FilmFan
11-03-2009, 08:03 AM
http://www.fullhalloween.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/to-sir-with-love-aka-bloody-reunion-trailer.jpeg
Running time: 91 minutes
Directed by: Dae-wung Lim
Starring: Yeong-hie Seo
IMDB rating: 5.9
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0870958/
The film begins with a woman and a group of children at the beach. She starts bleeding from between her legs, and is taken into hospital, where she gives birth to a badly deformed baby. Her husband is obviously deeply unhappy about this, and decides to hang himself as a result. This all happens within the first minute or two of the movie.
Flash forward to the present, and the police are investigating a crime scene where several people have been brutally murdered, and there are only two survivors, Mi-ja and Mrs Park (who was the mother in the earlier scene). As the younger of the two regains consciousness, the cop in charge talks to her and persuades her to tell the story of what happened.
She explains that she was poor and her former teacher (Mrs Park) took her in, and she now does a lot of work around the house because the teacher is ill and will likely die soon. Before the end of her life, she wanted to have a reunion with many of her former students.
Rather than list the real names of the guests I'll just give them each a descriptive name. There was Mr Rebel (he wore a leather jacket and smoked, can't get much more rebel than that), the couple (a guy and a girl, engaged), Miss Glamorous (who wears expensive looking clothes and sunglasses, and who the rest do not initally recognise, apparently she used to be fat), Mr Chubby (who was a top athlete in school) and Shy Boy (which is what the other characters actually call him).
I liked this film. My expectations weren't that high, as it received mixed reviews and isn't particularly well known, but I thought it was pretty good. I fancied watching an Asian horror, and this fit the bill perfectly. I'm not sure how this compares to the best of the genre, but one thing in its favour is that there were no 'WTF?' moments that are sometimes present in films like this, although they seem to be more frequently seen in Japanese films than Korean.
Although this is a slasher movie in some respects, it doesn't fit 100% into any one subgenre, and parts of it work well as a drama. It has a depth to it that most horror films lack.
Usually I don't see twists coming. I think this might be because I tend to get into the film to such an extent that I don't even wonder what direction it's going in. Or perhaps I just don't have the kind of brain that spots stuff like that. According to a some of the user comments on IMDB, several people felt that the twist in this film was so unpredictable that it felt cheap, which is ironic as I did see the twist coming here, and yet I still really liked the ending.
6.75
Running time: 91 minutes
Directed by: Dae-wung Lim
Starring: Yeong-hie Seo
IMDB rating: 5.9
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0870958/
The film begins with a woman and a group of children at the beach. She starts bleeding from between her legs, and is taken into hospital, where she gives birth to a badly deformed baby. Her husband is obviously deeply unhappy about this, and decides to hang himself as a result. This all happens within the first minute or two of the movie.
Flash forward to the present, and the police are investigating a crime scene where several people have been brutally murdered, and there are only two survivors, Mi-ja and Mrs Park (who was the mother in the earlier scene). As the younger of the two regains consciousness, the cop in charge talks to her and persuades her to tell the story of what happened.
She explains that she was poor and her former teacher (Mrs Park) took her in, and she now does a lot of work around the house because the teacher is ill and will likely die soon. Before the end of her life, she wanted to have a reunion with many of her former students.
Rather than list the real names of the guests I'll just give them each a descriptive name. There was Mr Rebel (he wore a leather jacket and smoked, can't get much more rebel than that), the couple (a guy and a girl, engaged), Miss Glamorous (who wears expensive looking clothes and sunglasses, and who the rest do not initally recognise, apparently she used to be fat), Mr Chubby (who was a top athlete in school) and Shy Boy (which is what the other characters actually call him).
I liked this film. My expectations weren't that high, as it received mixed reviews and isn't particularly well known, but I thought it was pretty good. I fancied watching an Asian horror, and this fit the bill perfectly. I'm not sure how this compares to the best of the genre, but one thing in its favour is that there were no 'WTF?' moments that are sometimes present in films like this, although they seem to be more frequently seen in Japanese films than Korean.
Although this is a slasher movie in some respects, it doesn't fit 100% into any one subgenre, and parts of it work well as a drama. It has a depth to it that most horror films lack.
Usually I don't see twists coming. I think this might be because I tend to get into the film to such an extent that I don't even wonder what direction it's going in. Or perhaps I just don't have the kind of brain that spots stuff like that. According to a some of the user comments on IMDB, several people felt that the twist in this film was so unpredictable that it felt cheap, which is ironic as I did see the twist coming here, and yet I still really liked the ending.
6.75