I had
watched this movie a lot of times now and it still creeps me out specially…
well, the dolls. I first watched this way back 2004, when I'm still in high
school but doesn't grasp the story since subtitles were not available on the
video. I'm not yet a fan of other Asian horror movies that time until I had
watched "The Ring" that really awes me. Even so, the part where ball-jointed dolls
are being showcased leaves a mark. They are so adorable (I actually love dolls)
and mysterious in some ways. I find time to watch it a while ago with my niece
and it was actually funny 'coz it made her sleep crouching beside me through
fear. So, I thought to myself, why not make a review since my blog is so damn
empty last year?
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Doll Master or 인형사 which is read
as Inhyeongsa in Hangul is a Korean movie released July of 2004. It is directed by Jeong Yong-gi. Starring Kim
Yu-Mi, Im Eun-gyeong, Shin Hyeong-tak, Ok Ji-young, Lim Hyeong-jun and Lee Ka-Yeong. (click here to see further info
The story started on a tale, 60 years ago during the Japanese occupation in a certain
countryside in Korea, where a young doll maker fell in love with a woman in red
kimono. With an utmost love to the woman, he made a doll who has the look and
feel like hers. As the doll maker and the woman in red kimono's love deepens,
somewhere in the doll maker's hut
silently watching the man of the house with love - the doll. It was a
shock when the woman in red kimono was murdered and the blame was put on the
young doll maker. He was suspected as his love's murderer, arrested and
battered until he can no longer breathe. Before he went asleep for life, he saw
the doll he made looking at him sadly. As the young doll maker passed, the doll
did not leave his side and looked for his grave forever.
In the present day, four people were invited to model for
ball-jointed dolls by the curator Choi
Jin Wan in an isolated museum and
introduced them the dolls and the doll maker herself, Im. They were Park
Hae-mi, a sculptor, Hong Jeong-gi, a photographer, Lee Sun-young, a very
loud-mouth sophomore and Jung Young-ha, a novelist who also possesses a doll
named Damain whom she claims that talks to her. An uninvited guest adds the group who
introduced himself as Lee Tae-seung. He
told everyone that he's a model which later
confessed to the curator that he's a jail breaker. The truth is, he's a
cop who is doing undercover to investigate a murder case that happened not too long ago in the
said area.
Peculiar things happened on the moment they stepped out of their
vehicles. Not just because the museum is peculiar itself - full of dolls, not
just ordinary dolls but human-sized dolls displayed in the every corners of the
room. There's this weird girl called
Min-a which later on revealed as Hae-mi's doll she abandoned in her
childhood. A man in the cellar where
curator Jin Wan always visits. The curator who seemed to have secrets and doll
maker Im which later on revealed to have been possessed by the spirit of the
vengeful doll in red kimono. The latter designed the plan to have her revenge
to those four people who killed his beloved doll maker. Since it was so long ago, her revenge was
centered to the perpetrator's descendants (Hae Mi, Jeong-gi, Sun-young and
Young-ha). A great sorcery was performed that made the descendant of the man
who killed the woman in red kimono to appear. It happens to be Tae-seung.
The killings started after Damian
(Young-ha's doll) has been decapitated and whose eyes were poked. This is the process on
how to kill a doll with soul according to Jeong-gi. Young-ha has been hanged to
the ceiling with the chandelier doll.
Sun-young has her bones broken by the toilet doll. Jeong-gi who nearly finds time to escape did
not succeed and was murdered by the doll who sneaked at the back seat of his
car. Tae-seung wasn't successful
either and was killed by the raging
Min-a after the confrontation that Hae-mi didn't like her and was afraid of
her. It was Hae-mi's turn to die but then Min-a saw the former's scar where the
latter remembered how Hae-mi protected her that caused her the enormous scar on
her hand. She returned to the normal Min-a that angered artist Im and killed
her. Hae - Mi could have died in the hands of the possessed doll maker but was
just the right time for the mysterious man in the cellar to rescue her. Hae-mi
later on discovered that the man in the cellar was actually Artist Im's husband who told her that they
shouldn't have brought home the human sized-doll in red kimono they found in
the woods.
They burned all the corpses and the dolls and as the story comes to
an end, Hae-mi asked herself of who was at fault of the big tragedy - The
irresponsible humans or the dolls that loved them in their on ways? As she
tossed the doll's head unto the fire, a flashback of Hae-mi as a kid
appears as she throws Min-a (the doll) from the window into the shrubs...
I really
love movies that has a connection between the past and the present lives of its
characters. The music in the
introduction is quite creepy enough for someone to reach for their blankets for
cover plus the voice-over or narration is somewhat distinctly eerie. I think
the reason is that the pitch is too low for a woman that makes it to have an
effect of something that does not belong from this world. An echo could have
made it more frightening, but would be too disturbing (laugh). Though the intro
is short, it tells everything one should
know for future purposes.
The
director must have thought that the intro is horrible enough that he made the
present day more refreshing and lively. The trees, the road, the music which
Hae-mi is listening into would make one who had been engrossed in the horror of
the introduction to change moods and keep on watching what the movie has in
store. The story runs smoothly plus it showcased the ball-jointed dolls that is
very uniquely Korean even though they were dressed in a modern way. All I can
say is those dolls are cute and mysterious in some ways. They portray sorts of
emotions like people do. I think this made this movie more creepy because dolls
of all sorts are actually creepy not just for me but for most of us. Girls, can
you still remember those dolls you have way back in childhood? Guys, have you
seen your sister's dolls pile up as if eyes were watching you from somewhere
when you enter your sister's room? Those dolls whose eyes would close if you
let them lay down? Dolls with black complexion and has curly hair? What about
those baby dolls that will cry when you remove their pacifier? Aren't they
scary sometimes? If it still exists today, can't you feel something when you're
with them? How about life-sized dolls? Oooh, more frightening. I can picture
them like the statue of the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ and other Saints at the
Church's statue room.
The movie
does not only focus on dolls and how scary they can be even though they're not
ugly like Chuckie. "Souls will posses not only humans but also inanimate
objects specially when people treasured it most". This is the reason why
those innocent and very angelic dolls turned cold-blooded killers much demonic
than Chuckie and his bride.
The
actors really portrayed the sort of character they are in. The character
Sun-young really pisses me. She has this very big mouth and very insensitive. I
guess it is really the attitude of a youth who gets whatever she wants. Lee Ka Yeong really played it very well.
The only
thing I keep on thinking right now is the photo that the character Jeong-gi
captured while playing with the character Sun-young being killed in the rest
room. Why did it appears to be Hae-mi when it was supposed to be Min-a who is
choking Sun-young? It was actually revealed on the later part of the movie that
"with a little hydrochloride, it is not that difficult to falsify a
photograph". Well, I am not into photography and if the statement is true
then it is still impossible for me to believe that it was Hae-mi who appeared
in the photo without affecting Sun-young's face. The worst would be the photo
must have been destroyed.(Sigh) It could be done intentionally (like photoshop
or a sort of hologram, weee)if you have lots of time in your hands but what
happened was very quick. So I think the answer must be SORCERY not
HYDROCHLORIDE.
Even so,
I would rate this movie, Three Thumbs Up!
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