Why, oh why, South Korea, do you give us BLs that are too short as a series &/or not long enough as episodes? Especially when you appear to be rising to your Golden Era of the genre? *sigh*
🤣🤣🤣 Maybe another series. I’d love to watch it, but please not this one. ðŸ˜
Honestly, I very much doubt P'Jane did it. Usually, these types of works try to keep the main protagonists redeemable, & I think P'Jane manipulating N'Jane into a contract via that particular method would be entirely unforgivable to most of the audience, thereby spoiling the romantic fantasy.
Yes. Which, as I stated, I have found increasingly less interesting over time. It's entirely possible I have aged out of this particular genre treatment..."morally grey" seems less like a layered character than a cop-out archetype to make HEA happen.
Most importantly give me villain x villain arc where both of them are equally horrible and no one overshadows…
I would so thoroughly enjoy that. Villains (& near-villains) fall in love, too, after all. As well, I think there are an overabundance of BL "bad guys" being pulled up, & not nearly enough BLs about "good guys" being dragged down. Some of my favourite parts of 'toxic' stories like "My Stand-In" were those in which we witnessed our protagonist descend to meet their black-flag lover at their level.
I was intrigued beginning to end by "To My Shore", & I think that has the same author as "Filth"...?
It would be so exciting if P'Jane manipulated that entire situation to force N'Jane into a contract. I find "deeply flawed" characters increasingly, predictably tiresome; give me irredeemably cruel & mercilessly possessive, no apologies & no redemption arcs. Give me the kind of laser-focused villainy that has its prorities sorted & the type of sensual iniquity that enjoys breaking its toys. Make all the menace really mean something. I want to despise P'Jane more than I did Ming and adore him more than I did Vegas. With ambivalent gusto.
I spent a good portion of this movie wondering how it didn't start with all of these characters doing 10-to-20. This is the sloppiest heist work I have ever seen, even for one of these films. Leaving fingerprints and DNA everywhere, getting caught on every CCTV under the damn sun, often mid-crime, constantly shouting one another's names in rooms full of witnesses, spending tons of time with their marks while unmasked and in memorable personas, absolutely unprofessional shenanigans all over the place.
Pepsee and Macao Park seemed the most competent of the lot but that's not saying much. Frankly, those two and their story felt like it was in a whole other movie, one I think I would've enjoyed a lot more than this one. Everything else seemed like so much background noise.
While the flick had an excellent cast, there were too many characters and not enough screen time to go around. And because it never feels like these people are a team, rather than a collection of loosely affiliated reprobates, the stakes were irrelevant. Ultimately, I didn't care what happened to any of them by the end, and I certainly did not care who won or lost.
But speaking of—did I hear correctly? One of these doofuses only got four years after all that? They forged documents to commit a crime with extremely illegal weapons on foreign soil. They took hostages. There was a shoot out. People died. The hell...?
Yes, the story is a bit thin, and most of the NC scenes are laughable (if he's got to keep the briefs on, fine, but then reblock and/or reframe the shot; seriously, what are we doing?), and the dead fish kisses are just so bizarre, but I genuinely liked these characters. I was charmed by how they interacted, I blushed at their sweet inner thoughts, I didn't roll my eyes at the fluff, I saw real tenderness in their physical and psychological gestures toward one another, and I appreciated the humour and that these two grown men behaved, all things considered, like experienced Adults. I enjoyed the brief glimpse into their private world.
I truly wasn't expecting to like this series as much as I ultimately did but, frankly, I'm going to miss these two. I'd watch another season.
Even for a Sammo Hung or Donnie Yen completist, I can't recommend this one. It had some potential but it felt rushed and unfocused, and the few fight scenes aren't worth sitting through the whole movie. The big set piece brawl between Yen's and Hung's characters was suitably big and loud but I thought the technique work in the fight with the assassin was more engaging.
I don't want to put you off it. There were elements I truly enjoyed about the series; they just didn't quite gel for me.
If it had been a series entirely about everyday Korean resistance to brutal Japanese rule, that would have been a fantastic series. If it had been a period horror tale about a ravenous, terrifying monster targeting everyone, Japanese and Korean alike, that would have been a fantastic series. But those two narratives, together, just didn't quite work here. You could almost hear someone standing outside the writer's room to occasionally bang on the door and yell, "Hey, don't forget the monster!"
Try maybe three episodes. If you're not even a little intrigued at that point, it's probably not going to grab you later.
As for other suggestions:
I know you're seeking K-Drama recs but, if you enjoyed "If Wishes Could Kill", definitely check out the Japanese series "Re/Member" and the Thai series "The Girl From Nowhere". Horror and high tension in spades. "Re/Member" is a movie and has a sequel but it's...not as good.
For K-Dramas: well, again, it depends on your threshold for "scary." I think Korea does great horror in cinema, but their TV shows seem more focused on the psychological terror of the mundane made eerie.
In that vein, I really enjoyed "Dear X". It's not horror, but the oppressive, almost unrelenting psychological terror of it was often spine-shivering.
There's also "Strangers From Hell", though I found it more deliciously disturbing than scary.
"The Guest" is also far better than it has any reason to be. As I mentioned, I don't find the supernatural scary, but I do know several folks who found many parts of the series terrifying. I liked it because it's so well-acted, beautifully scripted, and the characters really make you hope and wish and beg and plead that they please not die. I was invested the whole way through.
"Parasite: The Grey" is absolutely worth a look, if only for the abject weirdness of it all. The horror and tension don't last through the entire series but the first third to half of the series is arresting.
And my last recommendation is "The Silent Sea". I actually dropped it because it wasn't holding my attention, but I've heard positive things about it and have considered picking it up again. I've heard it's plenty scary and tense, and that the mystery is engaging, but I can't vouch for it myself.
If you want K-horror or J-horror film recommendations, that's where I'm a real expert, but I hope these suggestions help!
That depends on your threshold for "scary". I don't believe in the supernatural, so I don't tend to find supernatural creatures or the stories about them frightening, even in a horror genre. But "Gyeongseong Creature" is less a supernatural horror story than a science-gone-homicidally-wrong story, set amidst the Japanese occupation of Seoul.
The story is essentially a missing-persons mystery with political trappings. If you're sensitive to certain histories, the colonialism elements can be stressful. Honestly, the psychological aspects of the narrative are more present and consistent than any monster shenanigans. It's been a while since I saw it, but I do recall being bored more often than I expected.
In terms of jump scares and gore, I think you'll be fine if you had no issues with, say, "Kingdom", "Hellbound", or "Sweet Home". A friend of mine who saw it said he kept forgetting there was even a monster in the show because there's so much else going on in the plot.
Kind of like Grendel in "Beowulf". Barely there, but without it, there really isn't a story.
I'm not hating on anyone for sharing an opinion about the series. I am, however, rightfully calling out people for asserting that I'm "miserable" because I didn't like a TV show, or that I'm not permitted to voice an opinion just because it's one they don't like.
That I didn't really enjoy the show is as valid an opinion as that of those who loved it, even if it seems "negative" to you.
I was intrigued beginning to end by "To My Shore", & I think that has the same author as "Filth"...?
Pepsee and Macao Park seemed the most competent of the lot but that's not saying much. Frankly, those two and their story felt like it was in a whole other movie, one I think I would've enjoyed a lot more than this one. Everything else seemed like so much background noise.
While the flick had an excellent cast, there were too many characters and not enough screen time to go around. And because it never feels like these people are a team, rather than a collection of loosely affiliated reprobates, the stakes were irrelevant. Ultimately, I didn't care what happened to any of them by the end, and I certainly did not care who won or lost.
But speaking of—did I hear correctly? One of these doofuses only got four years after all that? They forged documents to commit a crime with extremely illegal weapons on foreign soil. They took hostages. There was a shoot out. People died. The hell...?
*squints harder*
I truly wasn't expecting to like this series as much as I ultimately did but, frankly, I'm going to miss these two. I'd watch another season.
If it had been a series entirely about everyday Korean resistance to brutal Japanese rule, that would have been a fantastic series. If it had been a period horror tale about a ravenous, terrifying monster targeting everyone, Japanese and Korean alike, that would have been a fantastic series. But those two narratives, together, just didn't quite work here. You could almost hear someone standing outside the writer's room to occasionally bang on the door and yell, "Hey, don't forget the monster!"
Try maybe three episodes. If you're not even a little intrigued at that point, it's probably not going to grab you later.
As for other suggestions:
I know you're seeking K-Drama recs but, if you enjoyed "If Wishes Could Kill", definitely check out the Japanese series "Re/Member" and the Thai series "The Girl From Nowhere". Horror and high tension in spades. "Re/Member" is a movie and has a sequel but it's...not as good.
For K-Dramas: well, again, it depends on your threshold for "scary." I think Korea does great horror in cinema, but their TV shows seem more focused on the psychological terror of the mundane made eerie.
In that vein, I really enjoyed "Dear X". It's not horror, but the oppressive, almost unrelenting psychological terror of it was often spine-shivering.
There's also "Strangers From Hell", though I found it more deliciously disturbing than scary.
"The Guest" is also far better than it has any reason to be. As I mentioned, I don't find the supernatural scary, but I do know several folks who found many parts of the series terrifying. I liked it because it's so well-acted, beautifully scripted, and the characters really make you hope and wish and beg and plead that they please not die. I was invested the whole way through.
"Parasite: The Grey" is absolutely worth a look, if only for the abject weirdness of it all. The horror and tension don't last through the entire series but the first third to half of the series is arresting.
And my last recommendation is "The Silent Sea". I actually dropped it because it wasn't holding my attention, but I've heard positive things about it and have considered picking it up again. I've heard it's plenty scary and tense, and that the mystery is engaging, but I can't vouch for it myself.
If you want K-horror or J-horror film recommendations, that's where I'm a real expert, but I hope these suggestions help!
The story is essentially a missing-persons mystery with political trappings. If you're sensitive to certain histories, the colonialism elements can be stressful. Honestly, the psychological aspects of the narrative are more present and consistent than any monster shenanigans. It's been a while since I saw it, but I do recall being bored more often than I expected.
In terms of jump scares and gore, I think you'll be fine if you had no issues with, say, "Kingdom", "Hellbound", or "Sweet Home". A friend of mine who saw it said he kept forgetting there was even a monster in the show because there's so much else going on in the plot.
Kind of like Grendel in "Beowulf". Barely there, but without it, there really isn't a story.
That I didn't really enjoy the show is as valid an opinion as that of those who loved it, even if it seems "negative" to you.