In which a haunted cello wreaks havoc amongst a young family, or does it? I was looking forward to watching a film about a haunted musical instrument, but it turns out that the titular cello plays little part in the movie itself, and neither does music. Instead, CELLO strives to be an eerie supernatural horror film in the tradition of THE GRUDGE and others like it, depicting a family at the mercy of a ghost. However, it's a film which lacks the courage of its convictions. The storyline alternates between slow, drawn-out scenes and muddled moments in which key plot points are either bypassed or skipped through. And its cardinal sin is to throw up an excruciating plot twist at the finale which turns everything on its head in a bad way; one of those twists you invariably feel cheated by rather than in awe of.
I found the plotting in this film to be slow and predictable. There's a fatal car crash which plays out in the most typical way imaginable, and lots of would-be attempts at spookiness with taciturn young girls and CGI spirits jumping out of corners. None of them provoke the slightest shudder. The main actress, Hyeon-a Seong, fails to convince in her role as a wife and mother who's either haunted by a vengeful spirit or going out of her mind; I didn't buy her predicament for a second, and her attempts at conveying fear are rather pitiful.
The scare scenes are rather silly with one death in particular ending up laugh-out-loud rather than frightening. And the director's lack of experience shows: Woo-cheol Lee only ever made this one film, and he doesn't have a clue about building suspense or finding the right pace. The resultant film is boring and way too familiar for anyone with the slightest experience of Asian horror cinema.
I found the plotting in this film to be slow and predictable. There's a fatal car crash which plays out in the most typical way imaginable, and lots of would-be attempts at spookiness with taciturn young girls and CGI spirits jumping out of corners. None of them provoke the slightest shudder. The main actress, Hyeon-a Seong, fails to convince in her role as a wife and mother who's either haunted by a vengeful spirit or going out of her mind; I didn't buy her predicament for a second, and her attempts at conveying fear are rather pitiful.
The scare scenes are rather silly with one death in particular ending up laugh-out-loud rather than frightening. And the director's lack of experience shows: Woo-cheol Lee only ever made this one film, and he doesn't have a clue about building suspense or finding the right pace. The resultant film is boring and way too familiar for anyone with the slightest experience of Asian horror cinema.