|
Jun Oh works as
an insurance investigator and has
just been assigned a new client, Park Chung Bae. When
he arrives at Park's home, he makes a horrifying
discovery. Park's son has just committed suicide. Or
so it first appears. Park is so anxious to get the
insurance money that Jun Oh starts to suspect that he
killed his own son, just for money. But is it really
all that simple? What's really going on inside that
dark black house of his?
Out of all the South Korean horror flicks this year,
Black House came out on top as the clear winner. Well
the rest of them must have been pretty damn bad (and,
well, they have been) because there's really nothing
special about Black House at all - other than the fact
that it's got none of that South Korean vibe and
cinematography that we've all grown to love. This is
more or less an American thriller in Korean language,
and not a great one at that.
Based on a Japanese novel, Black House (or Psychopath
as it roughly translates into) is a serial killer
thriller more or less, and while it has its moments
and starts out brilliantly, it eventually becomes
repetitive and generic. The character build-ups don't
progress at all during the second half of the movie.
If anything, the characters become flatter and flatter
until you really couldn't care less what happens to
the lead, just because everything is so ridiculously
American. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong
with American movies in general - but this felt the
same way like American remakes of Asian horror flicks
feel; unnatural and clichéd.
But before I bash this movie to pieces, I have got to
say that for the first half of the movie, I was loving
it. It builds up like a solid horror thriller and the
concept is indeed very intriguing (I'm sure that the
novel which this was based upon was great). A father
who kills his own son for insurance. Now that's a good
story right there. Naturally, we all know that there's
a twist coming up and it's pretty obvious what that
twist is but I won't spoil it for you anyway. As soon
as the twist comes (about half-way through the movie),
things take a turn for the worse and the mysterious
thriller that I was just watching transformed into some
kind of odd gore-filled horror thriller. Why!?
We had an intriguing mystery that was just aching to be
solved in here and they had to drag it out to the point
where it was just ridiculous. It basically had the same
depth as a DTV slasher movie. Hell, it even felt like
a DTV slasher flick at one point. Black House does have
some great moments in the second half as well though,
and the cellar scene is just to die for. Sure, it could
have been more suspenseful but it did the trick. In
the end, I have really mixed feelings towards Black
House, because while a part of me loved it, another
part of me absolutely hated it. It's got a good story
but the second half is just a big mess. Too bad,
a potentially great movie gone to waste. If you're in
the mood for a mildly suspenseful thriller, Black
House is still worth checking out though - even if
it doesn't sound like it based on my review. It has
enough good parts to weigh out the bad parts.
Severed hands, arms, body parts, a lot of stabbings
and lots of blood splatter.
Again, not at all what we're used to hearing from
South Korea. This could have been copied from any
American thriller.
A decent South Korean thriller with a pathetic ending
and a poor second half. It's got a lot of good
qualities but unfortunately it still ends up feeling
like a good concept gone to waste. Worth checking out
if you enjoy thrillers, but don't expect anything
out of the ordinary.
|
|
