Baek Jong-hak (백종학)

Horror TV Programs to Chill Summer Nights

2008/07/15 | Source | Permalink |

By Han Sang-hee
Staff Reporter

Do you need a break from the hot summer season? Public and cable television broadcasters have prepared horror programs just for the occasion.

The Korea Broadcasting System (KBS) is offering a polished version of "Korean Ghost Stories", a local horror program that first aired in 1977. While many horror films or dramas contain basic elements like murderers, ghosts and lots of blood, this show will offer horror with a hint of Korean tradition. A total of eight different episodes will be presented with different plots and backdrops, all related to Korean traditional myths and folk tales.

An episode called "The Return of the Gumiho" will show the creepy tale about a young woman who was brutally murdered by her own brother. The women dies, but she is reincarnated as the legendary gumiho, or a fox with nine tails. Legend says that the gumiho can transform into anything. Usually the imaginary creature is known to change itself into a pretty lady and se...| More

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Scarred lovers, broken filmmaking

2006/09/19 | Source | Permalink |

The unhappiness of lost love is an irresistible target for storytellers, but these tales can be trying for filmmakers ― and for viewers. All the elements need to come together just right: actors with more than a spark of chemistry, good camera work and an intriguing and meaningful script.
Though "The Power of Gangwon Province" comes up short of this ideal in a few important ways, it is still a worthy attempt, with a stimulating plot, a beautiful natural setting and good casting.
The structure of the film is unusual and clever. Ji-sook (Oh Yoon-hong) travels to Gangneung, Gangwon province, on vacation with her friends Mi-sun (Im Sun-young) and Eun-kyoung (Park Hyeon-young), where they meet a policeman (Kim Yoo-seok), who shows them the village and drinks them all under the table. In tantalizing flashes, dialogue reveals that Ji-sook is depressed after the ending of an unhappy love affair with an older, married man. One awkward groping by the policeman later, the friends return t...| More

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'Sorum' - Korean thriller captures true spirit of classic film noir

2006/03/27 | Source | Permalink |

Kim Kyu-hyun (internews)

"Sorum ("soreum" in Korean means "goosebumps")" will make an excellent departure point for debating the definition of "film noir". Is film noir predominantly a style, with cameras prowling dark corridors and sinister, silhouetted figures threateningly emerging out of shadows? Or is it more a matter of attitude or sensibility, evincing a jaundiced, cynical view of humanity through its sexy but ice-hearted "femmes fatales", hardboiled but foolish tough-guy heroes (and anti-heroes) and leering, corrupt authority figures? Today, even in such critically worshipped films as the Coen Brothers' "Miller's Crossing", John Woo's "The Killer" or Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction", the modalities of film noir are present more as a surface affectation than a coherent style or a worldview.

Production Notes

A KTB Network/Dreammax Co. Production. Domestically distributed by Buena Vista Korea. Written and Directed by Yoon Jong-chan. Cinematography by Hwang Seo-sik. Exec...| More

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'Spider Forest'[DVD Review]

2006/02/22 | Source | Permalink |

Song Il-gon's latest film an intricate mystery with an art house style

Kim Kyu Hyun (internews)

Kang Min (Kam Woo-seong), a TV reporter, stumbles onto a horrific scene of double murder in an isolated cabin. His colleague and newscaster, Soo Young (Jang Hyeon-seong), is one of the victims. She whispers, "Spiders ... it's so scary" before breathing her last. Kang notices a mysterious figure and gives him chase, only to be upstaged and beaten unconscious. Dazed, he walks into a highway tunnel and spies a familiar looking shadow, just before being crushed by a speeding SUV.


Production notes

An Oak Film Production. Distributed by CJ Entertainment, in association with Egg Film Productions.

Written and Directed by Song Il-gon. Music by Yoon Min-hwa. Edited by Choi Jae-geun. Production Design by Jun Hye Sung. Make-up Effects by Lee Eun Ah. Costume design by Kim Eun Sook. Cinematography by Kim Chil-joo. Executive Producer Kim Dae-hyeon.

International distribution by ...| More

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