The Anchor: Dying On-Air

It's not always a bad thing when you know where a movie is headed. In Jung Ji-yeon's psychological thriller The Anchor, for instance, you can tell early on that the dominating, alcoholic mother (Lee Hye-young) may be the major liability for her newscaster daughter (Chun Woo-hee) in the days ahead. To what extent remains to be seen but we know that this mom undermines self-esteem, meddles in the marriage, and serves up slices of rotten fruit without an apology. But to get to the bottom of the matter might require a hypnotist. Luckily, the psychiatrist (Shin Ha-kyun) — who also happened to treat the suicidal woman who boomeranged the aspiring anchorwoman's career handled a similar case years ago — is available to administer treatment.

Unfortunately, everything's a bloody mess by the time the doctor has put the pieces together and guided the client through the dreamscape. As in blood in the abdomen. Blood on the wrists. Blood in the hands. Blood on the lips. The number of ruined wardrobes runs high in this one. That the color of the final outfits worn by two of these women is white is not lost on me! Nor that the fabrics look likely to stain. Network YBC appears to have continued its nightly new program without a blemish. I fear for the next generation though. You see, there's a baby who going to survive this nightmare and that little one's life is going to be crazy.