La Puerta Al Infierno: Guimoon

As per the title, I finished the movie being quite confused. After understanding a bit more by looking at other reviews, the movie definitely deserves some credit for the plot.

The story runs parallel across three differences times and the characters from these times eventually meet in one space/dimension. A bit like Intestellar but horror kind. Ending was a bit sad, but no surprises. There is also a female character that constantly screams, so turn down the volume while watching. Not sure if I had a high tolerance to horror movie, I did not had any scare jump from this. I was feeling particularly calm throughout the movie. No tension whatsoever.

Would not recommend this movie.

It was a waste of time honestly. It was dark, loud and I understood nothing. It felt like this shaman guy was wandering around the place the entire movie. There was no conclusion to the story. Didn't explain how there were two dimensions. The ghosts were never trying to leave the building so I don't see why the shaman guy put that spell (is it a spell?) on the door so no ghosts would past. I don't even know why the shaman guy went there in the first place? Was he trying to free his mother's soul? It didn't even show him accomplishing that. I also don't understand how the 3 college students, although ghosts did not appear to look white and pale like the others, instead they looked human.

It seems there won't ever be another good horror movie because everything has already been done or the stories just kind of fall apart.

There wasn't anything likeable about this movie, I guess I gave it a 3 because I like the shaman guy (Kim Kang-Woo) in his other movies.

I guess you could watch this if you want to support the actors.

Right, well the synopsis for this 2021 South Korean horror mystery definitely sounded interesting. I happened to stumble upon "Guimoon" (aka "Guimoon: The Lightless Door") by random chance here in 2023, and never having heard about it, and given my love of the Asian cinema and horror movies in general, of course I opted to watch "Guimoon".

However, I will say that writer Jong-Ho Lee managed to put together a script and storyline that requires the audience to keep a strict focus on the storyline, because it is all over the place, jumping back and forth between timelines. I didn't really fully understand what was going on before towards the end of the movie. So director Sim Deok-Geun's 2021 movie wasn't really all that entertaining for me.

The acting performances in "Guimoon" were good, and they had some good talents on the cast list.

Visually then "Guimoon" was quite good. Not a movie that bombards you with a ton of special effects, but the effects that were in the movie definitely served the movie well enough.

I am sure that a mystery such as "Guimoon" will find an audience, I just happened not to be a part of that particular target audience. And while I managed to sit through all 85 minutes of the movie, I was only partially entertained. "Guimoon" is not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time, nor is it a movie that I would recommend the average, casual horror viewer to rush out to get to watch.

My rating of "Guimoon" lands on a four out of ten stars.

Despite the compelling ideas at play, the film falters onto a repetitive set of circumstances that play out over. Then provides a lackluster outcome from the events that happen to the characters.

On the "guimoon" once per year the moon is blocked from view by a thick layer of clouds. But in the mountains, there's an urban legend where you can see the moon by using a camera while viewing it from the roof of a specific building. Many fear the building as the inhabitants were slaughtered inside and there are rumors that none can escape after entry.

What then begins as a tale of demonic possession and an attempt to cleanse it soon develops into a story of a man with odd supernatural gifts entering it later on to "release" the trapped souls. While the public believes a killer slaughtered it's inhabitants, the truth is more sinister. But I don't want to spoil that here.

Unfortunately, the story attempts to add in 3 young friends, takes a very strange path on why the demonic presence exists, and you have a mixed bag of a story. Aside from the story, I'm not really sure what the story was setting out to achieve. As ultimately, you don't really gain anything from the experience.

In the end, it feels like a weak M. Night Shamylan film that gets lost in the twists instead of focusing more on what it started. Then providing a clear idea of what the film was trying to say (at least beyond it's circumstances). Seeing it in ScreenX was visually stunning. Enhancing the onscreen events. But that wasn't enough to lift it beyond a 6 out of 10. I'd drop this to a 5 if viewed in standard 2D.

I watched it in the middle of the night with earphones.. actually, it's normal for horror films to be strong in the background music and sound, but Guimoon is reallly ASSGGRJRKDBXJSIEOXBSJS destroy my ears and eyes for the jumpscare + bgm

but is pretty cool ehe.