(2006)
Dir - Ho-Young Kwon
Overall: MEH
Sticking to the formula apparent in each of the 4 Horror Tales films, (all of which were made by first time directors and three of which were written by Il-han Yoo, including this one), Forbidden Floor, (Ne beonjje cheung), takes its cue from better J-horror properties and comes off as a mediocre at best rehash of them. This one concerns a haunted apartment complex that of course virtually no one lives in. The only people we see besides a just-moved-in mother and daughter who the story centers around are two assholes and the ghost of another woman who seems to supernaturally reside on the mysterious fourth floor of the title. With a long-haired specter that makes creaky noises, a stoic little kid, an overworked and ergo desperate mom, a plot twist, and rudimentary scare tactics left and right, all of the ingredients are in place to make this instantly forgettable. Ho-Young handles the material in a pedestrian manner, where the camera is largely stationary, the lighting flat, and the whole thing is about as scary as an ice cream cone with a couple of green filters thrown in to spice things up.
(2006)
Dir - Jeong Jong-hoon
Overall: MEH
A leap year horror movie because sure why not, February 29, (Iwol isibguil), is the only film from director Jeong Jong-hoon who proves ill-equipped to deliver a compelling supernatural yarn in the ninety minutes that he is given. The premise may sound fetching before realizing that it is made up of hackneyed tropes, not least of which is an opening in a mental asylum where a clearly insane woman explains the film's events in flashback to a journalist. Said events concern some different murdered lady whose body was never a found; a murdered lady who also should have died on the date of the title yet shows back up a few days early with her hair obscuring her face whenever the script tells her to. Taking more of a non-moving approach than a slow boil one, Jong-hoon has the right idea in creating impending dread, yet he does so clumsily while hitting many of the required K-horror beats and doing nothing unique with any of them. The plotting is monotonous, the whole thing feels about forty minutes longer than it actually is, and the third act bounces between each time line in a more aggressive manner that draws everything out even further. Like the other entries in the 4 Horror Tales series, the amateur production qualities and skills behind the lens ultimately undue a story that is merely mediocre in the first place.
(2006)
Dir - Kim Eun-kyeong
Overall: MEH
Though it muddles things up during the last act, Roommates, (D-day), is an acceptable entry into the "nightmare school" arena of exploitation film. A cousin to women in prison movies, Kim Eun-kyeong's installment for the 4 Horror Tales series removes the sleaze, nudity, and lesbianism yet keeps the concept of militantly strict teachers who inflict a year-long routine of unwavering discipline upon their students in the form of regimented studying and psychological manipulation as to motivate them to not be "losers" who "can't handle" the real world once they graduate. It says much about the traumatic pressures felt by college hopefuls who have been brainwashed to some extend into thinking that enough study will warrant them a promising future, but the supernatural elements inherent in Eun-kyeong's story are murky at best. These students could be suffering from nothing more than hallucinations brought upon by gossip and stress, ghostly activity that is determined to have history tragically repeat itself, or the shady faculty could be behind the entire ordeal. The ending is more abruptly puzzling and surreal than satisfactory, plus the plotting is monotonous enough as to not warrant such a mishandled conclusion.
(2006)
Dir - Jung-min Kim
Overall: WOOF
Dull, cheap, and wretchedly paced, director Jung-min Kim's debut Dark Forest, (Jugeum-ui sup, Forest of Death), is an abysmal offering in the 4 Horror Tales series and the only one not to be written by Il-han Yoo. Roughly forty-minutes too long, its shot-on-digital-video aesthetic is forgivable, as is the location setting, minimal amount of action, and small crop of characters since movies are expensive. What is not forgivable is the padded presentation which seems hellbent on beating the same dead horse into the ground that is found in virtually every other zombie movie. This of course refers to characters struggle to "kill" their loved ones when they become ghouls, and such a derivative trope is the only one explored for the second half of an already comatose-inducing whole. Said characters stand or sit quietly while the exact same piece of music plays throughout its entirely and then starts over from the beginning again, (not an exaggeration), and then they repeatedly and even more slowly ask each other if they will murder them when it is necessary to do so. Cue more standing and crying in front of their now undead acquaintances until the movie mercifully ends. The initial set up introduces some drama to work with between two brothers and the fact that So Yi-hyun's character has psychic powers, but none of this is followed through on. Instead, the production just stretches everything out with a bunch of crap that has been done to death so many times before.
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