Nightmare (Korean 2000) Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: Years after a woman seemingly committed suicide, a group of friends are picked off by the vengeful ghost.

Review: Way back I reviewed the Chinese movie named "Nightmare" thinking it was this particular film. Well, here it is for realzies this time. Made in the year 2000, you can pretty much guarantee this was going to be a straight up "Ringu" wannabe...which it is. I don't entirely hold that against the film though since they knew it would be popular regardless. They were definitely playing it safe with the story and feeble scares--something that is atypical for what Korean horror would come to be known for. The film is cliched and corny, but it's still kind of entertaining nonetheless and vastly superior to the Chinese film. In fact, some of the scenes are so ridiculously stupid it makes the movie start to straddle that so bad it's good line.

The story is nothing fancy what with a bunch of people who are allegedly friends but clearly wouldn't be friends in reality. Something about a damn garden club or whatever--hell if I know. One crazy night, one of their friends, Eun-ju, committed suicide under questionable circumstances and her ghost appears to have returned for revenge years later. Not sure why the wait though. Half the movie is a flashback with horrible transitions letting you know when they're switching back and forth; you pretty much have to look for the ghost or see if she's still alive in the scene. They also commit one of the most annoying film aspects: a flashback within a flashback. In other words, a character is having a flashback, but in that flashback they have a flashback? Yeah, just think about that for a while.

Anyway, Eun-ju is played by Ji-won Ha who was that little darling from "Phone." She's supposed to be some outcast loser, but, come on, look at that face. Actually, all the ladies in this movie are exceptionally good looking. There's something about Eun-ju having psychic powers, or being possessed by a demon, and killing the main girl's dad. I really don't know--this is majorly brushed over when you think it would be pivotal to the plot. Come to think of it, there are a lot of oddball moments making me think this film went through heavy edits with entire scenes missing. For example, there's a scene after they kill Eun-ju that she is stripped down to her underwear while someone else is dressed up as her. Then all of a sudden Eun-ju's body is redressed and they fake her suicide. Whaaaat?! I guess you could argue they wanted witnesses to see her, but that's reaching in my opinion. By the way, in case you couldn't figure it out, yes, the friends killed Eun-ju and faked her suicide with only the main girl being oblivious to this truth. Hilariously, the whole reason this all got out of hand was over a cat. I wish I were making that up. This one bitch, for some strange reason, keeps throwing a tantrum over a cat and magically Eun-ju makes it attack with psychic powers in a terrible, home movie-looking scene. When Eun-ju tries to help the cat, they accidentally kill her in the struggle and pull a "I Know What You Did Last Summer" moment. Okay, maybe I'm not being fair...technically the fight started when one of the friends revealed Eun-ju was the girl that supposedly killed the main girl's dad. But that cat, man...

Eun-ju as a ghost is really inconsistent and not thought out. Sometimes she appears as a little girl, sometimes with makeup effects, and other times looking like her normal self. The scares are weak with maybe only one worthwhile moment. They even blew a potentially amazing scare with a guy who was painting a full length mural of a woman. You'd think, "Oh yeah, make the ghost come out of the painting," but they said screw that just make her appear in front of it in the dark. That's another thing--this film absolutely fucking loves these stupid lightning effects and flashing lights in general. I seriously thought I was going to have a seizure at one point. Knock it off! So, long story short, everyone dies but the main girl with the implication that maybe she was the killer all along. Since that idea is beyond stupid and makes no sense, I will simply believe the ghost eventually killed the main girl or the two spend together, forever, tending to that dumb garden club.

In spite of my numerous complaints, I still find the film amusing to a degree. It's like they were scrambling so hard to shit out these movies, fast, in order to capitalize on the Asian horror boom. This minimal effort somehow allowed for the rise of both genius film making and pure cheesiness; this film falls into the latter category. It's kind of funny to look back at these early attempts to get in on the success, and this is what creates a certain charm for the film. The lameness makes this "Nightmare" feel more entertaining, and there are some laughably wonderful moments for sure. On top of that, the babes make the shenanigans that much more pleasant. I don't think I can necessarily recommend this film for newbies, but I think I can say Asian horror veterans may get a kick out of this.

Notable Moment: When they show the alleged tape from the night Eun-ju died. Seriously, where the hell was the script supervisor at?! You've got all kinds of angles, shots, and shenanigans supposedly coming from only two cameras and one is stationary on the ceiling! This would have made a lot more sense if they started the scene from the tape's perspective and then cut to it as a flashback especially given this film's love for those. I really should be a set consultant.

Final Rating: 5.5/10

You're telling me this doll face is what constitutes for a loser in K-horror? I will gladly take these "losers" off your hands! Hell, I'd still take her, even in ghost form, over like 80% of chicks out there.