User Reviews

An amnesiac, Ji-won(Ha-Neul Kim, playing the character as vacant and lost as possible)troubled by a traumatic past which is slowly unraveling memories, begins to realize that a ghost, possibly of a high school girl, Su-in(Sang-mi Nam)is killing former friends who ridiculed this girl because of her low-income status. What Ji-won doesn't realize is that her "past self" was a nasty rich bitch who treated those less fortunate, from a financial standpoint, like dirt while her "rat pack" would join in on the festivities of name calling among other cruelties. Along with her boyfriend, Ji-won will indeed seek out the truth behind the deaths of her former friends and who is behind them. Soon, the complete mystery tucked away in her subconscious, will reveal a horrifying drowning that perhaps shapes what has been taking place to her former school chums. Each of Ji-won's high school friends die by drowning shortly after the ghost appears to them in a vulnerable state unable to find help from their menacing visitor.

As you've read throughout the user comment section already, "The Ghost" is stylishly directed and rather well acted. The film looks great and the cast doesn't disappoint. There are even a few scares here and there..but it's all rather familiar. The twist at the end saves this film, I believe, from completely feeling "been there done that." It's a mind-boggling doozy of an ending, I'll tell you, where someone isn't who they appear to be..it's the case of "identity crisis" where jealousy can drive the motivations of a cast-away so longing to have the life of the one they envy. It's the kind of twist that takes you right back through what you just have seen, putting a new light on the story and central character. The film is designed like "The Grudge" as a spook film, so there isn't any graphic violence, the emphasis is on creeping the audience, not blood-letting. The ghost, as can probably be pictured in the minds of those who have seen numerous Asian horror flicks, is a girl with long black hair which splits to reveal this discolored eyeball that peers at a potential victim. When her hands reach out, and her feet walk across the floor, water is shown soaking off, foretelling to the viewer this restless spirit's fate. I felt the director skillfully crafts the story, supplying the memories of a past conveying to us just the kind of loathsome person Ji-won was, and how Si-un was treated by her. This back-story is supplemented as the story comes to the obvious confrontation between Ji-won and the ghost. I think one can rightfully criticize how similar this film feels to others that have came before it, but at least we get a back story into their lives and what motivates the horrors to those who kept a specific secret one fateful day.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: it's not the destination so much as the journey that's important- an observation that, when it comes to movies (most especially fright films, unfortunately), is a valid one. Still, the fact that most production companies seem content to "play it safe" (which is an interesting dichotomy when the subject is fright films) is distressing. THE GHOST is beautifully crafted and- as is often the case in Asian fright films- boasts a strikingly beautiful leading lady, but it fails to push the envelope in any way. I would suggest aspiring horror filmmakers look up short stories like FIREFIGHT by David Drake or HOME IS THE HUNTER by Henry Kuttner or BILLY WOLF'S RIDING SPIRIT by Kevin Lyons or PIGEONS FROM HELL by Robert E. Howard or WITCH WAR by Richard Matheson or THE FEAST IN THE ABBEY by Robert Bloch or THE ASH TREE by M.R. James or THE LIPS by Henry S. Whitehead or THE OBLONG BOX by Edgar Allen Poe or FLOP SWEAT by Harlan Ellison or THE LOTTERY by Shirley Jackson or THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH by H.P. Lovecraft or WASTELAND by Yours Truly (in the xlibris book THE NIGHT RIDERS by M. Kelley) or the novels THE HOUR OF THE OXRUN DEAD by Charles L. Grant or A MANHATTEN GHOST STORY by T.M. Wright or THEY THIRST by Robert R. McCammon or I AM LEGEND by Richard Matheson or THE SUNDIAL by Shirley Jackson or TRANSFIGURATIONS by Michael Bishop or THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE by H.P. Lovecraft or CARRION COMFORT by Dan Simmons or any one of a thousand others that deserves consideration. Filmmakers haven't even scratched the surface, yet...

Dead Friend keeps the established formula of the ever popular Ringu type Asian Horror movie intact. Sadly it doesn't really offer anything particularly new to those already familiar with this type of film.

The plot partially revolves around a group of friends who are one by one, haunted and killed by a vengeful ghost. But the main part of the film is focused around a traumatized girl who is trying to recover parts of her lost memory. At some point both stories intervene with each other and as most horrors of this type the viewer will experience the same type of plot devices seen before. Here is in fact the disappointing part, "Dead Friend" had a really good opportunity of elevating above the typical A-horror movie by creating a much more personal and character centric film. That delves deep in around themes such as friendship and redemption. A good example of the way that could have been done is if the movie ended with the revelation at the lake. If so had happened the main character would have found herself transgressed into a much more grown and mature person who took responsibility for her actions. Sadly as it is that is not the choice of the filmmaker as in a few minutes later he presents us the what has become already a very overused plot device. Namely the plot-twist. With it all those ideas mentioned above are destroyed and the characters find themselves the same as they were from the start. A sad way to end what could have been a very promising film.

The acting is good but not anything entirely special. All of the main cast perform adequately with the given dialog and keep the movie's overall feel to a much more grounded level. For what it's worth director Tae-kyeong Kim is able to create a very tense and dark atmosphere through his good camera work. But again it's really nothing we haven't seen before.

Even with a missed opportunity to create a much more memorable experience "Dead Friend" is still an entertaining movie. That could as a well easily introduce more people to this genre and also prove a nice watch to those aiming to fill their Asian-Horror collection.

Weird title for a comment This show, is a total Korean version of ringu. the story is different though. Well, the sequence is more or less the same. The show begins with a girl dying, EXACTLY like ringu. And not only that, the girl died the same way as the girl in ringu. she turned around, opened her mouth and AHHHHHHH!!! This story, however, has a change from Ringu, as stated before. It talks about a girl with amnesia who keeps getting spooked by a ghost. Plus, her friends are also getting killed by an unknown killer, the ghost obviously. So, like Ringu, she drags in a guy and both of them started investigating the mystery of this ghost. (Who, by the way, has really long black hair covering her face, revealing one eye. The eye is totally FAKE) It's a rush of time for the poor girl, before the ghost KILLS HER! Like Ringu, the main character also rushes against time to save herself before 7 days. Last similarity-The ghost died in, yup, you guessed it, WATER. She more or lessed drowned too. And the ending, my god, it's an obvious copyccat. They got the body out of the water, like in Ringu, where they removed Sadako's body from the well. A burial was then held. AND THEN, they thought it was a happy ending, like ringu. But NO, the ghost came back, in a very significant way .Remember Sadako coming out of the TV? This time, instead of TV, the ghost came out of a puddle of water "-_- Well, the only cool part was the totally unexpected ending. But the way the actors expressed their shocked made it looked lame. this film, is LOADED with jump-scare tactics. not effective, seriously. Irritating. And heart-pounding Worth a rent, I guess, if you are a fan of Korean Horror. You won't exactly be disappointed but you'll find the lack of originality slightly irritating.

DEAD FRIEND is a Korean knockoff of THE RING, pure and simple. Is it any less scary for being a knockoff? No. It is plenty scary, and made with great verve and polish, and a high degree of professionalism. A vengeful ghost haunts four young women, one of whom is a college student who apparently suffers from amnesia. That's the plot. American audiences will have to exercise patience with this vengeful ghost movie because the ghost is just like the ghosts in THE RING and THE GRUDGE: they never stop coming at you, even when you think you've seen the last of them. The ending of this movie takes a bit of a twist in that regard. Is it worth seeing? I would say if you liked THE RING and THE GRUDGE and even A TALE OF TWO SISTERS, absolutely. All others, beware. DEAD FRIEND can be a bit slow-moving as it builds to the bizarre finale. I call this building atmosphere and mood. Others, especially those raised on a diet of hit-em-low and hit-em-hard horror flicks like SCREAM, may not feel so charitable toward it.