[KFCC] Ghost House Review

Story: The day that Pil-gi waited for so many years has finally come: he’s getting his own house, the last wish of his deceased father. And what a perfect house it is! Big, beautiful, isolated, next to the ocean and at that price, Pil-gi couldn't have found a better place. All is going fine, until some inexplicable event start to happen in the house. It seems that there’s an evil spirit claiming the house as its own. The village gossip confirms Pil-gi's worries. Each night is becoming a nightmare for him, as the ghost is doing everything it can to expel Pil-gi from living peacefully in his new home.

Then one day, an unpleasant accident happens to Pil-gi. When Pil-gi finally wakes up from his bad experience, he discovers that he possesses a new ability. Now he can not only sees ghosts, but can also communicate with them. It is time for Pil-gi to take revenge on the ghost that’s been haunting his beloved house.

Review: After many successful comedies such as ATTACK THE GAS STATION and KICK THE MOON, director Sang-jin Kim is back, this time with a slightly different formula for his comedy. He tries to implement a new genre into it: horror. Mixing comedy and horror elements is nothing really special, as many movies have tried to merge these two, but only a few really succeeded. Unfortunately, it seems that Sang-jin Kim has already used most of his best ideas in his production prior to GHOST HOUSE. Just like his last film SPECIAL AMNESTY, it has some obvious problems with trying to keep the viewers on the edge of surprise and in the end the horror element isn’t really important for the success of the movie.

Story wise, GHOST HOUSE is disappointing, especially if you compare it with Sang-jin Kim’s earlier films. The development is interesting, but never reaches any outstanding level and it doesn’t take long before we can figure out the conclusion, which ends up being a bit unoriginal. The development in the middle also includes some melodrama surrounding the story of the ghost lady haunting Pil-gi`s house. When we discover what’s really going on with her, the film takes a rather unwanted serious tone as you discover her tragic past. The comedy relief comes back afterwards, but unfortunately never gets to the hilarious level that Sang-jin Kim has done in the past. Note that the horror factor is not a major element of the film and is always kept very subtle.

This time, director Sang-jin has once again reunited with actor Cha Sung-won to portrait his main character. Sung-won can’t be reproached for anything as his acting ability is as enjoyable to watch here as before. It’s always fun to see his surprised expression when he’s trying to figure out what the hell is going on. However, you can feel that GHOST HOUSE's comedy side is not as effective for the viewers as it should have been. The problem seems to lie in the fact that most gags and jokes are based on CGI effects and not on the actors' performances. In fact, all the key scenes incorporate 3D effects. Most of the time these look visually impressive, especially the one with thousands of chickens running after Pil-gi. Unfortunately, most of them are not doing their job as comic relief too well. Maybe with time, director Sang-jin will make better use of his special effects, since GHOST HOUSE is his first attempt with CGI effects.

GHOST HOUSE might not be the movie we have been expecting from the talented Korean director Sang-jin as all of the aspects seem pretty low compared to his other work. Maybe with lower expectations, the movie would have been more enjoyable to watch. Still, the film had a good, successful run in its mother country, as it ended up in the fourth place at the local box office at the time of its release.

A thin plot and an average mixed bag of gags and scares make GHOST HOUSE a typical Korean comedy. It seems we'll have to wait a bit longer before Sang-jin comes back on track with another comedic hit.