August 22, 2009

Bloody Reunion: Slashing Through the Hierarchy of Pity


By most accounts Mrs. Park (Oh Mi-hee) was a terrible teacher who belittled her students for being too poor, too fat, too slow and too dumb. So why have seven of them gathered together for a little party honoring her royal rottenness before she coughs her way out of this world and into the next? Before you have time to answer that question, the limping jock (Park Hyo-jun), the molested rocker (Lee Dong-kyu), the surgically-enhanced pretty girl (Lee Ji-hyeon) and the rest will be desperately seeking to evade the X-acto blade of some mysterious serial killer who may or may not be the deformed kid that Mrs. Park kept in her basement and who drove her husband to suicide. Why this hideously misshapen youth would want to slaughter the entire class is less clear. Is his mind as disfigured as his face? What would make more sense is that the seven students would wield the baseball bat and the kitchen knife on Mrs. Park herself. Well, it's not that they don't try. But the crazy killer in the bunny mask keeps getting in the way. The only one who survives (no spoiler here; this is made clear from the start) is Mi-ja (Seo Yeong-hie), an unremarkable student whom Mrs. Park has taken in as a nursemaid while she waits for the great beyond. Or a logical conclusion. Neither is forthcoming.

2 comments:

  1. Just stumbled across this blog while looking for info on old Korean movies. I'll make sure to bookmark your site.

    I got this one on DVD a couple years ago. I remember it being a little confusing.. Although it was interesting seeing Oh Mi-hee, who seems like the nicest lady, being put through the wringer.

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  2. It is bizarre frankly. Everyone loves this teacher who seems to be a sadist and instead of her getting her comeuppance, her student-victims end up getting slashed, stabbed, choked, and tortured. The ending may explain it but by that point, the story is really over.

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