Der Fluch Des Dunklen Sees

What starts out as a fine Korean period piece takes a sudden turn for the super-natural as an ancient spirit returns for revenge upon the empire which imprisoned it. Flying acrobatics abound and the film is all the more entertaining for it.

Going back to B.C. Korea, the rising Shilla empire wipes out an occult clan in the attempt to unify the people. The clan's leader happens to be a powerful sorcerer and promises revenge before being sealed away with a magical sword. Fast forward almost a thousand years and we find the Shilla empire in some disarray; rebels threaten the outer empire and the kingdom's greatest general has left his position to marry a peasant girl. After he finally returns to arms, royal guards attempt to assassinate his wife. While in her own defense, she removes the magic sword from it's resting place, thus unleashing the vengeful spirit and putting the entire empire in danger.

The main plot is a little slim. The evil spirit is largely under developed and the human conflicts are passed over too quickly to generate much emotion. The cause of this is the short running time, 92 minutes does not a lot much time to examine the intricate workings of an ancient Korean political system, much less exploring the super-natural story line. As such, both plots feel like side stories rather than either feeling like the core of the film.

Fortunately the rest of the film makes up for the story's lacking. The budget is obviously not big, but they do a good job of convincing you others wise. The actors are pretty good, so far as the script allows, and the cinematography is catching to the eye. There are some low-rent CG images, but they brief enough so as not to intrude.

The biggest success of the film is the fight scenes, and being a historic war picture that makes up for a lot. Well shot and choreographed, with buckets of blood with nearly every sword strike, the fight scenes evoke a great sense of cathartic release.

A fun action/drama/horror/war picture that just needed a beefed up script to be really great. Regaurdless, still recommended.

8/10

The movie starts with the evil sorcerer from one of many clans in China at the time captured and bound by the current emperor. Fast forward circa 800 years and general Biharang is fighting the rebels while his love waits for him at home. At the same time the queen is in love with Biharang, he only has eyes for his love though.

The queen and her advisors do not approve of this and plots against Biharangs girlfriend, sending her into a series of events that unleashes the evil that was trapped almost a thousand years ago, taking over her own body. Will Biharang be able to fight this evil without killing his loved one? Will he be able to battle the scheming advisors and a love struck queen?

This might not be such an epic movie as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon but it's still quite enjoyable. The story contains love, drama and suspense, the acting is more than ok, the effects, while not up to ILM standards, gets the job done.

Don't try and cram this movie into the standard Hollywood formula since most asian movies that are worth watching doesn't fit into this formula. Try to concentrate less on the evolution of the plot and more on the feeling of the movie and the, in my opinion, very well done camera work.

Well worth watching if you can find it.

The first king of the Silla kingdom united the various Korean tribes under his iron fist through the use of superior technology and tactics. One of those tribes was led by a sorcerous chief, who was imprisoned within a lake by the Silla king after he had sworn vengeance against him for the destruction wreaked upon the tribe. A thousand years pass and stories become legends, legends become myths, yada yada. Now the Silla kingdom has stood for almost a millennia, but once again it's threatened both from within and by outsiders.

The biggest problem with this film is the fact that it doesn't invest its viewers. None of the characters are given proper personalities beyond their general archetypes, for one. The main character is a skilled general, and that's about it. His intended is the intended, and that's about it. The lovelorn empress is the lovelorn empress. There are some additional touches, like the fact that the main character is apparently of lower birth, but they don't really add all that much to the story.

The story is riddled with clichés and is also baffling in details. For example, the title of the movie is The Legend of the Evil Lake. Emphasis on the word 'evil'. Yet, the very first scene shows us the chief imprisoned within the lake simply because he had issues with his tribe being taken over by the Silla king. Don't know about the rest of you, but I'm with the chief on this one. Down with the Silla kingdom! Which makes watching the movie a touch aggravating when it so clearly assumes we're on the Silla side of the conflict.

Aside from all that, it's not really a bad movie. The fight scenes are nice, the locations are gorgeous, the clothing, make-up and all that stuff works really well, and as a whole it's simply an okay Asian fantasy/horror film. If only the story had been even halfway decent this might have amounted to something.

Hmm... where do I start? Fighting scenes were horribly choreographed, acting was mediocre at best, not much character development, plot was really weak ... and given the low expectations of typical action movies, it still did not meet my LOW expectations. I recommend _Musa_ instead of this one -- for obvious reasons.