Before you relegate ‘The Ghost’ (or 'Ryeong' to give it its original title or ‘Dead Friend’ for the US) to the bottom of the most recent ‘Ringu’ clone pile please take your time, as it’s not, well not quite. The problem being is that if you had never ever watched ‘Ringu’ or one of the many movies that followed it, this might seem original and fresh, but then again if it was not for ‘Ringu’ and its popularity then this one would never have been made. So there’s the conundrum, and if you give it a chance and you might get an entertaining evening’s watch and a few scares into the bargain.
Ji-won (Kim Ha-neul) is a bright student with a dark past, well that is to everyone except her. An accident of some description happened and has left her without memories of her previous existence, but no one seems keen to share those moments with her to help her along the way. Intrigued by the lack of memory but filled with the prospects of her now life she is about to head abroad to further her education when people start dying. And horribly so !
With ghostly events at every turn, like sinks filling up on their own accord with strands of long dark hair clogging up the plug hole and sinister appearances in the shadows of a dead girl, dripping wet, with long black hair and a frightful eye peering out from beneath the raven locks. Yes it is the type of ghosts we now associate with ‘Ringu’ that epitomised that apparition so well, and the other events could equally come from that or ‘Dark Water’ or any number of the Long Dark Hair Ghost Stories that is populating the Asian horror market at this moment.
The death toll is increasing and fingers and stares are pointing towards Ji-won, perplexed, she starts digging into her own past and the more she digs the more unpleasantries are uncovered and the more she disturbingly recalls. It seems she was not always the bright young thing, filled with life and friendly to all. She was one of those in a clique of bullying but popular girls, the type that you had to be seen with. And that was detrimental to one very shy girl as Su-in (Sang-mi Nam) was soon to find out, but then one day she mysteriously disappeared. Co-incidentally the now dead all seem to be her ex-school friends, or the clique, Eun-seo (Bin), Yu-jung (Hie-ju Jeon) and Mi-kyung (Yi Shin), to be more precise.
What sets this aside from being just a regurgitation is its trump card that it plays towards the end, and credit must be given here in some respect to director Tae-kyeong Kim. Speaking of credit, the movie is wonderfully shot and the acting is good, particularly from Kim Ha-neul in the lead and Yi Shin as one of her doomed friends that gets the pleasure to completely loose the plot while having the wits scared out of her before things get nastier. But that is only if you get passed the over blown and silly start the movie nearly cripples itself with. The movie is in its original Korean language with optional English subtitles, these are crisp and the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is used to great effect enhancing the scares along the way.
As for the extra content, well it looks promising in that you have a 'Making Of' featurette, some interviews, a music video, a theatrical trailer and a few TV spots, but they all total at just over 10 minutes in combined length ! So perhaps not exactly the most detailed or informative extras at hand and certainly not adding any weight to the proceedings or the movie itself.
With all that said, following on from the first two ‘Ring’ ‘Dark Water’ ‘The Grudge’
'The Ghost' is available now via AmazonUK , and as of yet there has been no US release date given.database .
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