MOVIE REVIEW : MOURNING GRAVE (2015)

Mourning Grave isn't really scary, but it's downright entertaining

Director: Oh In-chun
Starring: Kang Ha-neul, Kim So-eun
Studios: Ghost Pictures, Jupiter Films
Distributed by: Little Big Pictures
9ers Entertainment (international)
Release Dates: July 3, 2014 (Korea)
May 20, 2015 (Philippines)

Plot: A teenage boy meets the ghost of a girl and falls in love with her. Later on, their school is haunted by a vengeful spirit clad in a face mask, killing students who wronged her before.




I've seen a few Korean horror films before and it turns out that they're pretty good. One of my earliest favorite was Bong Joon-ho's 2006 monster film The Host. I really love that movie, from it's action scenes to the monster itself. Then, I've seen this thriller film from Kim Yong-han, Mommy, Don't Cry. I actually liked that film. It's about a grieving mother who exacts revenge to those boys who raped and tortured her daughter (who eventually committed suicide).
So I was curious about how this film would turn out. Well, let's find out if this movie was good as the rest of the ones aforementioned.


The Usual Revenge Ghost Story
When it comes to the story, nothing is really new here. It's basically about an angry ghost punishing those who've wronged her before. It deals with bullying which is a really big issue right now in schools.

But aside from that, it also focuses on a budding romance between In-Su (played by Kang Ha-neul ) and a ghost girl (played by Kim So-eun )  he met. The girl can't remember her name nor how she died for no reason. But he liked her anyways since no one in his new school really talks to him and befriends him due to his weirdness. Well, he can see ghosts for one. So yeah, he is weird.
As the movie progresses, a series of murders occurs within a circle of bullies in their class. But the bodies are never recovered. Instead, they just disappear (leading them to the conlusion that the ictims just ran away). In-Su decides to investigate on what's really going on and soon, discovers the secret of the Ghost with the Mask.
Yeah. I know. The story does sound cliched. Totally. But again, it adds up to the campy tone of the feel. The feeling that I really enjoyed in watching this movie. And it worked for the effectiveness of the film in total.


Good Performance from the Leads

I'm not really fond of Koreans. I'm not really into K-Pop a lot, though I did watched few Korean TV series before. But I really liked the actors that they featured in this film. I've seen her before in a Korean drama series entitled Boys Over Flowers (yeah, I did watched Korean dramas before when I was in High School) where Kim So-eun played the main protagonist's best friend. She's good as the Ghost Girl in this film. That's why it's so refreshing to see her in a horror film.
Kang Ha-neul is also fun to watch as the teenage boy In-su who has the ability to see hosts around him. I've seen him last year in another Korean drama (yeah, I know... I know...) and I've seen his acting skills. He was really good back then but he was more entertaining in this film. Never imagined that he would star in a genre film like this. He looked so innocent and adorable as In-Su.

So What About The Scare Factor?

Well, sadly though, the film doesn't really offer a lot of scares. The film does manage a few jump scares along the way. But the problem is that it doesn't really have a scare factor. You know, that scene where you will really get to the edge of your seat and fear for the lives of the characters. There's no suspense here too. i mean, right from the start I already what was the twist of the whole film. So I wasn't really surprised when It was revealed later on.


But The Good Thing Is...

Well, despite the fact that the film doesn't really have any scares to offer, it manages to be really entertaining. It mixes it's ghost story with romance and humor and uses it to it's advantage.
The humor in this film was enough to keep my attention. And so was the romance. The director and writers were successful in building up the two main characters, In-su and the Ghost Girl, that I reall got hooked at watching the two of them together.
Also, the campy tone of the film adds up to the movie's entertainment value. So despite the lack of real scares, I must say that I was totally entertained.


Verdict:
Well, despite the main problem of the film not haing any scares at all, it was still entertaining though. With it's ample mix of romance, humor and a few jump scares here and there, the whole movie was not a disappointment.



I am giving this a rating of 3 out of 5 stars.





Mourning Grave - Official Trailer by goldenvillagesg