An anthology of apocalyptic sci-fi. Kind of. The film as a whole is infuriatingly confusing in its conception and execution. The first segment, directed by Pil-Sung Yim (of the Korean Hansel & Gretel movie), is the part that can be definitively labeled horror. Tainted beef turns people into zombies. The film has some decent comic moments, but it never really goes anywhere. Plus, I'm absolutely sick of zombies. The third segment, also directed by Yim, concerns a gigantic pool ball from space on a collision course with Earth. Turns out a young girl accidentally ordered an alien attack on the planet. This segment is so absolutely bizarre, I have no idea what they were going for. It is, at least, a bit amusing even if baffling. Bae Doon-Na appears at the very end of this segment, in the last ten minutes of the movie, and director Bong Joon-Ho also appears. The middle segment, directed by Kim Jee-Woon, cannot be considered horror at all. It concerns a robot which has achieved enlightenment and is considered by his fellow monks to be the reincarnation of Buddha. His makers are incensed at the idea, though, and wish to destroy him. This starts off as the most interesting segment, but as it goes on it gets lost in endless dialogue. Kim is a great action filmmaker and has no ability to make abstract concepts interesting. It's the most boring segment of the film, unfortunately. The one thing I can say for the film as a whole is that it always looks fantastic. Even when it's dull, which is often, it's always pretty.

This Anthology features 3 tales, 2 of which are somewhat religious and another one dabs more on an alien Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy way. All three have to do with the fall of mankind.Story 1: 9/10 My favorite, A Brave New World, depicts a basic zombie uprising, in the plague form, but what is different is the overall direction the story goes, and the characters development... of zombies. Rarely do zombie films give the zombie POV, but we are able to get that here. A great aspect of this story is the strong acting by the leading actor, a guy who gets bullied by those around him and is very awkward, in a nerdy way. He goes on a date with this girl, and they seem to have a great connection, but then he begins to turn, and she is scared off. What happens at the end throws in a bible element to the story, which I didn't much care for, but I understood the creators message of a new world. Overall, I thought this tale was hilarious and sweet and well acted with enough zombie chaos to intrigue hardcore zombie fans.Story 2: 6/10 The Heavenly Creature. This story is about a Robot that becomes Buddha, or at least to the monks. When the factory finds out, they seek to destroy the machine for attempting to forget it's duty to serve man and instead attaining man's greatest goal. This is deemed a threat and an insult to mankind. While I like the message of man's jealousy over a near perfect machine, I was turned off by the Robot's final message to man. It seemed idealistic to me, and hard to swallow. Overall, it was slow paced and more of a thought provoking study on people and our desires and fears. Might be a good watch for a philosophy/Buddhist student. Story 3: 5/10 Happy Birthday, to me this was the cheesiest of all the stories, and cute, but less thought provoking. Like the first story, it had comical moments, and was quite enjoyable at times, it also felt like a family story and not on the same level as the other stories. You could actually watch this one with your 8 year old, and they might really like it. A problem with this story to me is how things aren't really explained, especially a scene in the end. I laughed off my interpretation of it, but am unsure of the message. There is a adorable aspect of it about trusting your child and having faith in them, which was very sweet, but for me, it wasn't enough to give it a very favorable review. I would have definitely liked to have seen a different story here that didn't have such an absurd scenario... I giant 8 ball heading to earth... why would aliens have giant pool tables and websites dedicated to selling individual balls to different planets? Too silly to me.

This is segment movie that has 3 different stories in one movie. This movie took 6 yrs to make because of budget issues and for a movie that took 6 yrs it's just mediocre at best.The first segment is about a guy that eats a contaminated apple inside a cows intestine and turns into a zombie and starts infecting others. The biblical verse at the end of this segment doesn't make much sense for the context of this segment. It has a bit of Korean culture and dating elements but besides that nothing stands out about this segment. It's just zombies eating humans and the zombie population in Korea keeps increasing and soon they all get nuked at the end. Yep, hardly any substance besides the Korean culture and personalities shown in this segment.4/10 This second segment is my favorite out of the three. It's like a mix between "I,Robot" and :Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence". Except this one has shorter budget and shorter length. The different philosophical theory is what drives this one. With the debate that revolves around enlightenment, spirit and machines. It's not one sided but both sides has interesting things to say which makes the debate even more intriguing.7/10 The third segment is the end of the world by a giant 8 ball story with Korean style humor thrown in. The humor in this works way better than "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World". It's one of those stories where all the characters are awkward and the humor is awkward as well but it works. Since it's short it doesn't have much development and isn't anything special but it's passable.6/10 5.8/10

This film presents three futurist-themed stories, which either directly or indirectly hint at apocalyptic overtones.The first story (called Brave New World) is a simple zombie-pocalypse, brought on by some kind of mutant food poisoning. As this one dude turns into a zombie, he's also searching for the girl of his dreams. Plenty of gnarly violence and partying ensues.Unarguably, the most worthwhile story will be the middle one (entitled Heavenly Creature), in which a robot at a Buddhist temple attains enlightenment, and everybody tries to figure out what to do with him (or it, depending on perspectives). While this story seems to move the slowest, it's most interesting for its philosophical implications, especially in regards to Buddhism; the story does a fine job of underscoring the key Buddhist themes of materialism, perspectives, and cycles of life. Even if you don't care for all that, the film will spark some good brain activity with the simple moral notion of whether or not it's wise to terminate a spiritual robot.The final story (Happy Birthday) is easily the most absurd: a little girl breaks her daddy's 8-ball, and orders a new one online. The 8-ball appears two years later...as a meteor traveling at hypervelocity. The end of the world ensues.Each story offers a little of something: a little bit of quirky humor, a little bit of heart, a little bit of style, and even a little food for thought. Even though Heavenly Creature will stand out as the strongest work of science fiction, coming close to approaching Isaac Asimov levels of greatness, Brave New World is an entertaining thing to watch, and one can't help but to appreciate how straight Happy Birthday plays out. This might be one of the best (and maybe coming close to strangest) anthology of short films I've seen since the Tokyo! anthology.Despite some stylistic excess in Brave New World, each film is crafted with superbly stylish photography and editing. Acting and writing are impeccable all around. The films use just enough sets, props, costumes, and special effects to tell their stories, and is quite effective.If you're a fan of Korean cinema, science fiction, or end-of-the-world stories, then I do recommend giving this film a try. As a fan of all three, I found it quite enthralling.4.5/5 (Entertainment: Very Good | Stories: Good | Film: Very Good)