Toemarok

My friend rented this feature at my local Hong Kong video store, this Korean Horror film is really quite interesting. The effects are top notch, the premise and characters are beautifully fleshed out and the suspense is built up perfectly.

For a first feature, KC Park did a marvelous job, and I hope this becomes a series. I look forward to Park's next film.

This was definitely not the brightest moment in South Korean cinema. Why? Well, as a horror / thriller it was just anything but scary or thrilling. And if you are doing a religious horror movie, at least get your sigils, symbols and lore straight.

The storyline in "The Soul Guardians" (aka "Toemarok") wasn't particularly captivating, although it seemed to be well-thought through, nonetheless. But it just failed to entertain me and I lost interest quite early in the movie. But I still stuck through to the end in a dying hope that the movie would somehow get better.

I will say that the acting in "The Soul Guardians" was good, and that alone did make the movie bearable to watch. Just a shame that everything else in the movie was so poor.

"The Soul Guardians" was a less than mediocre horror / thriller. And if you enjoy Asian cinema, or South Korean cinema in particular, then there are far better choices available.

Police forces storm the headquarters of a religious satanic cult. All of the members did commit suicide, except for a pregnant woman lying on an altar when the police forces enter. Before she dies, she gives birth to a daughter, Seung-Hee. 20 years later, the devil tries to reincarnate through the body of Seung-Hee. But she is protected by a priest, his son and a mysterious warrior, Hyun-Am, who's weapon is a knife inhabited by the soul of his lost love. Together they try to prevent Satan from taking possession of Seung-Hee's body and bringing death all over the world...

This horror thriller from South Korea goes where no other movie of it's country has gone before in terms of CGI special effects. Aside from the CGI, there's plenty of gore to satisfy any horror fan. It also stars Hyun-Joon Shin who starred in "The Gingko Bed", one of the best Korean movies ever. "The Soul Guardians" was probably the most action-packed Korean horror movie I've seen to date. Plot-wise, this film is very similar to "End of Days", but it has a faster pace and much more of an original feeling to it. Worthy addition to every collection of horror movies.

SOUL GUARDIANS has enough special effects (and they're all done very well) to choke a horse. Unfortunately, as the summary states, special effects does not a movie make. SOUL GUARDIANS has some good points, but it's mostly rather shallow, and the movie lacks narrative focus. A lot of elements go unexplained, such as the boy's background.

This is not a bad film by any stretch, but like a lot of American movies that relies heavily on special effects, it's pretty to look at, but the story is average, at best.

5 out of 10

(go to www.nixflix.com for a more detailed review of this movie and reviews of other foreign films)

If you like movies like "End of days", "Warlock" or "Highlander" you'll also love this one. It's mixture of fantasy and horror combined with a thrilling story makes it worth watching. The "Soul Knife" was an extremely cool weapon and the CGI looks very good.