Hwa-i-teu: Jeo-woo-eui mel-lo-di

This movie follows the trend of long-haired Asian ghost in a quest for revenge, but manages to spice things up by coming up with a story that is both refreshing and fun to watch. I thoroughly enjoyed this at first peculiar blend of music and horror.

Having an idol group as target for the spooky surroundings makes for an interesting insight into the conflicts and problems that arise between members. We get to see the characters cracking up under pressure and fighting with each other, giving the movie a realistic feel. The horror element is present throughout the movie, going from mild to full-on ghostly tension as the story progresses. The movie does a good job at developing the characters and building up the menacing atmosphere.

The actors all did a fine job, especially the lead actress, with some over-the-top acting from the other members of the group, albeit not very distracting. Although it was marketed as a horror, the movie takes a turn towards the mystery genre towards the end and tends to drag a bit in the unveiling of the final twist. The truly scary scenes are quite rare, but pretty effective and well-made, albeit not very original if you've seen your fair share of Asian horror. The cinematography is beautiful to look at and it even dabbles a bit into experimental territory towards the end.

While this isn't anything groundbreaking or original in terms of horror, the music aspect and the commentary directed at the life of idols gives an interesting spin. Overall, the movie does a good job at entertaining you, being a nice addition to the genre.

"White" or "White: The Melody of Curse" has a fairly familiar premise: a failing pop idol group finds an old, uncredited song, and use it to rise to the top. However this tale of fame and fortune becomes mixed in with the paranormal: the song is cursed, fueled by the wrath of a vengeful ghost.

The comparisons with Ringu/The Ring are obvious, from the ghost itself down to the fact the song is discovered on a videotape. The movie does give a respectable effort in ratcheting up suspense, and to be fair there are a couple of effective scares.

However the real strength of this film lies in two areas. First, the story is pretty well done. While the paranormal stuff is prominent, there's also a strong focus on the characters, who are as much affected by their shifting fortunes as they are any bumps in the night. You would think once the ghostly stuff showed up, it would take center stage. Instead it runs parallel to the sudden pressures, ego trips, and bouts of jealousy of their new found fame, meshing together very well and creating a greater emotional and psychological depth than one might expect from such a premise. The film is even fairly touching and somewhat sad at points, aided by pretty good performances.

The second main area is the visuals. There is a certain flare here. It's not Argento or Fulci by any stretch, but the film does look really good. Whether it's a dark room/hallway or the flashiness of the dance stage, the cinematography and imagery are strong. Even without caring for the plot and characters, one could sit back and appreciate the look.

Is the movie a masterpiece? No, I wouldn't go that far, but it is very enjoyable, and if you're a horror movie fan with nothing to do on some afternoon, you could do a lot worse than this.

We all know the band or group that's been kicking round for a while than suddenly has that one song that throws them into the limelight, the one song that everyone buys, the radio always plays and the video views on youtube are already in the millions, well what if that song was haunted.

K-pop girl group "Pink Dolls" are a pretty second rate bunch in a very competitive field and really need an edge it doesn't matter the song, dance routine or audience they just can't seem to make a breakthrough. Then, one day, one member of the group Eun-Ju discovers a song that could turn everything around "White". The group learn the song, get some dance moves down and suddenly their fortunes change for the better and they are thrust into the spotlight that they've desired for so long. Of course as it's a horror movie they won't be living happy ever after and soon the group begins to unravel as the curse begins to take them out one by one.

the scars are sometimes pretty effective and the acting is a cut above some other Asian horror that is out there, the cinematography and editing are well crafted and the soundtrack only adds to the atmosphere.

I happened to stumble upon the 2011 South Korean horror movie "White: The Melody of the Curse" (aka "Hwa-i-teu: Jeo-woo-eui mel-lo-di"), and being an avid horror fan and a fan of the Asian cinema, of course I needed no persuasion to sit down and watch this movie from writers and directors Gok Kim and Sun Kim.

I will say that the movie is nicely produced and definitely has a good presentation to it. However, for a horror movie it fell short of being particularly outstanding or memorable. While the movie definitely is watchable, it was hardly a gem in the South Korean horror genre. In fact, the storyline was so mundane that I doubt that I will ever be returning to watching it a second time.

The acting in the movie was good, despite the actresses had next to very little to work with in terms of a proper script and storyline, and also having to struggle with characters that weren't fully written or given much of any discernible personalities or traits.

The movie was quite generic in terms of how it was build up and executed, so you shouldn't go expecting any grand surprises or plot twists here, you will just end up sorely disappointed.

There were aspects to the movie that definitely showed potential, but it just felt underplayed as if the writers and directors weren't really following through with the ideas that they had mustered to come up with. It was a shame, because the movie never managed to raise itself from being nothing more than generic and mediocre.

"White: The Melody of the Curse" was frightfully devoid of anything overly scary, especially for a seasoned horror veteran as myself. Perhaps if you are Asian you might find some scares here and there, but trust me, don't get your hopes up.

I am rating "White: The Melody of the Curse" a very mediocre five out of ten stars.

Not directly, but I watched this years ago when I was sick in bed and had called off from work, but the quest to find that song's owner and it's mysterious past made me remember this.

This is a respectable solid effort on a similar horror element to Ringu (which was remade into The Ring). The idea has been borrowed into stuff like The Stream, V/H/S etc. here they take the idea and instead mix it with the backdrop of the K-pop and music industry and it works really well in this case. The music segments are well filmed too. Whereas those movies often real "fake" because the premise is kind of ridiculous if you think about it setting it to a more real world scenario leaves it more fulfilling.