Nightmare (2000)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Perfect cast and a good story

Don't Believe the Hype

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

I was just reading all the reviews claiming this movie to be just a Korean version of a Hollywood slasher movie, but I found that there was something to it that I Know What You Did Last Summer just couldn't capture. It's true that this movie is nothing particularly original plot-wise, but there is definitely something in the idea of blending Hollywood slashers with Asian ghost movies that works.The result is a slasher with more gore than Hollywood has the 'guts' to do these days (sorry), which is always a good thing, as well as a Sadako-like character that adds a much creepier edge to the film than a guy wearing a scream mask. Add some very effective directing and acting (with the exception of one certain 'lawyer') and you have a film that's definitely worth watching.

"Gawi" (aka Nightmare/Scissors/Horror Game Movie) was Byeong-Ki Ahn's first horror film. It's a decent, if unoriginal attempt at horror, and is somewhat effective. Then again, this movie is chock-full of flaws.First is the lack of coherent continuity. The movie confusingly switches from the past and present without warning, and has quite a few badly-placed flashback sequences. The next thing is the complete lack of originality. There is not one but TWO long-haired vengeful female ghosts, gory deaths reminiscent of every other slasher in the world, an ending clearly jacked from every other sequel-promising slasher. The last thing is how ineffective it is: yes, it is effective to a degree, but not as scary as it could have been. Having said all that, "Gawi" does have a few good twists along the way, and I must say, a fairly gripping mystery story going for it.If you like slashers, or liked the director's later movie "Phone", this is recommended.My rating: 6/10

Buying this movie was a blind buy...I knew a little about the flick but something about the film had me interested in it so I bought. I hoped it would be as good as the other Asian horror flicks I have been watching lately and boy...was this film great. I really liked this film a lot, I loved the way it was directed, I loved the original take on a played out concept and I loved the acting. Great acting all around except for some ham acting from a certain actor towards the end. Only a true talented director with a vision can take elements from a genre that your all too familiar with and totally blows your head with it. Korean director Byeong-Ki Ahn really came through with talent and true insight in a genre that's so easily ripped off...he shows new takes on slasher moments and gives the film a real edge that most post scream movies don't have. Now let's start off with the most important...the script. I really liked the script for this film. It was smart,original in it's take of the movie's plot and pretty great story telling. Right from the get go this film had me watching and I was never bored. I love how the film started one way then slowly started changing on me without me even noticing it. I loved how since this film is about that "J-horror" genre(but it's actually K-Horror because it's Korean) but slowly it becomes more complex and moves away from the J-horror movies we have all come to know. Smart lad this Byeong-Ki Ahn is...much talented. I loved the characters in this film. They were all wonderfully played by actors who looked young and had the chops to pull it off. And the girls,wow...I have never seen so many hot looking girls in one film. I mean,they were hot...I couldn't take my eyes off of them and they also knew how to act. Simply wonderful. I liked how this movie short of had that Scream type of vibe with the whole teen thing but I also liked how they didn't try to rip it off either. This movie is smarter than Scream I think, Scream was a fan boys fantasy...this film is just that...a film. They took something that everyone here in the states has ripped off to the point of death(Scream mainly) and did something smart by mixing it into the booming J-horror genre and making something totally cool and clever. I also liked how there were no "evil" people just misguided and human characters. The characters never did anything to make me go"oh I know why they did that...it was just so that the character to serve the story" In this movie it's the other way around...the characters are the story and the movie was about them and something they had done. No this isn't like the ripped off crap that was "I know what you did last summer"(which was ripped off from the flawed 80's flick "Prom Night". No, I know what you did last summer and Prom Night wish they could be as good as Nightmare. From the beginning we're never told what the characters did(something that Prom Night really messed up on by telling us too early and then trying to us care about those same characters who did something really bad) No, this movie allows us to know these people as characters and then they tell us what happened.Great show. Now for some of the beefs. The third act was kicking, I mean I loved it. Most other J-horror movies would have done the third act in the same way but this film doesn't and I loved them for that. But my only beef with that is the acting from the "bad guy" I mean come on...the dude spend most of the movie being calm and level headed and then at the end he goes all loco. Wow, how the hell that happen? Another beef is with the last pace of the film. First off let me say I loved fast pace, it really helped me get interested in this film and never allowed me to get bored. But at moments it seemed like it went a little to fast paced to the point where I didn't know what I was watching. I was left going"what? How that happen?" At times I found myself lost. But it's all good...the film had a few beefs but it still rocked hard. Now back to my favorite thing about the film...the directing. Man, Byeong-Ki Ahn kicked all kinds of tail with this bad boy. Man, I was really impressed with all the style and talent he showed without being all "look at me I'm so talented because I'm using all this style" No, homeboy handled his stuff good. He rocked the acting, he handled the drama, the unfolding story and the horror. Man,boy knows his stuff and brought so much to this cool flick. Great show.

This movie I thought would be a lot better. I didn't find it that scary, but more gorey. The flashback & present time is not distinguised clearly. It's shocking what you discover as the movie goes on. This an okay movie if you're really interested in Horror flicks, but don't get your hopes up.