FilmFan
12-20-2009, 03:22 AM
http://www.hancinema.net/photos/posterphoto92147.jpg
Possessed aka Bool-sin-ji-ok
Running time: 112 minutes
Directed by: Lee Yong-ju
Starring: Sang-mi Nam
IMDB rating: 6.7
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1535472/
The main character in Possessed is a young woman called Hee-Jin who has moved to Seoul(the capital city) in order to go to college. One night she gets a call from her family, urging her to return to her hometown because of her sister needing her. Upon returning homeo the family flat, however, her younger sister is missing and her mother is behaving strangely.
We then see a second family: a young girl in hospital, with her parents beside her, telling her that she'll recover soon. It's not clear what her illness is.
While sitting outside thinking things over, Hee-sin starts to see strange things. The colour here is a bit different (I'm not sure how to decribe the effect, sort of saturated I suppose) which made me wonder how much of it was real. She finds a human tooth on the floor, but then has it pecked out of her hand by a large bird.
Although her mother isn't keen on the idea, Hee-sin decides to call the the police, and when a cop does come by it turns out that he's the father from the hospital scene. The cop seems like a good guy, but with no evidence or leads to follow, tries to reassure her that it's probably just a runaway case and her sister will be back soon. Then the mother returns home and becomes angry, forcing the cop out of the house.
We soon learn that the cop is a no-nonsense kind of guy; on his way out, he asks the tower block security guard if he's seen anything unusual in the area, and when the guard starts behaving weirdly and gets aggressive, the cop is quick to hit him in the face.
She hears a loud noise outside her window, and looks to see a woman hanging with a noose around her neck, thrashing around. The rope then starts to loosen, sending the woman crashing to her death. I thought this scene was really effective, it was surprising and really pulled me into the film (so to speak). Aside from being a good horror scene, it did a lot to make me interested in the plot.
After a second suicide in the same building, the cop starts to investigate and finds that both seem to have links to the missing girl, and the truth starts to unravel.
A lot of people have commented that Asian horror is a bit stale at the moment. After years of films featuring creepy female ghosts with hair over their faces, some have grown tired of the genre. That view has some merit, so it's good to see that this film takes things in a new direction. Although it bears the style of its genre, the content, structure and story are all original and suggest that the level of creative decline is perhaps overstated.
The story here builds up at just the right pace. We find out more and more of what's happened to the sister as the film goes on, and it has enough surprises along the way . The atmosphere is very good, the film has the certain edge to it that a lot of top horrors have, where even the relatively standard scenes have you on the edge of your seat.
Overall I was very impressed with this and enjoyed watching it a lot.
Normally I see films a couple of years after they come out, and if they're good I look up what else the director has done. It's a shame that this is such a recent film, and it means waiting at least a year to see what the writer-director will make next
7.25/10
Possessed aka Bool-sin-ji-ok
Running time: 112 minutes
Directed by: Lee Yong-ju
Starring: Sang-mi Nam
IMDB rating: 6.7
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1535472/
The main character in Possessed is a young woman called Hee-Jin who has moved to Seoul(the capital city) in order to go to college. One night she gets a call from her family, urging her to return to her hometown because of her sister needing her. Upon returning homeo the family flat, however, her younger sister is missing and her mother is behaving strangely.
We then see a second family: a young girl in hospital, with her parents beside her, telling her that she'll recover soon. It's not clear what her illness is.
While sitting outside thinking things over, Hee-sin starts to see strange things. The colour here is a bit different (I'm not sure how to decribe the effect, sort of saturated I suppose) which made me wonder how much of it was real. She finds a human tooth on the floor, but then has it pecked out of her hand by a large bird.
Although her mother isn't keen on the idea, Hee-sin decides to call the the police, and when a cop does come by it turns out that he's the father from the hospital scene. The cop seems like a good guy, but with no evidence or leads to follow, tries to reassure her that it's probably just a runaway case and her sister will be back soon. Then the mother returns home and becomes angry, forcing the cop out of the house.
We soon learn that the cop is a no-nonsense kind of guy; on his way out, he asks the tower block security guard if he's seen anything unusual in the area, and when the guard starts behaving weirdly and gets aggressive, the cop is quick to hit him in the face.
She hears a loud noise outside her window, and looks to see a woman hanging with a noose around her neck, thrashing around. The rope then starts to loosen, sending the woman crashing to her death. I thought this scene was really effective, it was surprising and really pulled me into the film (so to speak). Aside from being a good horror scene, it did a lot to make me interested in the plot.
After a second suicide in the same building, the cop starts to investigate and finds that both seem to have links to the missing girl, and the truth starts to unravel.
A lot of people have commented that Asian horror is a bit stale at the moment. After years of films featuring creepy female ghosts with hair over their faces, some have grown tired of the genre. That view has some merit, so it's good to see that this film takes things in a new direction. Although it bears the style of its genre, the content, structure and story are all original and suggest that the level of creative decline is perhaps overstated.
The story here builds up at just the right pace. We find out more and more of what's happened to the sister as the film goes on, and it has enough surprises along the way . The atmosphere is very good, the film has the certain edge to it that a lot of top horrors have, where even the relatively standard scenes have you on the edge of your seat.
Overall I was very impressed with this and enjoyed watching it a lot.
Normally I see films a couple of years after they come out, and if they're good I look up what else the director has done. It's a shame that this is such a recent film, and it means waiting at least a year to see what the writer-director will make next
7.25/10