With the summer season approaching, local movie-goers can look forward to a host of new horror films, a Korean cinema staple during the hot and humid months of July and August. Film companies bank on the Korean tradition of beating-the-heat by going to a bone-chilling horror movie in an ultra-air-conditioned theater.
The most anticipated of horror films coming out this summer is indisputably "The Host "which had its world premiere at Cannes last month and is scheduled for a July 27th domestic release. The third feature by director BONG Joon-ho, T"he Host" received rave reviews at Cannes, and with its all-star cast of SONG Kang-ho, BYEON Hee-bong, and BAE Doona, it is likely to become the blockbuster hit of the summer. While billed as a horror-thriller, the film blends together various genres, and centers around a monster that lives in the Han River (which divides Seoul) and devours humans.
Arang, starring SONG Yoon-ah and LEE Dong-wook, will be the first local horror film of the summer, with a release date of June 28th. Based on a Korean folk tale about a Minister's daughter who dies to defend her honor when one of her father's servants attempts to rape her, the film will retell it in a modern setting.
A.P.T., by director AHN Byeong-ki, whose previous horror hits included Phone (2002) and "Bunshinsaba" (2004), will open July 6th and centers on an apartment complex where, when the lights go out at the same hour every night, mysterious murders take place. The film is based on a popular comic that was serialized on the internet.
Other horror films this summer season include the ironically titled "To Sir, With Love" which deals with the gruesome revenge some school graduates take on their former teacher(August release), Cinderella, in which high school girls who underwent plastic surgery to become prettier fall prey to a serial killer, and Chonsolui Kohyang / Untold Story: The Red Forest a Chosun Dynasty period film about twin sisters who fall in love with the same man. Love turns into tragedy as a wicked grudge sets in (no release date set yet).
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