Réunion sanglante

The appealing combination of words "korean" and "slasher" pulled me into this one, and indeed it's quite the saucy slasher, but not in the best of senses. Via an unapologetically fast intro we learn that a teacher gives birth to a deformed child, who they don't love and keep in basement, until her husband commits suicide in front of the kid. Sounds like a slasher alright. Cut to present day, a class of that time is visiting the now old and wheelchair-bound teacher, and this dinner party will bring out old grudges. The script of "Bloody Reunion" tries hard to twist a bunch of borrowed tropes, and explore a high count of characters too deep too quickly, establishing plot-points frequently with little behind them. The movie is sort of 50/50 plot/slasher violence driven, and the plot involves serious matters, like psychological trauma through abuse, but as opposed to more acclaimed, focused movies on similar themes, "Bloody Reunion" doesn't allow time or space for substantial development and construction, and rather takes leaps. Visually, the movie is very well serviceable, but unimpressive, and the constant zooming in some dialogue scenes didn't work very well. When it comes to special effects, however, they're gruesome alright. It's a slasher that definitely speaks some effort, and is a decent attraction to the fans of the genre. 6/10.

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.

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.

A group of adults arrive at the home of their dying elementary school teacher for a reunion. Things take a tragic turn as each recalls their true feelings for their former instructor. There are raw nerves, trauma, and grisly vengeance seething just beneath the cordial surface. What began as a happy occasion devolves into an orgy of insanity and murder!

Another classic from South Korea, BLOODY REUNION lives up to its title!...

In "Bloody Reunion", a group of South Korean former class mates are invited to a reunion in a nice cottage located in the countryside. Mrs. Park, an old teacher from elementary school, who happens to be very ill and crippled, wants to see her favorite students reunited again. However, when these former class mates arrive to the cottage, the plot thickens and we realize that Mrs. Park actually wasn't exactly very nice to her students and as a consequence, they still hold a big grudge against her. Unfortunately, the old woman doesn't seem to remember much of it, maybe due to her illness or perhaps it's just a fake reaction in order to cause sympathy and avoid having her head chopped off. The only truth that can't be denied is that Mrs. Park has caused an immense scar on her students and they're all in the mood for revenge.

Even though I really enjoy Asian horror films for what they are, with their repeated and yet somehow dissimilar premises, I still wanted to see something completely different. If we keep in mind that some of the finest Asian flicks were remade in the United States, frankly, I don't see why we should bash a movie that falls into the slasher category. Especially, if we keep in mind that the ending, somehow turns the whole thing around in a matter of seconds and what seemed to be a slasher at first, quickly turns into a gory drama flick with a big mystery revealed. In order to avoid possible spoilers, that's all I have to say regarding the genre of this film and its ending. While "Bloody Reunion" doesn't exactly belong to my all time favorite horror movies, I still appreciate the director's dignified effort of leaving the ghosts aside for a second and mostly focusing on a graciously gory tale about revenge. With some obvious winks to "Friday the 13th", this film somehow tricks the audience into believing something that ends up being the complete opposite. Even though I'm not a big fan of these "incredibly amazing twists" (notice the sarcasm, please) that horror movies tend to include nowadays, I dislike insulting predictable endings a lot more. These predictable endings are even more blameworthy when we're talking about a slasher or a giallo, which are two horror sub-genres that are mostly captivating because of the mystery and uncertainness. In "Bloody Reunion", the ending turns out to be pretty one-dimensional and yet quite dramatic. I will not spoil it, but it's perhaps one of the highest points in the movie and one of the main reasons why "Bloody Reunions" separates itself from the typical American slashers.