Park Shin-hye

Two women in South Korea who are from different times connect through a phone call which interchange their fates in an unexpected & devistating way : the horror genre in South Korea is insanely exciting, beautiful and shocking at times and THE CALL from director Lee Chung-hyun continues that trend with it’s blistering violence, originality and crazy twists that leave you breathless when the film ends and your pondering what on earth just happened? : I love the way Chung-hyun slowly builds the tension making you belive one thing and then quickly turning the screw with flashes of diabolical cruelty that has an effect on both main characters in the movie, Kim Seo-yeon played by the wonderful Park Shin-hye recently seen in #Alive and Oh Young-sook played by the tremendous Burning actress Jeon Jong-seo, both actresses are top notch with Jong-seo delivering a searing display that’s quite unforgettable in the film’s final third : the camera work around the house by Jo Young-jik is tremendous giving each & every scene a darkness, a sense of foreboding and combine this with the film’s lightening and sound The Call really is a tense, agonising watch : there are loads of haunting moments in the movie but the highlights for me are Young-sook and the strawberry guy when he discovers the bags in the freezer is utterly bone chilling, those scenes with Young-sook being whipped by her adpotive shaman mother is terrifying, Kim’s dad disintegrating whilst sat in the passenger seat of a car she’s driving is mouth wide shocking and those final ten insane minutes will blow your mind : so if you love your South Korean horror or you’ve not seen any and want a superb introduction then check out Lee Chung-hyun The Call it’s SUPERB ★★★★

A city is infected by a mysterious virus, which causes it’s people to spiral out of control. Two survivers struggle to survive in an isolated apartment complex from those infected with the virus : Jo Il-Hyeong’s Korean thriller ALIVE is everything you’d like from a new movie in the Zombie genre, utilising the digital age in a smart, inventive way and has a whole shit load of savy special effects that make your eye’s twitch with nervous excitement : Yoo Ah-in is bloody brilliant as the gamer kid Joon-Woo who lives for his technology but fails to converse much with the outside world, that is until one day he has too, his dopey appearance & care free attitude endears himself to the viewer and his tag team partner Park Shin-hye’s Yoo-bin is my type of girl, fighting off the undead with everything from an axe, gun and home made killing trolley and oh yeah did I say that these zombie’s are not slow either but more like the hyperactive speed demons from World War Z, Won-ho Son’s work in capturing these delightful creatures rampaging through the apartment blocks is glorious & a sight to behold : ALIVE is SMART, INSANE and FLESH EATING FUN ★★★★