The Grotesque Mansion

As I stumbled upon the 2021 South Korean horror movie, of course I opted to sit down and watch it, on account of it being a horror movie that I hadn't already seen. And given my fascination with both horror and Asian cinema, of course it was a given to have to watch "Goe-Gi-Maen-Syon" (aka "Ghost Mansion").

Writer and director Jo Ba-Reun actually did a good job here with the small stories and segments. Yeah, this was an anthology, which I wasn't aware of. But the stories are nicely connected to one another and while each story is a stand-alone story, the connections to each other story was just nicely constructed and made for a more wholesome viewing experience. Normally I am not overly keen on horror anthologies, but this one was quite good.

The acting performances in the stories were good and they had a good cast ensemble together for fleshing out the characters and bringing the stories to life.

Visually then "Goe-Gi-Maen-Syon" was quite good. This wasn't a shock and awe inspiring horror anthology, but more of a dark, brooding and slow burning kind, where atmosphere was really important. And they pulled it off nicely, because these stories permeated in dark atmosphere.

I was genuinely entertained by writer and director Jo Ba-Reun's "Goe-Gi-Maen-Syon". And if you enjoy Asian horror cinema, then it is quite worth checking out.

My rating of "Goe-Gi-Maen-Syon" lands on a six out of ten stars.

GHOST MANSION, as a title, is something of a misnomer; this film is instead set in one of those run-down and haunted apartment complexes so beloved of Asian ghost stories. There are shades of DARK WATER in the location and this is a far cry from the quality of that, but it does offer something else in the shape of an anthology with the wraparound segment featuring a young writer researching some stories. As ever, the stories are a mixed bag, the first about ghost kids being quite poor, but it does improve. The mould story is a ghastly delight and the one about a serial killer really zings. This isn't exactly a classic, but it'll do.

The Korean/Chinese/Japanese horror films really have a certain feel to them, this one did not disappoint. There were some jump scares here and there, but most were predictable. Still a pretty decent watch but the run time could have been cut down a little.

I really like Korean Horror films. And, I like stories about haunted places. But, honestly, this one never seems to quite get off the ground. I felt the pacing was a bit amateurish and therefore just not that involving. The characters don't really seem to act in a realistic manner, which also kind of takes you out of the film.

The movie isn't horrible, but in my lowly and wretched opinion, I got the impression that perhaps this first time director just didn't quite know how to present the story in a compelling fashion. Personally, I would ignore the '9' & '10' reviews since all they say is how 'Great' the movie is without really giving a very believable review as to why... I would pay more attention to the lesser reviews the ones who gave this film ratings more along the line of about '6' or so, because at least they struck me as more genuine, and they elaborated as to why they felt this way.

I gave it a '5' because I honestly did not find the movie very interesting or engaging at all. I don't think the 'scares' were staged that well. And, like others have stated, the film seemed to become somewhat repetitive as time went on. And, like I said at the beginning above, I usually really like Korean Horror films, especially about haunted places. But, truthfully, this one just did not do very much for me, so I just wanted to leave a simple review stating my impressions because I feel that the current '6.x' rating is not really indicative of the quality of this film. It's 'Okay' as some here have said, but personally I really wouldn't bother...

Spooky but not too scary South Korean horror anthology. Jo Ba Reun tried to draw a line between seemingly disjointed stories that happened in Gwanglim. Sadly his bag of tricks became quite predictable and repetitive. Character build-ups weren't solid either.