Bloody Reunion (2006)

Sadly Over-hyped

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

That is to say, this movie wasn't great. Some genuine horror, one in particular involving razor blades was particularly disturbing, but I felt the story and the twist ending didn't jive well. I like to have a chance to possibly guess the twist but sometimes that twist is more just a complete 180 out of the blue that almost negates everything you just watched.All the same the story itself, that unravels during most of the movie, is a reunion of students who visit their now sick and aged teacher, all of whom have issues with how she treated them as well as issues with each other. As I said above, the actual events of this reunion that unfold rather well into a very interesting story of bitterness and revenge are almost negated by the movies twist ending.Still worth a watch if you are a horror fan.

Dae-wung Lim's 'Seuseung-ui Eunhye' is pretty much another East Asian slasher flick made in the traditional fashion. It starts off slow and drags on. For a slasher flick, there isn't that much slashing which isn't necessarily a bad thing provided that the story's good enough. But, once the slashing starts, it goes on until almost the end. The torture scenes are quite creative and well executed. Unlike the Hollywood slasher flicks, the story here has layers and at least some of the twists make sense. Yet, it's not without its share of flaws. Plot holes are abundant and the pacing is poor. The dialogues do ramble on at some point. The performances, especially those of Seong-won Jang and Mi-hee Oh are better than what one usually expects from such movies. This certainly isn't the best of East Asian horror and slasher but it's not a bad suggestion for those who enjoy this kind of stuff.

Even by odd Asian film standards this one is a huge WTF film that will leave you wondering "what did I just watch?" I paid 2 bucks in a bargain bin and I'm happy I didn't pay more because frankly this film is a mess. The plot has the cops stumbling upon a bloody murder scene. One of the survivors tells the story of an annual grade school reunion gone wrong- but something isn't right-and wait I forgot to mention the deformed kid who may or may not have lived there and who's father hung himself at the start- and there's bunny masks (Donnie Darko NO!) and more red herrings and things not adding up and then we get to the end and we're...wondering what in the hell did we just see. I thought I was falling asleep and when the film ended I came in to check IMDb to see what I missed. Apparently not a damn thing. Some strange imagery is the only thing that I'm certain I experienced while watching the film. Beyond that your guess is as good as mine. I will give the film points for one of the most bizarre-and never ending- reasons for murder I've run across. Its some what adequately done but total gibberish.

When it comes to horror, it is my opinion that Asian cinema knows how to go for the jugular. Possibly due to the fact that they have less restrictions than North America - what with the MPAA able to make or break you depending on their rating and all. Asian cinema has no boundaries and if you want scares, blood and those scenes which have you turning your head away just to catch your breath, South Korea and Japan are two of the trendsetters in the industry.So when the copy of Bloody Reunion was placed in my mail slot for viewing, I was expecting a slaughter of cringe inducing deaths. Instead, what I got was a relatively routine film about revenge that was watchable but did not provide me with scenes that I wanted to run to the water-cooler at work the next day to try and explain.Bloody Reunion is about a bunch of students who go back to visit their dying teacher who, as we find out in flashbacks, was as insensitive a mentor as Don Rickles would be at a celebrity roast. The class reunion takes place some sixteen years after they all left the school and each of the former students have a moment of screen time to explain to us why they are so angry (then why did they go back?).As we would hope, once everyone is settled, the killing begins and like most horror films, anyone who leaves the pack and goes somewhere on their own is pretty much done for.The killing in the film is a mixed bag. Someone is forced to eat razor blades which is somewhat cool and original. Yet another gets an office desk utensil applied to their eyeball and the third gets his tortured by ants running into in through his ears. I couldn't help but think of the ceramic 'Hear no Evil. See no Evil. Speak no Evil" monkey's that I have sitting on my end table upstairs as each of the three victims were paraded out in gruesome form.The whole movie is actually a flashback with a detective trying to piece together what happened to the poor young visitors to the cottage. All signs lead to a deformed child that was the property of the teacher back when they were all children. Looking like the son of the monster from The Goonies, this poor kid wore a paper rabbit's mask to hide his hideousness. As the story is described to the detective, the killer also donned a rabbit's mask. Hmmmmmmmmm.I wanted to enjoy Bloody Reunion and with quotes such as "The best Korean Horror film in years" and "The best slasher pic to come along in a while.", I was more than expecting the ho-hum response that it solicited out of me.To note, it wasn't a complete disaster. The killings were more original than anything produced for the North American mass audiences and the ending is somewhat interesting even if it is unnecessary.On a whole though, I can't give the film a recommendation. There are just too many better Korean horror films on the market and this one failed to make its mark.www.robertsreviews.com www.killerreviews.com