I somehow managed to get caught up in the Asian horror/thriller craze and rented this without knowing anything about it……to my misfortune.
The film sees mute Hee-Jin (who runs a fishing resort in the Korean wilderness) sell coffee, bait and occasionally herself to tourists to make ends meet. She is generally treated like dirt, but we soon learn (in an extremely graphic, not to mention completely unnecessary scene that sees a fisherman crapping over the edge of a float!!!! Yes, we actually see faeces dropping out of his backside onto an underwater camera!! Well, we don’t see it clearly but you’ll know what I mean if you watch this) that she skulks about the water getting her sadistic revenge.
She soon falls for Hyun-Shik, who is hiding from the cops, and saves his life. She then tries to make sure that he stays with her by offing his lady friend, and parts of her own anatomy in what is probably the dullest Asian film I’ve seen in a while.
The film looks ancient, has one likeable character present amongst a sea of fat perverted Korean men who rape and abuse young girls, and all in all makes you want to vomit thanks to it’s disgusting sequences of self-harm.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Some films make you wince because they are intended to assault the senses, this film just uses purile filth to attempt to provoke a response, and it sickened me, but in a really cheap way. It’s not big and it’s not clever and it does nothing to help the Asian horror genre. After a few stinkers and more on the way, I think the horror genre is finally going to be leaving Eastern horror behind. Or at least continue to Westernise it.
