Coma (2006) Review

Not very many horror dramas premiered during the summer, and of the few only a couple were fully horror and didn’t lean into comedy. The short five-episode OCN drama, Coma, is one of them. Premiering July 21, 2006, Coma is about a hospital that is closing and the secrets that are unearthed when an insurance agent comes to check on the hospital’s remaining patient who is in a coma. The drama was co-produced with the production house Sio Film and was shown at the 7th Jeonju International Film Festival in 2006.

I really didn’t know anything about Coma going into the drama, and so when I added it to my list of things to watch and review that premiered during the summer I knew that I was playing a dangerous game that it could very well turn out to not be something I would enjoy. But to my surprise, I was really into Coma and it caught me from the very beginning. The mystery of what happened unfolds well, with each episode focusing on a specific person tied to the events and what part they played. The drama goes much darker and creepier than I was expecting. It had a good grasp of incorporating a creepy tone and well-played scares that were consistent throughout the drama. I really wasn’t expecting it to go as dark as it did. I was pleasantly surprised that not only did it stay that way throughout, but was constantly adding more to the suspense and mystery of the drama throughout each episode.

I did find it hard to keep track of some of the characters, and this is mainly due to it jumping back and forth in time. It used time jumps pretty regularly and in different ways and along with some of the character’s being children during the time of the incident but grown in present day, it added to the confusion when some of the main older characters didn’t also have a defining age or appearance change. There are also jumps to incorporate the storylines of the previous episodes (that occur in the present time) and the characters do “see” what had happened in the viewpoint of the ghosts as well as the actual jumps into the past. But the story’s mysteries were intriguing and the scares kept me engrossed dispute the confusion, and once I finished the drama it had worked itself out. It’s definitely a drama that you need to watch all episodes for it to make sense, and I would suggest watching them as close as possible.

I really did love this drama. I think the episode number length works in its favor, along with it being an OCN production, so that it wasn’t tied to normal viewing regulations. Its director for the first and last episodes, Gong Su Chang, worked on horror films R-Point and the Ring Virus and so the drama really had a good creative team attached to it to make it work. I know that with it being an older drama it will detract people from picking it up, but it’s a great mystery with good scares and atmosphere. One of the darker and creepier revenge tales you can find in a kdrama. Its definitely been added to my list of favorite horror dramas that I’ve watched so far.

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Chaw (non-spoiler) Review

I am back to reviews after a week off (sorry about that, last week was a little too busy and I didn’t plan ahead well). As I hinted towards in my Creature Features post, today I am reviewing the 2009 dark comedy monster film, Chaw.

Chaw’s premise is super simple: a mutant pig terrorizes a small rural town that has seen no deaths in years, and a ragtag team is formed to stop it. Director/writer Shin Jeong Won stated in an interview that he came up with the idea to do the movie when he kept getting comedic scripts that didn’t match his comedy. He wanted to do a monster movie and was “intrigued by the idea of a familiar animal attacking and killing humans and wanted to create something out of this unexpectedness. But most of all, I wanted something funny and unique.” He picked a boar because it’s the most well known animal that creates the greatest amount of destruction. (source 1) (source 2).

Apparently, Shin and I would get along great, because I loved how the comedy was used in this film (and probably would have hated all those comedy scripts he was sent). For the most part, when we deal with the boar and its destruction, the comedy isn’t used or played up which allows a lot of the satire to lie in the quirkiness of the town and the characters outside of incidents with the boar. The comedy really just helps to form the backdrop of the town and the characters to give you a sense of who they are and why they are responding the way they are. Seriously, I’d watch a drama of just this town and all the people in it. I read someone comparing it to Twin Peaks, and I’d have to agree. If you combined Twin Peaks with The Host, you’d get Chaw if that helps you figure out what type of movie you’re getting yourself into.

The boar was a mixture of animatronic and CGI. As a lover of practicals, I really liked it a lot. The pig was created by an FX team in the US and it took three years to create along with all of the stuntmen and costumes. All the work paid off, as it works well and really helps some of the major scenes that the actors are with the creature in the same room and interacting with it. There is a bigger fight scene towards the middle where the CGI and animatronic was used, it integrates pretty nicely within the scene and doesn’t take away from what’s going on.

I think what also helped the movie to not feel too cheesy was that the design of the boar leans more to a realistic copy of a boar and focuses the scare more on it being a real life problem as opposed to trying to make it some weird hybrid sci-fi creature that looks unknown. They describe it as a mutant, but really it’s just a larger boar…that poses a much higher death count. I felt that it also helped keep the comedy’s focus on the characters, as there wasn’t a time you were supposed to find the boar a weirdly funny creature and helped it feel much more like an actual boar, which was essential for some of the later scenes.

I really suggest checking out Chaw if you have the chance. I don’t think it’s talked about a lot, mainly because it probably gets overshadowed by The Host and just the general lack of monster films coming out of South Korea. It’s fun, aware of its campiness, and integrates it well so that it doesn’t over saturate it. The characters are equally as fun and quirky and the main team works well together and are perfectly incompetent. They are a great found family with heart.

Chaw is currently streaming for free on Tubi with ads.

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The 8th Night (non-spoiler) Review

Did I hate The 8th Night? No. Did I love it? Also no.

The 8th Night is the story of Park Jin Soo (Lee Sung Min), a former monk who has been summoned to help rid the world of a centuries-old demon that has been reawakened. He is joined by a monk Cheong Seouk, played by Nam Da Reum.

I’m having a hard time trying to review this movie because while I didn’t think it was a bad movie, and could see how a lot of people would connect, I didn’t find it really that memorable. 8th Night is weird in that the first quarter of the movie is set up more like an adventure action movie, as the artifact is found and the monks tell the stories voiced over graphics. It doesn’t give you a sense of where the movie is going, or even where it’s trying to go. I was left in this weird state of confusion because we really weren’t doing much of anything.

Not only does the story take a while to actually progress, it also takes a while for it to be scary. And by a while - save a few instances of weird faces - the only horror you get out of the movie is in the last 20 minutes. With not much build-up or tension, the movie falls flat as a horror. Trailers are a notoriously terrible judge on what the movie is going to be, and this movie was no exception. There is no tension during the first hour or so because most of it is unnecessary, drawn-out plot. It spends most of its time focusing on the stories, but doesn’t really need any of that exposition to understand what is going on or even take the story to where it needed to go. It’s the movie’s major flaw.

Don’t go into it thinking the movie you are seeing in the previews is the movie you receive. I wanted a bit more intrigue and better pacing, and a lot more horror than was presented in the movie. The fact that most of those things only appeared in about the last 20 minutes of a two-hour movie was too much work for not a lot of payoff. In the end, it fell flat and uninteresting. I was really hoping for a lot more than this.

If you have a free two hours, or like backstory-heavy slow exorcism movies watch this, but I’d skip it if I didn’t have the free time.

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Korean Creature Features

I have a true love for creature features, they are fun and just make me happy. My love prompted me to go on a search for some Korean offerings and while there aren’t many Korean ones, so I thought I’d share with you a handful. I haven’t watched all of the below list, but they were the ones that I personally was most interested in. Let me know in the comments below if you know any more that I should add to the list (not just Korean, from anywhere - I’ll take notes for later).

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The Host - 괴물 (2006)

Starting the list off with, in my opinion, the best option, The Host has probably everything you can possibly want. A fun creature, a goofy dad just trying his best to save his daughter, and Bae Doona. Seriously, if you haven’t watched this yet, push it up the list. Currently streaming on Hulu, but it’s good enough to own on Blu-Ray if you don’t have access.

Chaw - 차우 (2009)

You’ll probably hear more about this soon (hint, hint), but this 2009 movie has a man-eating boar. What more could you possibly want? Nothing, I say. Nothing.

Monstrum - 물괴 (2018)

I’ve talked briefly about this one in my Current Korean Horror on Shudder post. It’s set in the Joseon era, where a monster emerges. I probably won’t get to this one for a while, but just the fact that there is a plague happening and the result is not a zombie outbreak gets me excited. I love you zombie movies, but I love weird creatures so much more.

Yonggary - 용가리

If Godzilla-like monsters are more your speed, Yonggary might be the answer. It’s also sort of the oddball of the grouping, as even though it is a Korean production, the main cast is made up of American actors. And it’s on Tubi!

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#Alive (Non-Spoiler) Review

So zombie movies aren’t something I always gravitate towards. Not because I hate them or that they freak me out. It’s just that I feel overwhelmed with them because the zombie subgenre is just so…overpopulated with them. Especially now, it just feels like if there is some sort of monster-type entity it’s going to be some variation of a zombie. And as a creature-feature lover, I’m always hoping that the big bad is going to be something other than just zombies. I get it, it’s something that’s super easy to grasp (especially now), and it can create more of a connection than some other monster. So last year when Netflix announced that they would be picking up the movie #Alive, I was excited that it would be accessible and easy to watch, I just wasn’t so excited for it that I had to watch it exactly when it dropped. That is why we’re here, almost a year later, finally watching it. And I wish I hadn’t waited.

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#Alive follows Oh Joon Woo (portrayed by Yoo Ah In) who wakes up one day while his family is on vacation to a zombie outbreak. Joon Woo, trapped in an apartment without much food and water, has to figure out how to survive alone. One day, he meets another survivor (Park Shin Hye) in the apartment across the street from his.

For a zombie movie, the movie largely spends most of its time not really focusing on the zombies. I mean, it kinda does. They are always present, but they aren’t the real focus. The movie was much more of a survival horror film that had a zombie outbreak, than an action zombie film. From despair, hopelessness, and dwindling resources, survival lies in continuing on when all is lost more than the fear of the zombies. Between the real stages of grief that the characters go through, and the real-life survival problems that arise during, I found it a lot more enjoyable and different than other zombie films I’ve seen.

You probably know by now that I kind of have a thing for the silence. I love the mundane slices of life. This usually translates into liking things that most people find boring and I do think that this movie might have that problem with some of the audience that watches it. There’s real loneliness for a good chunk, and most of the time it’s just Joon Woo in the apartment. Park Shin Hye’s character doesn’t even enter until over thirty minutes in. He doesn’t fight a lot of zombies, most of the time we only see them below from the window of his apartment. For me, this is what worked. I liked that it focused more on the reality of a zombie outbreak. Probably due to the world we’re currently in, I felt more of a connection to what the character was doing and the real horror living in the despair of the unknown more than anything else. I liked that they showed him being concerned for his family, the little notes he left around to keep up his spirits. The video diaries he did, and the passing of time doing the things he loved like playing video games. It felt more real, and was easier to connect with.

I wanted to keep this movie review spoiler-free, so I can’t really go into detail about some of my other favorite parts of the movie, but I do want to make note of the way that they bridged current day technology with what is going on and how it plays in the greater plot of the movie. It added even more to my enjoyment and more to the real horror. I don’t think they overused aspects of technology that would make it seem unreal. Cell phones were losing signal in and out. One scene we see him desperately trying to find bars just to listen to his parent’s voice mail. There were references to breaks for commercials during the news updates, and random news segments that were more light-hearted that added this light surreal touch that coming off of the year we had is absolutely true. In the beginning, we see him on social media basically pleading the will to go on because he was so lonely and wanted to connect with someone. Instead of the technology being an aid in fighting the zombies, it was focused more on the connection it provided.

If you haven’t watched the movie yet, I would definitely recommend it. While there is a bit of gore when the zombies are feeding, and a few other points, it’s not super gratuitous and a lot lighter in the amount that it happens. If you aren’t into zombie movies because they cause stress, I still wouldn’t recommend it. I think if you spend your time hyper-focused on the zombies and what they are doing (or what they will potentially do) it would be such a disservice to the rest of the movie and focus you in the wrong direction and I don’t think you’d get the same out of it.

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Random Asian Horror News

I wasn’t going to do a post today, but last night a good amount of news dropped in dramaland that I wanted to comment on, and with other news that came out earlier in the month I figured it was time to talk about it all in one post. I used to do a weekly wrapup where I talked about news, and since I don’t do that anymore (sans what we do on the podcast) I kind of miss it. I don’t miss having to find news to talk about when there isn’t a lot dropping or nothing that interests me, but I do find some stories that I want to talk about from time to time and it’s fun to do a roundup of specifically crime/thriller/horror content. Maybe I’ll make this a sporadic regular thing every time I feel like it? Sort of monthly? Or at least when I have enough to talk about. Let me know in the comments if that’s something you’re interested in. Most, if not all, of this list I’ve mentioned on Twitter so some of it might not be so new to you, but at the very least maybe you’ll find something that interests you that you didn’t catch when the news was first released.

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MOVIES

Several movies will be dropping in July, all perfect for the summertime. There’s an upswing on the resurgence of movies getting back onto theater screens, and a lot of the movies that had been held for release from last year are all starting to appear.

Midnight - 미드나이트

Airing in both theaters and on TVing June 30th starring Jin Ki Joo. Kyung Mi (Jin Ki Joo) is hard of hearing. One night after leaving work she meets Do Sik, a serial killer (played by Wi Ha Joon), and tries to escape. The movie was filmed back in 2019, and was set to release in the beginning of 2020 but was pushed back due to Covid. I don’t know yet about the availability of this one, but hoping I’ll be able to catch it somewhere when it is released. It looks like it’s going to be a fun thriller, and I’ve loved Jin Ki Joo since she was in Come and Hug Me.

The 8th Night - 제8일의 밤

There are a lot of movies tied to exorcisms that will be coming out next month, and while exorcism movies aren’t necessarily my go-to in the genre, it doesn’t necessarily mean that I don’t like them. Especially when they are super easy to watch, as this one will be coming to Netflix. Former exorcist Park Jin Soo (Lee Sung Min) is plagued by dreams when he realizes he needs to face a demon that has been freed. Another movie that was shot in 2019 and scheduled for 2020, it drops July 3rd.

The Cursed: Dead Man’s Prey - 방법: 재차의

Starring Uhm Ji Won, Jeong Ji So, and Sung Dong Il, The Cursed: Dead Man’s Prey is a sequel to the 2020 kdrama The Cursed. I haven’t seen the drama yet, but it had been on my list. It came out at a really bad time, I was in the middle of my busiest part of the season at work when it premiered, and it ended mid-March - right when the world was imploding and it’s just stayed in the back of my mind as a drama to pick up one day. In the original drama, a reporter (Uhm Ji Won) uncovers a violent case affiliated with an IT company and a spiritual consulting company. While investigating she meets someone who has been possessed by a spirit. The director, Kim Yong Wan, states that the movie will tell the after story of the drama.

The Medium - ร่างทรง

This movie has a solid lineup of people working on it. Well-known for the horror movie Shutter and the successful romcom Hello Stranger , Banjong Pisanthanakun directs this Thai-Korean joint project. The screenwriter is Ter Chantavit Dhanasevi, who directed the horror anthology ThirTEEN Terrors and previously worked with Pisanthanakun as the main role in Hello Stranger. Korean director/screenwriter, Na Hong Jin (The Wailing), is also attached to the movie as producer. A horrifying story of a shaman's inheritance in the Isan region of Thailand, where the spirit that appears to be possessing a family member might not be the benevolent goddess they believe it to be. The teaser for this looks phenomenal, and I suspect that out of all the movies I’ve listed this is already in the works for a US release soon, as it’s already been picked up for a French release. It is scheduled to be released in the theaters sometime in July. Out of all the movies I’ve listed, this is my top priority.

Kingdom: Ahsin of the North - 킹덤 외전: 아신

Not necessarily a movie, but it is a special and not a full season. If you haven’t seen the series, this will be a side sequel to season two, on the backstory of Ashin. The series is set in the Joseon period when a mysterious virus outbreaks (aka it’s a zombie period piece). Out on Netflix on July 23rd.

NEWS

Takashi Miike and Studio Dragon

Japanese director, Takashi Miike, will be teaming with production company Studio Dragon on what will be the first time a Japanese director has worked on a Korean drama. I can’t find anything on the drama, currently titled Connect, though I’m sure more will be coming out soon and is in the very early stages of production. Takashi Miike has worked on numerous films, but he’s most known (at least to me) for the horror movies Audition and Ichi the Killer, which makes me hope that this project will be a horror project. Because I need a good horror drama.

Oksu Station Ghost

Originally when I saw the news for this, it piqued my interest because of the announcement of Kim Jaehyun’s (N.Flying drummer) casting, and I had not known much about the production. Now that I’ve read more into it, it’s moved up in my interests. The horror movie is based on the webcomic of the same name and will be directed by Jung Yong Gi who previously directed the 2004 horror The Doll Master. He will be joined by Japanese screenwriter Hiroshi Takahashi, known for his work on the Ring series. The story of the film revolves around the mysterious incidents that occur at the Oksu Station. Filming has just started for a 2022 release.

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A Tale of Two Sisters Review

This week’s Friday night movie pick was the 2003 classic, A Tale of Two Sisters.

I actually first watched the movie last year because I had found out about its huge impact on Korean horror. The movie is Korea’s highest-grossing horror film and the first to be screened in America. It is consistently in top lists for one of the best films in Asian horror, and resonated a lot with audiences. It has a 2009 remake, The Uninvited, directed by the Guard Brothers.

Written and directed by Kim Jee Woon (A Quiet Family, I Saw the Devil, The Age of Shadows), the film follows Su Mi (Im Soo Jung), a teenager who has just been released from a mental hospital and sent back home with her sister, dad, and her new stepmother. Tensions rise between the girls and their stepmother, and with the constant nightmares of her dead mother, Su Mi is tormented.

Because of the nature of the movie, there really is no way to do any sort of a review/analysis without spoiling some things, so while I might not go over every plot of the story in this review, there will still be major spoilers. I highly suggest watching the movie before reading this or anything about the movie. Some of the plot is a surprise and really adds to the enjoyment of the movie as a whole. This is your warning.

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A Tale of Two Sisters is loosely based on a popular Joseon-era Korean fairy tale The Story of Janghwa and Hongryeon. Following the death of their mother, a father of two girls remarries a woman who does not like the girls and repeatedly abuses them. When the eldest is about to marry, the stepmother sabotages the marriage which exiles the daughter from the family. The mother tells one of her sons to push the daughter into a pond, where she drowns. While she is drowning a tiger comes and attacks the son. The mother gets what she wants with the daughter gone, but at the cost of her son, and becomes violent to the existing stepdaughter and eventually her fate is the same as the other stepdaughter. It isn’t until the girl’s ghosts are able to convince the new mayor of what the stepmother is doing that she is found guilty and sentenced to death. The story ends with the daughter’s spirits being able to rest, and the father remarrying with a new wife, bearing twins.

Still from the 1939 movie based on the fairy tale.

A Tale of Two Sisters has everything I love for a horror movie. I love dark, creepy, atmospheric stories that stay with me. There’s a mystery that is slowly being unfolded and you don’t know what’s going to happen. The tension is from the unknown rather than jump scares or gore.

When I’ve come across people talking about the movie, the biggest plot twist in the movie to them is the reveal that the sister, Su Yeon (Moon Geun Young), is dead. While it does add a great layer of surprise to the movie, I think it is intentionally set up to hold more weight to throw you off from what I believe is the greater twist: when you find out the horrific cause of death of the mother and her sister. When you realize why Su Mi is the way she is it makes the whole story so much more horrific because it’s real. The scare is not her dead mother appearing before her, or a ghost hand grabbing hers. It’s real-life horror that has emotionally ruined her life. Su Mi manifested her sister because she was the only comfort she had, the poor girl didn’t have a chance. Her sister is there the minute she returns to the house after coming back from the hospital. Su Yeon represents the only time that Su Mi was happy and becomes the only way to feel safe. Yet she is also her constant reminder of failure.

When Su Mi is confronted by the realization that her sister is dead, that’s when her mania goes into a tailspin and Su Yeon disappears from her side. The way Su Mi ‘sees’ her stepmother during the scenes of her dragging the bag is the manifestation of her rage and torment and it does such a good job of giving the viewer a greater understanding of what is going on in her head. The movie pulls you around constantly. From believing that the stepmother is really doing everything, to finding out that Su Mi is an unreliable narrator because everything you’ve just seen was her doing, to the realization that the true story is so much worse. It is literally placing you in the torment that Su Mi is actually in. It’s super effective and is probably one of my favorite things about the movie. I was horrified because I was seeing what she was, and it was unsettling.

Another thing that stuck with me from the first time I watched this and again after my rewatch, was the father’s role in everything. In the fairy tale that I talked about above, the father does not have much of a role in the story. He isn’t part of the abuse (the daughters choose not to tell him) but does believe the stepmother over the daughter. In the end, the girl’s spirits come to him to wish him a good life. In the movie, the father does a lot more even when he is shown doing the very least. It’s unsettling to see him interact with Su Mi because he knows that she’s still seeing her dead sister. He refuses to take away the piece of furniture in the house that is the literal cause of everything that happened. He doesn’t acknowledge that he has a greater role in the death of his first wife and his daughter or the mental trauma his eldest has to endure because of it. He has clearly admitted defeat in helping her. It’s a repeat of what he did with his first wife. He left her when she was mentally and physically unwell and moved on. He literally hid her in a closet to die.

A Tale of Two Sisters is a movie that I would recommend to everyone and is a personal favorite. While there are parts of the story that are classically horror, the real horror is in the events that happened in the house. I think it does a good job in combining real horrors with fake, and keeps you guessing the entire way through with great surprises and turns. The story unfolds in such a great way that it left me thinking for a while.

Let me know if you’ve watched the movie as well and your thoughts on it. This second viewing has really solidified my love for it, and I was able to focus on a lot more things that were going on without having to focus on the subtitles.

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Korean Egg Ghost

I finished Sell Your Haunted House a couple of weeks ago, and I really enjoyed the drama. I went to do some research on the egg ghost that was used in the drama because I knew there was a good chance that it wasn’t just made up for the show. I found some information on it that I thought would be insightful and wanted to compare it a bit with how the egg ghost in lore was used in comparison to the depiction in the drama. While I won’t be doing a full review in this post, I will be comparing some parts of the drama that will verge or dive deep into spoiler territory, so this is your warning.

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Egg ghosts (dalgyal gwishin/달걀귀신) get their name from their appearance as it resembles an egg and are primarily found in forests. The legend states that once someone sees an egg ghost, they will die. While in the drama the ghost is manifested in the characters being possessed by the ghost, largely still looking like the human it is inhabiting, some variations of it’s description is described differently. In some legends they don’t have a nose and mouth or other facial features like depicted, but also don’t have limbs. Other times it resembles a hunchback, as if it’s carrying a heavy load. However most images of them do depict a female with no face.

They are said to stalk hikers, and their ability to hide well is because of their shape, making them unsuspecting to those who leave the path. Because the ghosts aren’t usually associated with anyone in particular, there is speculation that they are a form of a childless ghosts (mujagwi/무자귀). They have no ancestors to perform death rites and memorial services for them and wander around restless. Most Korean ghosts are female, and most deal with some sort of ‘dying before giving birth’ extension of their existences. The egg shape might also hint towards that, because of the symbolic nature of eggs and fertility.

There is also a ghost in Japanese lore the resembles the egg ghost, the Nopper-bo (のっぺらぼう). It’s a faceless ghost that looks like a human except for the facial characteristics - kind of like what we see in the drama and the picture above - however these ghosts tend to trick people rather than hurt. They’d impersonate someone the person knows to lure them.

A lot of the stories of the egg ghost are specifically tied to hiking and the forest, however they can be found elsewhere, mostly in dark areas. There are other stories that talk of how the egg ghost is unsuspecting, that it can be anyone and once it gains the trust it is easier for them to take over that person. Egg ghosts are also able to attack and target specific prey since they are able to hide well.

There is a riddle connected with the egg ghost, “The more you take away, the bigger I get”. A hole might start small, but the more you take from it the bigger it gets. In the drama In Bum’s father was drowning in the snowball of his actions. He was targeted most by Hak Sung and was used to do a lot of things for him, mostly things that he morally was opposed to. It could be the dramas’ intention that he was being plagued with all the things he was doing for Hak Sung that it snowballed into his son being targeted specifically and taken by the ghost. He was led astray by Hak Sung, and fell off the correct life path into danger.

While I do think that the egg ghost was probably a combination of several ghosts and stretched to fit the narrative of the drama, I do think that it was a good ghost choice. The characteristics of the ghost not having a face is creepy on it’s own, and also adds an element of unpredictability. The drama needed a specific big bad ghost that was a lot more powerful than the other spirits that we were presented with, all of whom were already more powerful than average. Her mother’s downfall and death, as well as the PTSD revolved around it with Ji Ah not remembering most of the horrific events needed to have a lot more impact and reason. The egg ghost is supposed to be one of the most powerful and feared of ghosts, so it would potentially strike a chord with viewers who know of it. It is also the sole reason why Ji Ah and In Bum are left without families, carrying the burden that is left from their family on their backs - much like the hunchbacked variation of the ghost.

I’d love to know more about why the egg ghost is rooted mostly in the forest, specifically. It could be that it’s just an easy fear. More of a cautionary ghost, to not be led off the beaten path and fall off of a slope. Or that the forest is a great unknown for lots and adds to a lot to the relatability of there being so many of these types of beings in folklore. People mysteriously die all the time in the forest all over the world, and it is a consistent source of great fear in many different countries, tribes, and cultures. There is also a great loneliness in the forest. It is where most feel isolated, and it’s where one can really truly grasp that the world has some great unknowns. That humans aren’t the only things out there, and once taken in into a place where humans aren’t in control it’s humbling, mysterious, and potentially dangerous.

Links and Research:

Egg Ghost Wikipedia
Noppera-Bo Wikipedia
Haunted Attractions Online
Demons & Spirits & Zombies Oh My!
Namu Wiki
Obrazee
Culture Content

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White: Melody of Death (non-spoiler) Review

Native Title: 화이트: 저주의 멜로디
Release Date: June 9, 2011
Director: Kim Sun
Writer: Kim Gok
Genre: Horror
Starring: Ham Eun Jung, Hwang Woo Seul. Rest of the cast can be found here.

I have a soft spot for teen slasher films. I’ve been into horror and spooky stuff since I can remember, but around middle school/high school is when I started to get into it more, and those teen slasher movies were it. They are fun, exciting, the right level of gore and campiness and I was living through one of the best times for it. Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Faculty…all premiered when I was a teen. While White: Melody of Death didn’t have the same punch as its Western counterpoints (I’m assuming because of the target audience) it did have some of those same fun elements.

I’ve had this on my list to watch for a really long time - actually most of the movies and dramas I’m going to be talking about in the next couple of months have been on my radar for a while - so it was nice to finally have an excuse to pick this one up now. I knew very little going into the film. I knew that it was about kpop. I knew that Junho had a slight cameo and that it starred the girl from T-ara and that it had this mysterious Ring-vibe to it. But that’s it.

White: Melody of Death is about a kpop group, the Pink Dolls, who are at the brink of dissolving. They are consistently losing on music shows, and only really have one more shot before they will disband. The main leader, Eun Ju (played by T-ara member Ham Eun Jung), finds a video in their new rehearsal space while cleaning up. It’s a grainy recording of a group performing an unfamiliar song. Her manager gets ahold of the tape and decides to use the song for their group, which skyrockets the group into stardom quickly. That’s when the problems start to happen.

One of the parts I liked most about the film was how they used the popularity and the craziness of fans to heighten some of the clips. The horrors and negative aspects of that business were brought up in the film. There were constant portrayals of the fans going nuts, screaming, and trying to grab at the girls - as well as being caught up in their own fandom to not realize the severity of what was going on or to really pick up the danger that the girls were being put in. The juxtaposition of the crazy fans who don’t care about their safety, and the knowledge of what the girls went through to get there was interesting. The constant pressure of the girls to keep going even after things started to go bad added to the real-life horror side of the movie.

I think that at parts the movie was hazy in its execution of this comparison, though. It would have been nicer if they had leaned into the ugly side of the industry a bit more. A lot of it was rushed or we just didn’t get to see it because the entity had to be present again. Issues they bring up such as jealousy, plastic surgery, and just general deception because of the nature of competition were lightly touched on and kind of glossed over and so it never came across as a good enough conflict, or just entirely unresolved. It created a lot of muddling and confusion to the storyline towards the end. You see where they were going, but those problems and pacing throws it off.

I do like what the movie was trying to do, even if they didn’t necessarily get there. If you are a kpop fan already, these parts tend to be more forgivable since you are already in the know of the problems in that industry and understand why it’s there, but if you go in as just a horror fan the context might get lost. In the end, the general horror audience wasn’t its target audience. With the Eun Jung (an actual well-known kpop idol) starring and cameos from other idols, the audience for it was a young kpop audience.

All-in-all I enjoyed the movie for what it was. It was fun, I enjoyed it as someone who spends a lot of time looking into the kpop world, and it wasn’t a bad way to spend a Friday night.

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Korean Horror Picks: Amazon

I’m back with another installment of “Jessie recommending horror on popular streaming sites”. This time we are focusing on Amazon! Amazon is a fairly hidden spot for Asian movies to watch on demand that I don’t think enough people are aware of, and that includes horror. While Amazon does have an option to rent/buy titles, for this list I focused on ones that are currently available for streaming with prime, or available free through IMDB with ads.

Be sure to check out my other top picks for Netflix, and Shudder.

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-Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018) Directed by: Jung Bum Shik
Also known as 곤지암
Starring: Wi Ha Jun, Park Sung Hun, Lee Seung Wook. Additional credits can be found here.

“An internet broadcaster recruits a handful of people for their ‘experience the horror’ show at Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital, a place selected as one of the ‘7 freakiest places on the planet’. They are to explore the haunted asylum and stream it live on their online show.”

-Insane (2016) Directed by: Lee Cheol Ha
Also known as 날, 보러와요
Starring: Kang Ye Won, Lee San Yoon, Choi Jin Ho. Additional credits can be found here.

“A woman is kidnapped in the middle of the day and tortured in a psychiatric hospital. A Journalist gets on the trace of the case and tries to find out the truth.”

-Mourning Grave (2014) Directed by: Oh In Chun
Also known as 소녀괴담
Starring: Kang Ha Neul, Kim So Eun, Kim Jung Tae. Additional credits can be found here.

“A boy who can see ghosts moves to a small town, where he befriends a female ghost. The two work together to investigate a masked ghost who is murdering students one by one.”

-Possessed (2009) Directed by: Lee Young Ju
Also known as 불신지옥
Starring: Nam Sang Mi, Shin Eun Kyung, Ryu Seung Ryong. Additional credits can be found here.

“When 13-year-old So-Jin disappears, her elder sister Hee-Jin returns to the apartment of their religious-maniac mother. Tae-Hwan, a cop, who reluctantly has to take the case seriously is confronted with more and more suicides that are difficult to explain rationally.”

-The Mimic (2018) Directed by: Jung Huh
Also known as 장산범
Starring: Huh Jin, Yum Jung Ah, Park Hyuk Kwon. Additional credits can be found here.

“The story of the Jangsan Tiger, who mimics human voices to lure them close, and a family affected by the creature.”

-The Piper (2016) Directed by: Kim Kwang Tae
Also known as 손님
Starring: Ryoo Seung Ryong, Goo Seung Hyun, Chun Woo Hee. Additional credits can be found here.

“Shortly after the Korean war, a father and a son are wandering through the country and make a stop in a remote village, where strange and dangerous happenings occur.”

-The Quiet Family (1998) Directed by: Kim Jee Woon
Also known as 조용한 가족
Starring: Choi Min Sik, Na Moon Hee, Song Kang Ho. Additional credits can be found here.

“A family decides to buy a lodge in a remote hiking area. Their first customer commits suicide and the distraught family buries his body to avoid the bad publicity. But their luck gets worse, the bodies start piling up, and the family becomes frantic to rectify the situation.”

-The Uninvited (2003) Directed by: Lee So Youn
Also known as 4인용 식탁
Starring: Park Shin Yang, Gianna Jun, Yoo Sun. Additional credits can be found here.

“Impaired by amnesia, Jeong Won can’t remember his youth – until he meets Yeon, a psychic who may be able to uncover his past. After witnessing the horrific deaths of children, both share dreamlike visions of ghostly forms.”

-The Wailing (2016) Directed by: Na Hong Jin
Also known as 곡성
Starring: Kwak Do Won, Hwang Jung Min, Jun Kunimura. Additional credits can be found here.

“A stranger arrives in a little village and soon after a mysterious sickness starts spreading. A policeman is drawn into the incident and is forced to solve the mystery in order to save his daughter.”

-The Whispering (2018) Directed by: Choi Sang Hun
Also known as 속닥속닥
Starring: Sp Ju Yeon, Kim Min Kyu, Choi Hee Jin. Additional credits can be found here.

“Six high school students, who have finished their college entrance examinations, accidentally discover a haunted house with eerie rumors to it. Inside there, the students start to hear the whispers of death and vanish one by one, as unstoppable, extreme terror engulfs them.”

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Korean Horror Picks: Netflix

While Netflix does have a good catalog of horror films and shows from all over the world, the selection for exclusively Korean horror is a little bit smaller. They do, however, have the added bonus of having several dramas that a lot of other places don’t have. I went through what’s currently on the site and came up with a list of my picks that you should check out. Some of these may be more in the thriller genre, but as it overlaps with horror (and most of the time it’s subjective), I figured that it would work for this list.

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- #Alive (2020) Directed by: Il Cho
Also known as 살아있다
Starring: Yoo Ah In, Park Shin Hye. Additional credits can be found here.

“As a grisly virus rampages a city, a lone man stays locked inside his apartment, digitally cut off from seeking help and desperate to find a way out.”

-Forgotten (2017) Directed by: Jang Hang Jun
Also known as Night of Memory / 기억의 밤
Starring: Kang Ha Neul, Kim Moo Yul, Moon Sung Keun. Additional credits can be found here.

“When the young but extremely anxious student Jin-seok, his parents and his successful older brother Yoo-seok move to a new home, mysterious and frightening events begin to happen around them, unexplained events that threaten to ruin their seemingly happy lives.”

-Goedam (2020) Directed by: Won Ki Hong
Also known as 도시괴담
Starring: Song Chae Yun, Seola. Additional credits can be found here.

“When night falls on this city, shadows and spirits come alive in this horror anthology series focused on urban legends.”

-Kingdom (2019-Present) Directed by: Kim Sung Hoon
Also known as 킹덤
Starring: Joo Ji Hoon, Bae Doo Na. Additional credits can be found here.

“Set in the Joseon Era, no sooner does the King succumb to smallpox, do the rumors of his death begin.”

-Strangers From Hell (2019) Directed by: Lee Chang Hee
Also known as 타인은 지옥이다
Starring: Im Si Wan, Lee Dong Wook. Additional credits can be found here.

“While looking for a place to live, Jong Woo stumbles upon Eden Gosiwon, a cheap hostel that shares the kitchen and bathroom with other residents. However, mysterious events start occurring in the apartment, causing Jong Woo to begin fearing the apartment's residents.”

-Svaha the Sixth Finger (2019) Directed by: Jang Jae Hyun
Also known as 사바하
Starring: Lee Jung Jae, Park Jung Min. Additional credits can be found here.

“While looking into a suspicious new religion called ‘Deer Mount,’ Pastor Clark slowly uncovers clues that connect this cult to a series of mysterious cases of missing teenage girls when a body is found inside a tunnel.”

-Sweet Home (2020) Directed by: Lee Eung Bok
Also known as 스위트홈
Starring: Song Kang, Lee jin Wook, Lee Shi Young, Lee Do Hyun. Additional credits can be found here.

“As people start to turn into monsters, Hyun Soo and the other residents try to survive.”

-The Call (2020) Directed by: Lee Chung Hyun
Also known as 콜
Starring: Park Shin Hye, Jeon Jong Seo. Additional credits can be found here.

“Connected by phone in the same home but 20 years apart, a serial killer puts another woman’s past — and life — on the line to change her own fate.”

-The Guest (2014) Directed by: Kim Hong Seon
Also known as 손: The Guest
Starring: Kim Dong Wook, Kim Jae Wook. Additional credits can be found here.

“Yoon Hwa Pyung, a young psychic born into a shaman family, learns about the powerful demon called "Son" (Guest). The demon has the power to control other demons and allows them to possess weak people.”

-The Witch: The Subversion (2018) Directed by: Park Hoon Jung
Also known as 마녀
Starring: Kim Da Mi, Cho Min Soo. Additional credits can be found here.

“Ja Yoon is a high school student who struggles with memory loss after she endured some unknown trauma during her childhood. While trying to uncover the truth, she is unwittingly dragged into a world of crime and finds herself on a journey that will awaken many secrets hidden deep within.”

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Current Korean Horror on Shudder

It is rainy and gloomy and the perfect day to stay in and watch some movies. If you aren’t into horror you might not know of the horror streaming service Shudder. It has a good library of movies, tv shows, and documentaries from all over the world. While they don’t have the biggest international section, they do have some movies to offer. Just like Netflix, their movies do cycle on and off the site and some of the movies are exclusive to Shudder. I decided to round up all of what they have for Korean movies, and list them here so you have a good idea of what they do offer. I’m not affiliated with the site (I mean, if they want me to be I wouldn’t say no…), I just genuinely like the service and have been subscribed for about a year and haven’t regretted it. If you are looking for a streaming platform and are into horror/thriller content I suggest giving it a try, they always have free trials.

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-0.0MHz (2019) Directed by: Sun Dong Yoo
Starring: Jung Eun Ji, Lee Sung Yeol. Additional credits can be found here.

“The film centers around a group that are part of a club that analyzes the Supernatural. The group enthusiastically visit a house that is believed to be haunted. Once there they set out to test if ghosts can be contacted once human brain waves reach a frequency of 0.0Mhz.”

-Lingering (2020) Directed by: Yoon Eun Kyoung
Also known as Hotel Lake / 호텔 레이크
Starring: Lee Se Young, Park Ji Young, Park Hyo Joo. Additional credits can be found here.

“When Yoo-mi searches out her mother's friend at a hotel to drop off her younger sister, she falls into unexpected mystery and horror.”

-Metamorphosis (2019) Directed by: Kim Hong Sun
Also known as Transformation / 변신
Starring: Bae Sung Woo, Sung Dong II, Jang Young Nam. Additional credits can be found here.

“An evil spirit that changes faces infiltrates one family placing one brother in danger while the other tries to save him.”

-Monstrum (2018) Directed by: Huh Jong Ho
Also known as Strange Object / 물괴
Starring: Kim Myung Min, Kim In Kwon, Lee Hye Ri. Additional credits can be found here.

“The plague has taken over Joseon, and fear runs rampant in the streets. When rumors of a vicious beast roaming Mount Inwangsan–called “Monstrum” by terrified masses–begin to spread, fear turns into panic.”

-Seoul Station (2016) Directed by: Yeon Sang Ho
Starring: Seung Ryong Ryu, Shim Eun Kyung, Joon Lee. Additional credits can be found here.

“Several groups of people try to survive a zombie pandemic that unleashes itself in downtown Seoul.”

-The Wrath (2018) Directed by: Young Sun Yoo
Also known as Woman’s Wail / 여곡성
Starring: Seo Young Hee, Son Na Eun, Lee Tae Ri. Additional credits can be found here.

“This period thriller pits two Joseon women against each other when a tragedy befalls a family of three sons who all die on their wedding day.”

-Train to Busan (2016) Directed by: Yeon Sang Ho
Also known as 부산행
Starring: Gong Yoo, Jung Yu Mi, Ma Dong Seok. Additional credits can be found here.

“Seok Woo, his estranged daughter Soo An, and other passengers become trapped on a KTX train (high-speed train) heading from Seoul to Busan during a disastrous virus outbreak in South Korea.”

-Peninsula (2020) Directed by: Yeon Sang Ho
Also known as 반도
Starring: Kang Dong Won, Lee Jung Hyun, Lee Re. Additional credits can be found here.

“Peninsula takes place four years after the zombie outbreak in Train to Busan. The Korean peninsula is devastated and Jung Seok, a former soldier who has managed to escape overseas, is given a mission to go back and unexpectedly meets survivors.”

-Warning: Do Not Play (2019) Directed by: Kim Jin Won
Also known as Blackout / 암전
Starring: Seo Ye Ji, Jin Seon Kyu, Ji Yoon Ho. Additional credits can be found here.

“A mystery horror flick about a director wannabe, Mi-jeong, who seeks the movie that is claimed to have been made by a ghost. During her search she meets Jae-hyeon, the real director of the movie.”

-Zombie for Sale (2019) Directed by: Lee Min Jae
Also known as The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale / 기묘한 가족
Starring: Jung Jae Young, Kim Nam Gil. Additional credits can be found here.

“One day, a strange man appears in the country village. Due to him, Man Deok’s family and the entire village is shaken.”

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Summer Horror

A year ago we did an episode for the podcast on Korea’s trend of horror being a summer thing, and I had a lot of fun researching for the episode. Since summer means we’re still a while out from Halloween, having a reason to celebrate horror a little bit earlier is pretty great. What better way to cool down than to be drenched in sweat and chills?

Korea’s move to promoting horror in movies and themed events during the summer actually was a result of the end of the military dictatorship. By the late ’90s, Korea’s government had lifted strong regulations and censorship on media that had been in place since the ’60s. This allowed Korean filmmakers to have a lot more freedom in what they made. Because of this, horror movies became easier and cheaper to make, allowing filmmakers a lot more artistic control. Horror was already a familiar and loved genre, but at the time it was from imported movies. The real explosion happened on May 30, 1998, when the movie Whispering Corridors was released and became a commercial success, making it one of the major reasons for the escalation of the Korean horror genre to increase in popularity. While other films will help solidify the summer months being the time to release horror, it was the first to help push the genre into this time of the year. Last October I did a review on the first Whispering Corridors movie, you can read it here.

You can also find more about our discussion and some of the shows/movies we watched by checking out the episode:

If you ever thought it was odd that Korea wasn’t pushing out horror content during Halloween, this is why. While recently it has been more common to see this genre show up in October because of the Western influence, Korea still hasn’t let go of the summer months. In non-pandemic times you’ll see a lot of horror movies in theatres. Theme parks and recreational areas will decorate and promote special rides and events during this time. Groups will release horror concepts.

Because I’m in the mood to always celebrate horror at any point in the year and love a well-planned excuse for it, for the next three months I will be focusing a lot of content on this blog on Korean horror - specifically the movies and dramas that came out during these months. While I still will have other normal posts, almost all of my content will exclusively lean to the horror side. I have a lot planned that will include reviews, highlights of popular movies releases, and a whole lot more.

If you are into horror or specifically want to dive more into what Korea has to offer, make sure you keep up here. I’ll be doing a lot on Twitter as well, so make sure to follow me there.

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