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Se-jin is
a single woman with no real friends, so she
spends most of her time working to avoid any feelings.
Lately, she has noticed that something strange is
going on in the opposite building. Every night around
10pm the lights start flickering and the next morning
somebody is always found dead. She starts to investigate
the connection between the mysterious suicides and the
lights, but what she's about discover, is something
way beyond her wildest imagination.
Director Byeong-ki Ahn has managed to become one of
South Korea's most renowned directors over the past
couple of years. He started off with the supernatural
slasher flick Gawi and then continued on with the
very unoriginal, but oh so entertaining, ghost movie
"Phone". And while I loved Phone, I wasn't a big fan
of his last movie, Bunshinsaba, which is why I was
a bit sceptical heading into his latest horror feature,
APT (Apartment). Well Byeong-ki must have realized
what his strengths are because while Apartment might
not be quite as good as Phone, it's not far behind.
The story revolves around Se-jin. Sho lives in a small
apartment by herself, she's got no real friends and
was recently almost killed by a suicidal woman at the
subway (ehmm, I won't go into detail). One day she
meets a young girl who's wheelchair-bound and it doesn't
take long before they become good friends. But there's
something strange about the girl's neighbours, and
when they start turning up dead, one after one, Se-jin
starts to wonder what's really going on in the
opposite building.
As you can hear, the basic storyline is pretty original,
which is something that seems to be rare in Asian horror
flicks these days. Naturally the long-haired ghost girl
is also in here (there's no avoiding her), and it seems
as if the creepy Asian ghost chicks are getting less
and less discrete. The ghost in Apartment actually sounds
like a really old peace of wood. Hell, every time she
moved I just felt like throwing her into the fireplace.
The loud creaking was pretty effective but occasionally,
unintentionally funny. Obviously Byeong-ki wanted to
copy Ju-On with this but I don't think that he was very
successful at that.
Byeong-ki also borrows several elements from the
brilliant horror movie "A Tale Of Two Sisters" as
well as from his previous movies. The soundtrack is
almost identical to the one used in Phone (in fact,
I'm pretty sure most of the music was the same),
there is also a lot of elevator-action a la Phone
to be found in here and let's not forget about the
climax which was obviously overly dramatic in an
extreme thunderstorm. Yes, APT might be cliché and
somewhat uncreative, but it's still a whole lot of fun.
It's been way too long since I saw a really good Asian
horror flick and while APT might be unoriginal in
several ways, the main story is surprisingly refreshing.
The movie is packed with suspense and I just love to
jump around in my seat. If you ask me, this has got all
the right ingredients and manages to mix them just right.
Some blood splatter, nothing special.
The suspense score is great but feels very similar
to the one used in Phone. Didn't really bother me
a whole lot though.
APT will definitely get your adrenaline pumping. It's
a suspenseful thrill-ride filled with scares. And as
if that wasn't enough, it's actually got a refreshingly
original story. If you've lost your interest in Asian
horror movies, APT might just be the right flick to
get back your interest with. Check it out if you're a
fan of Byeong-ki's previous horror movies.
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