Arang (2006) - 아랑 (阿娘) (A-rang)

PARK Chan-wook casts KIM Ok-bin

2008/02/13 | Source | Permalink |

Director PARK Chan-wook finalised casting for his highly anticipated vampire film "Thirst". KIM Ok-bin will tackle the female lead role alongside SONG Kang-ho. PARK motivated his choice by saying that KIM's talents allows her to take on a variety of roles.

KIM played in the films "Dasepo Naughty Girls" ("Dasepo Girl") and "Arang". Casting of the female protagonist took longer than other roles as the part includes explicit scenes.

Thirst is a tale about a priest who turns into a vampire, played by SONG whose latest acting award is this year's FIPRESCI Best Actor Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Like KIM is praised for her versatility, SONG has also portrayed a wide array of characters in popular and artistic films.

PARK's previous film is "I'm a Cyborg, but that's Ok" and he won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival for his renowned "Old Boy". PARK's status already ensured pre-sales of "Thirst" to France and Russia.

Yi Ch'ang-ho (KOFIC)...| More

[DVD Review] "Ghost" ("Dead Friend") aka 'Ryung'

2007/06/18 | Source | Permalink |

Soggy horror film more appropriate for TV drama fans

Kyu Hyun Kim (qhyunkim)

Ji-won (Kim Ha-neul) is a college student stricken by selective amnesia due to a near-drowning experience. The missing memory seems to suggest that she was a close friend with another girl (Nam Sang-mi), but the details remain fuzzy. Meanwhile, her friends, members of a high school clique, are beginning to turn up as dead bodies.

Made in 2004, "Ghost" ("Dead Friend") represents the nadir of contemporary Korean horror cinema, ravaged by the strains of a PSC (Pointless Sadako Clone) virus and put together in such a slapdash manner that it might serve as an object lesson in how not to make a generic horror film. (Even the title is super-generic.)

The fact that director Kim Tae-kyeong's screenplay is an irritating hodgepodge of plot elements (and scare tactics) stolen wholesale from Nakata Hideo's "Dark Waters" and the most awfully disingenuous and hackneyed setups cribbed from TV dramas is certainly a...| More

Classic horror theme and martial arts collaboration

2006/11/21 | Source | Permalink |

"Arang" uses a classic theme of the horror genre ― a serial murder.
So-young (Song Yoon-Ah), a female detective who has just returned from a suspension, teams up with Hyun-gi (Lee Dong-wook) for a multiple homicide investigation.


"Arang" 97 minutes Directed by Ahn Sang-hoon Starring Song Yoon-ah, Lee Dong-wook Horror

The two find that all the murder victims had known a girl who went missing 10 years earlier from a seaside village. When So-young visits the village, she hears a bizarre rumor of a female ghost that appears in a salt store in the village.
The murders continue and So-young suffers nightmares.
"Arang" is the debut film by director Ahn Sang-hoon yet it shows the essence of a classic horror flick.
Song's performance as the film's female lead, following her bitter horror debut in "Face", for which she earned bad reviews, has progressed noticeably in the role of the female detective. Lee's film debut is also moderately successful.
The DVD's special features, w...| More

Beware, ghostly virgins at large

2006/10/27 | Source | Permalink |

Western halloween traditions are scary but for a real fright, try Korean ghosts

The ancient Celts of Europe believed that appeasing the dead would bring protection from the horrors of a long, dark winter. The day they chose usually fell on the night of October 31. By the 1840s, when Irish immigrants flooded into America, the tradition became a community party to welcome All Hallows or All Saint's Day, which falls on November 1st. And that's how the scariest creatures in the Western Hemisphere got their own festival to spread their frightful fame.
Celebrating Halloween may be new in Korea, but appeasing the ghosts is not new to Koreans. While dreadful characters like Jack-O-Lantern, Dracula and the werewolf can easily turn any American child blue with fear, in Korea nothing beats the chill caused by Korean ghosts.
Koreans grow up hearing about spirits with awesome powers, and the Korean culture has a rich tradition of appeasing the dead. Seasonal rituals and ancestral rites perform...| More

Song Yoon-ah Gets First Billing at Last

2006/08/14 | Source | Permalink |

The actress Song Yoon-ah is as frank and open as her smile. "Do you remember that my name was always billed after my male partners in my previous films? They said Shin Hyeon-joon and Song Yoon-ah in 'Face', Seol Kyeong-gu and Song Yoon-ah in 'Lost In Love' and Park Joong-hoon and Song Yoon-ah in 'A Masterpiece in My Life', something like that". But her latest horror movie "Arang", which was recently released, gives her first billing for the first time. She plays a detective opposite the younger actor Lee Dong-wook in the movie. "I felt responsible for my name for the first time", Song says.

On MBC's new drama "My Beloved Sister", which started airing Saturday, she plays the title role, a 26-year-old art student growing up in a rich family who must suddenly take on the responsibility of head of the family and take care of her brothers after their father goes bankrupt and then missing.

"I was burned out and wanted to take a rest after filming two movies and drama back to back from ...| More