsui stumbles into a fantasy world full of decaying cities, monsters and ghosts. Only a strange young girl, Ting-yu (Yaqi Zeng), can help her get back to the real world.

Director: Oxide Chun Pang, Danny Pang
Rating: R
Genre: Fantasy, Horror
Original Language: Chinese
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 8, 2017
Runtime: 1h 48m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital