SYNOPSIS:
Four good friends in a Catholic girls’ high school – Unjoo (Jang Kyeong Ah), Soy (Son Eun Seo), Eugene (Oh Yeon Seo) and Eun-young (Song Min Jeong), who swear their friendship with blood one late night at chapel within their school compound, promised each other that their bond will last through death, so much that they are even willing to die together. Strange rumors start to spread at the girls’ school after Unjoo committed suicide one night. Unjoo’s younger sister Jung-un (Yoo Shin Ae) who attends the same school gets suspicious about Unjoo’s death. The remaining friends are then chased by death as their promise weighs heavily over them. Will the desire and jealousy that lies behind the pledge of death between the four girls unravel, along with the truth behind Unjoo’s suicide?
MOVIE REVIEW:
It’s been a while since Korean horror has invaded our shores, and it is apparently still the rage, considering how they keep making their presence felt in local cinemas. How much can one take before we declare: enough is enough? How many of these pretty girls with jet black hair can we endure before we say: they all the look the same? How many of such predictable tales of horror can we stomach before we state: let’s move on to something else?
This Korean production is the fifth installment in a series of Korean horror movies set in girls’ high schools. If you must know, it all started with 1998’s Whispering Corridors – yes, we have thinking to ourselves: has it been that long since we were first fascinated with this genre?
The story is anything but refreshing: A girl commits suicide by jumping to her death, and rumours begin spreading like wildfire in the Catholic girls’ high school she studies in. Somewhere and somehow, four girls (with jet black hair, nonetheless) and their blood pact to kill themselves are involved in this drama. Oh, there is also a boyfriend in the mix too.
The uninteresting premise will make you feel disengaged throughout the movie’s 98 minute runtime. Sure, it has its occasional moments of disturbing scenes (blood, scares, screams), but haven’t we seen better elsewhere before? The girl with blood dripping from her eyes, the girl with a scarily pale complexion, the girl with a stone cold stare – these seem to be nothing but clones from other Korean horror movies.
The cast of Jang Kyeong Ah, Son Eun Seo, Oh Yeon Seo and Song Min Jeong do not deliver particularly memorable performances either. It doesn’t help they look a tad similar, and that they are all wearing the same nicely fashioned school uniform for a large part of the movie. The character developments are shallow and one dimensional, and there is really nothing interesting to look forward to in this dreary movie.
To be fair, the art direction is commendable here. The set designs and atmospheric backgrounds are properly managed, and the looming mood of dread is achieved, albeit let down by a “been there done that” story. But horror fans may still be duly entertained by the shocks littered throughout the movie. And that is also the reason why movies like that will (pardon the pun here) never die. So while we are still at it, someone bring on the next Korean horror flick.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
A Trailer and a Music Video (with behind the scenes footage) is included in this Code 3 DVD.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
We do not have any complaints about visual transfer of the movie. It is presented in Korean 5.1 Digital Surround Sound.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING :
Review
by John Li
Posted
on 16 October 2010
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