Possuída

I kept thinking of MOTHER by Bong Joon-ho as I watched this movie. Not because the stories are the same, although one could conjure up a few loose similarities, but because of the mature tone of the direction, how masterfully well executed it is. I feel vindicated in my feeling as I have since discovered that the first time director of this film, Lee Yong-Ju, started working in the industry as assistant director for Bong, on the 2003 masterpiece MEMORIES OF MURDER. Certainly some of Bong's genius and attention to detail rubbed off on Lee.

POSSESSED is more thriller than horror. It's got some scares and a few jolts here and there, but it's really more eerie than frightening. The story concerns a girl who returns home from college when she learns her younger sister has gone missing. She discovers her mother has become a religious fanatic who believes only prayer will bring her sister back. But back from where becomes the big question. People all around her commit suicide. There's a cult, a Shaman, and a handful of freaky people who engage in weird ceremonies with a hope for salvation or cure from disease. It's not a pedantic essay on religious belief but that is the main theme of the film and it serves to give the proceedings some depth. It also situates the film on a terrain of the supernatural which, when you make a film, gives you license to bend realities and play visual tricks from time to time. But nothing is cheap here. The intended audience isn't the summer of fear kids. It's more serious than that and it never gets close to outrageous.

The film has gone through an almost endless number of titles. It started off as Scream but as the religious elements became more important and obvious it ended up with the international English title, POSSESSED. My favorite was DISBELIEF HELL, which is the closest literal translation of the Korean Bool-sin-ji-OK ... 불신지옥 (不信地獄), "hell of the non-believers."

POSSESSED is very well cast. I have the feeling that director Lee was intent on reigning in the two young girls from any tendency to play cute or mug scary for the camera. Again, nothing cheap here. Shim Eun-Kyung, a young Korean phenom known for her playful and cute roles on TV, plays the Possessed little girl and could have phoned in her performance but instead, in a role that doesn't offer a lot of screen time, is remarkably restrained. Nam Sang-Mi, a young starlet in her own right, plays her older sister and the film belongs to her. She's the character in the film who returns to her hometown to investigate all the weirdness going on and she moves through the film like it's all unfolding in front of her just like it is for the audience. She's beautiful to look at and there's a realism to her performance that is truly engaging. There is a scene, which demonstrates the abilities of both Nam and director Lee, where someone clobbers her over the head with a blunt instrument. After she's hit, we see her react, look back and make eye contact with her assailant as if she wasn't told she was going to get hit in the scene and really wants to say "what the hell was that? What are you ..." Clobber again! Her eyes project a real, confused fear, and the director's capturing them make for an awesome moment.

Although I single out the two youngsters for praise here the rest of the cast, all veterans you'd expect good performances from, deliver at equally high levels. Everything about this film is good: the acting, the thoughtful script, the cool cinematography, the eerie score, the skilled direction. I can't recommend Possessed enough, but don't go in hoping for a return to the innocent glory days of RINGU or JU-ON. This is Asian Horror 2.0. Lee Yong-Ju has taken it to another level. It's more mature in his accomplished hands and if you like Asian horror, or, better yet, if you've become bored with Asian horror, see this movie. It will renew your faith.

First off there is one particular nasty scene that served no other purpose than to shock the viewer (And by nasty I mean disgusting not gruesome). While I have no problems with using such methods I do think it has to build up to something. Sadly there is no real climax or wtf moment to speak of. Well,there is one little scene that truly belongs to the genre,only it comes far too late. And when this scene plays out you just don't care anymore. Like many Korean horror movies this one is slow and very confusing. And it is maybe somewhat commendable that this director tries to do something new. But would it have hurt to put in some decent scares. Not once did I jump from my seat. Not that it is always required. But in this case much needed since the suspense is seriously lacking. There is a drama element that could have been used more to provide more impact. The relationship between the mother and the daughter(s) seems to be at the core of the few events that are played out. The background on this relationship is so minimal that it made it real hard for me to care for these persons. (I sense some sort of protest against Religious fanaticism. But on the other hand it also speaks in favor of faith.What do you mean confusing?) Had the director put in more depth into the main characters then maybe all of it would have made much more sense. "Living Death" doesn't offer anything else to redeem itself. So why invest time in this movie.

Edit:People who judge others based on one written review and think to know what kind of person it is because he expressed his dislike for a movie they liked, need to take a look at themselves.Especially when is implied that braincells aren't used.Funny how this always applies to the so called art house titles and festival movies that are pretentious and ambiguous on purpose so that it can be interpreted in many ways.In some cases that surely could be a positive thing since it makes you think.Or it could be perceived as a bad thing since it masks the fact that the director could not decide or be bothered to give a solution.It all comes down to the interpretation of the viewer or the willingness of the viewer for that interpretation.I surely can appreciate subtleness in certain genres.But that does depend on the execution and the style it is presented in.If some of the story or dialogue is lost on the viewer one does have to ask whether this is because of the inability from the viewer to comprehend or that the director fails to tell the story adequately.In my opinion a brilliant film maker is someone who knows how to deliver the message to every man.It's not that difficult to be vague even when they are under the impression it is obvious.People like me who deal with real life as real as it can get don't need to look for that kind of substance in books or movies.For me movies are pure escapism.That doesn't mean I don't appreciate it if a movie makes you think.I applaud it providing it is something I can relate to.But for each person this is different of course.

This is only an excerpt of the million thoughts I have.But for the sake of humanity I will save those for myself.Why bother you with this particular thought then?To make it clear that each opinion is valid and that one's intelligence can't be measured based on this one opinion.

Back to the movie. In my opinion Living Death doesn't offer enough for me to like it wholeheartedly.It did not impress me as it did with others on this board.I saw some elements like the mother daughter relationship that needed exploring.Some people do need more to be convinced especially when it is branded a horror movie.There are some conventions you can't escape from when it comes to horror.In that aspect it doesn't matter if we are talking about Hollywood type horror or Asian Horror.I sometimes favour Asian Horror because it usually knows how to build up tension and suspense in subtle ways.Living Death fails to do that.Here endeth the sermon!

Oh dear lord, where to start with this train wreck of a movie?

Well, the reason for me sitting down to watch this 2009 horror movie by directors Yong-Joo Lee and Lee Yong-ju was the fact that it was a horror movie and it was South Korean. Two ingredients when combined usually make for a very great concoction.

"Possessed" (aka "Bulshinjiok") wasn't great. Let me just tell you that flat out. The storyline was a befuddled mess and seemed mostly incoherent at times, and when the movie ended you are left with a massive gaping hole and so many unanswered questions and thinking to yourself "did I just waste that much of my life on watching that?"

The storyline in "Possessed" definitely suffered from having two directors, because it felt like they were working against one another and weren't collaborating. The movie wanted to tell so many different things with different story arcs and subplots, but nothing came to fruition at the end of the movie, and that felt like a massive slap in the face with a cold, dead fish.

It should be said, however, that the acting in the movie was good, despite the actors and actresses had so very little to work with in terms of a proper script and storyline. But there was only so much they could do to try to salvage the train wreck that is "Possessed". And they failed.

There was nothing scary about this movie. Nothing. Zilch. Squat. Nada. And that was very anti-climatic, because I was expecting a lot more, so very much more from the movie, so I was disappointed to the point where I was speechless.

This was a swing and a massive miss in the South Korean cinema. I managed to endure it to the end, but let me tell you it was a struggle to sit through the movie to the very end. I did endure, so take heed and stay well clear of this snoozefest of a movie...

Bulshinjiok or Distrust Hell (lit.) follows a girl who back to her hometown after knowing her younger sister is missing. Back with her mother who now a religious fanatics and couple or strange things happened in their apartment block, the girl must uncover the mystery.along with increasing frequency of nightmares.

K-Horror cinemas often plays with big twist that most of the time, making the plots entirely of buildups. It's nice, but I recognized most of them aren't that innovative, stale if I may say, due to prolonged cliches that repeated again and again. Luckily, although this movie suffers the same thing, at least most of the buildups are enjoyable.

Living Death revolves around religion theme in Korean society which quite interesting to discuss due to their increasing numbers of non-theism. This movie portray a case where sometimes, we all just need higher beings so that we can rest our incapability of resolving things that out of our control. The big picture is compressed in the main premise of the disappearance of a strange girl that have supernatural ability.

I like how the movie can play the tension well with many body counts, jumpscares, and the searching. It's like they give a structured buildups with little climax that increasing in the next scene. This method has been used by many similar movies, but the movie also used odd characters that make us uncomfortable and curious. In my opinion, the way this movie build the story is one of my favorite in K-Horror list.

Unluckily, the movie also has bitter taste in the end, that quite huge deal for me. Scenes leading to the end is confusing due to sudden differences of the character (a strong-willed woman suddenly turns slow and soft, a rascal detective turns violent and coward), that is not really necessary since the plot is quite solid to usher the ending without any sudden change in the character. Also, things are quite unexplained, in sense that the plot does end a conflict in one side, but the possessed/supernatural things that has been talked prominently in the movie, suddenly goes off.

I'll love this movie more if they can have better plot for the ending, but the experience during the buildup is good enough so that I can overlook many major things that's not executed nicely. It's a solid story on its own, and offer good story for those who like mystery movie and horror movie at the same time.

i have to say, the koreans know how to make a good movie. i think that for every 10 i watch maybe only 2 are bad and the rest are all very good. this particular movie was no exception. it was a very well made movie with a very good cast. the girl that plays the missing little sister is probably one of the hottest acting commodities in Korea right now. she is a great actress already at such a young age. there's at least 2 other movies that she was the main lead that i can recall and both were even better than this( sunny and hansel&gretel ). she could have won awards for either one of those movies.

hmmm..., what genre to put this movie in? it has got elements of religious fanaticism, supernatural elements, eastern Asian mysticism, a decent detective and mystery story...oh well, who cares...it is just a good movie that is all. the movie was paced fairly well and the story was not too convoluted. it wasn't too scary or creepy to me like some reviewers have said, although i think it will scare some people.

i personally enjoy these types of movies with east-Asian mysticism, Christian fanatics and supernatural elements and it was a fairly entertaining movie and i always wanted to find out what was going to happen next.