31 Days of Asian Horror: Suddenly in the Dark (1981)
When I say that Suddenly in the Dark has been on my watchlist for a long time, I mean it. It’s one of those movies that has been there a little too long, I just never made time for it. October seemed like the perfect time to finally rectify that, and after watching it just confirmed my suspicions that I was wrong for not getting to it faster. It’s an engaging psychological thriller with slow builds and a perfect unreliable narrator that is further supported by the interesting camera angles and various filters used. While I’m not going to give away too many spoilers in this post, it’s a movie that I can’t not talk about for some length. If you haven’t watched the movie, go watch it and come back here.
The movie follows Seon Hee (Kim Young Ae), a housewife whose life is disrupted when her husband brings home a young woman, Mi Ok (Lee Ki Seon), a daughter of a shaman priestess. Mi Ok has been recently made homeless due to a fire that claimed the life of her mother and comes to help out Seon Hee around the house for a place to stay. Mi Ok brings home a doll that her mother gave her, a doll that has been tormenting Seon Hee’s dreams. Suddenly in the Dark is director Go Yeong Nam’s only horror film out of his over 100 film credits.
The main plot of the movie is Seon Hee’s spiral into distrust of both her husband and Mi Ok. A lot of the tension had been growing slowly over some time, well before we see her, but her friend’s remarks only further help it and aid to solidify her paranoia about her husband. Because of Seon Hee’s position and where she was living, she is essentially shut off from society. There is only ever one car shown, and has no visible neighbors. She only has, seemingly, one friend and spends her life waiting for her husband to return from long trips and now her routine has been disrupted with the entrance of a younger female - one that she didn’t bring into the house. Seon Hee has only been known as someone else’s. Yu Jin’s wife, Gyeong Ah’s mother and now there is a clear threat of that being stripped away from her, and that she is losing the only identity she knows. She’s at a turning point in her acceptance of being her own person and it is presenting itself in her dissolving mental state.
In Korean culture, the butterfly is a symbol of joy and prosperity. When shown in pairs they symbolize harmony and unity among a husband and wife. (source) Seon Hee’s husband spends much of the movie away from the house trying to catch a rare butterfly that has only been seen by few in Korea. There is also a superstition that if you touch one you’ll go blind. Yu Jin is blind throughout the movie to his wife’s diminishing mental state and how far gone she is truly becoming. The events of the movie only further heighten it. Everything comes to head at the very end as his butterfly collection is destroyed, and too their marriage.
The film makes you question everything, and there are parts that seem like her delusions of Mi Ok are true and supported by events that are happening. You are constantly questioning the husband and Mi Ok’s actions because of this. The use of Seon Hee being such an unreliable narrator not only helps the psychological mind play that is happening, but it also creates a sense of constant uneasiness. Seon Hee forces a mirrored version of the woman in the magazine onto Mi Ok, which we see in numerous times through the lens of the camera. Mi Ok’s naivety and age only help create a false reality to support these stories. It really helped with the tension because I was being forced to figure out if it was all true, or if we were truly seeing a woman who is mentally spiraling. Both options aren’t good, Seon Hee purposely sabotaging this facade seems unlikely and you are left sadly watching a woman losing everything because she’s not getting the care she needs. The upkeep of the image of the wealthy perfect family was too much for her and had rendered her silent for years until it was forced to bubble over with Mi Ok’s arrival.
While a little too experimental and hokey at times, the film’s use of practical camera effects and angles add to the delusion. Any time Seon Hee is seeing the distortion of truth, a kaleidoscope lens is applied. An almost broken mirror that we are seeing only bits and pieces of what is truly going on. In these instances, you really start to feel the erraticness of her actions and how she is spiraling out of control in her distorted reality. The movie worked well to use the camera tricks to help with the tension and added some good eery parts and I was also left guessing. The creepy doll only adding to everything and made my enjoyment of the film only grow. I was immersed in everything which led to me not only letting my guard down, but also feeling like Seon Hee at times. I was uncomfortable and confused. There are weird things constantly happening, almost seemingly in the background, but because of Seon Hee’s fixation of Mi Ok they are almost missed. Kim Young Ae does a fantastic job in her role and carries Seon Hee well. While the other’s acting is slightly lacking, it works well for the crazy ride of the movie and I wasn’t bothered by it. I’m really glad I decided to pick this one up, as its become a new favorite.
Suddenly in the Dark is available on Blu-Ray and streaming on AsianCrush (and by default Midnight Pulse).
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