Black House Review
It’s been a while since I last reviewed an Asian film, mostly because there’s just so many out there now, and it’s hard to keep up with’em. When I first started gettin’ into Asian horror, I had to get my flicks imported, as they weren’t easily accessible in the US. Now, thanks to companies like Genius Entertainment, there’s a new one on DVD each week. I suppose that’s a good thing (imports are usually around $30 bucks), but that doesn’t necessarily mean everything distributed here is worth a watch.
Black House is South Korean films that has recently made its way to our shelves, and luckily, it doesn’t revolve around the clichéd supernatural tale of a pale long-haired ghost — something Korean cinema adapted to quickly after the success of Japanese films like Ringu and Ju-On: The Grudge (to name a few).
Instead, this movie revolves around an insurance claims agent, who suspects his recent client has committed murder in order to collect their premium. This causes their claim to be under investigation, and leads the creepy man who’s supposed to receive the claim to come to their office every day asking for it. Things escalate when the agent fears for his life after discovering the truth behind the members of the family.
Much like a lot of South Korean cinema, they blend various different genres into one. The first half of the movie plays out as kind of a slow-paced creepy mystery, while the second surprisingly turns into a bloody slasher. It’s usually hit or miss when you blend different genres together, but if pulled off well, they can prove to be pretty entertaining watches. However, it didn’t work too well for Black House. Although interesting, the sudden change kind of made the movie seem a bit out of place.
The film was interesting, but there were a few problems that I just couldn’t overlook. For one, I didn’t like our lead off the bat, as he proved to be an idiot pretty early on by revealing a bit too much personal information about himself to clients, which obviously ended up biting him on the ass. Of course, had he not been so stupid, we wouldn’t have a movie. It doesn’t end there, as later on he chooses to simply stand outside and wait for the person who broke into his home and ransack the place to simply leave, instead of calling the local authorities? What’s with this guy?
Then there’s a huge plot hole, when it’s revealed that one of the members of the family has been married before and each time ended up with a suicide. Uh, do insurance companies in South Korea not do background checks on their clients? It also seems like something that would have set off some alarms for the local police as well, especially with the most recent death.
Around the start of the second half, we’re revealed a small “twist,” which I successfully guessed early on, so it came as no surprise for me. It’s also around this time that they switched gears and it became a slasher. Not that I’m complaining, but like I said before, it just seemed a bit out of place. Then came the over-the-top climax and seemingly numerous endings. Regardless, when it was all said and done, the movie was still entertaining, despite its flaws.
The flick attempted to blend various different genres together, but ended up just making things seem out of place. Despite some hard-to-overlook plot holes, the movie ended up an interesting and overall entertaining watch. Worth a rent if you can sit through the slow-paced first half.
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