Tag: South Korea

In Search for Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman, A South Korean Horror Fantasy

It’s not just supernatural hijinxs that’s going on in Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman but also there’s a past this good doctor must confront if he’s to save the day.

Dr Cheon and The Lost Talisman Proper Movie PosterWell GO USA
Release Date: Oct 6, 2023

In South Korea, the belief in ghosts is very real, and it’s best not to annoy them. In Dr. Cheon and The Lost Talisman (천박사 퇴마 연구소: 설경의 비밀), this spiritualist better be on his A-game if he’s to best them. But when he’s mostly a huckster, preying upon others’ fear of the unknown, what he discovers awakens memories he’d rather forget.

That’s because this individual (wonderfully played by Gang Dong-Won) lost a brother and his grandfather to an evil sorcerer. This individual wants the gift of true vision since he can’t do it himself. He wants to look into the spirit world and that isn’t easy. In this film, they are referred to as seolgyeong. As for what they are, lost souls or the divine, it doesn’t matter. And unless Cheon is willing to save others from losing their eyes to a dark mage (Joon-ho Huh), they will die. Continue reading “In Search for Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman, A South Korean Horror Fantasy”

Gangnam Zombie Has Some Style in Time for The Season of the Witch

Although Gangnam Zombie is nothing like other films in this subgenre produced in South Korea, the metaphors aren’t totally lost to anyone watching.

Gangnam Zombie blu-ray case
Available on VOD and to purchase on Amazon USA

Well GO USA

The best part of Lee Soo-sung’s movie Gangnam Zombie is the stylish opening credits which outlines everything viewers need to know about the creation of the virus that can turn people into the walking dead and why it got contained. Had that been the movie, I’d rank it as the best part than the actual story that’s presented.

After two robbers break into a freight container to steal some random goods, presumably from the lab that made the mutagen, they encounter a cat who attacks one of them! The other is concerned but before he can take his pal to the hospital, gets attacked and presumably bitten! After rolling unconscious into the river and coming too much later, that’s when the opening credits roll and somehow, the covid-19 pandemic is to blame!

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Don’t Fly Me to “The Moon” (더 문) in 2023, Because it’s Dangerous!

Ultimately, The Moon does a better job at recognizing the dangers of space flight given where our current technology is at. We don’t have fancy shields common in futuristic sci-fi yet.

The Moon (2023) Movie Poster - South KoreaWell GO USA
Now Playing at Select Theatres
(Please check local listings)

Yong-hwa Kim‘s The Moon blows Ridley Scott’s The Martian right out of the water because once I got invested in Hwang Sun-woo’s plight through the flashbacks, all I can hope for is that he’ll survive! After a solar storm strikes the spacecraft and kills the pilots, he’s alone! This astrophysicist will have to make moonfall somehow if he’s to survive and Doh Kyung-soo (from South Korean-Chinese boy band Exo) is actually quite good at looking scared, when he attempts the impossible. Not only are the odds are against him at being able to pilot a sophisticated craft, but also get to get rescued is another story altogether.

Continue reading “Don’t Fly Me to “The Moon” (더 문) in 2023, Because it’s Dangerous!”

Mother Land is More Than Just A Simple Siberian Fairy Tale

What makes this stop-motion animatedmovie magical is in how Mother Land connects us to what’s truly important, the love one has with nature and to not dextoxify it!

Mother Land (South Korean) Movie PosterJuly 30 2:00 PM at the Salle J.A. De Sève
Please click here to buy tickets

Siberia is a world few people have visited, and to visit it in Mother Land (Eommaui Ttang) is more than a peek into the mystic. This gorgeous stop-motion animated film directed by Park Jae-beom looks at the life of one nomadic tribe as they face common dangers. I’m left wondering if it’s worth moving to live in a modern city. Although the reindeer they heard help sustain them, is that enough?

In this movie, Krisha (Lee Yun-ji) and her younger brother Ggolrya (Kim Seo-yeong) must look out for each other. That’s the advice their mother gave. They are precious to the tribe, and when mama rushed to protect her child from a falling piece of lumber, the injury did more than knock the wind out of her. Something else has taken her spirit too, and the illness is not as simple as the local healer thinks.

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Ready for Fantasia Film Festival 2023? We got our Top 20 Epic Picks!

There’s lots to see and thrill to at Fantasia Film Festival 2023, and we got our choice picks on what fans of animation, horror and fantasy to see!

Fantasia Film Festival 2023 DatesThe best genre movie gala in Canada is almost here, and Fantasia Film Festival 2023  has a lot to offer! Over the three weeks, fans of horror, sci-fi, fantasy, drama and animation have a lot to pick from, and we got our list. Just how much one can take in per day depends on how much sleep and culture from this city one wants to take in (and how deep our pockets are to partake in everything). Montreal, Quebec is a mecca for all things classical and noveau.

As this celebration is back to being an in-person festival, so must the digital side disappear. That’s alright, since watching a film must also include the experience of sharing your joy with fellow movie-goers. This year’s spotlight includes a focus on Korean cinema, honouring Nicholas Cage with a career achievement award. (Update: Due to the writer’s strike, all celebrity guests cannot attend). He stars in SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL (playing July 22nd at the Auditorium des diplômés de la SGWU). Just when fans thought he was over the top in Renfield, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!

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Robotics, Existentialism and Jung_E. So What’s The Glitch?

To truly understand Jung_E may well require a sequel. This android’s future is in question and when it has pictorial moments right out of Gunnm, a Japanese manga I love, the similiarites I’m finding demand it.

jung_e posterAvailable on Netflix

In the future, the planet Earth is no longer habitable, and humanity’s life in orbital colonies has become harder. A civil war broke out after some of them formed their own government. In the conflict Jung_yi (Kim Hyun-joo) the soldier, not Jung_E the android, become a legend. The movie explores a bit of her life and sadly, she’s no Joan of Arc. I would have appreciated that nod, but she is just another model in the production line.

This replicant whom analysts are studying has this woman’s memories, but it’s tough to figure out what made the woman tick. Her decoration is because she pulled a Hail Mary. Through flashbacks, we learn why she became a soldier. And although this story is solid, I was hoping for more about the current state of affairs between why the Allied Forces want to fully clone her and why this war against the Andrian Republic lasted this long.

At first, I thought this movie may be a take on Battle Angel Alita (Gunnm)’s complex themes of existentialism. To put a consciousness in another body has consequences. But here, it doesn’t go further than to understand Jung’s memories. She’s a skilled fighter and can lead an army. But to replicate all of that to other clones requires digitising those memory engrams that make her tick.

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