Hope (2026)

Another week, another South Korean movie that has me worrying about which way round I will write the names in order to maintain the correct formatting. Such worries never stop me from diving in to review things though, especially when it's something that has already garnered some strong opinions.

The small village of Hope Harbor has been devastated. That's the only word for it. Ko Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min), the local police chief, starts his day by investigating a dead cow, but soon finds out that many human lives have been loft, and a lot of buildings have been destroyed by some kind of large monster. He's helped by some locals, some more enthusiastic than others, and a less experienced, but very capable, colleague (Im Sung-ae, played by Jung Ho-yeon), as he tries to track and destroy the beast. The good news is that it is possible to hurt it. The bad news is that there may be more than one.

Written and directed by Na Hong-jin, who already has a number of celebrated films to his name, Hope is 160 minutes of what many could view as tense and impressive action. I certainly enjoyed the first 30-45 minutes, which mostly consist of our leading man exploring the destroyed village while trying to find answers to the central mystery. It's when that mystery starts to become far less mysterious that the film starts to go downhill.

Almost everyone who has seen Hope seems to want to say that it's a fun time without a proper ending. While this is true, in some respects, it's also worth mentioning that it's an ugly film, and not for the right reasons. I was astonished to see some of the bad CGI in this, mainly because nobody else seems to mentioned it as something that really takes viewers out of some scenes. Okay, the second half tries to remain fast and frenetic, and there are some superb stunts, but it's still hard to sit back and enjoy something with such awkward and unpleasant imagery. It's maybe not PSOne era stuff, but it certainly doesn't feel as if it belongs in a 2026 feature film.

Jung-min and Ho-yeon are great in their main roles, and they maintain the right feeling of nerves and adrenalin throughout. Zo In-sung plays another character who ends up working with them, and he does a great job at being a bit more strong-willed and fearless for most of the runtime. While both Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander are credited, they are unrecognisable as they portray two of the main creatures laying waste to the village and village residents.

The trailer for this had me excited, and I was very much ready for another slice of greatness from Na Hong-jin. Sadly, this wasn't anywhere near as good as I hoped it would be (no pun intended). It needed trimmed down in places, it needed an ending that was either more satisfying or more of a tease for anything else to come, and it needed much more time and money spent on some of the VFX. There's good stuff here, but it's surrounded by a number of major errors.

5/10

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Shudder Saturday: The Medium (2021)

The only reason I didn't get around to watching The Medium any sooner was due to the runtime. 130 minutes is far from the lengthiest movie runtime I have sat through (although I think I have made my thoughts on the bloated art of Lav Diaz clear enough), but I kept filling up my viewing schedule with shorter, generally "easier", choices. Which is something I should really stop doing, particularly when it delays me enjoying something as good as this.

It's all about a documentary crew following a medium named Nim (Sawanee Utoomma). Nim has spent many years possessed by the spirit of a local deity, but she only ended up that way because her sister, Noi (Sirani Yankittikan), didn't want to accept her destined role. Noi doesn't seem to have had the most fortunate life since turning her back on the chance to become a medium, but things may be about to change as her daughter, Mink (Narilya Gulmongkolp), looks set to be chosen as the successor to her Aunt Nim. But details soon come to light that cast doubt on the whole situation, and Nim wonders just what is force is trying to gain hold of her neice.

Director Banjong Pisanthanakun really knows how to make effective scares. Their directorial feature debut was Shutter, still a highly recommended ghost movie, and they have spent most of the past two decades delivering a nice variety of chilling tales. Writers Chantavit Dhanasevi (who has worked with Pisanthanakun a number of times) and Na Hong-jin (who is on a real role after working on The Chaser, The Yellow Sea, and The Wailing before this) do a fantastic job of setting up the situation and characters before starting to develop a building sense of dread, drip-feeding the weird and scary moments until just really letting loose in a finale that is full of nightmare imagery.

Utoomma is good in her role, as is Yankittikan, but it's Gulmongkolp who becomes the focus of the film, with viewers getting to watch her behaviour become more and more erratic as she is unwillingly changed by a selfish spirit. Gulmongkolp is excellent, starting off as a typically bright and fairly happy young woman before quickly changing for the worse. Aside from the moments of horror and/or madness, Gulmongkolp excels as she shows the strain of carrying a burden she cannot seem to put her finger on. Her mind and spirt may be a battleground, but her body is just as much a casualty.

Shot in the "found footage"/documentary style, this does a lot of what you expect from that format. You get moments in which footage is checked and found to contain some extra horror. You get details that don't necessarily come into focus during the first sweep of the camera. There's some night-vision work during the final act. It feels better than most though. Although things go from bad to worse, it's not entirely implausible to think of a documentary crew sticking around to get some footage that will give them some instant fame, kudos, and notoriety. Of course, there's no easy exit when people realise, far too late, that they really need to make their escape.

Full of impressive moments, with a runtime that doesn't feel as long as it is, and with a small handful of characters that are nicely fleshed out, The Medium is a near-perfect modern horror. You are drawn into a strange world, unless you have spent a lot of time in Thailand, and the film-makers acclimatise you to the lifestyle and the large role that faith plays in the lives of everyone shown before dragging you along an increasingly dark path that you just know isn't going to end anywhere pleasant.

9/10

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The Chaser (2008)

Joong-ho (Kim Yoon-seok) is a pimp, but he also happens to be an ex-detective. When yet another of his girls (Seo Yeong-hie) goes missing, despite his best attempts to keep her safe, Joong-ho gets on the trail before it gets too cold. He finds himself crossing paths with Young-min Jee (Ha Jung-woo) and soon realises that he is the man responsible for the loss of his girls. Joong-ho assumes that Young-min Jee has been selling the girls on, but it's a lot worse than that. Young-min Jee is a crazed killer and once he confesses to the police it becomes a race against time as Detective Lee (Jeong In-gi) and his colleagues try to get more evidence and build a case before having to release their man. Joong-ho, on the other hand, doesn't need to build a case. He just needs the police to give him enough time alone with Young-min to beat the truth out of him.

Directed by Na Hong-jin, who also co-wrote the script with Shinho Lee and Hong Won-chan, The Chaser is another film from South Korea that has already bagged itself a loyal fanbase. I saw it after it was highly recommended on a number of occasions, but I must admit that it just didn't work for me. With its mix of humour, grit, drama, ludicrousness, brutality and (fleeting) sweetness, it just didn't settle into one particular genre/style that I could really get into. I'm not saying that blending so many elements automatically makes for a lesser film - many fine movies have been appreciated so much BECAUSE they mix things up - but I don't think that the mix worked in this instance.

That's not to say that many of the individual elements don't succeed. The script blends all of the required information through some decent characterisations. The acting from Yoon-seok and Jung-woo is great, as is the acting from Yeong-hie, In-gi, Bon-woong, and young Kim Yoo-Jeong  (playing the daughter of the missing woman). The tension does build in places due to the race against time to gather necessary evidence to make a case against a killer, but none of these things ever feel as if they're all blended together into one whole movie experience.

Definitely not a movie that I'd tell people to avoid, it's just one that I'd encourage you to approach with caution. You may end up being one of the many viewers who think of the film as yet another modern classic from South Korea, but you may not. As long as you don't get your hopes up too high I think you'll find a number of moments worth your time, at the very least.

6/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Chaser-DVD-Hing-Jin-Na/dp/B001HSHG74/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1366165991&sr=8-2&keywords=the+chaser