Gwai wik / Re-cycle, movie (2006) - Film review by Kadmon

Gwai wik / Re-cycle, movie (2006)
image © Universe Entertainment

The Re-cycle (2006) is a contemporary fantasy thriller / mystery film. The movie was reviewed by Kadmon.

Product: Gwai wik / Re-cycle, movie (2006)

Original title: 鬼域 (Gwai wik, English: Ghost land), English title: Re-cycle

Series: -

Setting: contemporary fantasy Earth

Product type: Film, Genre: contemporary fantasy thriller / mystery, Style: fantasy, contemporary fantasy, thriller, supernatural, ghosts, adventure

Release: Premiere: 2006.05.26 (Cannes Film Festival), Release: 2006.07.01

Watched: very recent (2021.01), first time

Rating: Average (2 out of 3 points), Enjoyment: Average (2 out of 3 points)

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This is my review of Re-cycle, a contemporary fantasy thriller / mystery movie from 2006. It's about a successful writer starting a new mystery novel, when strange things start to happen around her. The Re-cycle film is interesting, but I only recommend it to dedicated fans of the genre.

If you'd like to be surprised by the Re-cycle film, I don't recommend you to watch the trailer at all, because it gives away too much of the plot. It basically provides a summary of the film.

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Review (spoiler-free) - Re-cycle, movie (2006)

I can't remember whether I've heard about the movie previously, but when I've run into it, it looked good enough to watch the movie. I didn't watch the trailer.

The Re-cycle movie is about a successful writer starting a new mystery novel, when strange things start to happen around her.

The concept of the story is good, and the overall plot is interesting, but the execution is clunky. The pacing is strange. There are some changes that you might consider character arcs. I didn't find major logical problems.

There are some jump scares in the beginning, but overall, this is not a frightening story.

The story is a lot longer than it needs to be. We are told the same things multiple times. They even show us the same things multiple times, in case we've already forgot them in the past couple of minutes.

As there is no real goal for the protagonist, there is no real tension, so even the action scenes are a bit boring. Also,

The cinematography is good. The sets are visually interesting, some of them are even great. The action scenes are good, easy to follow.

we don't really get to know the protagonist, so it's really hard to care for her. The actors are good.

The music (by Payont Permsith) is good.

Re-cycle is like a strange mix of Labyrinth and Hellraiser.

Re-cycle is an interesting contemporary fantasy thriller / mystery, I think fans of the genre might enjoy it.

My experience

I was mostly satisfied with Re-cycle (2006).

Rating: Average (2 out of 3 points). Re-cycle is a watchable film, with some interesting scenes.

Enjoyment: Average (2 out of 3 points). Re-cycle was interesting, but not engaging.

Rewatchability: Average. I think it's mostly the surprise of the story that makes you feel interested.

Chance of watching it again: Low. Now that I know the story, there's probably no need to watch it again, but I liked it enough that I might watch it in the right circumstances.

Chance of watching a sequel: High. I'd sure watch it.

Gwai wik / Re-cycle, movie (2006)
image © Universe Entertainment

Will you enjoy this?

If you like mystery or thriller movies, you might like Re-cycle.

If you like supernatural or fantasy movies, you might like Re-cycle.

If you like horror or action thriller movies, you might like the film, although there are not many action scenes or scary scenes in the Re-cycle movie.

If you can get through the first half hour of the movie still interested, from then it will be something similar.

If you like to be surprised by the development of events, this movie has some interesting twists.

If you hate subtitles, you have to get used to them, because currently the movie is not available with English dub.

If you prefer visuals over story, the movie has some nice scenes you might enjoy.

If you hate zombie movies, there are some scenes that might disturb you, so you should be aware of that.

Watching for plot points

If you are interested in contemporary fantasy stories, I think it's worth watching the Re-cycle movie for the plot points.

Should you watch this on your own screen at home, or is it worth going to the cinema?

The visuals probably look better if you watch it in cinema.

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Gwai wik / Re-cycle, movie (2006)
image © Universe Entertainment

Review with spoilers - Re-cycle, movie (2006)

I mostly liked the Re-cycle movie.

The film starts as a supernatural horror movie, that becomes a horroristic contemporary fantasy, then it ends in an epic fantasy plot.

Cover

The cover of the movie is okay, it doesn't say much, but it looks interesting, and it doesn't spoil the movie.

The trailer

The trailer is basically a substitute for watching the movie.

If you prefer spoilers, it's a great trailer for the Re-cycle film. If you prefer to avoid spoilers, it will ruin the movie for you.

Promise of the first scene

We'll get to see a woman writing a ghost story. The title didn't help in imagining the following story at all.

Execution: While I don't think the beginning really conveyed how it will end, it was mostly okay.

Plot summary / Synopsis

There's a successful writer woman (Angelica Lee / Lee Sinje as Tsui Ting-Yin / pen name: Chu Xun), who starts to write a ghost story. While she is working on the new book, she feels that there is someone else in her apartment. She receives strange phone calls. Water fills her bathtub. She finds long hair that doesn't belong to her. She uses these events as inspiration to the novel, but then she realises that these events were used in previous versions of the novel she had discarded.

She tests this theory by writing about an elevator, then she deletes the sentence. Then she gets into the elevator in her building, that brings her into a parallel world that looks like a wrecked city. The inhabitants are strange people. They tell her that this place is where the discarded things go - objects, thoughts and wishes alike.

She meets an old man (Siu-Ming Lau as Old Man) and a girl (Qi Qi Zeng / Yaqi Zeng as Ting-yu) who helps her.

The old man tells her how can she leave the place. She has to go through some places, complete some tasks to be able to go through the exit. She does so, with the help of the girl who joins her on her quest.

In the end it is revealed that the old man is her deceased grandfather, and the girl is her aborted daughter. The whole thing was initiated by the character of the first version of her novel, who was discarded, so she cursed the author.

Finally, she gets back to reality, but finds that there's another version of her in her home, who just finishes the ghost story. In the last scene we see that they stare at each other, as a strange noise comes from the phone.

The setting

The story is set on contemporary fantasy Earth, and also on a parallel ghost dimension.

Gwai wik / Re-cycle, movie (2006)
image © Universe Entertainment

Ghost World

The things that are discarded, end up here. Even thoughts, or actions that a person decides not to do.

The inhabitants don't have names. Interestingly, places do have names.

Places:

• The discarded library: books constantly falling into piles.
• The birth tunnel of aborted babies: a tunnel filled with a lot of deformed fetus.

There are places for discarded books, discarded toys, aborted babies, people who committed suicide.

Sometimes the Oblivion arrives and destroys the things in the Ghost World. It manifested as a whirlwind, sucking everything in.

Real people can enter the Ghost World through discarded things. The protagonist used an elevator, that she has deleted from her novel.

People of the Ghost World can enter the real world as ghosts.

Zombies: These are inhabitants of the Ghost World, that attack others. You have to give a gift to the members of the zombie horde to leave you alone. You still have to deal with the others, though.

What really happened?

The writer probably thought about getting inside the elevator, but finally, she decided against it.

It was her discarded action, that went in, and got into the Ghost World. The discarded idea went through all the troubles to get back to the real world.

Now she is there, as a ghost.

The message of the story

I'm not sure there's one.

The structure of the story

The scenes of the Re-cycle film are mostly played in sequence, following the same storyline. There are some flashback, showing scenes from the past that lead to the events in the present.

There's a single viewpoint character, the writer woman.

It has the usual arc of the dramatic structure - introduction, action, resolution.

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Things I liked

• The look of the parallel world is great.
• I liked the faux-3D effects created from 2D sheets. They looked great and added to the surreal feeling of the story.
• The end was strange, but I think it works for this story.

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How does it compare to the other works of the creators?

The script was written by multiple people (Cub Chien, Sam Lung, Danny Pang, Oxide Chun Pang, Thomas Pang). I haven't seen anything else from them.

I don't think I've seen anything from the directors (Danny Pang & Oxide Chun Pang, as Pang Brothers). I might have seen The Eye but I can't remember that.

This movie was a mess, but it's hard to tell if it was the script writers or the directors fault.

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Gwai wik / Re-cycle, movie (2006)
image © Universe Entertainment

Analysis of the story - Re-cycle, movie (2006)

I mostly liked the story, I didn't find problems that would have prevented me from enjoying Re-cycle.

Problematic elements

Unanswered questions

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Possibilities of improvement

• Everything takes a lot longer than it's needed. A more tighter cut could probably improve it.
• It would also add to the story if we would learn a lot more about the protagonist. Adding some kind of goal with some urgency would also improve the tension.

How it could have been better?

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Behind the scenes

Thoughts about the reviews of others

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Gwai wik / Re-cycle, movie (2006)
image © Universe Entertainment

Uses for the film - Re-cycle, movie (2006)

Plot

• There's a parallel dimension, and people can enter that place. Leaving it is harder, though.

Scenes

• Multiple scenes from the Ghost World can be used for surreal modern fantasy stories, some even for regular fantasy.

Designs

Scenario ideas - Role-playing game scenario ideas

Scenario ideas - Wargame scenario ideas

Miniatures - 1/50-1/60 (28-32mm scale)

Civilians: Human-sized (S3) modern (advanced) human female / male civilian.

Denizens of the Ghost World: Human-sized archaic / modern human civilians.

Zombies of the Ghost World: Human-sized archaic / modern zombies. As they are faux-3D constructs, it would be interesting to make them out of multiple layers of printed cutouts.

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Similar stories - Re-cycle, movie (2006)

Movies

Hellraiser 2: Hellbound (1988): In a contemporary fantasy, a girl enters a scary fantasy world. She has to overcome obstacles to get out of there. Hellbound is more horroristic than Re-cycle.

Labyrinth (1986): In a contemporary fantasy, a girl's wishes let her enter a fantasy world. She has to overcome obstacles to get out of there. There's a place in that world, where discarded things go. Labyrinth is more light-hearted than Re-cycle.

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Frequently asked questions - Re-cycle, movie (2006)

Will the Re-cycle movie be available with English audio dub?

Currently (in 2022.02.05) Re-cycle is not available with English audio dub, just English subtitles.

Is the Re-cycle film based on a book or comics?

No, Re-cycle is not based on either books or comics.

Is the Re-cycle film a remake or reboot?

No, the Re-cycle film is neither a remake nor a reboot.

Is there a post credit scene in Re-cycle? Does Re-cycle have end credit scenes?

No, there's no post credit scene in Re-cycle.

Where can I see Re-cycle? What is Re-cycle playing on? What streaming service is Re-cycle on? Where can I watch Re-cycle online? Is Re-cycle available on Netflix? Is Re-cycle on Amazon?

At 2022.02.05, I couldn't find Re-cycle anywhere. It was available on Amazon Prime Video, but currently it has been removed.

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Resources - Re-cycle, movie (2006)

Information

IMDB: Gwai wik / Re-cycle (2006): Database article.

WikiPedia: Re-cycle: Database article.

Letterboxd: Re-cycle 2006: Database article.

Rotten Tomatoes: Re-cycle 2006: Database article.

Creation

: Concept art article.¤

Reviews with no spoilers - Re-cycle film (2006)

: Review video about the Re-cycle film with no spoilers.¤

Reviews with spoilers - Re-cycle film (2006)

: Review article of the Re-cycle movie, with spoilers. Includes a very detailed plot summary.¤

Analysis - Re-cycle movie (2006)

: Analysis video, explaining the finale of Re-cycle.¤

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Buying the product - Re-cycle, movie (2006)

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Have you seen the Re-cycle film? How do you like the movie? Would you recommend it to others? Do you know reviews or resources you'd like to add? What further thoughts do you have about it? Tell your opinion in the comments!