The Rope Curse 3

I found the 2018 movie "Zong Xie" (aka "The Rope Curse") to be an adequate movie, but the 2020 sequel "Zong Xie 2" (aka "The Rope Curse 2") was utter rubbish, so I have to say that I wasn't really harboring the biggest of expectations to the movie in general. Writers Keng-Ming Chang and Tzu-Ming Ma didn't exactly bring the franchise back on track with this third movie in the franchise. The storyline felt cluttered and erratic, as if there was a lack of a red thread throughout the course of the movie. I have to admit that I found it somewhat of a struggle to keep watching the movie and not just give in to my desire to toss the towel in the ring and give up on the movie. And it was also a bit hard to actually understand what was going on, because the narrative was all over the place. Given my somewhat limited exposure to the Taiwanese cinema, then I wasn't familiar with the acting talents that participated in the movie. The acting performances were actually fair. The effects in "Zong Xie 3" were good, I will say that much. But good effects can only do so much when there isn't a proper storyline to enjoy. This was another boring and pointless way of spending 109 minutes. If you enjoy Asian horror movies, then do yourself a favor and don't waste your time, money or effort on "Zong Xie 3". Some of us suffered through this so you don't have to; you're very welcome. My rating of director Shih-Han Liao's 2023 movie "Zong Xie 3" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

As a Taiwanese, I might be happy to see local films starting to integrate with other cultures and maybe sparking international interest. From the trailer, you can see that the ghosts are from other countries, and the continuation of Zhong Kui from the second installment keeps "The Rope Curse" rooted in Chinese traditional mystique. However, this is where I feel the story's exploration falls short. The murders in the hotel or the appearance of the supernatural all seem disjointed, and it feels a bit like a mishmash of foreign elements. The showdown between Zhong Kui, posing as a deity, and Taiwan is intriguing, and the film's pacing and atmosphere in the horror genre are praiseworthy. If you're looking for thrills, it's definitely worth watching, but after finishing the whole movie, I couldn't engage in post-viewing discussions as I did with the previous ones.

Just started to get into this franchise and was hoping for the best story progression, but it didn't pique my interest to keep watching anything else after this horrible movie. It's the same case as in Insidious & other Hollywood horrors. The second movie was the best and this would be the worst. Just like its previous movies, the first act was always the strongest and afterward, the storyline execution gets weaker and cringey. The third act was always horrible, as if the movie changed into a superhero movie. The acting performance was just meh. The action scenes were unnecessary. Horrible CGI as always. The original song and scores were cheap. Make up department was okay but the movie set was just plain simple. Incoming twists were highly predictable. Few things that dont make sense. So many problems for a movie. Not recommended.