Reviews

Why oh why? Why was this film made? To make out blood boil? It starts off well with the promise of being a psychological thriller what with the woman being agoraphobic, alcohol dependent and more or less a complete trainwreck. But half hour in and the act gets tedious. The constant heavy breathing and paranoia and incoherence is just too much to take. And there isn't much to the story either. If they had built up the story and suspense then the climax would've been satisfying. However, it seemed like they lost their way and just ended the movie in a hurry with a very lame and unimaginative climax. Bleh. Could've watched something else.

This series would've been great if it weren't for the annoying female lead. The problem is that she is shown to be a goofy teenager with a crush on a classmate and a knack for messing up, which is fine for a teenager. But she grows up and her character doesn't change at all. She has no self respect and makes decisions on whims without introspection. I didn't get why she broke up with the boy and why she ended up getting back with him. The premise for both these developments were very flaky. The side characters were really good though. Specially her friend Ha-Young. Also, I wish Dae-sang had had the sense to ask her out in the 10 years he knew her instead of waiting all that time. Overall it was entertaining but could've been better.

This movie had a LOT of potential which it totally did not live up to. There is a lot of build up throughout the movie but the climax is hilarious. Seriously, I actually laughed because what on earth happened? The director and actor have tried hard to bring out the creep factor and suspense but the background score is basically loud jarring horns which gets annoying after a while. Also, what was the point of her "saving" Amanda's soul when she actually gets fired from her private carer's job half way through the movie? What was her plan? Did she intend to kill Amanda in the end? It was so frustrating to watch. I guess I had too much time on hand that I finished it.

It was a heartbreaking movie to watch. Which is what makes it worth watching. I liked the plot and the performances. No jump scares anywhere but lots of creepy vibes. However, there are a number of shortcomings of this movie that makes it a little less enjoyable. First of all, if the father was a murderer who was hunting for his family, why would the mother take them back to her ancestral home? Surely the father would know of her maiden name and her childhood home. This was extremely flimsy plot point. Of course he found them in merely 6 months. This is the first place anyone would've looked. Then, they didn't build the story properly. They should've shown more flashbacks and given more details. A lot of things were left unexplained.

I am on episode 6 and I am starting to get annoyed and tired of this series. They are building way too many plotlines to follow and while it is good suspense to never clearly show who is the bad guy, this level of ambiguity is getting on my nerves. Also, what is wrong with the sisters? Why can't they just talk to each other? A lot of the story would become clear to them if they just told each other what they knew. This level of lack of communication is unbelievable with two people who are so close to each other as shown in this series. I think they have made the characters a little too one dimensional. The eldest one is dumb and only cares about money. However, at 30 and after being married to a conman you would expect her to be a little more cautious and distrustful. But she just goes on to believe anything anyone tells her. She even signs some papers without reading them. Who does that? Then the second sister is shown to be too righteous who doesn't know when to stop and take a step back. She just runs headlong into trouble and blames the whole world for it. If she is an investigative journalist she should be more circumspect and not make accusations without having the whole story and evidence. Then the youngest one is the most annoying. She hates being poor, which I understand. But to completely disregard her sisters who she herself knows sacrifice everything for her and walk straight into the den of a murderer ( yes she knows the guy murdered someone) with eyes wide open is just baffling. She is willing to ignore everything as long as she gets to live the rich lifestyle, which includes clear and present danger. She knows these people are shady but still sticks with them. At that age kids tend to be more reliant and trustful of their family than their friends.

I think the writers are messing it up by creating way too much drama and suspense which is not really justified. Sigh! Not sure if I'll finish this series. Let's see how bored I get.

I watched it because it was interesting enough to keep going till I finished it. And I gave 7 stars because it is well made. However, i fail to see the point of the whole story? The first five episodes are great and promising. But then the narration falls flat and it completely loses the plot. The premise of getting a sign from beyond was a great tool to keep the story together. However, then they added the whole hallucination thing with old man and woman. Then they added the cult and failed ritual which led to nowhere. Then in the end they tried to make it all philosophical and mushy. And what on earth was the point of showing that Dr. Stanton with the paragon tattoo? It feels like they set it up for a second season maybe? They really did not tie up the loose ends and I'm not happy about it. It also got really boring at some points. So much so that I ended up looking at my phone quite a bit. Not a sign of a good series.

Oh I completely forgot - there are so many anachronisms in this series. For example in one episode they spot the international space station. If the series is set in 1994 then how could they have possibly done that since ISS wasn't launched until 1998. Then they use terms like "staycation" which I don't think were common then. In fact a lot jargon is taken from 2022 rather than 1994. Only the clothes look like they belong to that period.

I'm giving it 3 stars just for Ji Chang-wook. This series is so boring that I looked at my phone 80% of the time but still knew exactly what was going on. The biggest problem I have with this series is Kim Ji-won's character. It gets on my nerves. She gets cheated on and dumped by her boyfriend and goes to some beachside place to get over the heartbreak. BUT she has absolutely no problem in ghosting a man who comes to love her, whom she fake marries on the beach, and breaking his heart. You would think that having your heart broken by a romantic partner would make you more sensitive so as not to inflict the same pain on someone else. BUT NO, her character is incapable of feeling that. On top of it, when he finally finds her/ accidentally runs into she behaves in a cruel manner and makes herself to be the victim. From that point on, her character turns into a b*tch that is constantly being rude and mean to the male lead. What on earth? And guess what the reason for ghosting was? She thought that because she adopted a different persona at the beach which was unlike her real nature he wouldn't like her and stop loving her. Even if that were the case she could've still come clean and had a proper breakup. How did ghosting improve this situation? Baffling how these adult characters are shown to have such little maturity and sensitivity. Disappointing.