The Colony - 2026 - S Korea

The Colony - 2026 - 6/10 
AKA - Gunche // 군체

 
As in ant colony or hive mentality.
An embittered young scientist infects the elder who appropriated his research.
The infection grows exponentially, turning victims into zombie like mutations.
Periodically, they share a colony update, learning.
Fast-moving S Korean film, as frantic as Train To Busan, but not as fresh.

Claire’s Camera - 2017 - S Korea

Claire’s Camera - 2017 - 6/10 
AKA - La Caméra de Claire

 
The Korean film company is at Cannes, marketing releases.
Female boss Yang-hee browbeats Man-hee to quit, arguing she is untrustworthy.
French schoolteacher Claire, encounters both females separately (?), as well as a male director.
Deduction made, the male, while drunk, forced his way into Man-hee.
Jealousy prompted the dismissal.
Slice of life ought to be more interesting, but is too removed to be compelling.

Nine Puzzles - 2025 - S Korea

Nine Puzzles - 2025 - 6/10  
AKA - Nain Peojeul // 나인 퍼즐

 
“I really hate people.  Why the hell do you work so hard just to stay alive?
“Why would you struggle to live?  I don’t see the point of it.”
Nihilistic K-drama involves the search for a serial killer.
One targeting the powerful and influential.
Fans of interlocking mysteries and compartmentalized puzzles may enjoy.
The profiler is too young to be believable, and the sock-hat cop rings wrong.
Who and why, worked out.  How, is completely overlooked.

A Flower In Hell - 1958 - S Korea

A Flower In Hell - 1958 - 6/10  
AKA - Jiokhwa // 지옥화

 
Dong-shik arrives in Seoul searching for older brother Yeong-shik.
The older brother has already fallen in with gamblers, prostitutes and criminals.
South Korea, following the war is a dog-eat-dog landscape.
The young Dong is naive, innocent, and attractive to the females.  
Older brother Yeong has a steady in Sonya, herself wildly popular with soldiers.
Nonetheless, Sonya quickly seduces Dong;  she is a piece of work.
After a slow buildup, this is a terrific period piece and the lead playing Sonya is treacherously unforgettable.

A Shop For Killers - 2024 - S Korea

A Shop For Killers - 2024 - 6/10
AKA - Sarinjaui Syopingmol  // 킬러들의 쇼핑몰

 
Is it just me, or did she leave the lens cover on the scope?
Jian’s highly protective uncle was a mercenary, now a dealer.
He made enemies, and, straight off, dozens come a’callin.
Repetitive shootouts grow boringly repetitive.
The adults and their stories hold your interest, while the teenagers complain or boast.
Sniper Seong-Jo is the best thing going, musing aloud, thoughts wandering like loose balloons.
Intentionally or unintentionally, he is funny throughout.
Series sorta quits, leaving doors open for S02 of this Disney “aimed-at-children” K-drana.

Untold Scandal - 2003 - S Korea

Untold Scandal - 2003 - 7/10
AKA - Seukaendeul: Joseon Namnyeo Sangyeoljisa

 
The young virgin is to the next concubine of the Lord.
She is innocent and fresh, and the wife cannot stand the youthful replacement.
So, she asks her cousin, a lecherous reprobate, to seduce and impregnate the girl.
Where’s the problem?  He has his eye on a chaste widow.
By any other name, this is a version of "Les Liaisons Dangereuses".
A cruel drama of gamesmanship and manipulation.
Scheming and treachery, which leave a powerful and bitter aftertaste.
If nothing else, the set design and costumes are radiant.

Missing Noir M - 2008 - S Korea

Missing Noir M - 2008 - 8/10  
AKA - Siljongneuwareu M // 실종느와르 M

 
“A history of injustice manipulating justice to kill off justice.”
Exceptional K-drama.  Bleak, true-to-life, set amidst modern realities.
A small team is formed to work on unsettled cold cases.
An ex-FBI agent with too many killings for the Bureau.  A hot-headed cop.  A computer hacker with a past.
The opener is a two-parter, with clues for imminent murders, ala Se7en.
There are other two-parters, as well as stand-alones.
Contrary to the usual clichéd formats, the team don’t exactly bond, but begin to buckle under the stress.
The final episodes are pitch black and, unfortunately, eerily prescient of today’s normal.
For those skeptical of justice in this world, in this life, this is for you.

The General’s Mustache - 1968 - S Korea

The General’s Mustache - 1968 - 6/10  
AKA - Janggun-ui Suyeom  //   장군의 수염

Cheol-hun is dead, police have to decide between suicide and murder.
Painter, photographer, lately novelist, although he hasn’t got beyond the title (see above).
Describing the plot to others, they decide his story is akin to a comic.

 
There are conflicting testimonies from neighbors and coworkers.
Police also speculate, and toss up various theories.
Gradually, however, they zero in on his live-in girlfriend, Sin-hye.

 
Cheol lived in a fantasy world, she said, and was a thirty-year-old child.
The plot, like the dead man, is an enigma.  There is a back history of the Korean War.
Slow, talky, a puzzle that reorganizes itself throughout.

Parasyte: The Grey - 2024 - S Korea

Parasyte: The Grey - 2024 - 7/10
AKA - 기생수: 더 그레이

 
Alien spores drop through our atmosphere.
Landing, sluglike entities seek human, enters, devouring brains and taking control.
Once in the new body, it’s hungry.  And its preferred meal?  Yeah, tastes like chicken!
Team Grey is the government agency, aware of the invasion, trying to quell.
Several narratives in this six-part K-drama.
Aliens carving territory, local cops dealing with Black Ops.
A cheap thug, an honorable cop, a girl where the possession failed.
Sidespin of the anime Parasyte Maxim (2019), itself derived from the 1989 manga.
In-between, a two-part film in 2014.
Near the end, I was highly doubtful, yet this DOES reach a conclusion.

Blood Free - 2024 - S Korea

Blood Free - 2024 - 7/10
AKA - Jibaejong  // 지배종

 
Chae-woon, ex-Naval officer, is recruited / assigned to bodyguard the CEO of BF.
Blood Free, synthetic meat, meant to end the era of human carnivores.
Ranchers don’t like it, nor do the processing plants, nor do self-righteous protestors.
Then there are business rivals, who will steal or murder to appropriate BF’s data.
Original series mixes speculation with espionage, along with fights and ballistics.
Final ending, while certainly bloody, will fizzle for many.
The conclusion leaves stray threads and questions.
Being a Western (Disney) financed series, difficult to foresee if there will be a S02.
If you are comfortable with uncertainty, this is a gripping, action-punctuated show.

The Public Cemetery Under The Moon - 1967 - S Korea

The Public Cemetery Under The Moon - 1967 - 5/10
AKA - Wolhaui Gongdongmyoji // 월하의 공동묘지(기생월향지묘)

Perhaps Wol-Ha was born unlucky.
During the Japanese occupation, her brother was imprisoned.
While she was forced to work as a geisha or comfort woman.
Even later, married, she sickened, then died.
Then the new wife and her mother made moves to murder her son.

 
Lumbering ghost story spends a lot of time with the sneaky Nan-Ju.
Replacement wife, covetous, treacherous.
Enjoyable, if corny.  Beautifully shot, if much too slow.

The Good, The Bad, And The Weird - 2008 - S Korea

The Good, The Bad, And The Weird - 2008 - 6/10
AKA - 좋은 놈, 나쁜 놈, 이상한 놈

 
Exciting Korean Western set in Manchuria, 1939, just before World War II.
An assassin is tasked with stealing a treasure map, carried by a Japanese diplomat on a train.
Things get messy when a lowly bandit winds up with the map first and flees on his motorcycle.
Further complicating matters, a bounty hunter arrives in pursuit of the hitman.
Add a large gang of thieves, add a Japanese army detachment!
Gunfights?  You gotta be kidding.  Likewise, topnotch camera work and incredible stunts.
Homage to Spaghetti Westerns, although lightweight, lacking the edge Leone would have given.
Pre-fame Lee Byung-hun, Song Kang-ho, Jung Woo-sung in over-the-top adventure.

Revenant - 2023 - S Korea

Revenant - 2023 - 6/10
AKA - Akgwi // 악귀

 
“Beware of the handshake, that hides a snake.
“For smiling faces, smiling faces tell lies, and I got proof.”
Our heroine is possessed by a ghost, beneficial at times, murderous at others.
Trying to aid her, and exorcise the spirit, is a folklore professor.
Meandering K-drama goes full bore into supernatural, shamanism, fetishes, and violent deaths.
The narrative drags in the middle and is repetitive.
Plus, the mother is extremely tiresome; an anxious, fearful, foolish, nonstop whiner.
A fun watch, nevertheless, for its theme of what some will do for good fortune.
Finale is fairly enthralling, as twist piles up twist, clever opponents outguessing each other.

Architecture 101 - 2012 - S Korea

Architecture 101 - 2012 - 7/10
AKA - Geonchukhakgaeron // 건축학개론

She waits in his office, his old flame, who he pretends not to remember.
Yet, how could he forget?  She was his first love, perhaps his only love.
Until she broke his heart.
Now she wants him to renovate her father’s home.

 
Bittersweet romance of the couple who drifted apart 15 years earlier.
Cross-cutting with them during their freshmen year in the university.
Hopeful, naïve, an aspiring pianist, an architecture student.

 
Encouraged by the professor to explore their neighborhood, examine it.
They share the bus, share dreams, only their envisioned futures differ.
Story will resonate with those who had “everything” with their first love, until they didn’t.

The Devil's Stairway - 1964 - S Korea

The Devil's Stairway - 1964 - 6/10  
AKA - Maeui Gyedan // 마의 계단

 
The affair between the head surgeon and an attractive nurse has frayed.
His attitude is, “This is all fun, but not permanent.”  Her reply is a terse, “I’m pregnant.”
Meanwhile, the director of the small hospital wants to make the surgeon his successor.
Contingent on him marrying his attractive (and younger than the nurse) daughter.
So, nurse Jin-suk has become a major inconvenience, and needs to be sorted.
Solid psychological thriller looks like a Noir, with supernatural overtones.
Since solving the “nurse problem” leaves surgeon Hyeon in a worsening state.

Secret - 2009 - S Korea

Secret - 2009 - 6/10
AKA - Sikeurit  // 시크릿

 
A bullying thug is murdered, and his brother is a ruthless mob boss.
As the gang leader searches for the killer, so do the police.
One in particular, a corrupt cop, suspects the killer is his own wife.
The couple have marital problems, and the tears and angst drag the whole show down.
The “plot” is of our cop trying to destroy or mislay evidence.
Then there’s a mysterious blackmailer.
If you stick with this, there are a remarkable series of twists in the final act.

Space Sweepers - 2021 - S Korea

Space Sweepers - 2021 - 5/10
AKA - Seungriho // 승리호

 
Space janitors sweep debris from orbit.  Defunct satellites, crushed vessels, bodies …
The crew of the Victory finds a small girl, who turns out to be an android, who is actually a mega-bomb.
Will the crew bond with their find?  Will conspiracy types stop at nothing to acquire the “child”?
Best suited for families, others will find this cringe time.
Aside from a few characters, everyone has the maturity of eight-year-olds.
Sadly, like many Korean films this is overlong.  Action sequences go on and on.
Heroics are never ending.  Everything is excess overload.
Again, for families – children – this will be OK.

Empty Dream - 1965 - S Korea

Empty Dream - 1965 - 6/10
AKA - Chunmong  // 춘몽

The dentist’s office is hot, humid.  His drill is belt drive.  Anesthesia – inadequate.
The attractive female patient passes out first, followed by the male.
Who then has truly weird fantasies.

 
Based on an early Japanese Pinku, this has no nudity, but is wild with sets and camerawork.
Sets range from Expressionistic to theatre minimalism.
In the male patient’s dreamscape, the dentist is an aristocrat with top hat and cane.
He also sadistically tortures the female while the male patient watches helplessly.
Bizarre throughout, and the dental scenes are horrifying, especially if you grew up (as I did) with a dentist who still used belt driven equipment.  Slow grinding drills.  Terrible memories. 

Project Wolf Hunting - 2022 - S Korea

Project Wolf Hunting - 2022 - 6/10
AKA - Neukdaesanyang //  늑대사냥

Prisoner transfer from Philippines is anything but routine.
First off, using a cargo freighter?  Not vetting the staff?  Grasping that one container could contain weapons?
This section borrows from Under Siege and amplifies violence to 11.

 
There is, however, a clandestine government agency involved.
Not to mention something down in the hold.
Proceedings go haywire!  Live action version of slaughter game.
Creative imagination runs dry midway, action is set to excess, rerun, rerun, rerun.

A Bloodthirsty Killer - 1965 - S Korea

A Bloodthirsty Killer - 1965 - 6/10
AKA - Salinma // 살인마

 
Ghost story jumps off the rails immediately, yet remains compelling viewing throughout.
Entering an empty art gallery, a man finds a painting of his ex-wife, ten years dead.
Only the painting melts in his hands, and then he is hijacked into the country.
Next comes another painting, an encounter with an apparition, murder.
This is fifteen minutes in.  Hold on, for the narrative now shifts into high gear!
Ghosts, revenge, adultery, furtive servants, disappearances.
A tremendous amount of plot in this Gothic Horror, including for you feline fanatics, lethal cats.