Bloody Reunion

Tartan's new release, Bloody Reunion (a.k.a. To Sir, With Love) is not a remake of the 1964 classic starring Sidney Poitier. It is a grimy, sadistic, South Korean foray into the slasher flick genre. In ways it is very reminiscent of early 80's Horror flicks like Jason or Sleepaway Camp. And just as those films are considered cinematic trash, Blood Reunion might also fit the same description. Fortunately for my viewing pleasure, I love Asian Trash Cinema! Bloody Reunion tells the story of a group of elementary students who return years later to visit their former teacher-who has recently took ill-in the countryside. Once the group arrives, the film briefly jumps back and forth between the past and present, showing us that this sweet teacher (Mrs. Park) had a cruel side to her. In fact as the film progresses we find out that most of her former students have murderous intentions towards the teacher. And their not the only ones with murderous intentions, as we soon find out. Someone in the group is systematically bumping off the students one by one in the most gruesome fashion possible.

That's pretty much the story, as the film's narrative kinda sputters out after the first 30 minutes and then degenerates into a slasher flick (literally). The film than takes you through a series of murders each more horrid than the next. This goes on for awhile, and if the film was just this,I would have probably liked it less. But just when you thought you've figured it out, the film twists into a way that you don't expect. And is pleasantly surprising.

The film has a lot of faults and loose ends. For one, the sub plot about Mrs. Park's deformed child never really pays off. The acting is substandard (but does anyone really expect good acting in a slasher flick?). And as I mentioned before the story kinda just stops and the viewer is left with a lot of unanswered questions. I guess it all depends on what your frame of mind when you watch it. Don't go into this with high expectations and you just might come out liking it. Also, if gore and violence aren't your thing, STAY AWAY from this film.

All in All, a decent horror flick with some genuine creepiness. Not as good as I had hoped, but it's nice to see a director depart from the long-haired ghost girl movies that Asian Cinema seems to puts out over and over

That is to say, this movie wasn't great. Some genuine horror, one in particular involving razor blades was particularly disturbing, but I felt the story and the twist ending didn't jive well. I like to have a chance to possibly guess the twist but sometimes that twist is more just a complete 180 out of the blue that almost negates everything you just watched.

All the same the story itself, that unravels during most of the movie, is a reunion of students who visit their now sick and aged teacher, all of whom have issues with how she treated them as well as issues with each other. As I said above, the actual events of this reunion that unfold rather well into a very interesting story of bitterness and revenge are almost negated by the movies twist ending.

Still worth a watch if you are a horror fan.

Korean horror movies are taking break from haunting-spirit-possessed-unanimated-object or long-haired-ghost. Instead, in To Sir, With Love (TSWL), director I'm Dae-wuong is revisited the 80's slasher intact with the very formula. Throw in some contemporary Korean thrill and drama, TSWL is surely to entertain and trust me, this nothing to do with Sidney Poitier's classic.

The story revolves around some twenty something people, groups for a reunion with their former teacher in a small countryside cottage. Most of the student obviously has a serious grudge against their teacher who's now is wheel-chair bound. As the event continues, the grudge slowly unfolded, even the teacher seems doesn't remember. When the night comes, someone wearing a paper cut rabbit mask start making bloody carnage, one by one, in a grisly body count. Anyway, you know the drill! If you watch a lot of horror movies, you will easily constructing the plot and even though there are hint of Jason Voorhees-like tale, where the teacher keeps his deformed child in the basement, you still able to figure out the killer is and it's including the twist the end.

Therein lies the problem with TSWL. The genuine story does never exist while some genuine scares are building well enough. Yes, the positive aspects are TSWL succeed in build the tension with some interesting set-ups. The gore it self is nicely done. Somehow we expect it just could be much better. The last Korean slasher I watched is 'Bloody Beach', which is fairly good. But it years ago. Now, comes the match, TSWL.

Despite the flaws, TSWL is definitely worth to watch, especially if you fans of Korean Horror. After some tired Sadako's clone invading the Korean cinema-scene, it's time for something new.

Dae-wung Lim's 'Seuseung-ui Eunhye' is pretty much another East Asian slasher flick made in the traditional fashion. It starts off slow and drags on. For a slasher flick, there isn't that much slashing which isn't necessarily a bad thing provided that the story's good enough. But, once the slashing starts, it goes on until almost the end. The torture scenes are quite creative and well executed. Unlike the Hollywood slasher flicks, the story here has layers and at least some of the twists make sense. Yet, it's not without its share of flaws. Plot holes are abundant and the pacing is poor. The dialogues do ramble on at some point. The performances, especially those of Seong-won Jang and Mi-hee Oh are better than what one usually expects from such movies. This certainly isn't the best of East Asian horror and slasher but it's not a bad suggestion for those who enjoy this kind of stuff.

Woah. Like seriously, wow. I bought this movie at Borders Books a couple weeks ago because the cover looked cool and it's been shitting on my shelf since then building up a good weeks worth of dust before I decided to put this into my DVD player tonight and by god, I wasn't expecting to be hit this hard by this film.

This movie, no, masterpiece managed to hit me at every level possible. It was gripping, it was scary, it was gory, it was disgusting, it was suspenseful, it was daring. I haven't felt this amount of uncomfortable edgyness while watching a movie in a long time. It really scared me. The strange part about this? All it simply is is a slasher movie. At it's core, that's what the movie tries to be... But it manages to be so much more than simply your cut and dry slasher movie.

It manages to defy slasher movie convention at every turn. Instead of a bunch of assholes who you could never care about at all, this movie is casted with characters that each manage to go through their own ups and downs throughout the film and each manage to come together to form a cohesive whole of a character. They aren't cut and dry jocks or cheerleaders like you'd find in a modern, every day slasher. No, no, no. These are people, people with problems, people with lives, people who are tortured by their own lives. I managed to be gripped with each of their stories as they were told, including that of the most despicable of them.

Then the ending occurs, and really manages to surprise me. I wasn't expecting it. I thought it had already gone through it's "twist" by then, but that twist turned out to be a red herring. I'm being vague simply because, well, I don't want to spoil it for anyone else who decides to pick up this brilliant slasher masterpiece. I'd say it's the best slasher I've seen since Halloween, my personal favorite horror movie and one of my two favorite movies ever made. It's that damn good. I'm definitely adding it to my top 10 horror movie list. I recommend you all pick this up, it was one of the best damn blind buys I've ever had.