Bedevilled

Excellent

Riccardo

Harter Psycho-Thriller aus Südkorea.

Beoordeeld in Duitsland op 6 december 2016

Bedevilled ist nicht der typische Horrorfilm aus Asien. Er beeindruckt mit harten, ehrlichen aber gleichzeitig auch unglaublich abstoßenden Szenen. Die schauspielerische Leistung ist überdurchschnittlich gut für eine Produktion aus dem fernen Osten, da die Charaktere es auch schaffen ihre Emotionen - seien sie positiv oder negativ - in Nuancen darzustellen, und nicht in konstanten Gefühlsausbrüchen. (Asia-Horror Fans wissen vielleicht was ich meine).

Ich möchte nicht zu viel zur Geschichte spoilern, nur so viel: Sie ist wirklich gut. Sie packt den Zuschauer genau da wo es am unangenehmsten ist und lässt ihn nicht mehr los. Die Effekte überzeugen, sie zumeist handgemacht. Und wenn sie mal CG benutzen, fällt es nicht sehr auf und passt generell zur Stimmung. Die Regie-Arbeit im Allgemeinen ist sehr gut gelungen. Es gibt ruhige, sehr melancholische Phasen, aber auch ekeleregende und verachtungsvolle Teile, die der Regisseur in faszinierender und gleichzeitig schockierender Authentizität darstellt.

Zwei negative Punkte habe ich jedoch.
- Wie in solchen Filmen üblich, kann man nicht alle Entscheidungen der Protagonisten nachvollziehen. In diesem Film gibt es ein oder zwei Beispiele, die für mich persönlich schon sehr krass nicht nachzuvollziehen waren.
- Der andere Punkt richtet sich ein wenig an die Dramaturgie und den Spannungsbogen. Wie der Untertitel des Films (leider) schon verrät, wird es irgendwann im Laufe des Films zu einer Vergeltung kommen. Das Problem für mich war, dass die Geschehnisse, die zu dieser Vergeltung führten, schon zu weit zurücklagen, als dass ich emotional zu 100% bei diesem Vergeltungs-Zug dabei war. Im Kern will ich damit sagen, dass der Mittelteil des Films zu lang gezogen wurde.

Nichtsdestotrotz würde ich jedem Fan des asiatischen Horror-Kinos zu dieser Perle raten. Ein unglaublich gut gefilmter, schockierend real wirkender Psycho-Horror-Thriller, der jedem an die Nieren gehen wird. Volle 5 Sterne für diesen erfrischenden Genre-Vertreter!

Een iemand vond dit nuttig

godbeat

LA EDICION ALEMANA NO TIENE SUBTITULOS EN INGLES

Beoordeeld in Spanje op 19 april 2016

Aunque en la ficha del producto figure como Subtitulos:Ingles, en la contraportada especifica que son en Aleman, cuidado al comprarlo

Een iemand vond dit nuttig

West25

Island of the damned.

Beoordeeld in het Verenigd Koninkrijk op 11 september 2013

Hae-won is a single woman in her early thirties working in a bank in Seoul, the stress of the job combined with the fact she recently witnessed a crime has left her on the verge of a breakdown. After an altercation with a colleague, she is told to take a vacation. Hae-won decides to return to a small island called Moo-do where she used to visit her Grandpa when she was a young girl, during those visits she befriended Bok-nam, who is around the same age and lives on the island. When Hae-won arrives, she is met by Bok-nam who is overjoyed that her old friend has come to stay. It isn't long before Hae-won finds that Bok-nam is treated like a slave by the elder women on the island, and is regularly beaten and raped by the men. Will Hae-won help her old friend to escape her horrible existence or will she look the other way?

Seo Young-hee produces an absolutely mesmerising performance as Bok-nam, she's nothing short of spectacular. She goes from one emotion to another effortlessly and deservingly picked up several awards for her performance, it's certainly one of the strongest performances I've seen in a long time. Seo Young-hee will be recognisable to fans of Korean cinema for another very good performance in another excellent film called The Chaser. Ji Sung-won also gives a good performance as Hae-won, without actually doing anything particularly evil or cruel, she manages to make her character extremely dislikeable which is no easy feat considering who she's on the island with. Park Jeong-hak is excellent as the sadistic Man-jong, Bok-nam's husband. He will beat Bok-nam for the smallest of reasons, sleep with prostitutes with her sat right outside, and it's even hinted that he has been doing something even more despicable. All of the actors in smaller roles are good, especially the old women on the island that treat Bok-nam like dirt and get her to do all the chores, while they do nothing but complain.

Bedevilled is the directorial debut of Jang Cheol-soo, he's done a fantastic job considering his only previous experience appears to have been as an assistant director on a film called Samaritan Girl. The film is a slow burner that really takes its time to introduce the characters, nothing particularly exciting happens for the first hour but it's never boring, I was absolutely gripped by the film from the moment Hae-won arrives on the island. For the first hour the film is an excellent drama, it's only in the last half an hour or so that the film kicks it up a gear and becomes a psychological thriller that verges on becoming a horror film. I'm sure some people will be bored stiff by the opening hour of the film, but I think I actually prefer it over the second half of the film. We really do get to know what Bok-nam's life has been like on this island, an island she has never left, it's all she's ever known and she truly is isolated with no where to go. The cinematography is excellent as I've come to expect from Korean films, the small island surrounded by water looks incredible, especially when the harsh light of the sun is beaming down. Promoted as a revenge thriller/horror film, gore hounds definitely get what they're after in the final half an hour, there's plenty of the red stuff and it's all done very realistically, I have to be honest and say that I really enjoyed seeing these islanders get their comeuppance, I don't think I've ever seen characters so deserving of their fate. Some of the violence is at times hard to take, and I feel I should point out that a young girl is struck several times which may upset some viewers as it's intended to.

The Blu-ray looks great, the colours are slightly muted with lots of yellows, greens and browns but detail is extremely strong and the island itself looks beautiful, I'd definitely recommend getting the Blu-ray over the DVD. It is in Korean with English subtitles, no other subtitle options are available. There's not much in the way of extras, a thirteen minute behind the scenes, a trailer and TV spot.

Bedevilled is a wonderful, powerful, sad film that is an absolute must watch for fans of Korean cinema, I personally found it just as good as Park Chan-wook's Vengeance trilogy and in many ways this has a similar feel to those with the slow build up and brutal tale of revenge. The acting is of a very high standard, especially Seo Young-hee who gives what will probably be her best ever performance, the story is gripping and intelligently told and it's beautifully shot. I would have preferred a slightly different ending, but at the same time I had no real problem with it. The Koreans have made some fantastic gritty, bloody thrillers in the last decade, this is just about as good as any of the others I've seen. Also recommended would be Memories Of Murder which is actually even better than this, The Chaser, I Saw The Devil, Mother, The Man From Nowhere, The Yellow Sea and of course the Vengeance trilogy. All excellent. I genuinely feel when it comes to these gritty and brutal thrillers, Korea have been head and shoulders above anyone else now for a while, they really are producing some stunning films. What's even more amazing is that this fantastic film was shot on a budget of around $700,000, showing a film doesn't have to have a huge budget to be good.

12 mensen vonden dit nuttig

Ebs

loved it

Beoordeeld in het Verenigd Koninkrijk op 20 juni 2011

I really loved this film, I found it quite sad and I was really cheering Bok-nam on but I really felt for her. I also liked tat it was told more from Hae-won's point of view and that she's a really unlikeable character.
I really like korean films, I often go for horror, but I'm a massive fan of these type of films, the female vengeance theme is portrayed so well in korean cinema, I think it's because they are not straight forward thrillers, the story is always emotive and has twists but the characters are always so interesting, they are normal women that have been turned into phsychos but they have this passion and motherly instinct that makes you really enjoy watching them obtain their satisfaction.

This is a great example of that type of film, but it's a little different to Princess Aurora and Lady Vengeance in the setting and the characters yet all the traits that make the story so amazing are there.

3 mensen vonden dit nuttig