Movie rating: 8/10 Neck score: B
It's not really jumpy scary much, more like a suspense that builds up as we watch this ordinary man, a lazy cop in a remote mountain village, try to figure out what is going on as violent murders start happening around the village. They all have the same things in common. One family member going crazy and murdering all the rest. They all have a horrible rash before, and they usually commit suicide after all the murders. Also, they are very violent and bloody murders. People start blaming the Japanese stranger, and cite having nightmares after random encounters with him. The suspense only builds as people closer to our ordinary man begin to be affected, including his daughter.
It is very subtle in the clues it gives you. Like that man, I was very confused as to who I could trust and believe. The shaman they call in to kill the evil spirit? The crazy women who is just there, giving hints but not doing much? His own strength as he tries to kill the evil and save his daughter himself? You really have to pay attention to the clues they give you, many are just subtle and visual, and not much attention is brought to it. I caught most of them, but wasn't sure how to process them, so I still found myself needing to research and look up other people's interpretations of it so that I could make some sense of the jumble in my head. There are a lot of metaphors in it, so if you are using the different metaphoric lenses the puzzle pieces seem to fit together better than if you are taking everything at face value, which is what I was doing at first. Then I would get confused at a clue that I noticed, but didn't know what to make of it. Which was fine. It was super cool to be actually confused at a movie in a good way and not just a "this writing sucks" way.
It definitely really well done, all around. It was really easy to get caught up in the emotion of everything, and get tricked by everything, just like our man, Jong Goo. Like Jong Goo, I wasn't sure even until the very last moment, it was so misleading and wonderful. It left you feeling like a train had hit you. I would definitely recommend it to someone who likes films like these, horror that also makes you think? Lizabreff wouldn't watch it with me, but she also read the entire Wikipedia synopsis which spoils the whole movie without giving you any of the good stuff. It just says what happens, so don't read that, it will not do the movie justice and then spoil everything. She wouldn't have wanted to watch it anyway though, because she's not into horror, especially this kind. I had to watch it when they were gone. Even then, Curdy walked in during one of the grossest scenes, and I had to tell her not to look at the screen. Luckily she wasn't wearing her glasses, so couldn't see it anyway, haha. But it was a really a good horror film full of metaphors and deep thinking. It was good.
