MovieChat Forums > Du saram-yida (2007) Discussion > Underrated? ..I think so.

Underrated? ..I think so.


I was suprised when I looked up this movie after watching
it on Asian-Horror-Movies dot com, the lack of comments and
stars this movie was getting. Yes, it was pretty short, and didn't
have the 'best' effects and scares but I thought this was damn well
a memorable movie.
The twist *spoiler* were the handsome mysterious boy you see throughout
the movie ends up being the curse itself--now that was smart thinking.
And how the curse affected people, especially the ending where the curse
took over the main character without her even noticing. And lets not forget
the best line throughout the movie, "I didn't kill anyone, I just put the
knife in your hand." Amazing. Simple and truly. I think this is really
underrated, sure it may not be the next Tale of Two Sisters but still,
this was pretty damn good.

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I thought it was poorly executed because it has unnecessary herrings. If it wasn't for the "lady in the lake" moment and random scares (the arms from the locker, a creature at the old man's house and so on), it could have been good.

But the biggest problem: the inconsistency of the "curse" itself.

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When it becomes clear what the boy is, we realise when the girl visits the old man with the boy, the old man doesn't see the boy because he doesn't exist. We also realise the boy is the one who had made the phone calls to the old man, preying on his growing paranoia about his wife. With this realisation, it's been going on for decades.

It's a nice move but the problem is, it's not consistent. If the boy has been around for a long time, how is it that he has a reputation at school for killing his father. We also saw a flashback the boy had during his sleep. Reincarnation? Maybe.

Even so, why couldn't the old man see him when the girl's best friend and the others could? (She referred him as a transfer student when Ga-in asked about him.)

We could reason he continued to exist in the girl's mind when she journeyed to the old man's home. But I still think it's better if the 'Who's he?' scene didn't take place.

There are other little inconsistencies, unexplained scenes and small plot holes. If the girl knew her boyfriend since their childhood days, why wasn't she aware of the fire? How did her father know about the old man's home (there's no relation between the old man and her family)? Why has she had visions about some, but not the others?

- Her aunt killed her sister, but no reference to having dreams or meeting the boy. She told Ga-in that she felt something was lurking out there. She wasn't a target of the others. She's a killer. She apparently received no phone call or had any communication with the boy.

- The old man killed his wife because of a letter sent to his wife and the phone calls (we eventually find out it's the boy who made those calls and perhaps the boy also influenced his mother to say she saw his wife with another man).

While with his wife, he had a vision of his wife with another man, which prompted him into killing her. He wasn't a target of the others. He's a killer. He received a phone call after the killing, being questioned about his hidden insecurity.

- Ga-in's classmate tried to kill Ga-in, but got stabbed. She's not a target. She's an attempted killer. Ga-in didn't get a vision. It's possible the classmate met with the boy elsewhere.

- Ga-in's teacher tried to kill Ga-in, but got foiled by Ga-in's childhood friend. He's an attempted killer. Ga-in didn't get a vision, but had a warning sign of what would come (the swords and the locker). It's possible the teacher met with the boy elsewhere.

- Ga-in's mother tried to kill Ga-in, but is foiled. She's not a target, but did try to kill. Although she never tried again, she's an attempted killer. Ga-in didn't get a vision. No clue to whether she met with the boy or received a phone call.

- Ga-in's childhood friend tried to kill her, but is foiled. He's not a target but did try to kill. Ga-in didn't get a vision. When he saved Ga-in from the teacher earlier, the boy was behind the childhood friend, and again when he visited Ga-in on the rooftop where she and the boy were, which means the childhood friend must have met with the boy alone at one time.

- Ga-in's best friend didn't do anything, but Ga-in had a vision, so she ran before the best friend would do anything. Even though the best friend looked surprised at her running away. It's possible she met with the boy at school.

- Ga-in's boyfriend killed Ga-in's family because, or so he said, of a childhood incident. He wasn't a target of the others. He's a killer. Although he's a doctor and an adult, he can show up at school whenever he liked.

- Ga-in was told by the lake woman in a dream she was the next to die. She was attacked by people she knew. Until the end, she isn't a killer. She evidently met with the boy who seemed to spend time warning her as well as "accompanying" her on a trip.

Why is Ga-in so different from the others?

In theory, it's the bride, the new wife and Ga-in's family who should be told they will die. If the bride looked anxious when the nieces met with her, we would later realise that she suffered the same thing Ga-in had. Same with the new wife. Instead we have them looking optimistic and unaware of the curse. Why was Ga-in aware -- she was even warned by the boy before the first attempt on her was made) -- but not them?

Or if she's like the others, Ga-in would be aware of her murderous intentions and will try battle against them, but she never has had these emotions. She killed because she thought she was in a 'kill-or-be-killed' situation.

One could argue that all these people were manipulated into killing the cursed people, but it still doesn't explain who's cursed and how? If the boy chose Ga-in as the Cursed person, why didn't he choose the bride and the wife?


I'm sorry this is so long. I'm just frustrated the film didn't realise its full potential and that it's suffering from the script problems. :(


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And also why didn't Ga-in's father try to kill her?

I did think it was a good movie, I really enjoyed it, but it did leave some confusing questions unanswered, now that you've pointed all of that out, there was alot more questions than I originally thought!

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You seem to be thinking of things linear like most horror movies go and thus you are confused. First off there are 2 stories going on. 1 is her boyfriend getting revenge against her family. She did not know him since her childhood but simply had seen him with his dad on the street, shown in that one flash back. The second story involves the brooding boy who seems to be some kind of demon. He does not make people do evil things but gives them a nudge to do what is in their heart. He planted the seeds of doubt in the old man when he was a newly wed but the man pushed his wife in front of the bus on his own. What he was doing with Ga-In was help her full fill her desire. She stated to her dad she sometimes wished that everyone around her would die and go away. And that is what happens. With her 2 aunts, he uses the jealousy of 1 to destroy them both. 1 aunt kills the other and thus goes to jail, so both are out of Ga-Ins life. As far as the family "curse" I think that it is not true. It is just a way for them to explain the bad things that have happened. As the cop says in one scene in second half of the movie, he has seen a lot happen in just the last week to other people. So if there IS a curse, it is on humans not just the 1 family.

The more I analyze this movie the more I love it. It reveals enough to be a good movie but keeps a lot still open for discussion.

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I wrote lineally for clarity's sake and yes, I'm aware there are two stories. Nothing to do with the film's structure, which I have no problem with.

Your interpretation is interesting and fun to read, but director Oh replied most of my questions two years ago during the 'Five Senses of Eros' promotion tour (his film in this anthology film is "Believe in the Moment"). I'll do my best to remember his replies through an interpreter.

The original version was supposed to be like a "tragic love story repeats itself... infinitely?" The female lake ghost in the film is the girl's first ancestor who was murdered by her own fiancé who killed as revenge. The director had to cut out most of her back story and her role from the main story.

Her story is the beginning of a 'cursed' line through the girl's ancestors and her fiancé's ancestors. The girl and her fiancé were supposed to be reincarnations of their ancestors. In their previous past lives, he was the one who successfully killed her every time. This time with her killing him, the history-repeats-itself curse finally dies. She wins because of the boy's earlier inferences.

Director did say the boy IS a demon who 'curses' people. He's an incubus of some sort, and he survives by living off the energy from unnatural surges of desire, anger, envy, fear and death. The girl's fiancé's secret hatred is what drawn the boy to the girl, who's the centre of all connections. The old man is the girl's father's reclusive uncle and that's how the father knew about the cabin, which isn't mentioned in the final cut.

Director admitted that if there was a chance again, it'd be re-edited to clarify some issues and to close some plot holes, especially why the girl didn't know about the house fire (she knew, but forgot as time went by and her fiancé never talked about it). I have an impression there were creative conflicts, too. This is probably why the film seems chaotic and inconsistent.

You're right about one thing, though. The boy makes the curse work by being drawn to people who unknowingly have secret fears, and he pumps those fears up to the point where they're driven insane. The director referred him as 'the trigger'.

It should be noted that he wanted to call the film 'Divergence', but his preference was overruled.

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I thought it was a good movie, and you do raise some good plot points that could have been shifted a little bit to explain it more.

For example - the "Who's he?" scene could've just been like "Who's he? Who are you talking about Ga-in?" And just her being the only one to see him at that time and place. Later when the twist is revealed that Ga-in has been the one trying to kill them I thought it should've been like there never was a curse, it was just their imagination. That would've been a better twist.

I do understand that the ending is considered as a "how the hell?" or a "what the hell?" moment. Because it was kind of confusing and wasn't completely made clear until the guy tricks Ga-in to stabbing her sister and killing herself when trying to kill him. It was just a "could have done it better" ending, but I'm just saying that.

Thank's for reading!

"Oh my God! She's a boy!"

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I do think it's underrated. It's a very confusing movie but still i loved it.

There's something wrong with Esther.

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agree The movie imo was good I loved it and I usually don't love the Korean horror films. It deserves a better score imo it was interesting enough for me ^^

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Well.... Maybe I wasn't trying that hard to "get" anything out of this movie. As a horror movie, it was really good. It might have had plot holes and whatever else... I didn't care. This film takes you on a fun ride.

Trust me,
Swan
My, you're nosey, aren't you?

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I agree, it wasn't the best movie ever but I like it, a lot.
The rating is too low and the movie isn't that bad, actually the 5.4 score is the reason I didn't give it a chance before.

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