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 S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Be With Me " or "Gwi" or "Ghost")

 

directed by Hong Dongmyung, Eun-kyung Jo and Jho Kwang-soo Kim
South Korea 2009

 

Seo-hee, Nam-hee and Lan. These three girls happen to read their tarot cards. Tarot cards tell them once-in-a-life-time opportunities will be coming to each of them simply by holding tarot cards and chanting magic spells. And the magic spells are nothing but their own names! Once their names are said, very special events begin to unfold.

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In the spirit of the Whispering Corridor series and other schoolyard haunts, the 2009 Korean horror omnibus Ghost presents three supernatural school stories directed by Yeo Myung Jun, Jo Eun Kyung, Hong Dong Myung, and Kim Jo Kwang Su (Boy Meets Boy). A boy meets a ghost who can't forget her first love. A girl walks into a classroom and finds herself unable to leave. Two best friends forced to separate in life vow to stay together in death. Children have gone missing, but they're still attending school. Lee Je Hoon (The Front Line), Kim Kkot Bi, Lee Min Ho, Hong Jong Hyun, Shin Ji Soo, and other young, up-and-coming actors make up the students in the horror anthology.

Excerpt from YesAsia located HERE

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"Tell Me Your Name" (prologue)
Director: Kim Jo Kwang Su
Seo-Hee, Nam-Hee and Lan hold tarot cards and told to chant their names as a magical spell. Once their names are spoken, special events unfold.

Tarot 1. Ghost Boy
Director: Joachim Yeo
Park Chul-Min (Lee Min-Ho) is a high school student. He can also see ghosts, but pretends he doesn't see them. Chul-Min then sees a cute girl ghost named Seo-Hee (Choi Hye-Kyung). Seo-Hee can't forget her first love and asks Chul-Min for his help.

Tarot 2. Attached
Director: Hong Dong-Myung
So-Young (Shin Ji-Su) is popular among her peers and the teachers. When So-Young learns that her best friend Nam-Hee (Kim Kkobbi) is pregnant, So-Young tells Nam-Hee that she should keep the baby and they will raise the child together. Meanwhile, So-Young is jealous of Nam-Hee, who ranks first at their school, and plots a scheme to get the principle's recommendation to take the college entrance exam instead of Nam-Hee.

Tarot 3. The Unseen
Director: Jo Eun-Kyung
Lan (Han Ye-Ri) and two of her best friends are ordered by their seniors to get into an abandoned school building. Lan steps into a classroom in the abandoned building where a kid died without anyone knowing. The dead may not want to be alone and she can't leave the classroom.

Excerpt from AsianWiki located HERE

Poster

Theatrical Premiere: October 9th, 2009 (Pusan International Film Festival)

 

Reviews                                                               More Reviews                                                       DVD Reviews

 

DVD Review: Asian Crush - Region 0 - NTSC
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Distribution

Asian Crush

Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime 1:48:04
Video

1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 5.10 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate

Audio Dolby Digital 5.1 (Korean)
Subtitles English (burned-in)
Features Release Information:
Studio: Asian Crush

Aspect Ratio:
Original - 1.78:1

Edition Details:
• None

DVD Release Date: October 6th, 2012
Keep Case

Chapters 12

 

 

 

Comments

Firstly, this should not be confused with the 2005 Singaporean drama film, of the same name, directed by Eric Khoo.

As this started I was anticipating a heavy fan-service oriented 'Asian schoolgirls' horror. But it ran much deeper. I like the idea of these omnibus packages - especially in this genre. There was a fair amount of style here, but, incongruous, varied pacing between the three main stories. Much of it I appreciated but some of it was, probably intentionally, unexplained or properly fleshed-out due to time limitations. It doesn't look like there will be a sequel, so some of it remains an unfinished mystery. Scary? Well, certainly more creepy at times...

It's another MOD (made on demand) although I suspect that just means that it is transferred to a DVD-R - it's single-layered and progressive in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio and looks acceptable for SD. It's clean and consistent, supporting the, often rudimentary, effects. I'm sure 1080P would have brought this image quality to a more dynamic presentation, but this was adequate and watchable if unremarkable. 

Lossy Dolby surround track in original Korean. I noted little separation - but, like the video, serviceable or a viewing. There are burned-in English subtitles (see sample below) on the, region FREE, NTSC DVD. No extras at all.

There is a psychological edge here but generally only real fans of this sub-genre of Asian horror might be keen. Only worth a spin at under $10.

  - Gary Tooze

 


 

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DVD Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

  

  

Distribution

Asian Crush

Region 0 - NTSC

 



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