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{{Short description|2005 film by Fruit Chan, Park Chan-wook and Takashi Miike}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Three... Extremes
| image = Three... Extremes film.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = [[Fruit Chan]] [[Park Chan-wook]] [[Takashi Miike]]
| producer = Ahn Soo-hyun [[Peter Ho-sun Chan]] Fumio Inoue Naoki Sato Shun Shimizu
| writer = '''Dumplings:''' [[Lilian Lee]] '''Cut:''' [[Park Chan-wook]] '''Box:''' Bun Saikou Haruko Fukushima
| starring = [[Bai Ling]] [[Tony Leung Ka-fai]] [[Lee Byung-hun]] [[Im Won-hee]] [[Kyōko Hasegawa]] [[Atsuro Watabe]]
| music = [[Chan Kwong-wing]] Kōji Endō Peach Present
| cinematography = [[Chung Chung-hoon]] [[Christopher Doyle]] Koichi Kawakami
| editing =
| distributor =
| released = {{Film date|2004|8|20}}
| runtime = 125 minutes
| country = Hong Kong Japan South Korea
| language = Cantonese Mandarin Japanese Korean
| budget =
| gross = $1.5 million<ref name="BOM">{{cite web |url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=threeextremes.htm |title=Three... Extremes (2005)|work=[[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date=10 March 2018}}</ref><ref name="kobiz">{{cite web|url=https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20040637|title=Three... Extremes (2004)|website=KoBiz - Korean Film Biz Zone|access-date=10 March 2018|archive-date=10 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810223043/http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20040637|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}
'''''Three... Extremes''''' ({{zh|t=三更2|p=Sāngēng 2}}; {{ko-hhrm|쓰리, 몬스터||Sseuli, Monseuteo}}; {{langx|ja|美しい夜、残酷な朝}}; ''Utsukushī Yoru, Zankokuna Asa'') is a 2004 [[Horror film|horror]] [[anthology film]]. A follow-up to ''[[Three (2002 film)|Three]]'' (2002), it follows the same concept of three individual segments by directors from three [[East Asia]]n countries.

The segments are, in order: ''Dumplings'', directed by [[Fruit Chan]] ([[Cinema of Hong Kong|Hong Kong]]), ''Cut'', directed by [[Park Chan-wook]] ([[Cinema of South Korea|South Korea]]), and ''Box'', directed by [[Takashi Miike]] ([[Cinema of Japan|Japan]]).

''Dumplings'' was also released as a [[Dumplings (film)|theatrical feature film]] the same year, with additional scenes and a different ending. Although a sequel to ''Three'', ''Extremes'' was released before the original in the United States, leading ''Three'' to be released in the United States as ''Three... Extremes II'', repackaged as a faux sequel.

==Films==
===''[[Dumplings (film)|Dumplings]]''===
Aging actress Mrs. Li wants to rejuvenate her youth and beauty to attract the attention of her husband, Li, who has secretly taken a mistress behind her back. She buys dumplings from Aunt Mei, a mysterious seller who claims to be much older than she appears. However, to her disgust, she learns that the [[dumpling]]s are in fact made from aborted [[fetus]]es, which Mei takes from a nearby hospital that has a secret abortion facility, as well as working as an abortion midwife herself.

Nevertheless, Mrs. Li decides to continue eating the fetus dumplings. One of them, made from a five-month-old fetus (the oldest of the aborted fetuses thus far), seems to have a positive effect on Mrs. Li's [[libido]], yet it also causes her skin to exhibit a fishy smell. Eventually, Mei has to move out when the authorities are about to capture her. Mrs. Li, now two months pregnant despite being declared infertile earlier, is still desperate for a rejuvenation and chooses to abort her own fetus, presumably to make it into dumplings.

===''Cut''===
A successful film director has to face a night of misery when a man who appeared in all five of his films as an extra captures both him and his wife to play a deadly game. The wife, a pianist, is gagged and trapped in a system of sharp wires at her piano. The director is instructed to strangle a young girl the extra met earlier in the day, or else the extra will chop off the wife's fingers one by one every five minutes. The extra reveals that he kidnapped the couple because he is jealous that the director is able to be a rich and good man, while he is poor and abusive to his wife and son, the former of whom he murdered before the incident.

The director tries to buy time by telling stories of his infidelity, though the extra continues to chop the wife's fingers until only one remains on her left hand. The director ultimately decides to kill the young girl by strangling her. He tries, but does not quite succeed in killing her. The young girl's wig comes off and she is revealed to be a boy — the extra's son. The extra is only stopped when he slips after stepping on a bloody ring that the wife was wearing before he chopped off her ring finger. The wife then bites the extra's neck, pushing him into the wires that imprison her, leaving him bleeding to death. Traumatized and delusional, the director, now believing his wife to be the extra's son, strangles her to death.

===''Box''===
Kyoko, a 25-year-old novelist, frequently experiences nightmares of her past as a circus performer. Back when she was 10 years old, Kyoko worked in a circus with her twin sister Shoko and their benefactor Higata. Kyoko felt that Higata was favoring Shoko over her when he praised her after a performance. When Shoko was training, Kyoko forced and locked her into a box. However, Higata watched the incident and tried to rescue her, only for Kyoko to scar him in the face and then accidentally set the box on fire. Since then, Kyoko is haunted with guilt and wants to apologize to her sister. She is also struck uncannily by her literature publisher, Yoshii, who is a [[doppelgänger]] of Higata, except that he is more caring to her.

One day, Kyoko follows an invitation to her old circus, only to discover the box containing Shoko's burned remains. She is confronted by Higata, who is distraught after the incident and tells her that both Kyoko and Shoko are important to him, but only as one entity. After luring her into kissing him, he forces her into a plastic sack, fits it into a box, then buries it in the nearby snowy ground. However, it is revealed that the entire event of the film is just another dream of Kyoko, who in reality has been [[Conjoined twins|conjoined]] with Shoko since birth. The sisters exit the house to meet with Higata/Yoshii, both indeed the same person.

==Cast==

===''Dumplings''===
* [[Miriam Yeung]] as Mrs Li
* [[Bai Ling]] as Mei
* Pauline Lau as Li's maid
* [[Tony Leung Ka-fai]] as Li
* Meme Tian as Connie

===''Cut''===
* [[Lee Byung-hun]] as Director
* [[Im Won-hee]] as Stranger
* [[Kang Hye-jung]] as Director's wife
* [[Yum Jung-ah]] as actress in vampire role

===''Box''===
* [[Kyōko Hasegawa]] as Kyoko
* [[Atsuro Watabe]] as Yoshii/Higata
* Mai Suzuki as Young Kyoko
* Yuu Suzuki as Young Shoko

==''Dumplings'' theatrical==
{{Main|Dumplings (film)}}
''Three... Extremes''' first film ''Dumplings'' was extended and turned into a full-length theatrical film of the same name that was released into British cinemas by [[Palisades Tartan|Tartan Films]] in the spring of 2006.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}}

==Release==
''Three... Extremes'' was theatrically released on October 28, 2005 by [[Lionsgate Films|Lionsgate]]. After its release on November 17, 2005, the film has grossed $77,532 in North America and $1,516,056 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $1,593,588.<ref name="BOM"/><ref name="kobiz"/>

===Critical response===
''Three...Extremes'' received generally positive reviews. Review aggregator [[Rotten Tomatoes]] gave the film an 84% approval rating based on 62 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8 out of 10; its consensus reads: "This anthology contains brutal, powerful horror stories by three of Asia's top directors."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/threeextremes |title=Three...Extremes (Saam gang yi) |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=September 6, 2016}}</ref> [[Metacritic]], which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gave the film an average score of 66 out of 100 based on 22 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.metacritic.com/movie/three-extremes/trailers/1084622 |title=Three... Extremes |website=[[Metacritic]] |access-date=September 6, 2016 |archive-date=October 25, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025064551/http://www.metacritic.com/movie/three-extremes/trailers/1084622 |url-status=live }}</ref>

''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' critic [[Roger Ebert]] praised the film by giving it 3½ stars out of 4, describing the films as "deeply, profoundly creepy", and he attributed their qualities to the works of famous horror writers [[Edgar Allan Poe]], [[H. P. Lovecraft]] and [[Stephen King]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/three-extremes-2005 |title=Three... Extremes |author=Ebert, Roger |publisher=Chicago Sun-Times |date=October 28, 2005 |access-date=September 6, 2016 |archive-date=September 15, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915110455/http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/three-extremes-2005 |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]''{{'}} [[Dana Stevens (critic)|Dana Stevens]] gave a positive review, writing: "Though ''Three Extremes'' {{sic}} may seem tame to jaded fans of what has been termed New Asian Horror, it serves as a fine introduction to the genre for those who are curious but squeamish."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/28/arts/movies/film-in-review-three-extremes.html?_r=0 |title=Film in Review; Three Extremes |author=Stevens, Dana |work=The New York Times |date=October 28, 2005 |access-date=September 6, 2016 |archive-date=April 4, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180404080159/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/28/arts/movies/film-in-review-three-extremes.html?_r=0 |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[The Boston Globe]]'s'' [[Ty Burr]] gave a favorable review, advising viewers to "fasten your seat belts for a bumpy ride -- narratively and artistically -- and don't go in on a full stomach."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archive.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2005/10/28/terror_trilogy_extremes_proves_to_be_a_bumpy_ride |title=Terror trilogy 'Extremes' proves to be a bumpy ride |author=Burr, Ty |publisher=The Boston Globe |date=October 28, 2005 |access-date=September 6, 2016 |archive-date=December 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226192335/http://archive.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2005/10/28/terror_trilogy_extremes_proves_to_be_a_bumpy_ride/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0420251|Three... Extremes}}
* {{Mojo title|id=threeextremes|title=Three...Extremes}}
* {{Metacritic film|title=Three...Extremes}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|threeextremes|Three...Extremes}}

{{Takashi Miike}}
{{Park Chan-wook}}
{{Fruit Chan}}

[[Category:2004 films]]
[[Category:2004 horror films]]
[[Category:2000s Cantonese-language films]]
[[Category:2000s Hong Kong films]]
[[Category:2000s Japanese films]]
[[Category:2000s Japanese-language films]]
[[Category:2000s Korean-language films]]
[[Category:2000s Mandarin-language films]]
[[Category:2000s South Korean films]]
[[Category:2004 psychological thriller films]]
[[Category:Films about cannibalism]]
[[Category:Films directed by Fruit Chan]]
[[Category:Films directed by Park Chan-wook]]
[[Category:Films directed by Takashi Miike]]
[[Category:Japanese horror anthology films]]
[[Category:Japanese psychological horror films]]
[[Category:Japanese psychological thriller films]]
[[Category:Hong Kong anthology films]]
[[Category:Hong Kong psychological horror films]]
[[Category:Hong Kong psychological thriller films]]
[[Category:Lionsgate films]]
[[Category:South Korean horror anthology films]]
[[Category:South Korean psychological horror films]]
[[Category:South Korean psychological thriller films]]

Three... Extremes - Revision history

imported>Natg 19: Disambiguating links to Lions Gate (link changed to Lionsgate Films) using DisamAssist.