Reviews

I first saw this movie probably when it originally came out, although I don't think I ever saw it in theaters. I had just read the book when I found out they had made a movie adaptation. It's one of the few adaptations I think was done well, and for that it was an instant favorite. To think this is my first time rewatching it after all these years. It's one of the best psychological thrillers out there in my opinion and if you like the film I highly recommend reading the novel.

I first saw this movie over a year ago and I loved it. I wasn't tracking my movies and rating them back then so I decided to revisit it today.

I've decided this is one of my favorite horror movies. I love Korean and Japanese horror, so maybe I'm biased. But this is exactly the type of film I look for. Dark, mysterious, maybe a little supernatural, and no jump scares. It's not the type of film to be always on the move trying to get you to jump out of your seat. It unnerves you, makes you think, makes you feel for the characters. There's even some well placed humor here and there, making the characters seem more realistic, not everyone is so glum and serious in real life.

There's also of course a lot of gore, but it's not just a zombie flick if that's what you're expecting. Be prepared for lots of twists and turns, this movie is a lot deeper than it appears on the surface.

I had heard about this film from a reviewer i watch on YouTube, she mentioned it's not for everyone but based on her synopsis I figured it'd be up my alley as i like mind bending films. Overall, I found it enjoyable, I liked the premise and the general mood of the film. It was slow in many places, I'd even venture to say it's a slow paced film in its entirety, but it only really feels slow in certain places. I'd like to imagine that's what the director was trying to convey; monotony, lethargy, emptiness, but it did drag on sometimes. The ending was slightly anticlimactic in my opinion and in general i felt the story left much to be desired. But again I like the idea of it, it just felt very bare bones like it wasn't fully fleshed out yet. Perhaps it could be better as a book where one can spend more time on the details. Would i recommend this? If you like movies with a hint of sci fi/psychological mind bending then maybe you'd find it pleasant enough. Not something I'll be revisiting though.

I watched this movie with excitement ahead of the highly anticipated remake that is currently in theaters. The remake is being highly praised as one of the best horror films of 2018 and so, being a horror fan I decided I should watch the original first.

How I wish I hadn't. The most blatant problem in this film for me was the audio. The dialogue is really quiet, half the time it's actually whispers. But then the sound effects and music kick in and my ears start to bleed because it's so loud. I should've just put subtitles on and muted it. The main theme is quite good but when there is only one song on the soundtrack that plays throughout the entirety of the film, you start to get sick of it.

My next issue is the dialogue itself. Very poor writing, and to go onto my next point, it's also poorly executed. The acting in this film is absolutely atrocious, I agree with others who say the acting is on par with a bad porno.

The only thing this film has going for it would be the color palette/aesthetic. But even then the blatant use of red and green was really distracting me from trying to wrap my head around the storyline. The story seemed to not follow any sort of plot at all, and by the time they reveal what's going on I had lost all interest and was force feeding the rest of the movie to myself.

I wanted to like this film, I really did. As a horror junkie, I could care less about the cheesy special effects, there are tons of old films that transcend the limitations of their technology. This unfortunately is not one of those films. If you are reading reviews before watching, please save yourself some time and watch something else.