[Bloody Reunion]
Plot:After 16-years pass, a group of former students decide to visit their sickly, wheel-chair bound teacher Ms. Park at her country cottage for an impromptu class reunion before the frail woman dies.

Once the tearful hellos are complete, it becomes clear that the ex-classmates have blossomed into raging alcoholics, bulimics and plastic surgery addicts, thanks to Ms. Park's early childhood schooling. Soon, the happy gathering turns into a nightmare as old grudges and hidden truths surface and one by one the former classmates vanish in a series of unforgettably gruesome and mysterious murders.

Cast:Seong-won, Jang Eung-su, Kim Dong-kyu Lee.

My Thoughts:Pretty complicated, even for asian horror.

Review:"Bloody Reunion" is a South Korean horror pic from filmmaker Dae-wung Lim, and was penned by scribe Se-yeol Park, this being Park's first writing gig by the way. The movie follows a teacher who falls ill. Her name is Ms. Park, and once she becomes wheelchair bound after her illness, her former students from 16 years prior, show up to visit her. But they come as more of a hinderance to her than any help.

The reunion is sweet and nice at first, but it soon becomes clear all of these people have problems. Serious ones. They soon begin to project their self-loathing, bulemia, and other issues onto their teacher, and in some cases...each other. To make matters worse, as if they aren't bad enough already with the squabbling and anger, there's a serial killer lurking the grounds of the teachers home. And the killer is targeting all of Ms. Park's ex students. So why is this happening?

And what connection does the killer share to Ms. Park and her students? "Bloody Reunion" seems like something an american filmmaker, writer, or studio would come up with. A class reunion turning ugly due to personal gripes, and then turning even uglier when a killer starts targeting the group. But unlike in American cinemas, where the film would've been made to be pretentious, boring, cliche, and poorly dialogued, this movie takes a more mature approach to the characters, and carnage which ensues throughout the picture. It really delves into the psyche, and souls of these people.

And shows you just how screwed up most of them are. And how being out in the world can allow them to hide such flaws, but at the same time, a gathering with old classmates can bring those flaws bubbling back up to the surface once more. An interesting conundrum indeed. You also get to watch this reunion go from bright and happy at the start, to very dark, mean, and ugly later on. And the break down in communcation and civility is not just thrust upon the viewer too early.

It comes in slow drips as the characters spend more time with one another, and their old teacher. This is then intertwined with the fact that a masked killer is biding his or her time, and when they see an opportunity, taking out the reunionees. The anger, angst, and hatred within the house then grows stronger and more pervasive when bodies and blood begin being discovered. Which of course leads to the remaining reunionees turning on one another and engaging in finger-pointing, blame-throwing, etc. Which plays right into the killers hands in the big scheme of things.

The movie also gives you this intriguing underlying subplot about who the killer may be, all the while showing a few flashbacks which tie into what's occuring in the present. And as difficult as it may seem on paper, the movies manages to balance all of this quite nicely, and end things on a twisted and shocking note when the conclusion of the story rolls around. But even with the pretty out there ending, "Bloody Reunion" still manages to be a horror movie which chooses to go with real human emotion, and use the dark side of the human condition as the catalyst for it's horror, instead of going too much within the fantasy route. And that's what makes it worth seeing.

Positives:Solid story, solid acting, some very twisted and ominous imagery, and a very suspenseful and shocking conclusion.

Negatives:The flashbacks can become overbearing at times.

Overall:Three and a half out of four stars.





( Talk about it in the Forums!)



( Back to the main page)