Estranhos do Inferno

Gruesome

From start to finish, the show was incredibly well pieced together. The main setting at them goshiwon really captured the creepy feeling of someone watching you at every moment. From Lee Dongwook creepily staring through a small hole in the wall to the camera panning over / through walls, you felt like another person peeping into hell. At certain points you pitied the characters, regardless of their "morals" (which it seemed every character was twisted). Some parts of the show are confusing leaving me with unanswered questions, but doesn't that just add to the suspense? The last episode is a long and bumpy ride leaving me wide-eyed and honestly begging for a season 2!

Overall, it's a binge-worthy show that will leave you feeling all sorts of different emotions. Dramas like this are a big harder to come by specifically because of how swift-paced the show is. No long and boring introduction to the plot, no gaps between conflict, and nothing unnecessary to the plot. Even the soundtrack was very good!

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Very underwhelming and boring

First of all let me say Si Wan was the only reason this show was kind of entertaining. If he wasn't here this would've been a DRAG. I truly don't understand why y'all gave this show its flowers when it was in fact not deserved in the slightest. This was only 10 episodes long (I thought it was at least 16 episodes) but somehow went by so slow. 9/10 of the show was very repetitive for literally no reason and just wasn't needed? Like what's the point of being secretive about what's going on when we know damn well?? Like just get to the point please. The last episode is when things finally get going but by then it's way too late. The last couple of scenes were good though. The show wants to be creepy so bad but it only works in the first episode because of its subtleness. After that it just gets tiring. There was just no story here. The actors did the best they could with what they were given which wasn't much. Definitely wouldn't rewatch.

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Necesitaba más capítulos.

"Extraños del infierno" cuenta la historia de un escritor de novelas policiales que se muda a un edificio muy desagradable en Seúl, lugar en el que le toca convivir con vecinos muuuy extraños. Él, que no tiene el dinero para irse a vivir a un lugar mejor, comienza poco a poco a descubrir los secretos que esconden estas personas tan peculiares.

Voy a empezar por las cosas que sí me gustaron:

1) ¡La ambientación está buenísima! Los distintos escenarios en los que transcurre la historia acompañan muy, muy bien la esencia de la misma.
2) Los actores trabajan increíblemente bien. Lee Dong Wook es fantástico, Pak Jong Hwan se roba todas las escenas en las que está y Lee Joong Ok no podría ponerme más nerviosa ni aunque quisiera.
3) Es súper oscura y entretenida desde el principio, no me aburrió en ningún momento.
4) El final me dejó bastante conforme, me gustó que dejaran algunas cosas a la interpretación (aunque sé que no todos piensan así y por eso me pareció buena idea mencionarlo).

Ahora bien, no todo me encantó, hubo varias cositas que para mí no terminaron de funcionar bien, sobre todo en lo que respecta a la cantidad de capítulos y el manejo de la información. La serie solo tiene 10 episodios y en este caso los 16 hubieran venido como anillo al dedo, ya que siento que los personajes (sobre todo los vecinos) terminan quedando medio "planos". Me hubiera gustado saber más sobre ellos, que tuvieran un contexto más definido.

Otro punto "negativo" que se me ocurre es que en ningún momento logró ponerme tensa de verdad y puede que esto fuera justamente por la falta de información que mencioné anteriormente (el hecho de que "Save Me" sea del mismo guionista y tenga un estilo muuuy similar le juega en contra, ya que esa serie es experta en ponerte de los nervios, y eso que en ningún momento se va para el lado del "terror").

En fin, un dorama interesante que podría haber sido muchísimo mejor de haber tenido más capítulos y villanos más "profundos".
Eso sí, a pesar de lo negativo, la recomiendo mucho.

IG de reseñas cortas: @altoplottwist

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Not that amazing.

I am torn, the story begins as the synopsis indicates and that a young man - Yoon Jong‑woo - will live in a residence where his neighbors are more than suspicious.

The problem is that there are only 10 episodes, and they could have made more use of them.
We practically have to wait for episode 3 to have a first interaction between our two protagonists, and it is neither memorable nor long. The build-up is slow, not much happens except the fact that we know from episode 1 what kind of people are his neighbors, it's a shame that it's not a surprise or a revelation for later, it would have been nice for the audience to wonder who is who.
So basically, until episode 7, the plot is slow - which is not a problem in other series - but here the interactions between our two characters are rare, there are no surprises and major revelations. Seems more like it's the build-up to why Yoon Jong‑woo freaks out and gets violent.
I agree with a review that says the show is all about insanity. The story isn't that amazing and it's really focused on our main protagonist going from normal young man to giving a free ride to his violence, the series has build-up only that.
I would have liked more, more between our characters who have a certain chemistry, that we understand more the motives of these characters since they are not mysterious.
All we have are two twins who giggle and are murderous, an equally murderous perv, the manager who seems just as crazy, and Seo Moon‑jo the creepy dentist. It feels more like these characters are here for the grand finale and when people will inevitably have to die.

I would say otherwise that the atmosphere and the tones of the series are well created, it's more or less scary, dark and horrifying. The overall production is good - but there are plot holes - and the actors, all without exception, fit into their roles perfectly, but none of the characters marked me personally.
Like I said already, the two protagonists interact very little, and suddenly Seo Moon‑jo decides that Yoon Jong‑woo is very special to him, without there being a tangible relationship between the two, except Seo Moon‑jo being creepy since the beginning and stalking Yoon Jong‑woo.
It's really the relationship that pops up, out of the blue, which is why I wish I had more episodes or else had them interact earlier so it doesn't seem so sudden.

The very end - the last ten minutes - is really the exciting part of the show, that ending is open ended, our character is inevitably changed, and there's a last minute twist, which leaves us with a possibility for a season 2 - even if I doubt it - and the return of a character.

But it's a nice crime series overall, it's not the scariest of the lot, nor the best scripted, but it's nice for those who like the genre, not a lot of mysteries though, it's more into the impact of scenes that are made to be scary and made us feel for Yoon Jong‑woo, but hey without suspense, it's hard to keep an interest.
The characters play their roles well even if I would have hoped for more, even coming from our two protagonists whose performance is good but nothing more.

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Too slow paced and boring

I dont even know where to start. So this ML got discharged from the military due to physical violance, and he moved to Seoul to work as an intern with a school friend, who at one point was trying to steal his girlfriend. This broke ML ended up boarding up in a room at a shady looking boarding apartment. His girlfriend isnt much of a personality too, too selfish to even listen to her boyfriend’s worry about his less than ideal mysterious accomodation.

The pacing of this series is sooooooo daaaaaaang slow that I took 2 days to finish 1 episode (the fastest) and 3-4 in my lazy days. So yeah the suspense is there, but dang boy cant they make the pace any faster? It takes forever to get over to the next scene. And the ML keep getting gaslighted by people around him when he expressed his suspicion on the shady people living in that boarding house. Just when he was about to discover something dark, bammmm it got covered up. It’s infuriating. So am definitely dropping this. Nothing personal on the actors, everyone did a great job. It’s just the writing that pissed me off. So bye bye - remove from watchlist and continue watching!

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Amazing plot, great actors, awesome soundtracks and a rewatch value of 100%

So this is actually the first time i am writing a review but after watching this drama i just haad to write a review and praise this it. That being said, lets jump straight into the review. The plot of the drama was very well stocked, it started out pretty normally and slow so that you can get into the story step by step and then it adds to the intensity episode by episode. Every and i am saying every character was amazingly acted out by the wonderful actors/actresses and i want to praise one the most, which was the mentally disabled twins. That actor played his character so well i couldn't believe how he can keep up his role that well all the time. The scenery was greatly shot and i loved every moment of it. As soon as he entered the "Eden" Studio, that atmosphere of real creepiness instantly kicked in. The soundtracks backed up everything that was going on in the drama, they were just really filling that plot with creepiness. ONE THING and only this one thing that i missed in this drama was the background stories of every character living there, like i would have liked to know a bit more about them. I mean they tell how it got to that point and stuff but yeah more developed background stories would have been great. But maybe its more developed in the webtoon so yeah. All in all it's rewatchable and i will rewatch it for all the details i missed at the beginning of the drama when i didn't really know where it was going yet. So great work, hope to see more dramas like this!

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Review of "Strangers from Hell"

"Strangers from Hell" – I must say I was drawn in by the title and the themes it explores. It's a psychological thriller, which is what I love.

Usually.

Sadly, I'm coming back to you with a rating of 6.5/10. It's not a bad rating, but rather a mixed one.

So, why? While I appreciated the eerie atmosphere and the actors' performances, I found the episodes to be excruciatingly slow. It could just as well have been a two-and-a-half-hour movie or a short five-episode series...

That's if we keep the story as it is.

The storyline: Honestly, there are much better shows on the same theme, but we'll make do with this one. There are so many inconsistencies that I couldn't note them all...

Staying in an apartment where you know crazy people live?
Never leaving?
Sorry, but I'd rather sleep outside... He stays there so briefly that he could have just taken a week at a hotel instead...
His girlfriend, sorry but what was the point? She never listened, never made the slightest effort. And worse, at the beginning, we were led to believe they were far apart, but it turns out they weren't at all...
Our main character undergoes a complete personality change between episodes 8 and 9, with no middle ground.
It's a shame because there was potential.

Story: Okay but poorly executed.
Acting: Okay
Characters: Could be better.
Plot: Where is it? We know everything in the first few episodes.
The only question we ask is whether the dentist is still alive... and that will be the only question.

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