1,000 Shorts, 1 Year
Short 2: The Vampire Lives Next Door To Us
Director: Im Sang Soo
Rating: 4.5/5 [9/10]
The Vampire Who Lives Next Door follows a vampire who works in a morgue. He's brought the body of a young woman who drowned at sea
Usually, I don't review shorts unless I'm sure I'm going to be writing about them in the future so my thoughts are there on paper ahead of time, but for this one, I had to sit back and write a review.
One of the first things I noticed in this film, is that the vampire (Han Chang Ho - played by Ji Sung), is very "Johnny Depp-esque" in character. If you've seen some of Depp's films such as Sweeney Todd, Alice in Wonderland, Sleepy Hollow, etc, you'll know what I mean. This intrigued me greatly - it's not a character role often played in films like this and it is something I enjoy. In fact, I'd even say Ji Sung pulled a Johnny Depp better than Johnny Depp in this aspect. It added a level of comedy to the film that was just right; enough to have a giggle but not take away fully from the serious aspect of what was going on.
All 4 actors in this - Ji Sung, Park So Dam, Kim Eung Soo, Jung Woo Joong; yes, even the more-support like roles - did absolutely stunning. I highly look forward to seeing more from all four of them and will be browsing their filmography in the future.
There's been plenty of South Korean vampire pieces from 2010-2019 and a lot of them seem to blur together after a while, almost indistinguishable from one another. The Vampire Lives Next Door To Us is refreshing, comedic, and has its own symbolism that truly will stick in my mind for a while to come - and a reminder that sometimes, it's better to go for a short than it is a feature length.
Im Sang Soo did absolutely wonders for this, and he is definitely earning a place on my favourite directors list for this one.
