Gyeongseonghakgyo: Sarajin sonyeodeul

The plot is indeed a bit all over the place, especially in the second half, but I loved the movie nonetheless. The acting was very convincing and I felt very sympathetic to the girls. While not strictly a horror movie, this is a must see.

It isnt a good movie or bad movie. I thought it would be horror but it really just thriller and mystery the acting was good especially at the end of movie. And its kinda boring.

It was perhaps a good film, but its style was a bit confusing. Individual scenes were suddenly cut off for no apparent reason, with the missing part shown much later in flash-back.

And unless you have a lot of friends or acquaintances that are oriental you might have trouble keeping track of the characters. (The old "they all look alike" cliché.)

For an OWM (old white male) like me, it especially didn't help that not only did most of the characters look very similar, they all wore identical clothing. The scenes that were fast paced didn't give me enough time to figure out who is who.

Just to make it worse, each character had two different names (their real name and their school name), and to top it off, one of the names was used for two different characters.

Being able to recognize the difference between Korean and Japanese might help too.

I suspect I'd like it better if I watched it a second time.

I didn't quite know what to expect when I watched this film. I tried to find out about it without revealing keep key plot points and had the feeling it was something along horror baseline but nothing supernatural, so I decided to give it a go. It was on Netflix but it did not advise until I looked on here that it was in Japanese with English subtitles but I'm happy to give that a go as long as the film is good. Within 5–10 minutes of the film starting, I'd forgotten I was watching it with subtitles so please don't let that rubbish you from watching this film.

The story line was good, the acting was good and it had me gripped right up until the last 20 minutes or so. At that point I realized where the story was going I was a little disappointed with the ending as I thought it was going to be something different. It felt a bit like they weren't quite sure where they were going with the story and it felt like a lot of things weren't cleared up which for me, is something I like in a film. I like a definite ending without the ambiguity that leaves you wondering what went on and leaves you scouring Google to work out what happened. So for me the ending of this film wasn't great.

That being said everything up until the last 20 minutes was really good and very captivating, I really enjoyed structure, the scenery, the setting and backdrop of the film and the skill of the actors. It's just a shame that towards the end, all of the suspense and story they had built in the film seemed to be crammed into messy, unbelievable ending that crescendoed as quickly as it started.

I would say it's worth a go but maybe go into this with an open mind about the ending because to me, it's not the sort of ending I would look for in a well structured horror film.

''The Silenced'' is an above average mystery drama from South Korea with a few minor horror elements. The plot takes places during the thirties of the last century when the country was occupied by the Japanese. It follows the story of a teenage girl who is transferred to an isolated boarding school. After her mother's untimely death from tuberculosis, her father and his new wife are scared to get infected by the teenage girl whose medical condition is getting more and more critical. She gets various medical treatments at the boarding school and finally seems to recover step by step and ends up standing out as a promising sportswomen who might get the occasion to go to Tokyo with another girl to represent the small school honourably. However, strange things happen at the isolated boarding school. Some pupils disappear from one day to another without leaving any trace behind. Several students seem to be emotionally unstable and react in overtly aggressive ways in seemingly random situations without being able to recall these events later on. When the protagonist starts having strange visions, she wonders whether they are due to her new medication or whether there is more to it than that. Along with a new friend, she tries to uncover the school's gloomy secrets.

This movie convinces with a mysterious and slightly gloomy atmosphere from start to finish. This is due to the intriguing settings including the isolated boarding school itself, a secret room in the basement and an old forest with a mysterious pond. The authentic traditional costumes, mostly dimmed lighting techniques and the calm and mysterious score add to the gripping atmosphere. Another winning element are the few and cleverly integrated horror parts consisting of strange emotional outbursts of several characters, the protagonist's continuous nightmares and visions and the emotionally and physically brutal conclusion. The movie doesn't have any particular lengths and develops a coherent flow that is slightly slow in the opening twenty minutes, keeps a regular pace most of the time and ends up being a little bit faster in the final twenty minutes.

Even though the numerous young actresses are doing a solid job, there isn't anyone that really stands out. Most characters are slightly too exchangeable, pale and shy to get the audience emotionally involved with any of them. Despite a mysterious tone throughout the movie, the film reveals too many hints too quickly which leads to a quite predictable story halfway through the movie where the movie loses some momentum. The ending was a little bit too exaggerated, intense and stereotypical to go with the rest of the film. This is one of the rare films where I prefer the smooth, slow and gloomy first part of a film over the more intense, fast paced and engaging second half.

In the end, fans of South Korean cinema, atmospheric mystery movies and smooth teenage dramas should give this interesting mixture of genres a chance. Those who are expecting a truly original plot, outstanding acting performances or a scary horror film should look elsewhere. This is an entertaining movie for a lazy autumn or winter night at home but nothing more.