The conventional trope for horror movies that take place in the woods is to have a handful of young 20-somethings (with no cellphone service) terrorized by a deranged slasher driven by motives rooted in the past. But writer-director Lee Moon-young isn't adhering to the rules with his low-budget fright flick The Human Trap. The crazy guy roaming the woods? Not necessarily the killer. The two couples communing with nature? Neither romantic nor platonic. Oh sure, Ki-young (Kim Dong-ho) has known Jeong-ho (Park Yeon-woo) since the two men were in high school. But that doesn't make them friends. Similarly, Ji-ae (Kang Byeol) may be the boss of Chae-Rim (Kang Seung-hyun). But that doesn't mean these women are pals. To the contrary, the message of The Human Trap is this: Good friends are impossible to find!
You may guess that the camp guide (Song Young-kyu) is the villain. Or Doctor Ma (Moon Won-joo). Or the insane, unshowered guy (Kim Ki-nam) running around the forest and stealing supplies. And you wouldn't be wrong. But you wouldn't be right either. Not totally. Because The Human Trap is more misanthropic than your run-of-the-mill scary movie. Like those tricky Agatha Christie mysteries of yore: Everyone is suspect because everyone is base. The nicest person in The Human Trap isn't the hero. It's the one who survives. You'd be a fool to trust any of them! And watch out for the bear traps.
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