Into The Mirror (2003) - 거울속으로

'Cello' Horror Best Tuned Out

2006/09/10 | Source | Permalink |

[DVD Review] Listless spook show is a typical post-'Ring' Asian horror flick

Kyu Hyun Kim (qhyunkim)

"Cello" is a typical example of the lugubriously underwhelming horror films flooding Korean theaters every summer season. The first decade of 21st century has seen an out-and-out flourishing of Korean horror films, once a vilified and ignored genre. A few among them, like "A Tale of Two Sisters" and "Memento Mori", beautiful, mysterious and emotionally engaging, have attained the status of minor classics. Others, including "Into the Mirror", "The Uninvited", "R-Point" and "Voice" ("Voice Letter") have experimented with a mixture of genres, refinement in techniques and style, or infusion of art-house sensibilities, winning praise among critics and support among more patient viewers. And then there are the rest: the hopelessly cliched and listlessly non-frightening, which still constitute, unfortunately, the numerical majority.

There are many reasons for this state of affairs. Si...| More

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Horror film 'Into the mirror': invitation to the 23rd Fajr International Film Festival

2005/01/25 | Source | Permalink |

As director Kim Seong-ho's horror film 'Into the mirror' is invited to the 23rd Fajr International Film Festival to be opened on Jan. 31 in Teheran, Iran, interest in Korean films in the Middel East countries is expected.

Movie 'Into the mirror' is screened in the 'Spiritual Cinema', a competition part to which a total of 13 films are invited.

Into the Mirror, supported by the New Directors in Focus program at the Pusan Film Festival in its early development stage, is an intriguing debut film by Kim Seong-ho, a former architect whose deft manipulation of the spatial and optic dimensions of the film results in its unique and memorable look and atmosphere, overlaid with a layer of modernist austerity.

Yoo Ji-tae (Old Boy, Attack the Gas Station!) plays U Young-min, a cop-turned-security chief at a department store, investigating a series of inexplicable suicides.

Young-min, unable to look into a mirror since he had mistakenly caused his partner's death, becomes convinced ...| More

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Local Movies Slow Down at Summer Box Office

2004/08/04 | Source | Permalink |

By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter

Local movies are falling behind their Hollywood rivals at the box office this summer with their market share dropping from over 80 percent in February to under 40 percent in June.

The backlash might not be surprising since summer is traditionally the season when Hollywood blockbusters rank high at the local box office as well as in international markets. However, given the number of local movies that have opened this summer, the situation doesn't look good.

According to a report by IM Pictures, a Seoul-based movie investment company, the market share for local movies in June declined to 33.6 percent from 61.1 percent in May, the lowest figures since August 2002 when it stood at 29 percent.

The drop is believed to result from a lack of local hits similar to this year's blockbusters "Silmido" and "Taegukgi", each of which drew more than 10 million moviegoers for the first time in local movie history.

As of July 25, none of the 15 local mo...| More

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