Hey what's up guys
Today I'll show you a horror-fantasy film: "Recycle"
Spoiler ahead, watch out and take care
The movie begins with a famous romance writer, Ting,
smoking in a dressing room after a press conference
She is a pretty woman wearing glasses
Her manager had blindsided her on stage,
and announced that she will be soon releasing her new book, Re-cycle
But the thing is, Ting is far from finishing the book;
and she is furious that he is pressuring her with the announcement
She's always been a meticulous writer; and right now,
she is struggling to develop the main female character in her new novel
Her manager assures her that she still has time;
and announcing the book early is just a way to drum up anticipation
Ting wrote under a pseudonym, and rose to prominence after her trilogy, My Love, became a smash hit
The story is a tragic romance between two lovers who met at the wrong time
Hot off the tail of the book's success,
a film company quickly acquired the movie rights, and began shooting
Ting was invited to the movie's press conference along with her manager
One of the reporters there asked her,
if the love story in her novels was based on her real-life experience
She nervously admitted that some parts of the story were borrowed from her own experience,
since she always subconsciously puts herself inside her characters
The reporter then asked her if the male character was based on someone she loved
She just vaguely replied that the person the male character was based on, is dead
This was when her manager diverted the crowd's attention,
by announcing that Ting had already started writing her next book;
and it will be about the supernatural
While she was speaking, a long-haired man in a suit tried to enter the room;
but the guard denied his entry
After the event, the man approached her and said congratulations
His name is Ran; and they were lovers long ago
He also inspired the male character of her story
Ran invited her out for drinks
but Ting refused
Later that night, she continues to work on her new novel,
and describes her main character as a long-haired and resilient girl
Later on, she arrives home, no longer wearing glasses after getting her groceries
She has the feeling that someone else was in the house
She also finds strands of long dark hair in the sink, and even sees a glimpse of a figure as well
She then gets a call from her friend, whose brother is Ran
Ting agrees to meet with her, but explicitly asks that she not mention her brother
After she hangs up, the phone rings again
This time, there's nothing, but static on the other end of the line
It turns out that her friend asked to meet with her, due to ulterior motives
Her brother is now divorced, and wants to give his relationship with Ting a try
But Ting shuts it down, and refuses to let him in her life again
She also mentions to her friend that ever since she started working on her new novel,
strange things have been happening to her
Her friend says that there are people,
who find themselves experiencing the paranormal after researching or writing about it;
and this may be what is happening to Ting
Ting gets home that night, and washes her face in the bathroom
She then hears footsteps in her apartment, so she goes to investigate
But Ting does not find anyone there
so she just goes back to the bathroom
She suddenly sees a woman with long dark hair, covering her face in the bathroom mirror reflection
Moments later, she also sees strands of dark hair on the floor
Ting is startled, and runs out of the bathroom to pick up the phone
However, she only hears coughs and groans from the other end
However, this strangely inspires her to write more
She sits down in front of her computer, and types about her experience in the bathroom
The phone rings again; and she presses her ear near her answering machine
This time, she can clearly hear a baby wailing
Back at her desk, her crumpled drafts begin quivering inside her wastebasket
She grabs the piece of paper, and reads her previous work
Ting realizes that the paranormal stuff she wrote in her initial draft,
is happening to her in real life, including the weird calls, and the protagonist's long dark hair
Right then, someone knocks on the door
She opens it, and sees Ran
He says that he called her telephone; but the line was busy
so he went up to her apartment to check on her
He is still insistent that they talk; but Ting does not let him inside
Instead, they go out to dinner
He explains that he is now divorced;
and he should have left his wife eight years ago, when he fell in love with Ting
But he didn't choose Ting before, and broke her heart,
which however, inspired her to write her best-selling book
He reveals that he couldn't leave his wife back then, because his wife got pregnant
Then his father-in-law died; and he had to take over the business
He pleaded for Ting to wait for him to get divorced
but after a while, she got tired of his excuses, and stopped replying to his letters
She is now glad she didn't sit around and wait for a shitty man, who couldn't choose her
Ting leaves Ran alone at the restaurant
She walks along a deserted street, and suddenly the wind picks up;
and a strange light appears in the distance
When she gets home, she writes about the strange occurrence
Ting briefly passes out and watches,
as the words on her monitor mention that her protagonist went to a hallway
Out of curiosity, Ting runs out of her apartment, and enters the elevator
It halts on the seventh floor;
and even when she attempts to close the doors, it keeps opening on the same floor
A creepy old lady and a young child step inside; and the elevator finally closes
When the elevator reaches the ground floor, Ting walks out; and the child follows her
The old lady says that they're not supposed to stop there; and they have one more floor to go
The child goes back to the elevator;
and when Ting looks back, she watches as the two descend downstairs, without the elevator moving
Ting presses forward, and sees an exit
She steps outside, and is awed by the city she sees
It is the opposite of the modern and flourishing city she lives in
Instead, it is empty, dilapidated, and the buildings are all run-down
After walking for a short while, bodies start dropping from the sky
In front of her are people strewn all over the road
They start quivering, and then rising up and moving in robot-like motions
Their faces are gaunt and gray, with blank expressions
Across the street is a faceless woman with long dark hair, staring at Ting
She points one bony finger at her; and Ting feels chills down her spine
She takes it as a sign that she should go;
and she takes off running; while the bodies are going after her
She manages to lose them, and ends up at the end of the street
But the edge is like a cliff; and beyond that is just a vast and inhospitable expanse
She can't move forward, and behind her is the faceless woman
so she ducks to the side, and hides in one of the buildings
She locks the door behind her, with more of the bodies slamming at the door
Ting goes down a narrow set of stairs, and heads toward a dark alley lined with windows
Ting exits this building and enters an open space, with a working ferris wheel in the middle
Suddenly, she sees an old man sitting on the bench
He asks her how she got there; and Ting asks him where she is
The old man calmly flips through a notebook, and asks her again how she got there
So she tells him about going down the elevator, and seeing an old lady with a young child
The old man cryptically says that she does not belong in this world
Ting is puzzled, since he looks like a regular human
but he quickly mentions that he is not like her
He then pulls out one of the crumpled draft pages from his pocket
Upon seeing it, Ting remembers that all this started, when she first began writing her next novel
The old man explains that she is one of the creators of this world
It is where all discarded creations go; and everything there can vanish in a blink of an eye
It turns out, when Ting wrote the story Re-cycle, the world was formed
And since the story had supernatural elements, the world also contained some scary creatures,
like the faceless woman with long dark hair
Suddenly, everything, including the wind and the ferris wheel, comes to a stop
The old man is alarmed, and tells her that she has to leave,
because once everything in that dimension disappears, she will be gone as well
Ting is later transported to another world
This time it's a cold forest, with towering trees and bodies hanging from their branches
The bodies are emaciated too; but they have elongated necks
They start moving towards Ting
but a huge mechanical horse appears out of nowhere, with a girl wearing a mask riding it
The girl tells Ting to come with her; and the author obliges
They go to a massive yard, filled with enormous toys
Ting asks the girl who she is; and she quietly removes her mask
She replies that she does not have a name,
and that she is just one of the abandoned creations in the world
Everything that was discarded by the creators, including their thoughts and promises,
ended up in that world
The nameless girl points at the pile of old discarded toys behind them,
and says that all the toys Ting threw away ended up there
Suddenly, the toys around them start disappearing
The nameless girl exclaims that the phenomenon is called "recycle";
and if they disappear with the objects, they will be recycled, and trapped in the dimension
The two fight against the wind, and hide inside a cave
The cave is filled with shelves of books;
and the nameless girl tugs Ting along, and tells her that she knows someone who can help her leave
It turns out to be the same old man, who she had encountered earlier
He is hunched over a desk looking at manuscripts;
and he remarks that Ting needs to leave immediately
She answers that she has been trying to leave the dimension; but she doesn't know the way
Finally, the old man relents, and retrieves a book from another shelf
For Ting to be able to go back to her world, she needs to go to the transit
but she can't make it there on her own
Fortunately, the nameless girl volunteers to help her get there;
and the old man will show them the way
Based on the book, Ting has to pick wildflowers, then take the path covered with hell money
She will pass the crescent moon, red earth, and rootless grasses
After that, she will arrive at the transit
However, the rest of the instructions are too blurred for them to understand
so Ting would just have to make do
Before they leave, the old man gives her some hell money
Ting and the nameless girl start their journey
Their first obstacle is a bridge, filled with the walking dead
Ting has to hold her breath and blend in,
or else the dead bodies will know that she is not one of them
So the two carefully walk across the bridge
Ting makes her expression go blank, and her movements robotic to blend in
Still, some of the bodies curiously look at her
They are near the other side; but they have to step over some broken stones first
Ting gingerly steps over them
but the ground gives way; and they struggle to hold on to the bridge
The sound attracts the bodies; and the two quickly heave themselves over to the other side
Ting jumps headfirst into a hole
She lands inside a tunnel with red stone on the walls
Inside the tunnel are tiny baby fetuses, still connected to umbilical cords
As she walks deeper into the tunnel, the babies get bigger until they wake up, and shriek at her
The nameless girl appears, and points her toward the exit;
and Ting tries with all her might to ignore the fetuses,
and concentrate on getting to the nameless girl
The nameless girl grabs her hand, and tugs her outside the red earth tunnel
They emerge in a lush green forest
She asks the nameless girl what the babies were;
and she answers that they were aborted fetuses who will keep on growing,
until they are fully developed
But they will be dumped in a certain dimension
Ting and the nameless girl continue walking through a field of wildflowers
But Ting suddenly feels weak; and her hands begin to fade
The nameless girl also looks paler;
and she explains that the closer to transit they are, the weaker she becomes
They pick the wildflowers, and fall asleep on the rootless grass
When they wake up, Ting tells the nameless girl that she looks familiar
The nameless girl says that is impossible, because she does not have a name
Ting then names her Ting-Yu, signifying that the girl is now a part of her family
Night falls; and they see a crescent moon, hanging over a graveyard of forgotten people
Their bodies are seated on top of the gravestones; and they are blocking the two's way
Ting gets the idea to give them the wildflowers they picked,
as a way to remember the forgotten people
The bodies gladly accept the flowers, and allow the two girls to pass
However, they soon run out of flowers; and the bodies demand more
So the two make a run for it
but the bodies catch them
Another idea forms in her head
She pulls out the hell money given by the old man,
and throws it up in the air to distract the bodies;
while they cross to the other side of the graveyard
In that way, they finally reach the transit
but the little girl is now fading away
Ting desperately suggests that the girl come with her to the real world
but the girl says it is no use, since she will be just a wandering spirit there
Ting has grown to love the nameless girl,
who had been her friend and ally in the strange Re-cycle world;
and it breaks her heart to leave the girl behind, in such a cold and barren place
But it is time for Ting to go back to her own world
She leaves the little girl slumped on the grass
The world is going to be recycled soon; and the bodies are quickly swarming her
She needs to go now, or she will be gone forever
The faceless woman confronts Ting, telling her that since she dumped them there,
it is only fitting that Ting stay there with them
A flash of light erupts; and she discovers that everyone else has been frozen
The girl weakly whispers that they have reached the ending, that her mommy had written
Ting is confused at first
but she soon realizes that the little girl is the spirit of her daughter, that she had with Ran
It is revealed that when she had dinner with her ex-lover,
the last thing she said to him was that,
eight years ago when he chose his wife, Ting was pregnant too, but she didn't tell him
When he kept her waiting; and Ting got tired, she decided to terminate her pregnancy;
so she would no longer have any ties to Ran
Because the aborted fetus was discarded by Ting,
she ended up at the tunnel shown earlier,
and eventually grew into the nameless girl that Ting befriended
But the girl tells her that all is forgiven;
and now she is glad that she met her mommy in this dimension
Right then, the old man appears; and Ting also realizes that he is her grandpa;
and he has been taking care of her daughter in this dimension for long
A brighter flash of light erupts once more; and Ting wakes up in a cold sweat back in her apartment
Invigorated by her supernatural experience in the Re-cycle world,
she pens the story of her meeting her daughter
Satisfied with her work, she goes to her study,
only to be astounded by the sight of another version of herself wearing glasses,
talking to her manager on the phone
This other version says on the phone that she has also finished her draft
but she changed her story to be about reincarnation instead,
since she feels like she put too much of herself into her initial character
As the old man explained earlier, there are other creators who also wrote the world;
and these creators are the written versions of Ting,
who found themselves in the stories that the original author wrote
The movie ends with the two Tings coming face to face; and then the phone rings with a baby's wail
This's Daniel CC movie channel Stay safe and enjoy your day