This Korean psychological horror is set in a large remote house where biology professor Kang Yu-jin lives with his wife Seon-hee and their young daughter. When he returns from his latest butterfly collecting expedition he shows slides of various species he saw to colleagues, amongst them is picture of a strange wooden doll, he has no explanation as to how it got there. Following his next outing he returns with nineteen year old Mi-ok, a girl who was orphaned after her mother, a shaman, died in a fire. He suggests the family take her on as a maid. She has just one possession from her past... the strange wooden doll from the picture. At first she fits in okay but soon Seon-hee becomes convinced something is going on between Mi-ok and Yu-jin and has nightmares involving the doll. Is she imagining things or is something sinister going on? Either way her sanity will be tested.
When I started watching this I had no real idea what to expect; I've seen a few Korean horror films but none that were this old. It turned out to be quite different from the ones I had seen. For the most part it eschews gore in favour of creating an atmosphere where the viewer is unsure if what they are seeing is real or something Seon-hee may be imagining. This proves to be enjoyably disturbing. The special effects may be pretty basic but they are effective at adding to the film's atmosphere. The cast does a solid job, especially Kim Young-ae who is convincingly terrified as Seon-hee. It was somewhat, if accidentally, amusing that during the mildly erotic scenes the music used had been lifted from 'Flash Gordon'! Overall a solid film that I'd certainly recommend to fans of K-horror who would like to see something older than most that are available.
These comments are based on watching the film in Korean with English subtitles.
When I started watching this I had no real idea what to expect; I've seen a few Korean horror films but none that were this old. It turned out to be quite different from the ones I had seen. For the most part it eschews gore in favour of creating an atmosphere where the viewer is unsure if what they are seeing is real or something Seon-hee may be imagining. This proves to be enjoyably disturbing. The special effects may be pretty basic but they are effective at adding to the film's atmosphere. The cast does a solid job, especially Kim Young-ae who is convincingly terrified as Seon-hee. It was somewhat, if accidentally, amusing that during the mildly erotic scenes the music used had been lifted from 'Flash Gordon'! Overall a solid film that I'd certainly recommend to fans of K-horror who would like to see something older than most that are available.
These comments are based on watching the film in Korean with English subtitles.