It is tricky business trying to make a horror film when you don’t have the tools.

Park Seo Jun and Han So Hee are stepping out this year with a horror Korean Period Drama. Action takes place in 1945. Korea is still under Japanese occupation (1910-1945). Now there is a whole generation of Korean people who grew up under Japanese occupation and they know nothing else. They are even forced to speak Japanese as the national language. This is the backdrop of an unusual horror story. The action is actually scary to me and invites the hand in front of the eyes at times. The drama starts off excellent. If only it could have stayed at this level, I would have been so happy.

From this height at the beginning, the drama drifts off into standard fare and old outdated tropes, but it is just set in 1945. The writer is Kang Eun-kyung, who brought us Doctor Romantic 2 (One of my all-time favorites) and The World of the Married. It is directed by Director Chung Dong-yoon. Someone’s vision did not work for me. There was little logic to this action and the story many times insulted my intelligence. You have an imposing creature which can fend off the bullets of 50 men at one time, as it overcomes them in five minutes. Then you have one man with one gun who holds this creature at bay for 15 minutes, just because he is the handsome Park Seo Jun? With some of the action, as death is at the door and chaos is all around, that hero stops to give “the hero speech”. Could this have been moved to a more appropriate point in the action?

And where was the Script Supervisor when this drama was being filmed? They are suppose to keep track of props, lighting, blocking, and story sequences to ensure the script's integrity and believability. In one scene, the protagonists are hiding crouched down behind a structure that is three feet tall, to elude an army seeking to kill them in front. It is clearly noticeable the the gun one of the protagonists is holding sticks up a feet above this structure, as the protagonist gives another “hero speech”. The shooting is curtailed until he is completely finished. Would not the gun, protruding above the structure, clearly give off their position to the enemy thirty feet away? I can’t name them all, but each gaff knocked me out of the fantasy illusion and back to reality. Is this bad scriptwriting and/or bad directing? My number one pet peeve is that you are in need of a gun and you knock out a soldier and you leave the gun and the bullets with the unconscious soldier? What happens when the soldier wakes up? I am getting a headache.

There are some pluses, however, in this drama. The cast is a stacked cast with many Korean Drama favorite actors and actresses. They try to do their part with what should have been a thrilling horror Korean Drama. The cinematography is great and set design, lighting, and CGI are great.

Another thing which is endearing is Park Seo Jun. He has a signature in his acting. Park Seo Jun many times leaves behind comedic gestures in an scene, serious or not. While the other actor is being stoically serious, he will do something funny off side of the focus character. This is similar as with the signature of Lee Jong Suk, who tries to work in that little dance he does for his fans in all his dramas. Watch for these little messages to the fans for Jun. In one serious scene Park Seo Jun‘s character is consoling a very drunk friend (Wi Ha Joon). The Park character gives him his handkerchief to wipe his eyes, but the drunk blows his nose as well and then hands back the handkerchief. All while the drunk continues his drunk speech, Park Seo Jun takes the handkerchief and sniffs it, makes a funny face, and then throws it away. It is hard not to laugh at these little gestures in these serious moments. Will I watch season 2. I am trying to force myself, but I am still thinking it over.

Lees verder