Rating of
1/4
Korean schizo flick
ikkegoemikke - wrote on 03/23/15
My conclusion is that I was staring practically 90% of the movie to the bottom of the screen. My lack of knowledge of the Korean language made me look at the subtitles all that time. Something I almost never do while watching a movie.
The film itself wasn't that spectacular anyway. The story itself is filled with emotions. A psychologically and physically abused woman on an island with a retarded probably by inbred stricken family. A city girl who goes on a mandatory vacation and visits the island again. Her grandparents lived there and she met a girl called Bok-nam there in those days. She notices however that Bok-nam is a plaything in the hands of the men and a willing slave for the older women. The cry for help to get her out of that situation, stays unanswered. Hae-won reacts quite indifferent. The situation tilts when Bok-nam's daughter is killed in an outburst of rage of the husband. This is the start of a killing spree where no one is spared.
Visually it looks alright. The surroundings and atmosphere on the island. The two women act amazingly well. These are strong character roles that touch the viewer emotionally. The rest of the cast are balancing between "not very bad" to "terribly bad". Especially the men sometimes play a truly abominable bad role. The massacre is quite soft and feels a bit outdated. The images reminded me of "The last house on the left" from 1977. Not in terms of content but in terms of the visual aspect.
I wouldn't call it Horror. It's rather a psychological thriller in which the end it is totally over the top and fairly nonsensical. All in all, not a movie that blew me away by or impressed me.
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