Children... (2011)

(aka WTF Happened to the Frog Boys!?!)
Release Date: 2011, South Korea.
Country: South Korea.
Written by: Kyu-maan Lee and Hyeon-jin Lee.
Directed by: Kyu-maan Lee.
Starring:  Yong-woo Park, Seung-yong Ryoo and Dong-il Song.

Children... is one of those "based on a true story" flicks, that tells the tale of a horrible South Korean crime, that has to this day still not be solved.

Knowing that fact might prompt the average viewer to say "Well what the hell? Why would I watch a movie like that if I'm not going to find out what happens at the end?" That's a good point, but despite the real life case never having been solved, and maybe even because of that fact, Children... is a more than worthwhile watch.

The film attempts to give the story of the Frog Boys an ending, albeit a movie ending, which is at least good for us as an audience; the movie at least attempts to leave us a bit satisfied, unlike all of those involved in the real-life case, none of whom have received much satisfaction at all.

I'm getting ahead of myself here though, so lets get on with the details...

Children... begins innocently enough, on March 26th, 1991; It's election day in the Daegu region of South Korea, and while the adults are all out and about and focused on voting, five local boys set off to a nearby mountain to catch frogs.

When the boys don't return home, their parents become worried, and a massive search mission is organized to find the missing boys. As many as 300,000 Police are sent from all over S.Korea to search Mt. Waryong to the tune of 500+ times for the children, but to no avail. Obviously, the village is left decimated in the wake of such a horrible tragedy, none more so than the parents of the missing kids.

Creeper.

A TV Producer and a distinguished Professor start digging into the case, and thus become obsessed with finding out what happened to the boys. Their actions seem to do more harm than good though, both to themselves and the parents of the missing children, and with their efforts yielding no results, the case goes cold...

... until 11 years later when the bodies of the boys are finally found! At first, their parents are told that the boys died of exposure, which they know is total B.S., because they had clearly had their heads caved in with a hammer or something, not to mention that the bodies weren't even there the other 500+ times the area was searched, so someone had to have dumped them there after the fact.

Heartbreak, lies, hidden truths, incompetence, obsessions and one creepy-ass showdown ensue.

South Korea is most depressing Korea.

Children... is a compelling mystery that is heavy on emotion, but short on closure. Being that the movie tells the story of a real case that was never solved, its real-world connection only serves to make the material all the more compelling and haunting.

Like other South Korean Mysteries and Thrillers such as Memories of Murder, Children... weaves a complex tapestry of mystery, dread and overbearing emotion, and in the end it leaves you feeling spent, and more than contemplative. What I'm trying to say here is that this movie will stick with you long after the credits have rolled, and that's no mean feat these days.

This movie is just further proof that South Korean filmmakers know how to make an effective Thriller like no other.

Haunting is an understatement.

After becoming so emotionally invested in the "case of the frog boys," we would really like to know the truth behind what actually happened to them. Even more so, we'd like to know that the grieving parents have found some sort of comfort in finally getting the answers to the questions that continue to haunt them to this day.

Children... at least tries to give its audience and ending, which works well within the confines of the film itself, but in reality is no more than complete fiction. We really, really want to know the truth of the matter.

Fiction or not, the whole quasi-resolution thing was pretty damned effective.

This really wasn't our normal fun, inappropriate joke-filled review, but it's hard to be overtly humorous when talking about this movie. Children... is a captivating piece of work that left me genuinely feeling for the parents of these poor kids, whom have never seen one bit of justice come of their children's murders. It's not particularly bloody or action packed, but what Children... lacks in visceral payoff, it more than makes up for in emotional devastation.

See this movie if you get the chance, it's definitely a good (if depressing) one.

A

I really hope that someday we'll learn the truth behind what happened to the frog boys, and that their killer will finally be brought to justice.

Review: I Saw the Devil (2011)

"South Korea has just given us one of the best Serial Killer movies of all time."

Cast Members of Note- Byung-hun Lee and Min-sik Choi.

Kyung is a creepy bastard. He like to rape and murder women (and maybe men or dogs for all we know) in sick, twisted, and creative ways. When they beg for mercy, he bitch slaps them and yells "You no talk!" When they talk again, he kills them real good. For the record, I would not talk if he told me not to. Then again, I find it hard to talk through tears.

Oldboy is not to be trifled with.

Ju-yeon is a hot Korean chick who can't change a flat tire, which apparently is an offense punishable by death in Korea. I'm pretty sure that's what drove Kyung to torture and kill her. Or... it could be that he's just a really sick twist, and he was bored. Either way, killing is his business, and business is good.

"You no learn change tire, you die!"

Dae-hoon is the Secret Agent who is engaged to Ju-yeon. When she is killed, he takes a week off of work to go bat-shit crazy, find Kyung, and visit on him 10,000 times the pain he inflicted on his true love. He promises her ghost that at her funeral, so he has to follow through. And, he does. Although to be fair, 10,000 times any amount of violence is pretty much an impossible goal, though it's a nice sentiment.

Look out Dae-hoon, that tricky bitch is behind you!

And so Dae-hoon chases Kyung across Korea, messing with his head, torturing him at will, and teaching him a lesson in revenge! Will Dae-hoon ever kill Kyung? Will Kyung instead kill Dae-hoon? Will innocent people die when they don't have to, all to teach Dae-hoon that revenge has a high price? I don't know about all of that, but let me say that even in Korea it's important to never poke the bear. Bears don't like that.

Even in a wheelchair, this bear is scary.

I think it's fair to say that I Saw the Devil is the best Serial Killer movie we've seen since Se7en. We see them all too, because there's something about a good Hero vs. Serial Killer drama that just tickles our Horror bones. This one tickled us so much that we peed a little. Figuratively, of course.

This movie has a level of tension that is palpable, and combined with brutal violence, compelling characters brought to life by a great cast, and some pretty sharp directing by Kim Ji-woon, it sucked us in instantly and never let us go. South Korea is putting out some great films these days, and even if they are on the bloody side of things sometimes, they shouldn't be missed.

It's great to see Min-sik Choi back in front of the camera again in a major role since his self imposed exile from film (he's political or something.) He is brilliantly intense as Kyung, so much so that he scared us a little bit with his portrayal. If you're unfamiliar with his previous work, you need to check out Oldboy; revenge movies don't get much better than that. And it has to be said that Byung- hun Lee was great as Dae-Hoon as well.

Oldboy.

In all honesty, as amazing as this movie was, it could have withstood about 10 or so minutes of exposition trimmed off to make it leaner and meaner. That's not to say that it's boring or slow, just that it could have been that much more effective with a cut here or there.

Not his scenes though.

Character aesthetics aside, why not just kill the ruthless killer when you have the chance? I mean, why toy with the guy? I understand that Dae-Hoon went off of the deep end and wanted to make Kyung suffer, but letting him go over and over again only to catch him and inflict more pain each time is like trying to make out with a cobra... you just know it can't end well.

"You kiss cobra, you get fang in lip!"

Between the sadistic Serial Killer and the equally sadistic hero of the movie, we are offered a wet, messy plethora of violence and gore; ankle violence, some beheading, multiple stabbings... it's plenty gory.

There's nothing not creepy about that.

We get one sex scene that is fairly graphic, a near-rape, and assorted glimpses of girls in various stages of undress, though none of it lasts too long.

"Hey Retard, who hit your penis?"

Revenge is best served quickly. Also, South Korea makes some crazy good movies.

Be quick about your revenge, dude.

I Saw the Devil is about as close to perfect as a Horror-Thriller flick can get. Not since Se7en has a movie about a Serial Killer been so engrossing and well executed, with a storyline that not only shocks but keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very end. With A Tale of Two Sisters, Three Extremes II, The Good, the Bad, & the Weird, and now I Saw The Devil under his belt, Ji-woon Kim has become a director whose work I covet. You should too. This movie is aces.

A+

She's in this. You're welcome.

Theatrical Review: Thirst (2009)

"I'm pretty sure that they're having sex in that poster..."

In Attendance- Me, Machine, and Mrs. Machine.
Cast Members of Note- Kang-ho Song, Ok-vin Kim, Hae-Sook Kim, and Ha-Kyun Shin. Directed by Chan-Wook Park.

A Korean Priest, bored with his routine of saying prayers and hugging altar boys, decides to volunteer himself as a guinea pig to find a cure for a mysterious, killer virus. What a sweet guy, wanting to save lives and end the suffering that he sees all around him, risking death to help the cold, hard, mean world find some warmth... EMO ALERT! That's right, go write a poem about it, Father Weepy! 

At least he doesn't sparkle.

The virus makes him break out in nasty sores and kills him, kinda-sorta, but then suddenly he's alive again, a true miracle of science. Either that, or he received some Vampire blood during a transfusion, and is now one of the living dead! When he takes up with his mentally-retarded cousin's slutty wife, and I mean really slutty wife, they embark on an affair full of sordid sex, armpit licking, guilt, and blood.

The lesson here is that easy chicks always come with baggage... Heavy, heavy baggage.

Can a Vampire Priest exist harmoniously with God and nature? Will his taking up with a filthy whore lead to ruin for all? Don't Priests know that they can't have sex or kill? I won't spoil what happens next for you here, because doing so would mean that I understood it all, but suffice it to say that being a Vampire isn't as fun as True Blood makes it out to be, although it does seem to have its perks. 
  

A sick perk, but a perk none the less.

This isn't the Vampire Opus that I was expecting, but it is fresh and daring, and a really good movie that at least tried something different. Don't get me wrong, it's still plenty bloody, brutal, sexy and even full of wry humor, it just leaned more on character development and a slow build than most vamp flicks tend to. Chan-Wook Park is a fantastic director; if you haven't seen Oldboy yet, you're missing an awesome movie. He does a great job here as well (although he gets a little too philosophically deep with his message, which detracts from the pace/plot a bit), and creates an interesting, nasty, whimsical and intelligent Vampire flick.

She smells like whore.

At 133 minutes, this movie was a tad too long. It didn't drag per se, but it took a while to get going, and I think trimming it a bit would have helped the overall flow of the movie. All in all, it's really a minor complaint, but still...

This 10 minute long scene of him staring was just unnecessary.

I would have let the evil little shrew die, but that's just me.

Either you kill women, or they kill you. Live or die, it's your choice!

This movie is packed with lots o' blood, which is natural since it's a vampire flick.

Oh, the contrast.

This movie is also packed with some odd sexuality and plenty of nudity. It's nothing obscene or gratuitous, but it's there. Oh, it's there... 

This disturbing threesome actually happened.

Some Vampires are actually very nice and value human life. Also, others are insane sluts that love to kill.

Leaning back like he's rich.

In the age of Twilight, True Blood and nameless other watered-down Vampire projects being thrown at us left and right, Thirst is a very good movie (if a tad overlong) which deserves to be seen by as many people as possible. I like feeling respected/appreciated by a filmmaker, as if they want to tell us a fun story and make it mean something beyond just flash and gloss, and this film did that for me. See it now. 

B+

Thirst is available now on DVD and VOD.

Ok-bin Kim is in this.