Sorum (2001) User Reviews

Not quite the ghost story it appears to be

[cha21269 · 7/10 · 30 July 2002]

South Korea is rapidly gaining on established Asian moviemaking countries like Japan and Hong Kong by producing a number of distinct high caliber films in recent years. Though it's advertising makes it seem like a horror movie, "Sorum" is probably more accurately described as a psychological drama/ character study.

A young man moves into a run-down apartment building and soon gets into a relationship with a neighbor. Both the characters and the building have traumatic histories, and over time the ghosts of their past come to light. Viewers expecting a horror movie are likely to be disappointed, but "Sorum" is a subtle and atmospheric drama highlighted by fine direction and action. My main criticism would be that the "secret" of the main character is rather obvious, and telegraphed early on. But this is a minor point, and "Sorum" is recommended for those open to a creepy and challenging drama. 7/10

Chill from the common life.

[mrkwang · 7/10 · 25 September 2001]

This movie is a kind of horror - thriller flick. But it's not based upon supernatural things. This is based on our common life, though this apartment is for very poor people. In fact, this is a life-taken picture rather than a movie. That's the reason why I grade this movie as 7 points. In fact, the apartment in this movie is extremely creepy itself. If this movie exports worldwide, this is a highly recommendation!

Horror Without the H

[evileyereviews · 7/10 · 14 December 2010]

Sorum is a movie that dances around genres with a fear of commitment that only adds to the grim details of our character's lives. Maybe it can best described as a horror film without the H. Unlike other movies, it does not fall prey to the contrived necessity to reveal the complete back plot by way of ostensible flashbacks. Instead it relies on the intelligence of the audience to figure it out, or not. The characters here are a shifty lot, creating a splendid layer of suspicion as to who is going to be the bad guy, if such a creature is to make an appearance. Likable the characters are not. Set in about as dreary a housing complex that has ever existed, this home ground symbolizes the lives of our players, a corrupt morality where life's baggage keeps piling up unattended, with stagnation sure to seek rot as its faithful companion. This is the setting for a typical South Korean cinematic affair, a convoluted tale of shady characters whose shenanigans are sure to catch up with them. The only question is what form will their dirty deeds manifest in order to play havoc on the remainder of their lives. The acting was strong; they all captivated my whole attention in that I wanted to know just what sort of past could have created such misery. Director Jong-chan Yun's debut is a solid one. He crafts a creepy tale that relies on filming basics, eschewing any need for tricky tactics to mask any shortcomings. Not a film for everyone, but for those that enjoy a slow burner with lots of character meat to chew on, Sorum is sure to satisfy us in one way while challenging us in another.

Genruk of Evil Eye Reviews

An overlooked masterpiece

[sstocker1 · 14 October 2004]

Based on the mixed reviews that I found on the web, I wasn't expecting too much from Sorum, but I was very pleasantly surprised-although 'pleasant' isn't exactly the right word for this movie. I've included it in my unofficial list of overlooked masterpieces, including "The Third Page" by Zeki Demirkubuz, "Last Images of the Shipwreck" by Eliseo Subiela, and "Straight Through the Heart" by Doris Dörrie.

Sorum is not for everyone. The emphasis is on character development rather than shocks or special effects. The characters are not particularly likable, although I related to all of them in one way or another. The pacing is deliberate-until the end, when the various subplots snap into place to form the big picture.

Like the unfortunate author in the movie who is writing a novel about the events occurring around him, I found the ending very satisfying. You have to pay attention, though, particularly during a scene when the main character is having a haircut in a barbershop. (Unfortunately, this is when the white subtitles appear over a light background, which makes them hard to read.) When the movie ended, I was confused, but as I thought about it, the ending became clear and I started laughing, just the author before he got punched.

the un-ghost story ghost story

[movieman_kev · 6/10 · 11 September 2005]

Less a ghost story, then a quietly chilling character study, this Korien film about Sun-yeong, a young taxi driver who move into room 504 of a dilapidated, run-down apartment building, where two tragedies have occurred, one thirty years in the past, the other much more recent (the previous owner committed suicide), and befriending an elderly writer as well as a abused middle aged woman, survives on the psychological horror, great cinematography, and good characterization, more than outright scares and gore. More for the intellectual art-house crowd than those interested in 'J-horror'. And while one can surely see where the film is going, you still find your breath tightening when you get there. Not a film for everyone, but I liked it well enough for what it is and didn't view it expecting it to be what is isn't.

My Grade: C+

A Twist?

[chelano · 5/10 · 20 September 2011]

It was hard to completely like this film. It is classified as a horror. But there is nothing scary about it until the last twenty minutes of the film and even that isn't too bad. I will admit that the film had a dark feel throughout. I didn't hate it though. It had a decent story line and a great ending, but getting to the end was so long. They could of shaved a good thirty minutes off and the film still would of been fine. Myeong-min Kim was the lead in the film and he did a great job. You knew he had a strange past and they did a great job of hiding it. Cast next to him was Jin-Young Jang who seemed to always be off in la la land, but that made a great character. The whole time your mind is trying to figure out the characters and story. So there is much suspense, but it just stays still. There is no thrill rides during this movie until the end. If you enjoy story enough half way through the film, I suggest that you wait till the end because it is worth it.

*Spoiler Warning* A GREAT WORK DISGUISED AS GHOST MOVIE

[quinolas · 8/10 · 3 May 2002]

************CONTAINS SPOILERS**************

Sorum has been advertised as ghost story and on the surface that is what it appears to be. But there is more about it and that is what makes this film so interesting. Other categories such as social drama or psycho thriller could also be applied to it. As a social comment on parent's behaviour works with some difficulties but it's a nice try. It is economically but brilliantly shot. Somebody has pointed out some similarities with the Sixth Sense, and probably the story is not the most original of all (somehow Barton Fink popped into my mind for its use of the building). Still it has really nice touches such as the story being the source of a novel in progress or is it the other way round?, exposing the dark side of every single character in the film. The supposed hero, the taxi driver, appearing to be the most sane and innocent of all of the characters who just had the misfortune of stumbling across a weird group of characters reveals itself as the craziest of all. The interconnections between the characters might have seemed a bit confusing specially the ending which many couldn't grasped (and here avoids the ultimate flaw of the Sixth Sense which makes use of flashbacks for everybody in the audience to understand what happened to Willis). Not really a scary film I still felt quite shocked by the climatic scene where the taxi driver kills his, yet unknown, half-sister by struggling her with the scarf she bought for him. A scene that under my view is the best of the film and moves this film away from the usual trickery of ghost movies. It is a one shot sequence played in hotel room which follows the development of a row between both characters that ends tragically. The discovery he makes later about his sister and the possibility he might be a ghost or not a real person at all or character from a novel has this sense of futility and not being able to control your own fate that makes the film a gripping experience. A reoccurring motif is water, in the shape of rain, lake, shower, toilet sink and functions not just a substitute for the lack of music in the film but also to create tension as when the beaten up woman opens the wardrobe, where we later discovered her son died suffocated, while we can still hear the sound of water going down a half blocked pipe.

Wonderfully unique (and creepy to boot)

[carmstro · 8/10 · 6 November 2002]

I've never seen anything quite like this picture before - it's an amalgamation of suspense, supernatural, and social realist genres and is well worth seeking out.

The film chronicles the various goings-on in the lives of several tenants of a crumbling Seoul highrise, primarily through the eyes of a new leasee who becomes caught up in their morally compromised existences. As the film progresses, we come to realize we know less about our narrator then we thought, and that he may be as capable of evil as the other characters.

To sum this film up is difficult, and I haven't even scratched the surface here. It's beautifully written, acted, and directed (by a first-time helmer no less!) and worthy of attention.

Ghostly, psychological thriller of revenge and destruction

[Madame_FFF · 8/10 · 25 August 2005]

Creepy & psychological, with ghostly possession of the apartment building and it's occupants.

There's nothing overtly supernatural about the possession here, it's the creepy human actions that have no reason to be performed unless they were driven by unseen forces out for revenge and destruction. Nobody in this building should have this much creepy, bad luck.

An scarred, emotionally dead, weird, childishly immature, 30-year-old young man moves into a dumpy apartment building where everybody is in fear.

***Spoiler***********

He moves into the apartment, where a writer was killed in a fire after writing a novel detailing how a man beat his wife to death & set fire to the apartment to hide the body, abandoning the baby boy to burn. Oh, and that the ghost mother is orchestrating events to bring back her son to the building.

Meanwhile, the barber/landlord is telling stories how there was a murder, fire and abandoned burned baby boy 30 years ago in the building. He has a photo of the Killer Dad, beaten mother and baby boy.

The 30-year-old "Taxi-driver" meets a troubled gal at the apt., and strikes up a little friendship. (Her Dad had abandoned her after her Mom died mysteriously.) Next thing you know, she's accidentally killed her husband during her daily beating. (Also note, previously, that she accidentally killed her little boy, during the daily beating, the kid got unknowingly locked in the cupboard & suffocated.)

She starts to act motherly towards him and take care of Taxi-driver. Boom, they are having an affair. They get in a fight, he kills her. He's killed before, there's a missing gal in his past, with her jewelry in his fridge, New girl found it, and the cops are investigating. He goes through her wallet, and there's a family photo, with the same Killer Dad, a different mother (rival to the other mother), and this girl.

Hmmm, was it the ghost Mom, channeling through the writer to do the novel, to guide the troubled gal to kill her abuser, yet destroy her life and child because she is the daughter of the mother's rival? Did Mom channel through the son to strangle the girl with the new scarf she gave him, because there can only be one Momma parenting him?

Masterful, disturbing

[marta2046 · 10/10 · 26 January 2005]

An obscure brilliant film, but not recommended for the faint of heart.

Yoon Jong-chan's masterful first feature film is a vision into the "heart of darkness" which relies on brilliant acting, cinematography and directing-- not gratuitous gore-- to tell a disturbing psychological horror story which hints at the supernatural.

The beautiful and painterly visuals transform a drab tenement into a hallucinatory house of horrors without ANY special effects, cliché jump cuts, or loud sound effects.

One of the best films I've seen in years. Left me thinking and questioning reality long after the film ended.

Check it out-- if you can find it.

Sorum-An intelligent horror film by South Korean director Yoon Jong-Chan.

[FilmCriticLalitRao · 8/10 · 30 May 2015]

It is easy to identify most films which are classified as Horror cinema. A large part of them have blood, gore and other gut wrenching scenes. It should come as a relief to horror cinema admirers that 'Sorum' is a different type of horror film. There is blood but it is shown in a very dignified manner. This has somewhat led to its being called an intelligent man's horror film. This film's dramatic elements bring viewers closer to the tragedy which happened three decades ago. Each character is closely observed to ascertain how his/her presence is related to events happening in present times. A wide variety of characters are represented in Sorum namely a young taxi driver, a talkative barber, a failed writer and a harassed wife. South Korean film 'Sorum' had its Indian premiere during 7th International Film Festival of Kerala 2002. Film critic Mr.Lalit Rao has experienced that watching it in 2015 is as interesting as it was in 2002 when he watched it during the film festival.

heartbreaking study of love's fragility

[besht03 · 10/10 · 18 April 2006]

As unlikely as it may seem for a thriller/horror flick, Sorum is a heartbreaking study of love's fragility, set in a crumbling tenement with a dark past in room 504, into which moves the protagonist, a 30-ish orphan taxi-cab driver, still seeking the maternal affection only haltingly admitted in his transient life. He meets a troubled neighbor, an externally tough, but vulnerable worker at a nearby 7-11, and bonds with her by helping dispose of the abusive husband who dies during one of his daily bouts of beating. This shared secret, however, is not the only secret uniting the two lovers and the other tenants of the apartments, inescapably implicated in the unfolding of the barely concealed tragedies that lie at the broken but eerily (if cruelly and perversely) nurturing heart of 504. Incisive psychologically knowing acting, supernatural forebodings, and a progressively tension building mystery are economically and seamlessly integrated in a profoundly affective portrait of the redemptive potential and ghostly possibility of abyss attending our attempts to break into family intimacy.

Huh?

[Agnelin · 15 April 2009]

I don't understand all the great reviews of "Sorum" that I've read on this site, for this movie is extremely disappointing. It is presented to us disguised as a ghost movie -or, more precisely, as a ghost movie inscribed in the Asian horror movie stream-, but the truth is it's merely a badly executed drama with bits of thriller.

It has a good starting point. The basic idea that the plot outline is developed (to call it something) from is a good one -not too complex, but good enough for an interesting and tense movie. The acting is very good. The cinematography and the understanding of the space and the environment is excellent, and this is the best point of the movie, the one where the director shows that he's got talent -we might want to remember that this is apparently his debut. However, the pacing is just disastrous, and it isn't an exaggeration to say that absolutely nothing, or very little, actually goes on for most of the movie's running time. We're just shown scenes of the main characters' lives and how they get on and interact with one another. The main focus is on the character of Sun-yeong, a 30-year-old taxi driver who moves in to a gloomy old apartment complex in Seoul. He gets acquainted with his young and mysterious female neighbor, Yong-hyun, and, to a lesser extent, with the latter's girl-friend and with an unsuccessful novelist -the only four people who stay in the building after a tragic event that happened not long before. For most of the movie's duration, we see the characters speak to each other, do things together, we watch their thoughts, feelings, etc. but nothing really interesting or revealing happens. This is obviously thought of as "character development", but nothing meaningful is contained in all that long series of uneventful events, if I may use that expression. To put it clearly, the movie is extremely boring for the most part, the pacing is awful, and it's easy to guess that the director wanted to be subtle in his process of revealing crucial information, but clearly failed at this.

Most comments talk about the very last part of the movie. I won't deny that it does have some interest, and it's quite horrible and daunting, more in accordance with the general tone of the movie. However, again, the resolution is absolutely confusing and it is necessary to watch the movie again to bring all the missing or unclear pieces together -which, in my opinion, is clearly a serious flaw, because the general public should be able to fully understand every movie at a first viewing, even though they might want to go back for additional or more engrossing detail, but the point or central message of the movie should be delivered without any confusion.

I can't recommend this movie to either the Asian horror movie fans or the fans of the cinema d'auteur.

A character study rather than horror.

[Ramuna · 8/10 · 14 April 2014]

There were times when any of us walk into IMDb, click on certain movie only to find that the rating was way underrated, and for this case I am afraid I am on that unease position. Only last weekend that I got the pleasure of watching this movie once again on blue-ray after the first viewing more than a decade ago and it certainly still hold its charm and value very much.

First, when I say that this movie was underrated, I don't really blame anyone who might be disappointed or mislead by the fact that this movie very much suggest itself a mainstream supernatural horror movie but instead turn out to be more likely a psychological horror and thus gave a low rating to the movie. I can understand that this whole thing is part of market strategy since by the time of this movie being made horror genre are booming in Asian market and the producers might feel the urge to slip in even the slightest of a horror gesture. Yes, one can safely assume so.

Back to the film itself, I am very much agree this was not a film for everybody. The pace was slow but never boring, it was mainly focus on three of our main characters throughout the movie. One is a taxi drive who was on the surface seems like a very decent and nice guy, second is a young and attractive woman who was a regular victim of domestic violence and third is a dime novelist with a work on progress to score his one hit wonder. All of three with their own dark and unpleasant past and all of three share the same creepy and slum apartment building. You are going to have a hunch from start that things are surely gonna turn nasty.

The pace flow so slowly that it was more like a character study instead of a story. You can see how they joy and anger, their bright and dark side, their frustration, desperation and at certain point you might even be attempted to think that there might be supernatural involved. After all, some evidences strongly suggest that somehow our main characters were involved or part of the horrible past occurrence in that same apartment building, is it possible or it is all but cruel coincidence? In the end the movie left you with no blatant explanation, and just as confused as the main character might be, you are to take on your own interpretation.

Final say, I strongly recommended this movie to any fans of horror and thriller genre. For once in a while you gonna find something precious among dirt. this is it!

Mystifying but excellent

[ebeckstr-1 · 8/10 · 19 April 2023]

A very narratively challenging movie, sometimes even more difficult to comprehend in some of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's more oblique films. As others have noted, Sorum consists of the psychological and moral collision of damaged people. There are horror elements but the movie is ultimately a deeply tragic dissection of trauma, culpability and choice, and fate (which in this film seems to pivot on the question of personal choice and repeatedly making the same mistake versus circumstances which may or may not be beyond the control of the characters). I find the plot difficult to follow every time I watch this movie and haven't quite figured everything out to this day. If you think of the building as a sort of House of Usher disintegrating and flickering under the psychic and spiritual trauma projected by the characters that can lend some helpful structure when watching this film. The movie is incredibly atmospheric, with beautiful sound design, photography, and sets.

(Spoilers ahead, because I'm tired of forgetting these details in between viewings: The photographs offer important clues, especially one in a barber shop shown toward the beginning and again right at the very end, as well as photograph taken from the female protagonist's wallet toward the end. The photographs reveal that the two main protagonists are half-brother / half sister, so the themes become even more complex with the idea of the curse being a kind of family or generational "curse" in the way that domestic abuse or poverty can be generationally repeated. In addition, I murdered mother coming back to be with her child, the male protagonist, is sort of manifested--at least symbolically--through the half-sister.)

Profound Characters, Creepy Locations and Mysterious Vibes

[kluseba · 8/10 · 20 December 2021]

Sorum is a South Korean movie that walks off the beaten path as it combines drama, mystery and thriller elements in a profoundly atmospheric way. This is the first feature film of director Yun Jong-chan and features renowned actor Kim Myung-min in his very first movie as well as lead actress Jang Jin-young who had already received critical acclaim for her performances in sports comedy The Foul King and firefighters drama Siren.

The film revolves around a mysterious taxi driver in his early thirties who moves into a decrepit apartment complex. He is only visited once in a while by a friend obsessed with sexual innuendo who brings back negative memories. The lonesome man however gets to know the only remaining residents of the creepy complex. There is an unsuccessful author who has lost his business and dreams of becoming relevant again with a script he has stolen from a former resident of the complex. The former resident's former girlfriend is a piano teacher who gradually isolates herself and doesn't trust anyone around her. Finally, there is a young woman who is in a terrible relationship with an abusive husband who has gambling debts and alcohol problems. One fateful night, the young woman kills her husband in self-defense and asks the lonesome taxi driver for help. They decide to bury the corpse of the deceased in a nearby forest and get involved into an extreme and volatile relationship from there on. Things gradually spiral out of control as the couple faces its past decisions, current issues and strange supernatural events in the creepy complex.

This movie convinces on many levels. The highlights are the excellent locations in form of the decrepit apartment complex, abandoned natural landscapes and dirty roads that establish a gloomy atmosphere from start to finish. Most of the scenes take place on rainy nights which enhances the film's mysterious vibes. The characters also have much depth as we discover completely new sides throughout the movie that end up changing the viewers' perspectives as the film progresses. This film rather utilizes body language and facial expressions than witty dialogues or surprising twists to convey emotions and relationships. The movie has a mysterious vibe that makes it quite tense as it's hard to predict what might be coming next. It will keep you on the edge of your seats until the final scene. The film's pace is slow but quickens up the pace in the final eventful quarter. Sorum is an intellectual exercise as it leaves several questions unanswered and expects the viewers to put the different pieces of the puzzle together or imagine what could still happen once the movie has concluded.

Several reviewers have complained about the fact that they expected Sorum to be a horror movie but that it turned out to be a psychological drama. Once you have accepted that genre categorization, you will however discover a unique movie with much depth that is worth being revisited and analyzed from different perspectives. This underrated atmospheric mystery movie develops an ominous atmosphere right from the very first scene when the lead character first enters the apartment complex and keeps this tense vibe until the very last scene when the lead characters last exits the apartment complex. Anyone who likes atmospheric dramas with an experimental touch that walk off the beaten path should certainly check out this underappreciated timeless gem.