Haebuhak-gyosil

THE CUT (2007, original title Haebuhak-gyosil, aka CADAVER) is perhaps proof that not all Korean horror is superior to that seen in the West. It's a muddled, overlong story of a group of medical students experimenting on cadavers for the first time, but before long they find themselves haunted by vengeful spirits - a one-eyed doctor, an ethereal stitched-up woman - and even worse, murders start at the school. The police are as clueless as ever, but the students begin to suspect that their own teacher (a guy named 'The Technician' for his clinical efficiency) may be involved.

Plenty of good things in the story but this one never really comes together all that well. Inbetween all of the incident it feels quite boring and the plotting is confused to say the least, only making sense at the climax when all of the twists are revealed. As for trying to work out what's going on, well good luck with that one! It's too convoluted to make much sense and the lack of lighting doesn't help much. Quite gory with all the corpse dissections going on, but other than that, nothing much stands out here.

Cadaver (aka Cut, aka Anonymous Blood) is a 2007 South Korean horror film about some medical students who are murdered by spirits while performing their study of cadavers. I don't believe this film ever got a legitimate U.S. DVD release, which is somewhat surprising because it's actually quite good.

The characters and story are a bit bland at first, but this film is anchored by good performances and direction. The scriptwriting is somewhat generic in how it develops a historical "mystery" for the characters to solve, so the pacing does have a few dull spots. That said, the ending is effective and provides a nice dramatic payoff. This film is deliberately paced and takes itself seriously, so if you're one of those moviegoers that appreciates filmmaking quality over cheap scares then this one may be up your alley. The acting and camera-work here easily surpass 95% of contemporary American horror films.

A few of the external reviews have criticized the horror sequences, which do not provide anything in terms of graphic violence or nudity. I personally enjoyed them because they take place in a nearly pitch black autopsy classroom at night where shadows and background noises are used to great effect. This should be viewed in the dark because the lighting is very dim, which enhances the excitement of identifying threats that are barely visible. The finale is an anticlimax in terms of horror, but as I mentioned earlier, it does provide some nice dramatic moments.

I got a little lost in the middle because it was hard to keep up with the older male characters and their roles but otherwise it was scary, production was good, acting was good (the characters were annoying) and I liked the way it wrapped. I recommend you check it out.