On a remote island that derives its wealth from its fine quality paper, the spirit of the executed Commissioner Kang speaks through a medium and swears vengeance on those responsible for his grisly death. The suspicious fire which destroys the paper intended for a royal tribute brings investigators to the island as the paper mill's owners work their laborers endlessly to replace the destroyed paper. When the body of a paper mill worker impaled on spear is discovered and another mill representative is discovered boiled alive, inspector Lee discovers that Kang was accused of being a Catholic traitor by five unknown informants and that the inquisitor executed Kang without trial along with four of his family members and that the informants are being killed in the same five ways. As the islanders become afraid of the ghost's vengeance and the family controlling the mill fear punishment for not delivering their tribute, inspector Lee tries to prove that the crimes are being committed by a human who knew that Kang and his family were innocent and not a bloodthirsty ghost. But will personal revelations about his family past cloud his deduction?

BLOOD RAIN is an unusual period thriller that combines elements of classic and modern detective stories (including Holmesian deduction, autopsies, haunted detectives out of the nineties serial killer sub-genre) with the more familiar vengeful ghost elements of the recent resurgence of Asian horror films. Beautifully photographed and atypically scored with lyrical Western styles (also a trait of other recent Korean horror entries like A TALE OF TWO SISTERS), BLOOD RAIN's emphasis on action over subtle chills is successful because the filmmakers are able to provide a plot and backstory familiar to the audience while keeping them guessing about the identity of the killer (although the story doesn't quite balance the logic versus superstition extremes as much as some literary antecedents in which an intellectual outsider encounters provincial superstition). Lead performances are good but not outstanding but the grisly deaths are proficiently achieved yet handled with relative restraint (save for the flashback of Kang's execution, the gruesome onscreen depiction of which is dramatically justified although some wince-inducing shots of chickens being killed for ritual purposes may be off-putting). As such, BLOOD RAIN is a refreshing diversion for those schooled in the recent trends of Asian horror and likely a satisfying thriller to more general audiences.