Other Countries Thriller Movies #2

It's time for me to talk about the movie Ju-on. It's also Japaness movie with The Ring(the movie that I introduced before.) and it was one of the famous horror movie.

The movie Ju-On was released at 11 February 2000 at Japan, and later it was exported to many other countries. In USA, the movie Ju-On is remaked as 'The Grudge' at 2004. Actually the title of the films translates roughly to The Curse or The Grudge.

This movie, the story begins with a man, who murdered his family at the upstairs room. Several year passed, this house finds a new owner, but the curse of rage survives there and destroys those who come into contact with it. Welfare worker Rika Nishina is called in to investigate after complaints were reported that an elderly, bed-ridden woman named Tokunaga is left alone in the home. As Rika approaches the home, she feels a strange and eerie atmosphere surrounding the home, but continues on with her job. She soon finds the old lady, sitting alone and talking to "someone." The social worker taking care of the elderly mother is soon immersed in this curse and the hauntings that persist.

This movie give us a fear with a young boy at the poster. And it's more horrorful because those fearful events occur at the house, where we sleep and act mostly. This movie was so famous and as the result, They made Ju-On2 which is released at 5 September, 2003 in Japan. In Korea Ju-On has released as a "Ju-On theater Ver." at 2002.

And this is the scene that people mostly get fear at this movie.

Interview with the Vampire

It's one of my favorite horror movies, and I have DVD! You can see the young Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. In the movie, they were much handsome than now. Even though they were young, they act really well. Let me tell you the summary of the movie.

A journalist is allowed to interview with a vampire. The vampire whose name is Louis tells about his 200 years. In 1791, Louis, who lost his wife and child, wanted to give up his life. Lestat, a vampire, found Louis and bit him. Lestat gave him a choice to die or to be a vampire, and Louis chose the latter. After that, Louis felt unhappy because he had to kill people and he felt guilty. One day he met a little girl, Claudia, who lost her mother. Lestat made her a vampire, and Louis's life was changed.

It has a tag line, "Drink from me and live forever." If we can live forever, will our life be perfect like a god? I think etenal life gives us lack. Vampires also feel loneliness, despair, and fear, and look for beauty and love. This movie has a philosophy of life!

Silmido - the hidden story of Unit "684"

The movie "Silmido" is famous for various things. It was the first one throughout the Korean movie history, to drew 10 million audiences. Therefore this movie is kind of a monumental movie. (Not to mention the two top famous actors, Ahn Seong-gi and Sol Kyung-gu.) It's about a special Unit whose goal was to assasinate Kim Il-sung, the former ruler of North Korea. It is based on a true story -An army troop known as an armed Communist Squad, committed mutual suicides in the bus for Seoul. The story in the movie is pretty much edited and quite different with the facts, but still it aroused public attention toward this historical tragedy.

The movies plot goes like this. An army troop was newly recruited in order to go to Pyeong-yang in N.Korea and kill Kim Il-sung. However the circumstances has changed during their training and they were no longer needed. So the government wanted to eliminate their existence in order to maintain the military situation between S.Korea and N.Korea. The troop's members found out what was going on and they decide to make their moves first.

I cried over this movie. Well, in fact a lot of the audience did. It is a sad, tragic story. It shows how 31 of the innocent men died. There were a lot of documentary movies made right after the "Silmido" has been released. Those documentaries let me know that some were even kidnapped to be trained, and many of them were dead during the training. (In the movie, the recruits are all criminals who were sentenced to death-this is just a set up.) If you want to have a glance on the tragic part of Korean history, you'd better watch this movie.

Cheating and being cheat : The Big Swindle

Since early time, there are lots of Hollywood movies about big swindle. The movie like Italian Job or Ocean's Eleven is typical work of that. But, Korean thriller is weak especially that kind of thriller. Although there were a few movie about swindle, they were very shabby and poor for Hollywood thrillers which are very spectacular and splendid. For that reason, even Koreans turn their back on the Korean thriller and they have enjoyed the Hollywood movie.

By overcoming weaknesses Korean thriller, the first successful Korean swindle movie comes into korea. That movie name is 'The big Swindle'.(Korean title is 'The reorganization of crime'.) The plot of movie is that five swindlers planed to rob the Han-Kook bank and they succeed. But, after successful robbing, they cannot find money. So, they start to find out the real swindler.
This movie couldn't catch up many hollywood movie has lots of spectacle like many other Korean movie. However, this movie show that even if it was low-budget film, a well-knit plot and exciting reversal make the movie interesting and successful.

If you are tired of Hollywood rule as 'The hero will always be happy in the end.', I recommend this movie. Of course although this movie reverses that rule perfectly, continuous cheating and being cheat fight makes this movie more attractive in suspense during enjoying the movie.

Why Are We Mad at Jo-Pok Movies?

As we know, Jo-Pok movies are prevalent in Korean society. This phenomenon naturally raises a question: why Jo-Pok movies are so popular in this society? Perhaps no one would agree that Jo-Pok movies are much funnier than most Hollywood movies. However, there is one evident reason why audiences feel pleasure from these movies.

I think this trend is deeply related to corrupt Korean society. In this society, it is common to meet news articles about corrupt government officials, politicians, and even teachers who are looking for bribes and perks. In order to get what they want, these people willingly abuse their social power. Although this society may seem to provide equal chance of opportunity to its people, it is so evidently hierarchical that people from low social status are suffering from social disadvantages.

This is where the Jo-Pok movies come in. They provide a vicarious experience of fighting against corrupt society. People feel pleasure and catharsis by projecting themselves on to the ‘hero’ in such movies. For example, in the movie ‘Do-Sa-Bu-Il-Che,’ they fight against corrupt Korean education system, and in ‘Cho-Pok-Ma-Nu-Ra,’ they fight against corrupt politicians.

Dogville

Have you ever seen Dogville? It was released in 2003, and I didn't see it because my friends told me it was boring. Two years ago, I saw this movie by DVD, and I totally fall in love with the director, Lars Von Trier. I'm going to tell you special features of the movie.

First, the film set was very unique. It pretended to have a house, a dog, flowers, chairs, wall, etc. But there didn't have the objects, but only the people. So the set looked like a play set. Second, the movie went slow in a depressed mood. It might make you sleepy. Third, the acting was great although actors couldn't see the real objects.

I strongly recommend Dogville. I know we got familiar with exciting hollywood movies, but sometimes we need to see this kind of art movies. Also when you see the ending, you'll find out why it is a thriller movie. :)

Other Countries Thriller Movies #1

There are lot's of famous thriller movies of other countries, which is non Korean movie or non Hollywood movie. Let's talk about those movies today.

First, It's 'The Ring' which was made in Japan, released at 1998. The original title is "Ringu". It was so famous that Hollywood remaked this film at 2002 and it was also one of box-office movie. The movie starts story with a strange video tape. A strange video begins to circulate among high school teenagers. When you watch the tape, a ghost appears at the screen and then the phone will ring, tells you will death will come in one week. The story goes on with reporter Reiko Asakawa investigating the origin of the strange videotape.

At this movie, the scene shown at the below is the most popular scene, and it became the best scene to represent all the thriller movies. This movie give us very especial thrills than the movie which was released before that the movie Ring. It was kind of a sensation. If you haven't seen this movie before, you do better watch it. It's one of index of thriller movies.

Next time, I'm going to tell you about the movie, "Ju-on" and it's also one of Japaness famous triller movies. See you next time!

I'm Shin Joonsun

Hello. Thanks for visiting this blog. My name is Shin Joonsun. I study Business Administration at Sogang University. I'm a Junior now. I am a member of a band named "XstarC" (X★C). My hobby is to play guitar and to go snowboarding on winter vacation. I do have a lot of interest in movies too.

When I was in high school I was in the movie club called "Cine-phille" which actually made a film itself. It was a Parody of the Korean action movie "Silmido". I played a role of Ahn Sung-gi, a famous Korean actor. I'm thinking of introducing the movie "Silmido" here on this blog. Anyway, I'm glad to be in this movie class. This is it for my self introduction.
Hope you have a nice day. :)

The last episode of the X-Files

I know it's not a movie but a TV series. But I'm a big fan of the X-Files, so I always wanted to mention it. I'm going to explain the last episode of 9th season. It means it’s the last story of the X-Files. Let me tell you the summary.

Mulder, who hides himself from killers, tries to steal secret information. But one of super solders who are made by government finds him. They fight violently, and finally Mulder makes the super solder fall down. After that, he has a military trial. Many witnesses give evidence that Mulder kill the super solder, but actually it’s impossible to kill him because super solders are not supposed to die. People who are on Mulder’s side try to explain what the conspiracy of government and aliens is; however nobody listens. Even though Scully, who worked with Mulder for 9 years, finds out the dead body is not the solder’s, the judgment is the death penalty. Finally, people who believe Mulder’s theory make Mulder escape.

I bought the DVD of 9th season in the USA, so I could see the ending. The truth is in 2012 final alien invasion will begin, and this world will be end. Even though it didn’t show the result, but it showed that Mulder and Scully wouldn’t give up. It’s great because it didn’t explain everything! It remained the X-Files.

Hong Kong Noir

I'll talk about Hong Kong Noir. That name is only use in Korea. Hong Kong Noir and Film Noir are very similar but not same. In other hand, Hong Kong Noir add Film Noir to oriental sensitivity and value of Confucianism.

Hong Kong Noir has 4 characteristic. First, main charater is gang of about 3 people and their image is hero. Second, This film mainly show the men's friendship. So roll of women is very small. Last, ending is nihility whether main character die or not.

Hong Kong Noir has lot's of films. For example, A Better Tomorrw (英雄本色), Infernal Affairs (無間道) and so on. And Hong Kong Noir make a famous actors and directors such as Chow Yun Fat (周潤發), John Woo (吳宇森). John Woo's movie affect Quentin Tarantino. So he make great movie such as Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs.

Hi

Hi. I'm Seong-woo Han. My english name is Austin Han. And My major is Electronic Engineering. My hobby is playing instrument such as drum, guitar, and so on. I am drumer of ReddishBlue and SUIZ.
I glad to join action/thriller group. I love action movie. So I mainly talk about action movie. I'll do my best!

Who is this?

The line in the post's title comes from the famous scene in the movie OLD BOY, which is directed by one of the best Korean director Park Chan-wook. The hero gets locked up in a tiny room for 15 years, having no idea why he's in there. Right after he got released, he gets a call from someone who seems to be the man who locked him up. And the hero says in a trembling voice "Who is this?". This scene is also famous for the actor Choi Min-sik, who played Oh Dae-su in the movie, to eat a live octopus.

To tell you just a little bit of the information about the movie, OLD BOY's main plot is about incest. It caused great sensation in Korean society because no other movie had dealt with this matter before OLDBOY. And also this movie has a lot of shocking and brutal scenes which made the movie more famous. The attraction of this movie is that gloomy atmosphere hanging throughout the movie and the superb acting by the characters.

This film has a shocking ending and if you want to fully-enjoy this movie, you'd better see it now before you hear what's going to happen in the end from your spoiler friend. Well, in my case, I already knew the plot before I saw the movie but still, it was very interesting. I can proudly say that OLD BOY is one of the best Korean Thriller movie. No wonder why it won the Grand Prix in 2004 Cannes Film Festival. Oh, and one more, you should hear the fastinating theme songs in the OST-original sound track.

Spiderman3, the most popular Action movie

In these days, a lot of movies are released and a number of audiences visit the movie theater. There are many kind of genre of movies - drama, comedy, action, thriller, etc. Each genre has many popular movies around the world. In the view of action, nowadays, Spiderman 3 is one of the most popular movie all around the world.

Spiderman series has originated from the comic book 'Spiderman'. Each movie created a great sensation all over the world. Especially, Spiderman3 is popular with its fantastic spectacle. Although it is evaluated less score in view of drama, it has created tremendous popularity with its brilliant action scenery. If you enjoy the action movies, you will be satisfied with it.

The characteristics of Korean thriller.

Do you like thriller movies? Although the kinds of thriller are very variety from action to horror, most people come across their mind Hollywood mystery thriller like memento when they first heard the word. And then, we try to come across our mind that thriller in Korea, we find there are few Korean thriller movies which we can hit easily. But, absolutely, there are great thriller movies in Korea. Just the characteristics of Korean thriller different from Hollywood. The following is the characteristic of Korean thriller I think.

First, korean thrillers are low-budget film than hollywood thrillers. While most Hollywood thrillers are high-budget and spectacular, most korean thrillers are producted in small set place and aren't spectacular. Next, korean thriller is unusual. Because Korean thrillers has uncommon subject and reversal unlike most Hollywood thriller which deal with the mystery about murder. Finally, korean thrillers tent to depend on famous director(e.g. Park chan wook) and actor(e.g. Song gang ho, Choi min sik and so on). we can see that fact by searching the box-office in Korean. As the movies which the famous director produce or famous actor appear are usually success.

Of course, those characteristics of Korean thriller are my own opinion.

However, I thought those things reminding recent box-office film. So, you will be able to find easily those characteristics when you see the latest famous Korean thriller.

Hi ♪

Hello, I'm Hyun-Joo Kim. Nice to meet you everybody in this class.
My major is Economics and I'm sophomore. It's not revealed because
of my poor English coversation skill, but I'm very active and lively
person. I wanna get along with our group people.

My hobby is going to movie and I like all kinds of movie. Especially,
thriller is my favorite genre of movie, so I join this group. In this blog,
I'll introduce several famous thriller movies.

Actually, I used to think that I'm good at English. However, I'm very
surprised that most people speaks fluent English in this class.
At first, those people discouraged me, but now, I believe I got a chance
to improvemy English skill. I'll do my best.
Let's make a interesting blog :)

My favorite director, Park Chan-wook

I want to talk about Park Chan-wook, one of the great thriller movie directors. He was Sogang University student, and his major was philosophy. About three years ago, he came our university and had a short interview. I was impressed with his speech because he spoke without reserve.

He became famous due to his movie series of revenge. The first one was 'Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance(2002)'. It wasn't a great box-office success, but Park Chan-wook said he loved the movie more than 'Oldboy(2003)', his most well-known movie. As you know, the second one of the series was 'Oldboy', and he won the Grand Pix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. It's my favorite movie, and I saw it six times. The last one was 'Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005)', and it succeeded in Korea. But I don't think it was great like 'Oldboy'.

He usually makes movies related with human nature. I like Park Chan-wook and his movies a lot because his movies are not only thoughtful but also humorous.

Why Jo-Pok (Korean Gang) Movie?

For a long time in Korea, Korean movies retained a lead in the race against Hollywood movies. There are several conspicuous contributors to this trend: the screen quarter policy, systematic advertisement plan, and the themes which appeal to Korean emotion. In particular, ‘Jo-Pok (Korean gang)’ movie is doubtless the major genre that attracted a lot of Korean people. Korean people love Jo-Pok movies, especially they like the humorous aspects of Korean gangs in the movies. Obviously, Jo-pok movies are one of the representative beloved Korean action movies.

However, we should not forget the possible negative effects from predominant Jo-Pok movies in Korean society. First of all, most Jo-Pok movies tend to infuse a misconception into people. In other words, by embellishing and glorifying gangs’ life, these movies may mislead people to think that gangs are just our friendly neighbors and in some extreme cases, our heroes. When it comes down to juveniles, the problem gets even worse. This is because young boys are usually affected much more seriously than adults, because they are in the formative period of characteristics.

Second, a predilection for Jo-Pok movies hinders the development of Korean movie industry. For example, it impedes the diversity of themes; movie producers are constantly making gang movies only because it guarantees higher probability of success. Moreover, this theme can only appeal to Korean people, because people from outer world may not be able to understand the movie without the Korean emotional context. Therefore, these kinds of movies are not competitive in the global movie market.

Dear my classmates, this is Yong-rae :)

Hello, my dear classmates! I`m Yong-rae, Cho, majoring Electronics Engineering. At first, I want to say that I`m glad to be a member of this group. When we had a meeting at the class time, I could feel comfortable.
By the way, I really need your excuse of my English ability :(, but I promise that I will do my best :). I hope that this relationship will be last after the class. Of course, I wish that we will do our best on this blog project. Once again, nice to meet all of you :)

Hi.

Dear classmates.

It is very nice to have a chance to get more friendly with this blog project. These days, I feel like I am such a lucky guy, because people I meet recently are just kind and good guys. No doubt that our team mates are not the exception.

I am a kind of old student in Sogang university; this is my last semester, and as some of you may already know, I am the class of 99. I major in computer science and have a plan to apply to a graduate school in the united states for the next fall semester. Especially, I am very interested in ubiquitous network systems such as the sensor network and the ad-hoc network.

By the way, I hope our team will make a good performance in this project, thereby receiving good evaluation from Professor. Kelly.

Korean Thriller Moives Vs Hollywood Thriller Movies

There are lot's of difference between Korean thriller movies and Hollywood thriller movies. The big difference first, the way how the movie give us a fear is different. Korean movies use to give us fear mentally, but Hollywood movies give us fear by sight. For example Korean ghost called "Guishin" doesn't show there shape, and give fear to the taget. They don't easly appear in front of the target. But in Hollywood movies, they give the targets fear by showing their horrorful appearence and try to kill the target.

The second big difference is the object of horror's gender. Korean thriller movies oftenly use female as a object of horror, but Hollywood's used to be a male or strange creatures. Thesedays the trend of Korean thriller movie is getting simmlar to Hollywood thriller movies. And these two pictures shows each country's horror objects.

Hi, I'm Wonje Mok.

Hello, I'm Wonje Mok in Action&Thriller Group.
My English name in this class is Billie Joe, and my major is Electronic Engineering at Sogang Univ.
I'm very glad to post datas about action and thriller movies.
I chose this group beacuse I really like thriller movies, so I'll mainly talk about thriller movies.
I'll do my best, and I'll try to post exciting and hot news for visitors. Have a fun time at this blog.
Thank you^-^

Hello!

Hi. I'm your classmate, Jieun Kim. I'm a sinior in Sogang University, and my majors are Korean Literature and Mass Communication. I love my school and my majors! My hobbies are watching American dramas, reading Korean novels, writing essay or diary, and seeing cartoons. Also I love to see horror/thriller movies, but most of my friends don't like to see them.
I know it's time to consider my future job seriously. To tell you the truth, I've wanted to be a copywriter since I was 17. I didn't change my mind, and I hope I can enter an advertising company this fall.
Thanks for reading my story. I hope you guys have a nice day!