MOST UNDERATED AND UPTILL NOW THE EXCELLENT HORROR FILM IN KOREAN FILM INDUSTRY
RATING: ★★★★★SUMMARY: Ji Woo, a webcomic artist, visits the Gwanglim Mansion after hearing the terrifying rumours about that apartment. The apartment's caretaker, a middle-aged guy, describes a few incidents that occurred there. Ji Woo becomes more and more obsessed.
MY VIEWS: This film tops Gonjam Haunted Asylum in quality. I realise that making such a bold statement considering how well acclaimed this Korean horror film is, but as a horror movie enthusiast, I can assure you that this film will not let you down. The narrative is strong because the movie's many scenes make connections. The story of each character shown in the first chapter is told by the middleman throughout the duration of the film's four chapters. The movie becomes really intriguing when the hints for next scenes are shown, since this demonstrates how precisely the plot was crafted and how skilfully the direction was executed. This movie is obsessed in every way. The middleman telling such stories is a very surprising and distinct character. It resembles watching episodes of short horror stories. There is nothing special to talk about the sets, because all the incidents happens in that apartment. I totally loved it! Creative, Engaging and Terrifying.
RECOMMENDATION: I recommend this movie more than 1 time
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The thing that I loved about the directing was how all the cases were linked together - each chapter had a scene we already saw in a previous story, but from a different perspective.
Chapter 1 - Room 504 - The Writer
One of the weakest plots of all the 5 chapters. While the small details in the background added to the eerie atmosphere, overall I was not impressed. The story was not scary at all, but I have to appreciate the acting from Lee Chang Hoon, who played a driven writer on the edge, because his writing has not been going too smoothly lately. I could feel his frustration.
Chapter 2 - Room 907 - The Pharmacist
The best of all the chapters. From the interesting story, to the creepy visuals - I was sold. The setup for the plot reminded me a little bit of P.T., with the radio station giving news about the murder. The loop of the characters’ actions and the corridor shots that made it seem as if I am there observing the situation, made this my favorite part of the movie.
Chapter 3 - Room 708 - The Salesman
Annabelle, but creepier. Except for the "companion" making me uncomfortable, there is not much to say about this chapter. The pictures created for some scenes were nice, but overall it was more entertaining than scary.
Chapter 4 - Room 604 - The Student
Trigger warning for gross body horror. Pimples and a lot of weird stuff happening to the face of one of the characters. Rather nauseating. That said, the body horror was quite well made - no complaints on my part about the effects and makeup. The story is rather simple, and focuses more on the visual aspect of it.
Final chapter - Room 1504 - The Caretaker
Had one of the scariest scenes from the whole movie - the elevator moment got me on the edge of my seat. The Caretaker concludes the story is a coherent way that makes sense, while leaving a door open for a possible sequel.
Overall, The Grotesque Mansion is just a simple and easy watch. Good for an evening when you might be a bit tired and you want to be entertained, but without forcing your brain to do any work.
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This review may contain spoilers
5 short horror stories about the strange and creepy events that happened on GwangLim Mansion
I was amazed about how the short stories are somehow intertwined together although they have a totally different experiences. All of them narrates different stories about the previous tenants and people involved in GwangLim Mansion. The characters don't really know each other but they bumped into each other at least once throughout the movie giving off that feeling of familiarity although they were like separated by mini episodes, it still feel like a full movie.A bit of disappointment though is that the stories were not really explored that much which made me feel like it lacks depth. I thought that the first hour of the film will serve as build up and the latter part will wrap it up nicely however unfortunately, it remained flat until the very last scene. We know a bit about the mysterious and strange building but there's not much explanation of as to why. I was actually waiting for something more like was there any connection that led JiWoo (SungJoon) there aside from trying to get ideas for his webtoon. Something that will give that surprise factor or that 'I didn't see that coming.' I also felt bad about DaHye's character (Kim BoRa) I didn't even know why she was there. I felt like her screen time was less than 5 minutes. Such a waste of talent.
On a positive note, this film is easy to watch. Even for those people who doesn't like horror movies, I can recommend this. There's very little jumpscare that it won't make you jump. The background music might give you the chills though as it really set the mood of the scene. It was made to feel like you're where the characters are. I pretty much enjoyed it and I kind of want a prequel just so that they can dive deeper about the past of that mansion.
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Those that taking up space at Gwang Lim Mansion
whats up with these 7.5 ish scores. hahaha, its a supernatural movie and I'm really glad it barely use the typical "Jump Scare" tactic to get a rise out of me....Right, so, I've concluded my horror supernatural watching for the month of October with Sung Joon starring in The Grotesque Mansion.
Looking at Ji Woo; he's a struggling webtoon artist and has tanked with his previous toon but not wanting to draw/write another failure went looking for inspiration at the massive Gwang Lim Mansion Apartment.
He sits with the caretaker for a bit of 'tea and tale' of the tenants.
With these interwoven tales and my over thinking "the rules to a good scary movie" plot, I figured out what was to come for Ji Woo half way into the movie.
Keep in mind of my not expecting much from the movie other than a win for Ji Woo, I enjoyed the tales told at Gwang Lim Mansion and its dark leering spaces as each were moral tales.
I say peep this one on Viki or Tubi, If you can handle dark corners and scenes, the unkempt, minor grossness and the hues of blues, black and grey used to tone film the movie.
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Quite decent for a horror flick...
It's got enough suspense to make you sweat at the edge of your seat, but my most favorite part was The Caretaker.It would be good if they also added a bit of a backstory about the GwangLim Church and what horror lies in that closet.
From how the cult leader looked, he must've been in that basement for decades, with all that spell plastered on his body.
But then I kinda knew from the start that the caretaker would be the end game. This is already familiar to me.
At the end of the movie, my guess is that his girlfriend already knew that he's no longer her boyfriend the moment she saw him.
Instinct kicked in.
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The setting Gwanglim Mansion was nice. The building was the same so there was no difference in the direction of each story. Had the same angles of the doors and corridors. The stories intersected with other stories in some scenes but show different perspectives of each story. also shows that all these happened at the same time.
It builds up an average eerie atmosphere but it lacks a finishing touch for most of the chapters. A couple of the chapters are interesting. Not particularly scary.
The actors performances are solid but we are seeing the story through Ji-Woo's perspective, who remains off-screen most of the time and is turn off. We just see strangers dying in the mansion in various ways which aint similar. Which have become stories told by the narrator.
Scary Meter
Room 504 (The writer) - Not scary 7/10
Room 907 ( The Pharmacist) - Very scary 9/10
Room 708 (The Salesman) - Mild 8/10
Room 604 (The Student) - Average 7.5/10
Room 1504 (The Caretaker) - Average 7.5/10
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Good story but not that scary
If you are fan of horror movies with different stories, you must watch this. It's a good movie as all of the stories showed how each stories of each characters are connected and related to each other. It's not that scary for me but I would say that this movie has a good story and it is well made. It's not confusing which I like the most. And also even though I did not got scared while watching, I really liked the acting of the casts. They are really immersed with their characters and I could really feel and get the messages with their acting. I don't know why I just got to know and watch this movie but it's worth to watch.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Curious and Creepy Horror Story
Like with most horror movies almost all the characters were stupid save for writer who was trying to finish a book and so he left what sounded like his difficult marriage to live at this creepy apartment building (not mansion) so that he could focus on his work.The pharmacist kind of deserved her fate considering she was willing to run off with the man whom she'd been having an affair even after learning he killed his wife and kid.
The student who'd returned from abroad should've left his "friend's" apartment immediately after arriving there and seeing what he saw.
Though nicely done for the genre. The audience never gets the real story behind why the apartment building is haunted. It's said that it used to be the sight of a church, but then a dead mummy is found in one apartment chain up in what appeared to be some ritualistic killing with a large amount of money hidden in a nearby closet. Weird. Also, it seemed that strange things happened to the residence of the apartment building even when they left the building, which wasn't explained. It was also never made clear how long the property had be closed and condemned and how long ago all these incidents happened with the people who'd gone missing while living in the building.
Despite these unknowns, this had some nice vignettes and a great, yet predictable, twist in the last chapter. The "scares" weren't scary, but this did have a creep factor. Good movie. Definitely worth a rewatch if one is in the mood for horror.
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