Apateu

Ahn Byeong-ki, the person who's brought us Nightmare, Phone and Bunshinsaba, is back in 2006 with A.P.T. Based on a comic by Gangfull, Mr. Ahn's A.P.T. is still rely on his previous effort and trick.

Sejin (Ko So-young) is a new tenant in an old apartment in a Seoul suburb. She befriend with a wheel-chair bound girl, Yu-yeon (Jang Hee-jin), an orphan who's take care by neighborhood volunteers. Sejin has a unique hobby, observing the apartment units on the other side. One day, she notice something, these apartments are turn off their light at the very same time, exactly on 9:56 PM. Next thing happen is someone is found dead. This thing keeps happening and Sejin start to suspect something weird is occurring. And then she' decide to start an investigation.

It seems Mr. Ahn still believe with the power of the long-haired-ghost, while nowadays it's kind of tired. We need a breath of new tale into the horror genre, especially the Asian Horror. But by watching this movie, I think Mr. Ahn is not that kind of innovative person. The movie is also full with routines that this genre be familiar with. Nothing new here. The good point is A.P.T. is more enjoyable than Bunshinsaba or even Phone. But due the release time, it's not appealing anymore.

It says that Ko So-young is a 4 year absent before return to movie scene with A.P.T. Alas, she more like a clone of Ha Ji-won (Nightmare, Phone) rather than a solid performance, while the débutant Jang Hee-jin, who's stunningly beautiful, is also act well.

So if you still fond by this kind of movie, A.P.T. could still amuse. But if you need something new or different, you better skip this.

Needless to say that given my fascination with horror movies and Asian cinema, then of course I sat down to watch the 2006 South Korean horror movie "Apeteu" (aka "APT.") as I had the opportunity to watch it in 2021.

Initially then the movie started out alright, but oddly enough then writers Byeong-ki Ahn, Pool Kang and Soyoung Lee quickly let the story spiral out of control and it turned to a somewhat befuddled mess of a storyline. Sure, towards the end, once the cause behind the supernatural events were made clear and brought into the light, then the movie was actually starting to get back on track, but by then it was just a little bit too late.

I wanted to like this movie, but it ultimately never managed to become more than a mediocre horror movie. And not one of the finest or more memorable moments in South Korean horror cinema. There are far better choices of horror movies from the South Korean cinema in comparison to "APT.".

Director Byeong-ki Ahn was settling on a somewhat safe formula to shape the movie by, and it made for only a generic result, that wasn't particularly scary.

Visually then there were some nice enough moments throughout the course of "APT.", though hardly anything noteworthy or memorable. Again, there are far better horror movies in the South Korean cinema.

The best thing about "APT." was the cast, because they definitely had managed to get together a good ensemble of actors and actresses for the movie. Most noteworthy was So-Young Ko (playing Se-Jin).

While I managed to sit through the entire movie, I can't claim to have been more than adequately entertained. As such, then my rating of "APT." lands on a mediocre five out of ten stars.

SUMMARY: A working woman in her 30s experiences a deathly incident which disturbs her and after a while, she starts noticing strange incidents happening in her opposite building. She starts spying and things go downhill.

I thought this movie give me scares since the visual effects are blue, grimmish and 2000s old school just like Ring series, but I WAS WRONG.

This film makes absolutely no sense. It was dull the entire time, and the plot is terrible. I would not suggest this film to anyone.

This movie talks about more suicides than actual story? Looking at the story, they could have done so much better but it went all over the place.

I watched this movie a while back, and while the details may be a bit fuzzy - the memory of this movie is a fond one. The events in the movie may not be entirely original, but the ending was satisfyingly unique enough for me.

The movie moves along at a somewhat slow pace, but it works well and I'm happy about it - rather than being an all out constant fright fest where the scares simply become yawns.

Asian horror has slowly become one of those things you either hate or love. A lot of people have also decided to love a few and hate the rest. This is unfortunate, I think. Simply because some elements are familiar, there is no reason to disqualify a movie because of it. Especially if the elements are mixed up enough to make an interesting final product.

This movie is one of those I feel anyone with an interest in Asian horror should watch.

Good Korean horror movie. Good direction and photography, actors are great and the ladies are cute! I don't particularly think it resembles other Asian movies but at the end of the day aren't nearly all American horror movies the bloody same thing with all their Nightmares and Fridays and Hallowens or Vampires/Warewolfs? I could go on for hours you all know that! At least Korean movies are something different and may get you to understand some other country's culture! I think this is worth watching if you like eastern cinema: Asian horror movies are better than their American re-makes! The story is nothing like other films I've seen before, and for sure nothing like "The Ring". It's not the greatest horror movie ever but I support it and if you want to spend a non boring couple of hours then please yourself! Big up South Korean cinema!