White: The Melody of the Curse (2011) User Reviews

Decent attempt at mystery-infused music biz horror

[cld_wtch · 7/10 · 22 September 2011]

This movie follows the trend of long-haired Asian ghost in a quest for revenge, but manages to spice things up by coming up with a story that is both refreshing and fun to watch. I thoroughly enjoyed this at first peculiar blend of music and horror.

Having an idol group as target for the spooky surroundings makes for an interesting insight into the conflicts and problems that arise between members. We get to see the characters cracking up under pressure and fighting with each other, giving the movie a realistic feel. The horror element is present throughout the movie, going from mild to full-on ghostly tension as the story progresses. The movie does a good job at developing the characters and building up the menacing atmosphere.

The actors all did a fine job, especially the lead actress, with some over-the-top acting from the other members of the group, albeit not very distracting. Although it was marketed as a horror, the movie takes a turn towards the mystery genre towards the end and tends to drag a bit in the unveiling of the final twist. The truly scary scenes are quite rare, but pretty effective and well-made, albeit not very original if you've seen your fair share of Asian horror. The cinematography is beautiful to look at and it even dabbles a bit into experimental territory towards the end.

While this isn't anything groundbreaking or original in terms of horror, the music aspect and the commentary directed at the life of idols gives an interesting spin. Overall, the movie does a good job at entertaining you, being a nice addition to the genre.

Surprisingly Good.

[Galadri · 7/10 · 28 July 2013]

We all know the band or group that's been kicking round for a while than suddenly has that one song that throws them into the limelight, the one song that everyone buys, the radio always plays and the video views on youtube are already in the millions, well what if that song was haunted.

K-pop girl group "Pink Dolls" are a pretty second rate bunch in a very competitive field and really need an edge it doesn't matter the song, dance routine or audience they just can't seem to make a breakthrough. Then, one day, one member of the group Eun-Ju discovers a song that could turn everything around "White". The group learn the song, get some dance moves down and suddenly their fortunes change for the better and they are thrust into the spotlight that they've desired for so long. Of course as it's a horror movie they won't be living happy ever after and soon the group begins to unravel as the curse begins to take them out one by one.

the scars are sometimes pretty effective and the acting is a cut above some other Asian horror that is out there, the cinematography and editing are well crafted and the soundtrack only adds to the atmosphere.

Ghosts are easy. Being a pop singer is hard.

[Ore-Sama · 7/10 · 27 October 2015]

"White" or "White: The Melody of Curse" has a fairly familiar premise: a failing pop idol group finds an old, uncredited song, and use it to rise to the top. However this tale of fame and fortune becomes mixed in with the paranormal: the song is cursed, fueled by the wrath of a vengeful ghost.

The comparisons with Ringu/The Ring are obvious, from the ghost itself down to the fact the song is discovered on a videotape. The movie does give a respectable effort in ratcheting up suspense, and to be fair there are a couple of effective scares.

However the real strength of this film lies in two areas. First, the story is pretty well done. While the paranormal stuff is prominent, there's also a strong focus on the characters, who are as much affected by their shifting fortunes as they are any bumps in the night. You would think once the ghostly stuff showed up, it would take center stage. Instead it runs parallel to the sudden pressures, ego trips, and bouts of jealousy of their new found fame, meshing together very well and creating a greater emotional and psychological depth than one might expect from such a premise. The film is even fairly touching and somewhat sad at points, aided by pretty good performances.

The second main area is the visuals. There is a certain flare here. It's not Argento or Fulci by any stretch, but the film does look really good. Whether it's a dark room/hallway or the flashiness of the dance stage, the cinematography and imagery are strong. Even without caring for the plot and characters, one could sit back and appreciate the look.

Is the movie a masterpiece? No, I wouldn't go that far, but it is very enjoyable, and if you're a horror movie fan with nothing to do on some afternoon, you could do a lot worse than this.

Better than your average.

[Patient444 · 22 September 2011]

I was pleasantly surprised by this one therefore I have to recommend it to all of you horror fans out there, looking for something nice. Here are some reasons why "White: Melody of the curse" manages to stand tall at its end:

I had my share of Asian horrors, not too many I must say but enough for an opinion to be formed. While they bring something new from your typical Hollywood scares they also kinda always circle around the same pattern, a female ghost, long hair, usually crawling in a scary way or walking on a ceiling, nonetheless you can say: you've seen one, you've seen them all. Well not really, this movie takes you outside the box a little, characters have solid builds, it shows the cruel reality of bands struggling to succeed and you get a inside look in the music industry.

Also, as many Asian Horrors accustomed us, this one also has a twist and quite impossible to figure it out, therefore if you're watching it alone or with friends, you'll get a blast trying to figure out who is behind all of it.

I guess there are more things to be said but I find it best to let you discover them for yourself, just have a little faith and patience, quite hard to be disappointed by it.

At least it's creative enough

[daryopeek · 6/10 · 18 February 2019]

Many Asian horror films actually trying to depict a horrifying situation from different perspectives. This one, White, based on issues regarding harsh nature of Kpop idols. It's quite original, although I have to conclude both the plot and execution are mediocre at best.

The premise of the movie revolves on a struggling girl group, Pink Dolls who garnered attention when they sang a song titled 'White' from unknown performance that found in their new renovated studio after fire incident 15 years ago. When the management decides to promote the song with center (lead singer), the chosen member become terrorized by unknown force.

It's interesting, in fact that the movie told us many information behind what's actually happening off camera. I don't know if the movie is exaggerating, but many issues like center choice, performance and MR in music shows (it's hella debatable by Kpop fans), and surge of popularity, are quite staple in Kpop and to know that for a bit, is fun.

Unfortunately, those are trivial things because we mainly have to face the acting that is confusing. Probably it's not how the act, but how inconsistent the character is. While it's understandable that being Kpop idol is stressful, I recognized these characters changing their attitude heavily, that makes me wonder how the reading process ever finished? The characters seem to be at the pole of bully and Cinderella continuum quickly. It ruins the flow of the plot, since it makes me have to understand many things.

In terms of production design, the movie also seems to know that this movie ain't A-class movie. It's understandable, but I can't stand how the movie like to give trippy shots when the ghost is around. I guess it's a trend back then. Honestly, it cheapens the movie, because I feel that the executed horror scenes aren't good enough compared to the other scenes.

I also note some plot holes, but I let it slide. This movie seems like B-class horror that fun enough to watch without high expectation. It has original and creative story (also direction) that makes you stay through the movie, but it lacks execution to many details that I'd like to observe when watching a horror movie. To conclude, if you want a horror from unusual setting just for fun, it is a great movie.

The Dark Side of K-Pop

[thalassafischer · 6/10 · 1 August 2023]

White symbolizes death in some cultures (rather than black) so don't assume this is some racial social justice commentary or anything like that. White is the name of a pop song found on an old VHS tape from the 1990s that a 2010 girl group decides to claim for their own after their manager finds no recording of the catchy tune other than the blurry demo tape.

I didn't think I'd be as interested in this movie as I was, the mystery is actually somewhat compelling and the K-Pop world is a backdrop for malice, jealousy, suicides and murder.

White is your typical "ambition is a sin" story with a 21st century South Korean twist. It also shows some interesting and frankly scary influence from Brian DePalma's original Carrie.

Nothing out of the ordinary to be experienced here...

[paul_haakonsen · 5/10 · 3 December 2019]

I happened to stumble upon the 2011 South Korean horror movie "White: The Melody of the Curse" (aka "Hwa-i-teu: Jeo-woo-eui mel-lo-di"), and being an avid horror fan and a fan of the Asian cinema, of course I needed no persuasion to sit down and watch this movie from writers and directors Gok Kim and Sun Kim.

I will say that the movie is nicely produced and definitely has a good presentation to it. However, for a horror movie it fell short of being particularly outstanding or memorable. While the movie definitely is watchable, it was hardly a gem in the South Korean horror genre. In fact, the storyline was so mundane that I doubt that I will ever be returning to watching it a second time.

The acting in the movie was good, despite the actresses had next to very little to work with in terms of a proper script and storyline, and also having to struggle with characters that weren't fully written or given much of any discernible personalities or traits.

The movie was quite generic in terms of how it was build up and executed, so you shouldn't go expecting any grand surprises or plot twists here, you will just end up sorely disappointed.

There were aspects to the movie that definitely showed potential, but it just felt underplayed as if the writers and directors weren't really following through with the ideas that they had mustered to come up with. It was a shame, because the movie never managed to raise itself from being nothing more than generic and mediocre.

"White: The Melody of the Curse" was frightfully devoid of anything overly scary, especially for a seasoned horror veteran as myself. Perhaps if you are Asian you might find some scares here and there, but trust me, don't get your hopes up.

I am rating "White: The Melody of the Curse" a very mediocre five out of ten stars.

All that wailing and screaming was kind of unbearable

[jordondave-28085 · 4/10 · 25 November 2023]

(2011) White: Melody of the Curse/ Hwa-i-teu: Jeo-woo-eui mel-lo-di (In South Korean with English subtitles) HORROR

Written and directed by Gok Kim and Sun Kim with a set up that centers on four members of the new pop sensation, "Pink Dolls" with Jenny (Jin Se-Yeon) as the lead vocalist; A Rang (Choi Ah-ra) labelled as the youngest member; Sin-ji (Maydoni) is the dance and rap and Eun-joo (Eun-jeong Ham) as the team leader and backup dancer. Competing with a rival group "Pure", the manager, (Kim ki-bang) manages to secure them to a much better recording facility. Except that it had an unfortunate history that costed the lives or either two or three people. And when Eun-joo was chekcing around the dancing area, she stumbled onto many video cassettes, but the only one she decided to grab and watch is the one that says "White". And upon watching with the group's manager, because the song itself was never heard by the general public, the manager decided to use it since the group's first album was a total dud. And it is not long before strange happenings happen once a white wig is put on, while each artist were attempting to sing the song itself.

Some of the problems I have is that there is a lack of security, police and other obvious measures, that comes with being a successful pop singer. We're never shown any of the parents or an autopsy being conducted to any of the victims. And I find out odd, that the one lady was the only person who was affected by the chaos that happened at the end when many fans were rushing out. It is scenarios like that makes this film less believable.

Well paced and truly frightening

[e-williams120 · 8/10 · 30 September 2012]

Well I will say that I been getting more into Asian horror over the past few years. This film is by far different that most Asian Horror Films that I seen, Different in terms of the main focus of the film, which they focus around a struggling Korean Pop Band who steals a song that happens to be cursed and they become popular. You would think an idea like that would fail for a horror film right? Wrong.......... the plot for this film is well paced and horror in the film just builds up as the film goes on.

The things I really enjoyed about this film were the actresses. The Cast for this film is really attractive and good looking and fit the appearance of a K-Pop band. Plus this is probably one of the few films I saw where things weren't predictable in the plot in the horror. Also I loved the horror scenes they were really terrifying and scary, non of that cheesy Jump Scare stuff. If you jump in this film your most likely jumping out of your cloths into a shell.

Overall this film was great and of course with the main focus of the horror being a Asian Ghost Girl with long hair looking for revenge is what knocks this rating down. This movie is very recent and came out last year so I'd say give it time before it becomes more popular and perhaps gathers a "Cult" following.

The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet brought me here

[YRLY59E · 8/10 · 27 September 2020]

Not directly, but I watched this years ago when I was sick in bed and had called off from work, but the quest to find that song's owner and it's mysterious past made me remember this.

This is a respectable solid effort on a similar horror element to Ringu (which was remade into The Ring). The idea has been borrowed into stuff like The Stream, V/H/S etc. here they take the idea and instead mix it with the backdrop of the K-pop and music industry and it works really well in this case. The music segments are well filmed too. Whereas those movies often real "fake" because the premise is kind of ridiculous if you think about it setting it to a more real world scenario leaves it more fulfilling.

Well-made modern ghost story from Korea.

[suite92 · 8/10 · 18 October 2013]

The all girl group "Pink Dolls" has never quite come to the forefront in the Korean music scene. Other groups are always ahead of them in the rankings.

They move to new digs that their agents got cheap because it was damaged in a fire. One of the group discovers an old VHS tape where another group performs 'White.' This song turns out to be free for the taking (no rights to buy). When they start performing the song 'White,' they rocket to the top.

Unfortunately for them, members of the band start having mental problems. One thinks she's being strangled. Another starts having problems with her eyes. Both end up in hospital with some actual injuries. How the real injuries occur is not explained all that much in the film.

The agency attempts to fill in the injured parties to reconstitute the group. The remaining members investigate the old band and agency to see what went wrong the first time through. One of the replacements is injured in a freak accident (well, perhaps) while filming a side reality show segment.

Eun-joo, the girl who is to be the next lead singer makes some progress after sleeping with the sponsor of the group. She has a vision of her predecessor being wounded and committing suicide, then is able to find what's left of the suicide note. The two remaining hold a religious ceremony to soothe the dead lead singer, and they hope things will be better this time around.

Eun-joo dies her hair white and makes a solo recording. All seems to go well. The three injured girls wake up simultaneously in the hospital and make rapid recoveries. They blame Eun-joo, but she is not having it.

Meanwhile, the remaining girl from the original Pink Dolls and the sound engineer continue the fine examination of the VHS tape content from the first filming of 'White.'

The three girls injured previously make a date to perform. Instead of performing, they drink poison to commit suicide. Live.

The research with the sound engineer continues. Will new information save Eun-joo?

------Scores------

Cinematography: 10/10 Sharp focus, lush color saturation, good framing, just lovely.

Sound: 10/10 Good!

Acting: 7/10 Meh.

Screenplay: 7/10 I rate it high on coherence, but low on resolution.

Almost flawless by my standards

[biggestdickenergy · 8/10 · 21 March 2021]

This movie had everything I love- cute girls, awesome music, and very good scares. I'd honestly rate it more if not for one specific scene near the end... Avoiding spoilers, it involves flashing lights at a roughly 10hz frequency, and is pretty dangerous for those with epilepsy or- in my case- flicker vertigo. As much as I loved this movie, I was sick and disoriented for almost a full hour after it ended