Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: After a woman and her daughter move into an apartment they discover there is a phantom floor beneath them.
Review: This is another entry in the "Four Horror Tales" that I have been covering in the most roundabout way imaginable. I already reviewed "February 29" and "Dark Forest of Death" way back so that leaves us with just "Roommates" left. Eh...this film probably would have worked better as a TV show episode. In fact, that's probably a complaint for all four films in general. They should have simply been in an anthology together rather than four separate films. Even though I really like "February 29," they could have easily cut down and shortened the story to be 30 minutes. "Dark Forest of Death" certainly should have been cut down as that entire piece of shit is nothing but filler. Essentially, this film is more or less a "Dark Water" clone mixed with Kayako's Korean cousin or something. If that weren't lame enough, you know there had to be shenanigans thrown in for good measure. I mean, come the fuck on!
The story has to do with some Chinese superstition regarding the number four sounding like their word for death. Because of this, they don't usually include it in brands or on and within buildings...as is the case in the film. Although, is this widespread in Korea? Regardless, this is as senseless to me as westerners with the number 13. It's just a number people. More so, your perception of removing the number visually doesn't change the fact that the number exists spatially. What can I say...I suppose it makes for a great plot device.
Anyway, a mom and her young daughter move into some new apartment complex on the fifth floor which is actually the real fourth floor. Big shock, the apartment complex is haunted. The building that existed in this spot before had a woman and her son murdered on the fourth floor. Now that floor exists supernaturally and occasionally overlaps with reality. In theory, this sounds like a cool premise, but it's super inconsistent and not thought out properly for shit. One instance, the main woman comes across the ghost in human form and later we see her Kayako-ing the place up. I really hate this and too many ghost movies do this. You are either a scary ghost, a good ghost, or you don't know you're a ghost--none of this business in between. For the most part, the ghost is simply enacting revenge on the people that murdered her and Toshio 2 (who conveniently live in the building), but that alone wouldn't stretch a film out for 90 minutes. To pad things out a bit we get bullshit with the idiotic cops, the main girl's daughter semi-possessed, a dumbass babysitter, stupid flashbacks that make no sense, multiple scenes of someone cliched tasting the food they're cooking, and a horrible attempt at drama with the mother/daughter relationship. The kid is fucking six years old and neglected as hell--she's a terrible mom--end of story; don't try and tell me otherwise, movie. None of this "Dark Water" ripping off matters, because everything gets wrapped up in a nice little package while still setting up a retarded final zinger. Yippee.
Despite the sheer idiocy rampant in this film, it's more on the mediocre side than anything. They did manage to squeeze in a few decent scares, I liked the idea of the fourth floor existing in a kind of state between worlds, and I'm always a sucker for Kayako-wannabes. The film also has decent atmosphere and the acting is okay. If you haven't watched "Dark Water" you will probably enjoy this film significantly more, but, let's be honest, this is a really blatant ripoff. If they stopped the bullshit for two seconds, and added a sense of focus, this had the potential to be a good movie. Oh well.
Notable Moment: When the first girl gets killed. I'll admit, this was kind of a decent scare, albeit, a straight ripoff, but still cool.
Final Rating: 5/10
What did you think of D day? It’s also part of the series? I do think February 29th is the best and then D Day. Although D Day doesn’t need the supernatural elements included in the movie from my personal perspective. The tension alone from what D Day is is enough and I think the supernatural elements muddy the story. I do agree that Forbidden Floor is a bad ripoff of Dark Water and I hated Dark Forest. If you haven’t seen D Day you should check it out.
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