The infuriating thing about this movie is that it could have been so good if they hadn't tried to be so clever with the plot. 90% of this film, we're told, didn't actually happen. So why film it?
If two of the characters are actually the same character (one in disguise) then how do we - and the other characters, apparently - see both these characters at the same time?
At one point a detective explains how the victims were 'initially killed'. Huh? It doesn't matter what language you use, once someone's been killed there's no second time you can kill them.
Even one of the alternate titles is misleading: 'To Sir With Love.' There's no 'Sir'. The teacher's a woman!
So far (despite my subject line) I've somehow avoided giving any real spoilers. The reason is, if you're prepared to sit through a better- than-average slasher movie, even prepared to accept the appalling ending which informs you that almost everything you've seen was bogus, that's fine. I love Asian cinema and some of its best has come from South Korea, but this is a total cop-out. Blood and gore thrown in apparently to please a mass market, then a 'clever' ending trying unsuccessfully to tie things up, possibly in the hope of pleasing any highbrows in the audience. It just doesn't work.
I'd like to think that maybe the director was coerced into adding those nonsensical later films by studio bosses and maybe one day a much shorter director's cut will be released, with all the illogical bits taken out. If that happens the result will be a still-complex film that transcends the average slasher picture. At the moment it's just a mess.
If two of the characters are actually the same character (one in disguise) then how do we - and the other characters, apparently - see both these characters at the same time?
At one point a detective explains how the victims were 'initially killed'. Huh? It doesn't matter what language you use, once someone's been killed there's no second time you can kill them.
Even one of the alternate titles is misleading: 'To Sir With Love.' There's no 'Sir'. The teacher's a woman!
So far (despite my subject line) I've somehow avoided giving any real spoilers. The reason is, if you're prepared to sit through a better- than-average slasher movie, even prepared to accept the appalling ending which informs you that almost everything you've seen was bogus, that's fine. I love Asian cinema and some of its best has come from South Korea, but this is a total cop-out. Blood and gore thrown in apparently to please a mass market, then a 'clever' ending trying unsuccessfully to tie things up, possibly in the hope of pleasing any highbrows in the audience. It just doesn't work.
I'd like to think that maybe the director was coerced into adding those nonsensical later films by studio bosses and maybe one day a much shorter director's cut will be released, with all the illogical bits taken out. If that happens the result will be a still-complex film that transcends the average slasher picture. At the moment it's just a mess.