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Bunshinsaba AKA Ouija Board AKA Witch Board
R3 - Korea - Spectrum DVD Review written by and copyright: TJ McDonald & Noor Razzak (10th September 2006). |
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The Film
 I feel I have to ask, is there currently an epidemic of evil young women rampaging through Asia? And is it possible that the reason they have not been brought to justice is because they all have hair over their faces, making identification impossible? "Bunshinsaba", the work of Korean director Byeong-ki Ahn, is another addition to this now-overstocked genre. Although this film treads where many have gone before, it is not particularly riddled with clichés or plagiarism – it simply falls too close to other films of this type to leave it with much potential. The film opens with Lee Yu-Jin (Se-eun Lee) and her two friends holding a séance in order to call forth an evil spirit to curse the girls who have been bullying them at school. Thankfully, the cultural barrier that comes from watching a foreign film made this whole scene a lot less cheesy than it sounds. As schoolgirls begin dropping like flies two teachers, Han Jae-hun (Seong-min Choi) a local lad and Lee Eun-ju (Gyu-ri Kim) a recent arrived art teacher from outside the village try to get to the bottom of these mysterious deaths and question whether they may be related to the death of Kim In-suk (also mysterious), who died at the same school 30 years earlier. "Bunshinsaba" is genuinely scary for about fifteen minutes. Then it is time to sit back and watch the Shyamalan-esque plot roll out twist after twist. This by itself would almost have been enough to make me stop watching except that I, like everybody else, demand to know what is going on and will stay to the end, hating myself a little more with every passing minute. In saying that, the film's plot is not disappointing it's just not particularly stunning. Ultimately, it lacks the thorough mind f*** that is almost a requirement of modern supernatural horrors. I find it difficult to rate the performances of actors in foreign films. Often this can be due to the fact that one does need to devote a degree of their concentration to the subtitles and also because there are facial movements and body language which can be quite culturally-specific. So, with my more limited viewpoint in mind, I found the actors in "Bunshinsaba" played their parts well. I was particularly impressed with Se-eun Lee's utter agonizing despair in the face of possession and the way Seong-min Choi seemed to express with just his eyes the extreme difficulty of making a pass at the hot new workmate when everyone around you is being immolated. The most outstanding feature of this film is the score. It is beautifully composed and exquisitely performed. The melodies are haunting and evocative and although foreign music can often suffer from the same culture-specific problems as foreign actors, I found the soundtrack really drew me into the film. There were many occasions were the score kept bringing me back to the drama when the relentless twists and turns of the narrative threatened to drive me away. For me, the mark of a good horror film is what happens the next time I look in a mirror I don't want to look away and back again because my subconscious is sure that something will be there just over my shoulder. "Bunshinsaba" almost had this effect. Not quite, but almost. Worth checking out though, if only because as a run-of-the-mill Asian horror, it is slightly more enjoyable than a run-of-the-mill American horror. If Hollywood does decide to remake this however, somebody better give me a gun; or better yet, three small Korean girls and a how-to-guide for séances. A small note: Whoever writes the English subtitles for Korean movies should probably use either the term 'villagers' or 'people of the village' instead of 'village people'. Otherwise lines such as 'We must save the Village People from this curse!', or 'Oh no! The Village People are doomed!' can have a comical aspect which was not originally intended.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. The transfer is stunning, the image is sharp, colors are lush and vivid. A lot of this film takes place in darkness and the blacks are bold and deep, shadow detail was consistent throughout the film. I could not spot any flaws with this print, no edge-enhancement, no compression problems, overall this is a fantastic image.
Audio
Two audio tracks are included on this release both of which are in Korean, we have a DTS 5.1 surround track as well as a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track. I chose to view this film with the DTS track and found it superb. The dialogue is clean and distortion free, but I also found the surround channels were active and allowed one to be immersed in the film, the score is also given appropriate attention and is balanced well through the sound space, and it's never too overbearing. Overall this is a very strong DTS sound mix that compliments the stunning image. Optional subtitles are also included in English and Korean. The English subtitles are easy to read and don't disappear off the screen too quickly. I could not spot any major spelling or grammatical errors.
Extras
Spectrum DVD have released this film as a 2-disc set with an audio commentary, plus a documentary, some interviews, a featurette plus a PR section with promotional footage, a theatrical trailer, TV spot and a music video. Below is a closer look at these supplements. Before we proceed please be aware that all of these extras are in Korean and do not feature English subtitles. DISC ONE: First up is an audio commentary by writer/director Byeong-ki Ahn and cast members Gyu-ri Kim, Se-eun Lee and Yu-ri Lee. I wish this track included some subtitles as it would have been nice to hear what these participants had to say about this film. DISC TWO: First up we have a "Making-of" documentary that runs for 53 minutes 1 seconds. This piece includes interviews with the key cast and crew, plus some fly-on-the-wall production footage of the crew filming key scenes as well as finished footage from the film. The clip is rather comprehensive and covers various aspects of the production. Although there aren't any subtitles the production footage is easy to follow and gives you a limited understanding of what's going on. A director interview entitled "Horror film art of director Byeong-ki Ahn" follows and runs for 8 minutes 9 seconds, the clip is also accompanied by some behind-the-scenes footage and photos taken on set during production. A cast interview entitled "Horror Films vs Actresses" with all three lead female cast members is included and runs for 8 minutes 44 seconds, here a off-camera interviewer asks the girls some questions about their characters and involvement in the film. Next are three individual cast interviews, these are talking heads type clips of the three lead cast members. The interviews also feature some footage from the film and photos of the cast on set and in costume. The first clip runs for 6 minutes 20 seconds, the second for 6 minutes 24 seconds and the final clip for 6 minutes 26 seconds. An "SFX and Stunt" featurette is next and runs for 14 minutes 47 seconds, here we see some of the practical and make-up effects used for the film in the form of behind-the-scenes footage. We see stunt guys getting burned, cast getting covered in blood plus all the gross make-up gags created for the film. Although this entire clip is in Korean you can basically follow what's going on and seeing the crew work on set is also very interesting. A separate section of the disc is next entitled "PR Section" which includes some of the promotional items such as: - "Behind-the-scenes: Making The Poster" footage runs for 2 minutes 16 seconds and we see the cast at a photo shoot for the final poster art. - 2004 PiFan convention footage runs for 3 minutes 47 seconds, we see the booth for the film plus on stage the cast and crew talk about the film. - Premiere and Press Conference footage runs for 7 minutes 13 seconds, the cast and director introduce the film at opening night, afterwards they hold a press conference as they field questions. - Cast interview bloopers runs for 4 minutes 36 seconds, various cast members crack up an laugh during the interview process. - The film's original theatrical trailer is also included in this section and runs for 1 minute 45 seconds. - A TV spot follows and runs for 31 seconds. - Rounding out the extras is a music video which runs for 5 minutes 1 second.
Packaging
This 2-disc release is packaged in an amaray case which includes a cardboard slip-cover.
Overall
There are some quality extras on this 2-disc set, especially the commentary and the extensive documentary it's unfortunate that none of these supplements feature any English subtitles, if you understand Korean then this is a superb release.
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