Pyega

"Pyega" ("The Deserted House") tells the story of a group of filmmakers that set off to film a documentary about a team of paranormal investigators. The team decides to visit and investigate a factory where a whole family was slaughtered and a ghost is said to appear and drive people insane. Well, it's safe to say that it doesn't go well.

It doesn't go well for the team and the movie itself. Although a decent horror movie, with some very creepy situations (that are sometimes ruined by horrible visual effects - i.e. the camera pixelizing) the only thing that saves this film is the overall atmosphere of the place. I've had my own paranormal adventures with a group of people, going to supposedly haunted places and recording EVPs and etc, and this atmosphere was top notch, so I connected with it at some point. Although some of the activities they set out to do while on site are ridiculous and unheard of, which can break the atmosphere at times.

The movie is also a slow builder, which makes it a bit predictable. The scares are a mix of original and cliché moments, although I've got to give props, because there are times where the movie is supposedly preparing for a hugely done cliché and then strays away from it, building up the tension once again.

The ending was tad disappointing, and I enjoyed the overall exploration of the site a lot more. I also think that the characters could have been a lot more developed, even though this is a "Blair Witch" kind of film with a documentary theme, they could have evolved the characters a bit more for the viewer, because it doesn't make the viewer care at all for them when horrible things happen.

Overall it's a good experience. If you like good atmosphere and psychological horror, watch it, it's not even that long.

6 out of 10.

This was the first horror movie I saw this year (2011), Now this year almost gone. I am review it 11 months late! (Because i have total forgot about it)

I was looking forward to this movie when I saw the trailer. made it look really creepy and scary! but it either of them!

The plot: Over the course of 42 years, 6 went missing, 8 had accidents and 11 were murdered! Three haunted house club members and three camera crew decide to look into this infamously haunted house, known to be possessed by real ghosts. Ignoring all signs from the other world, they enter this haunted house and disappear without a trace. A video footage of what they shot during their visit was since recovered, which may reveal why and how they disappeared.

This build up for this movie was really dull, nothing really happens until 50min mark of the movie.

When the strange things start to happen, some scene are so dark, I could not make out what the hell was going on!

I did not like the ending at all, it did not make any sense at all!

This movie is a waste of Time, there is not one good think i can say about this movie!

'Pyega' follows the Blair Witch Project formula almost to a t. From the setting of a documentary about a haunting to the first person hand held camera perspective to dimly lit scenes and plenty of screaming: the recipe for this type of horror has become common place at this point. Although this is a Korean movie it has none of the hallmarks of Asian cinema, instead it insists on adhering so closely to Blair Witch that it becomes nothing but an exercise in tedious repetition.

The haunted house in question is half ruined to such a point that it is already dangerous without any claims to a supernatural entity with a malign intent. Perhaps the one saving grace of this movie, apart from the decent acting, is that despite a good one third of it being too dark to see anything at all in the final scenes the viewer does get to glimpse at something disturbing.

Ultimately, there is not anything new or exciting about this movie and it ends up being rather disappointing. Coming in 2010 it is something of an anachronism in the world of horror in the way in reiterates well treaded ground without a hint of originality.

I am a huge fan of Asian horror, as well as an avid watcher of found-footage horror. I've seen a lot of terrible movies in both genres, so I can safely say that this was not the worst.

However, this was far from a good movie.

Its main problem was the pacing. It was boring, and disorienting in an uncomfortable (read: awkward) way. After over an hour of some bad actors trudging through a dilapidated building, I was feeling hopeless. I nearly turned it off had it not been for a few prime scare scenes, which were actually half decent.

The real saving grace, though, was the atmosphere. The dark corners and moldy walls build a kind of suspense, and this may be because the building in which the action takes place is quite literally falling apart. I seriously hope the film crew got some tetanus shots before making this movie.

All in all, I wouldn't recommend it. The ending didn't make sense, the plot fell to pieces after ten minutes, and it just wasn't worth watching for a couple of semi-creepy jump scares.

There is better Korean horror, and there is better found-footage.

A team of ghost hunters is followed by a film crew to an abandoned cookie factory to investigate some supposed paranormal occurrences after some murders years earlier.

After they arrive, a lot of time is spent exploring the factory and surrounding buildings, and not much happens for a while. This is the build-up stage of these types of found footage horror movies where usually some suspense is created, but not really in this case.

Eventually it gets dark and things start to happen but it falls in the too little too late category, and I think it falls a little flat as the conclusion is not as scary as the filmmakers intend it to be. Another complaint I have is that once things start to go down, a creepy musical track is added to the mix, which detracts from the found footage experience.

While not a terrible movie, I feel it could have been done much better.