THE UNINVITED
(2003)
Dir - Lee Soo-yeon
Overall: MEH
Yet another movie with the title The Uninvited, (A Table for Four), this one stems from South Korea and serves as the full-length debut for filmmaker Lee Soo-yeon. Though supernatural elements are present, it has a persistently melancholic tone, and there are a few unsettling revelations dished out, this is more of an overbearing drama than a conventional horror film. Not that it needs to pick a team, with Lee utilizing a Kiyoshi Kurosawa-styled approach that is glacially slow and dishes out the spooky moments without any hackneyed jump scare or overbearing music. This creates the appropriately intimate atmosphere for information to gradually unfold between two characters who cross each other's paths and may or may not have psychic abilities. While the tone is refreshingly mature, the over two hour running time allows for things to meander to the point where even the most patient of viewers might lose interest before things start to kind of/not really crystalize. Thankfully though, the performances are strong, particularly Jun Ji-hyun as an emotionally aloof woman who is traumatized after witnessing the murder of her friend's children by said friend's own hands. The entire thing is only compelling to a point, but it has a severity to it is intentionally chilling.
(2006)
Dir - Sang-hoon Ahn
Overall: MEH
South Korean filmmaker Sang-hoon Ahn's full-length debut Arang serves as a contemporary re-imagining of the Joseon Dynasty folk tale of the same name. A cliche fest from front to back as far as presentation goes, the central, police detective protagonists are likeable and have a natural chemistry with each other. Teaming up a female cop with a young, male upstart may spell formulaic banter between the two, but they are an agreeable lot to get to the bottom of yet another vengeful spirit mystery where yet another pale white, creaky, head-tilting spectre with animated, jet-lack hair obscuring her face is behind such supernatural shenanigans. We also have loud noises punctuating every one of said ghost's appearances, nursery rhyme musical cues, waking nightmare hallucinations, creepy kids, a Saw-styled plot twist, a room discovered with pictures all over the wall, and a handful of other set pieces that are lifted from just as many other movies. Rape, newborn baby murder, and even a dog dying provide plenty of unpleasant specifics to work with, plus the finale gets muddled with implausible dialog and too many flashbacks, making this a messy, derivative, and disagreeable bit of K-horror.
(2007)
Dir - Kenta Fukasaku
Overall: MEH
Bathrooms, cell phones, and leg amputations join forces in Kenta Fukasaku's X-Cross, (Ekusu Kurosu Makyō Densetsu, X-Cross: Legend of the Devil's Nest); an adaptation of Nobuyuki Jōkō's novel Sono Kētai wa X-Cross de that gets more silly as it goes along. Fukasaku adapts a knowingly tongue-in-cheek tone from the on-set, punctuating typical J-horror scare tactics with busy camerawork, busy music, over-the-top performances, a couple of ridiculous fight scenes, and a zig-zagging narrative that is broken up into chapters ala a Quentin Tarantino movie. This annoyingly allows for several scenes to replay almost in their entirety to provide context; context which is only necessary for audience members that are completely not paying attention since said call-backs occur only a handful of minutes after each other. Ultimately, the flashy approach fails to hide a plot with predictable, would-be twists, but the production design is impressive once we get to the remote village cult's sacrificial alter set piece which recklessly dances between part atmospheric folk horror and part jacked-up schlock. Taking any of it seriously would be a misstep since no one here seems to be doing such a thing and thankfully the story has enough wacky ingredients, colorful characters, and goofy revelations to chuckle at.
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