Muoi

I stumbled upon the 2007 South Korean horror movie "Muoi" here in 2021. Needless to say that I needed no persuasion to sit down and watch it, despite the fact of never having heard about it prior to watching it.

The movie's cover was definitely an eye-catcher, and as I saw that movie's cover, I have to say that my interest was instantly drawn to the movie.

However, writers Zizak and Tae-kyeong Kim just didn't manage to come up with a storyline that proved entertaining or enjoyable. In fact, the storyline was so insanely mundane that it was a difficult task to keep having an interest in what transpired on the screen. And it was a losing battle, because nothing interesting happened on the screen, and the character gallery in the movie was about as mundane and bland as could be.

There was nothing scary in "Muoi", unless you are an Asian viewer perhaps. But for a seasoned horror veteran such as myself, then "Muoi" was a swing and a miss. A downright boring movie actually.

The acting in the movie was bland and I bet I will have forgotten about the movie completely come next week. But of course, when having an inferior script and storyline to work with, as well as having characters with the personalities of slugs, then the actresses and actors in the movie had very little to work with.

"Muoi" was a movie that came and went without as much as a nudge or anything. This was such a bland movie experience. And I can't recommend that you waste your time, money or effort on this movie from director Tae-kyeong Kim.

My rating of "Muoi" lands on a generous three out of ten stars. This was, in fact, one of the most boring and uneventful South Korean horror movies I have stumbled upon.

This is one of the first times Korea has worked directly with Vietnamese producers and actors to create a feature length film. This is important to note because it is a joint production between a rich and developed industry (Korea) versus a very small and poor one (Vietnam). Although the film is thoroughly Korean in style and direction, the Vietnamese setting and supporting characters add a very nice touch.

The teaser trailer released actually has little to do with this film. It was almost like a separate 'fake' trailer. I find the premise of that more interesting than the story of the film.

The story has a lot of twists and is rather hard to comprehend. The best parts were definitely the Vietnamese 'flashbacks' presented a few times throughout the film. I wish there could have been more spoken dialogue in Vietnamese, however.

The film has a unique setting but it uses way too many East-Asian horror clichés. It almost becomes annoying and boring. Using 'cliches' is almost unavoidable in horror but depending on how talented the director is, he/she can present it in a new way.

Muoi tries to find its place within Korean horror but ultimately fails to bring anything worthy to the genre.

I recommend this film mainly in support of Vietnam.

"full of clichés" is the first verdict. but beyond it , it is a story. not very original but seductive. and the admirable work of director to create a good scene for the story of Muoi using the old instruments and effects of genre. it is a ghost tale, an Oriental horror, travel of past events in present. but it is beautiful. not only for the collaboration between Vietnamese and Coreean cinematography, not for moral, end and wonderful images.but for emotion far from words. it is a moral story and delicate pledge for basic values. it is not a disappointment exercise . only a kind of fairy tale and fruit of a travel in the heart of Gothic story. so, nothing new. and nothing bad. only an artistic exercise.

When I saw the trailer I knew I had to watch this movie! Because the ending of that trailer really creeped me out! Sadly "Muoi" never comes close to that scene! As a matter of fact that particular scene (involving a little girl) is nowhere to be seen in the movie! That doesn't mean that "Muoi" isn't creepy! It sure is! You will hear a lot of strange noises and there seems to be a lot happening in the dark!For the most time I couldn't make out what it was! Judging by the sound and music it supposed to be scary! But that is all! It never really gets scary! A lot of events are implied which means that too much is left to our imagination! (I thought that this was done to create windows for other possibility's than the usual supernatural elements! Believe me if i say that matters presented aren't that complex). The story is actually very simple and ordinary for a ghost movie like this! The way it is constructed and told though is too abstract for my taste! I only wished that more would have been done with the premise! Since the legend of Muoi is quite interesting and could have been the start of a new horror icon! The problem is that the mystery that has to be solved is pretty obvious! Only one time I really got surprised! I hate to say it but "Muoi" lacks an important amount of suspense and gore that could have compensated for all the shortcomings!

First of all, I want to state that I watch this in 2019. Literally 12 years after the release (and probably the making) of this film, which is more than a decade ago. I must say that this movie exceeds my expectations.

The jump scares are all predictable, yes, because I watch this in a gap of 12 years, where I already consume way too much horror movies to be scared by jump scares in 2007. If I were to watch this in 2007, it might be scary. This is not the best 'old' horror movie I've watched and as long as I remember, but it serves good plot although it's just a cliché type of revenge story with sad/tragic past of the ghost. I've seen countless horror movies (especially Asian) with that kind of typical plot and past story of the ghost, which is the thing that I still quite like even though there's too many same type of background story everywhere. But it's still good, at least, it's clear enough for us why the ghost is there in the first place. And that simple and overused explanation still quite satisfy us. Unlike some recent modern ghost stories (mostly Western) that involve devils too much to the point we just know that devil is around, and the exact reason why devil is evil is because they were created to be evil. The end.

That's what attract me the most from Asian horror movies. They do not give us as wonderful photogenic places nor audio effect as those western movies but they always seem to have the right plot in the right place.