Ahn Byeong-ki (안병기)

2007/12/10 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Kyu Hyun Kim (qhyunkim)

The second installment in the You Il-han and Ahn Byeong-ki team-up horror series concerns a young working mother Min-young (Kim Seo-hyeong, the victimized teacher in "Voice Letter"), who moves into an "office-tel" room (a studio flat that doubles as a workplace) with a kindergarten-age daughter (Kim Yoo-jeong). Of course, the office-tel turns out to be spooked by the spirit of another young mother, whose attacks are responsible for a series of mysterious deaths. Soon it is uncovered that the building originally had another floor (the "fourth floor", which, like the thirteenth floor in the West, is considered bad luck and usually absent in Korean buildings). When the vengeful spirit seeks to possess Min-young's daughter, she decides to uncover the sordid past of the office-tel building.

Written and directed by Kwon Il-soon, who received notice due to his short "Hide and Seek" (2001) that, not coincidentally, explores a young child's feelings of loss of her ...

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2007/12/02 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

[DVD Review] You Il-han's horror short given a lackluster adaptation

Kyu Hyun Kim (qhyunkim)

"4 Horror Tales" was the 2006 summer season's top-line experiment of producing four horror movies based on Yoo Il-han's short stories on the cheap in high definition video. The tab was picked up by CJ Entertainment and TV station SBS. Yoo himself was involved as executive producer, teaming up with Korea's resident horror specialist Ahn Byeong-ki ("Phone", "A.P.T", among others) and giving opportunities to four young directors to scare up the audience in theaters as well as on TV screens.

The first installment "February 29 - 4 Horror Tales" might be of interest to the fans of "Dae Jang Geum" ("Jewel in the Palace"), a mega-hit Korean TV drama, since two among its main cast members, Im Ho (who played the Choseon monarch Joongjong) and Park Eun-hye (Jang-geum's friend Yeon-saeng), star in the movie....

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2007/03/20 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Two of last year's big budget fantasy thrillers have been invited to compete at the Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film (BIFFF), set to run April 5th – 17th, 2007 in Belgium. BONG Joon-ho's record-smashing monster film "The Host" and JO Dong-oh's purgatorial fantasy "The Restless" will vie for the top international prize in the program.

Other Korean films selected to participate in the non-competition category are AHN Byeong-ki's residential horror "A.P.T" (2006), KIM Eun-kyeong's boarding school nightmare, "Roommates - 4 Horror Tales" (2006), JO Beom-jin's scatological animation "Aachi and Ssipak" (2006), LEE Si-myeong's biting comedy "Vampire Cop Ricky" (2006) and LIM Ah-ron's animated children's feature "Mug Travel" (2006).

BIFFF ranks along with Spain's Sitges and Portugal's Fantasporto as one of the world's top three fantastic film festivals. Previous Korean awardees at the festival include KIM Ki-duk's "The Isle" (2000) and JANG Joon-hwan's "Save the Gree...

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2007/03/19 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

The movies "The Host" by director Bong Joon-ho and "The Restless" by director Jo Dong-oh have been invited to compete in the international category of the 2007 Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, according to Pusan International Film Festival Senior Programmer Kim Ji-seok on March 18.

The Brussels Fantastic Film Festival will be held in Belgium April 5-17. Other Korean movies that have been invited to participate in the non-competition category include Lee Si-myeong's "Vampire Cop Ricky", Jo Beom-jin's "Aachi and Ssipak", Ahn Byeong-ki's "A.P.T" and Lim Ah-ron's "Mug Travel".

The festival is regarded as one of the world's top-three fantastic film festivals along with Spain's Sitges Film Festival and Portugal's Oporto International Film Festival. Previous award winners of the festival from Korea include Kim Ki-duk's movie "The Isle" and Jang Joon-hwan's "Save the Green Planet"....

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2007/03/18 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Korea's monster flick "The Host" and martial arts fantasy "The Restless" have been chosen to compete for an international prize at an upcoming Brussels film festival, its Web site showed Sunday (March 18).

The Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film, slated for April 5-17 in the Belgian capital, invited the two blockbusters for its international competition section and four other Korean movies for a non-competitive section, it said.

"The Host" by Bong Joon-ho has drawn international attention with its mix of political satire, flawless graphics and humanity, telling a story about a monster created by toxic fluids poured into Seoul's Han River by a U.S. military employee (the dumping was a real incident in 2000). It has topped the Chinese box office and performed well in the United States after setting the local box office record with 13 million tickets and winning international prizes.

Jo Dong-oh's "The Restless", called "Jungcheon" (halfway to heaven) in Korean, is a...

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