Black House

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Movie: Black House
Revised romanization: Geomeun Jip
Hangul: 검은집
Director: Shin Tae-Ra
Writer: Lee Young-Jong, Yusuke Kishi (novel)
Producer: Yoo Il-han
Cinematographer
Release Date: June 20, 2007 (South Korea)
Runtime: 103 min.
Genre: Horror / Suspense-Thriller / Mystery
Production Budget: US$ 3.3M
Production Company: CJ Entertainment
Distributor: CJ Entertainment
Language: Korean
Country: South Korea

Plot

During his first day as an insurance agent, Jun-Oh (Hwang Jung-Min), receives a phone call from a lady enquiring if a life insurance policy could be collected after someone commits suicide. A few days later Jun-Oh is asked to personally come to the home of an insurance policy holder.

When Jun-Oh arrives at their home he is greeted by a grim man (Kang Shin-Il). They talk for a little while, before the father asks the insurance agent to go into their son’s room and have a talk with him. When the insurance agent opens the son’s door he finds the boy hanging from a noose, dead from an apparent suicide.

The father then shows up at Jun-Oh’s office and asks for the money pertaining to his son’s life insurance policy. Jun-Oh is suspicious of the man and tells him he has to wait until the coroner’s report comes in. The man becomes furious and then leaves. The father returns the next day and the next day and the next day. Finally Jun-Oh’s boss decides to pay the man his son’s life insurance policy. Jun-Oh’s life doesn’t return to normal and in fact descends further down due to a stalker.

Notes

Based on novel "Kuroi ie" by Yusuke Kishi (first published June 1997 by Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co., Ltd.). Novel won the Grand Prize at the 4th annual "Japan Horror Story Awards" in 1997.
Related titles:
1. The Black House | Kuroi ie (1999)

Cast



Hwang Jung-Min	Yoo-Sun	Kang Shin-Il	Kim Seo-Hyung
Jeon Jun-Oh	Shin Yi-Hwa	Park Chung-Bae	Jang Mi-Na

Additional Cast Members:

Kim Jung-Pal - Section chief Nam
Yoo Seung-Mok - Ma Yong-Sik
Jung In-Gi - Detective Oh
Lee Joo-Sil - vice-principal
Kim Young-Sun - Hong-Yeon's mother
Son Byung-Wook - insurance fraud claimant
Lee Hae-Young - Han Seung-Kyu
Kim Seung-Hoon - coroner
Yu Seung-Mok - Ma Young-Sik
Kim Hee-Soo - Park Bo-Hoon
Eun Joo-Hee - Kim Tae-Hyun
Lee Yoon-Gun - Kang Ki-Tae
Yeo Min-Goo - insurance company male employee
Mun Ka-Young - Chul-Yeon (voice)
Lee Ji-Oh - young Jeon Jun-Oh's friend
Son Jin-Hwan - doctor
Yoo Ji-Yeon - counter employee at insurance company
Lee Do-Hyung - fake patient
Han Sang-Chul - insurance company male employee

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Film Festivals

2008 (10th) Udine Far East Film - April 18th-26th

Comments

Gasenadi Mar 11 2012 4:26 pm Thanks, Ki, for that review and for the other recommendations. I'm watching him in a rare tv drama (The Accidental Couple) and am very much impressed with his portrayal.

Ki Feb 11 2011 10:40 pm Horror movies don’t usually scare me. Outside of Ju-On I haven’t even seen a horror movie I liked. Furthermore, Korean “horror” movies I usually avoid like the plague, because they generally suck more than the average horror flick (way to formulaic and a whole bunch of nonsense). Well to my surprise “The Black House” is one Korean horror movie that did not suck and in fact had me squirming in my seat throughout the horrifying climax.

Don’t let the title “The Black House” fool you into thinking this is your typical Asian horror film. You won’t see any pale face kids standing in a dark corridor, with grating sound effects blasted for shock value. Black House actually has more in common with psychological/serial killer movies like Silence of the Lambs, Saw, and Takashi Miike’s Audition. The film is based on a popular Japanese novel by Yusuke Kishi. At times during the riveting finale I felt like I was sitting on a ride in a amusement park rather than a chair in a cinema. This was mainly due to the audience gasping or shrieking in loud unison during those chaotic final moments. Although I didn’t scream as much as the rest of the audience, I did squirm around in my chair more than anyone else, much like a frightened passenger on a speeding New York taxi cab. It was fun!

One of my favorite actors in Korea would definitely be Hwang Jeong-Min (A Good Lawyer’s Wife, My Lovely Week, You Are My Sunshine, Bloody Tie) and he would be the primary reason why I even checked out Black House. I don’t recall ever seeing a bad performance by him and you won’t find such a performance in Black House either. Hwang Jeong-Min’s Jun-Oh character was different than his past characters, in that Jun-Oh is meek. He is haunted by the suicide of his own younger brother, which he feels responsible for. Yet as the story developed Jeong-Min Hwang was able to inject a subtle show of strength in Jun-Oh character’s that made him more admirable. Kang Shin-Il, who played the deranged father, was even more impressive. He was able to portray a psychotic tendency that was so intense that it was downright scary to even watch him at times. His wife, played by Yoo Sun, gave another strong performance, that at times reminded me of the stepmom in “A Tale Of Two Sisters.”

There’s not many weak points in Black House. I guess some can point to certain moments feeling like it was inspired by other horror films (Silence of the Lambs/Saw/Audition), but I didn’t mind the influences as much because the movie’s uniqueness and exceptional build up to those absolutely terrifying finale made me forget about any similiarities. Like I said earlier, I was way to busy squirming in my chair to think about anything more than what would happen next.

Quite frankly, the boogie man and ghosts don’t scare me, but psychotic people do. There are some absolutely terrifying moments in Black House along with characters that are the pure definitions of psychopaths. Perhaps Black House will set the grounds for more psychological thrillers from Korea that are not centered around pale face kids appearing in the hallways of an abandoned home. If so I would gladly welcome such move. When you watch “Black House,” try to watch it with a group of friends. The movie is scary, thrilling and 100% fun.

Black House

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