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1997(1st) ~ 2024(28th)
Howling Decade of Whispering Corriders
LEE Jong Yong
Korea2009 90 min 35mm C
Since Whispering Corridors (1998) opened the Yeogogoedam series, three more installments were produced, drawing a wide range of reviews from critics as well as from the box office. Now, a fifth installment arrives in four years — Blood Pledge (2009) embraces the success of its predecessors, trying harder to communicate with today’s audiences. As the title suggests, the subject is ‘group suicide’ of high school girls and the terror they experience (a highly relevant theme here-and-now wise). In a decidedly religious girls’ high school, a group of students pledge to die together. But only Eon Ju is found dead, with the rest of the pack starting to turn up dead one by one upon encountering something. Offering plenty of visual horror (for that, it’s the best of the series), the film slowly reveals their friendship is in fact not that pure. Emotional drama of youngsters, clad in elegant uniforms yet brimming with jealousy, selfishness and vengeance, turns the entire school into a scene of terror. The review is still underway because the movie was just released, making it the first of a batch of horror films to open this year. Remains to be seen is whether the agony shown by the main characters has achieved some level of consensus with the audience, whether the story has entertained the viewers as a good horror movie should. (KWON Yong Min)
Born in 1968, LEE entered the world of film-making as an assistant director of Joint Security Area and a script writer of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance directed by PARK Chan Wook. LEE has made a debut as a director with Blood Pledge (2009).