Directed by Jung Bum-shik. Written by Bum-shik and Park Sang-min. Starring Wi Ha-joon, Park Ji-hyun, Oh Ah-yeon, Moon Ye-won, Park Sung-hoon, Yoo Je-yoon and Lee Seung-wook.
Plot: the crew of a horror web series travels to an abandoned asylum for more ratings and more money.
Some people have a problem with jump scares. They call them cheap. Well I call those people unappreciative. Jump scares are called jump scares for a reason – because they’re scary. And DJ and I love a good jump scare. My reasoning for all this is that this Korean, found footage, horror movie is filled with good jump scares during the back end of the film and just thinking about them makes me jump, scream and want to hide under a blanket.
In the beginning of the movie, two teenage boys break into the asylum and are never heard from again. So, the owner of “Horror Times”, a web series, decides to go to the asylum himself with a select crew. In reality, the asylum, Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital, is listed as one of the seven freakiest places on the planet and is said to be haunted. In the film, Gonjiam also has a lot of history and a lot of rumors behind it, one specifying that the hospital director killed a lot of her own patients and then hung herself. Room 402 is of particular importance because no one has ever been able to get it open.
After recruiting six other people from all walks of life, Ha-Joon (the owner of “Horror Times”) takes them all to Gonjiam. He sets up a base camp in a tent outside the actual building to monitor what happens inside on several screens. The screens are linked to several posted cameras inside Gonjiam and to six other cameras that each of the six crew members are wearing.
Once inside, the crew starts looking around, breaking up into teams. Usually this is an obvious mistake, but in this movie it isn’t until they come back together that the real trouble starts. All of them meet outside the hospital director’s room. Inside the room, one of the crew members performs some sort of ritual and freaky shit starts happening soon after. But that’s when we, the viewer, find out that Ha-Joon and two other crew members have set up some scares to improve the ratings. Of course, soon after this, the entire crew discovers that the asylum is truly haunted and everyone gets scared for real.
I won’t tell you how it ends or the specifics of what else happens, but I will say that everything and everyone falls apart. People fight amongst themselves, people try to leave and all see things they wish they hadn’t. It is not a boring film. It’s paced very well and built loads of tension to a very rewarding finish. It’s a good reworking of the found footage genre. It followed rules, had some humor in the very beginning and the direction was good as well. Also, the effects were so damned perfect. You never even see anyone being killed, but the scares leading up to the kills are so grotesque that you don’t need to see it all.
Last thing I’ll say is that I hate when all the people are wiped out in horror movies, but that always seems to happen in found footage films. We just loved this and recommend you watch it now.
I suppose I could list my favorite movies here, but instead I'll give you a strange glimpse into what makes me TaraRomero.
1. I met George Romero. He was the kindest and sweetest man. He talked to me for longer than he should have with the line getting longer. He also held my hand. And when he noticed the ladybug I have tattooed on my wrist, he said he liked it and asked me it's name. Till then, it had not had a name. Now, I call him George.
2. I love stickers. All stickers. I just adore them. I even ask for stickers for Christmas! As a matter of fact, the birthday that just past, every member of my immediate family gave me sticker packs as gifts. Affordable and extremely appreciated.
3. I have never put much stock in astrology or horoscopes, but I LOVE the magic of the MBTI. Omg. I am an INFP and it actually sounds just like me. Introverted mostly. Creative always. Heart before head and not the most logical. Totally me! For better or worse.
4. It's no surprise I count horror so high up on the list of things that make me, me. However, it's so within my soul that I was part of the Horror Club in college. Interesting bunch. And even took a Horror Lit class as an elective. I got an A.
5. Coffee always makes me happy. Always. I'm particularly fond of caramel macchiatos. But I'll drink black coffee if it's the only thing available.
6. I hate shock for the sake of shock and endings that depress me. I always mention the movies Within (2016) and the Eli Roth produced, written and starred in, Aftershock (2012), as proof of this distate I have. I abhor the idea that just because I like horror, some people think I'd actually praise a movie that lets you think the "Final Girl" just made it through the night, only to slap her in the face with a tsunami.
7. We are big time animal people. I mean, if I could, I'd have an elephant, a bear, a zebra, a penguin, an otter and a meerkat, living with me. Seriously though. We have 2 dogs right now and 2 cats. Both cats we picked up when they each came to our front door hungry. And both dogs we got from 2 different sets of neighbors. Both who, unfortunately, don't know how to care for pets long-term. But they're happy and healthy now!!
8. Revisiting my love of horror, one of the above cats, my cat, is a little black guy named Church. Because Pet Sematary. His middle name is even Pascow. To give credit where credit's due, the name was DJ's idea. But he loves horror too!
9. I'm big into art. Along with movie posters and an Anne Frank quote, I have some actual paintings on my wall. I really think Dali paints beautifully when he wants to. And if I don't get to see Michaelangelo's Pieta in person some day, I will be very disappointed.
10. Lastly, I find Emily Dickinson's poetry intriguing. I took an elective course about her as well. But do you know I injected horror even there? I was given a poem to dissect and I picked one on death, of course. Then, I researched old "Death Photos" and even printed out copies for everyone in the class. They were so interested in looking at them that it stopped them from all looking at me, and I was able to deal quite well with my stage fright. Haha
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