Kairo, a Misunderstood Masterpiece

I love this movie so much, and I hate how shit on it is for the weak and vague story. I think what makes it scariest is the fact we have an idea of what's going on and yet not the full story, so we just have to watch as the loneliness destroys the characters.

This kind of horror is my favourite, no jumpscares, but gives me nightmares from how eerie it all is. After a while, I figured out that I'd never get a jumpscare but the music and sound design frightened me more than the ghosts did at times. The random silences followed by loud music and choir singing made me jump ngl.

The visuals of the early 2000s was just perfect for horror movies. It's got that slight grain that makes it feel dated but also very recent and that vintage horror aspect is just perfect.

I do have to criticise the acting, though not amazing or polytonous, it was okay. I feel there were points the characters could have had more emotion, like when Michi walked into Taguchi's house and saw his body, cus it kinda felt like they'd had to retake that one shot so many times the actress got tired.

BUT all that being said, this movie is great. People saying the American "remake" was better but I know y'all are lying, there's a reason why they remade it, because Americans can't appreciate good cinema. xx

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Night Has Come: An Overview

This was genuinely one of the most shocking and intense pieces of game thriller/horror I've ever watched in my life. Right from Episode 1 we are built this picture of a school trip to this youth center that slowly starts to go wrong, even when we know it's going to happen we don't know to what extent. Then as soon as Episode 2 rolls around we're thrown straight into the deep end of this gore-y and violent show and we have to follow each character blindly through whatever they face.

At first, I didn't like the ghost thing (until the final episode) because it felt like a bit of a side plot that didn't make any sense, plus how in Episodes 4 and 5, Yoon Seo just defies the laws of physics and no-clips out of reality which brought me out of the show a bit. It also felt like they kept forgetting that they had a ghost at points and just threw it in at points because they realized they needed to round that off. But luckily by Episode 12 it kind of gets explained as to why it exists. This ties into another one of my points that the ending just feels a bit... naff. It feels like a poor way of explaining why everything happened but then again this is a K-drama and normal real-world events don't happen.

Another thing I didn't enjoy that much was that we found out who the mafia was, albeit we learned each one in about 2 episode intervals, it still drew away from the mystery aspect of the show. I enjoyed up to Episode 6 trying to work out who the mafia was and working out why certain things happen, but they kind of just ruined it by showing us So Mi holding an axe over Yoon Seo's head T-T.

There were some high and some low episodes, namely Episode 11 was a disappointing low considering all the great episodes before it. I feel looking back, knowing what the ending is, some of the unexplained mysteries and random moments did all make sense; but at the time of my initial review, they just felt like an exposition to stretch out runtime.

Overall, I did enjoy this show. I was very emotional throughout it and the production and acting were just brilliant (even if they did act like a slice-of-life drama at points). I will be rewatching this even with the mystery of the ending gone, it's still just fun to watch!

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Death's Game: An Overview

This show is genuinely the most heart-wrenching, tear-jerking, action-filled series I have watched in my entire life. I cried throughout the entirety of Episode 8 from start to finish. I was shocked by all the twists and the amount of plotlines that collide so nicely just makes it that much better.

From Episode 1 I was a bit like, hmm how is this gonna go, you have 12 characters to go through and the first 2 just got cast aside very quickly. Episode 2 was the first cry I had when he was Hyeok-su, not gonna lie I felt his character was just a shock one to throw in, seeing as the only real plotline it creates is the one with his Tae-sang reincarnation and Jin-sang, but when he saw his mom through Hyeok-su's mom I genuinely teared up so much.

The end of Episode 2 and the Ju-hun reincarnation was some of the best cinematography I've seen in a non-action movie. The intensity was just perfect considering how heartbreaking Hyeok-su's death was. Plus the way Ju-hun dies was such a gag, I had to pause the show and walk away because I did NOT see that one. Tae-sang's death was also pretty sad, but considering his intentions were to give the money to Tae-sang's mom, who we didn't have a connection with, it just didn't hit hard enough. I feel Tae-sang, Geon-u, Gyu-cheol, and Ji-hyeong's characters were all just for the Tae-u plot and to show Yee-jae's selfishness, but it was good for tying in future plot points near the end.

Episode 4, I was bawling my eyes out so much. It's incredibly sad to realize that this is a pretty common occurrence, maybe not the infanticide, but the abuse is. It was such a quick reincarnation but it was the one that was a lesson for Yee-jae for sure. Not being able to get out of the situation and being forced to just let it happen was so emotional and it's just a horrible thing to happen to anyone.

Also in that episode, when that fucking car hit them I SCREAMED. I was so fucking mad like Geon-u and Ji-su was the only reincarnation that I probably felt a connection to and I just really wanted him to live on much longer and have a life with Ji-su and THEN die. But the pen being a common motif later on in the story was just so wholesome and I'm happy the show ended the way that it did purely because of that fucking pen lol.

Episodes 6 and 7, are not really a lot if I'm honest. It was definitely the dud plotline which pissed me off because at the end of the storyline, it just wasn't necessary? Like, Death rewinds time at the end and so Tae-u would never have had those things happen, so he just carries on being a psychopathic killer (potentially)? So that was just action packed and omds Gyu-cheol's death actually made me squirm that's just fucking awful. Also, the speed they just killed off the 10th and 11th reincarnations made me giggle a bit.

Finally, Episode 10. For a full 40 minutes, I just had tears streaming down constantly. The cinematography, 10/10, the acting, 10/10, the story, 10/10, the emotional fucking-with, 10/10. Honestly, I would rewatch this entire series just to bawl my eyes out at this episode again. I called my mum straight after and told her I loved her it's changed me as a person. If you're thinking of not watching this show because it looks boring or from what I've said you don't like it, it's so worth it for this ending. Plus the final shot of the text right before the credits made me kinda spooked out like, yeah, there is ONLY one of me in this world.

Overall, I rarely think a show is an overall 10/10, but even with episodes 6 and 7 they were still amazing just not in comparison with the rest of them. I think everybody should give this a watch, it's so enjoyable and so worth like 6 hours of my life.

(PS: My fav shot is when he visits the Columbarium as his mom and then it shows his memory of her and there's the parallel shot in the glass of him as if he was standing on the other side of the columbarium. Ugh it was so perfect in a satisfying mirror way.)

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My Teenage Girl: A Review

Honestly, this show deserves all the praise it got.

The casting of each of the girls who made it past the midpoint checks was perfect (granted some who made it to the Entrance Exam were obvious cannon fodder), and the progress of each of them was so fun to watch.

I think all of the teachers, being masters of the industry and knowledgeable of what MAKES an idol. Joohyun is a veteran idol of the legendary Fin.K.L, Yuri is part of the original biggest girl group and also has years of experience, Aiki is a skilled choreographer for many K-pop groups, and Soyeon, who has competed on many survival shows and is a true industry all-rounder. You can see why every girl, even the eliminated ones, joined the industry so quickly after the show ended.

You can call riggory or say that some people were destined to fail, but even with the likes of Lee Jiwon, who nobody expected to get through the midpoint checks, or even score highly in the initial online rankings, the show grew her as an idol and showcased her confidence and star quality being preened to perfection.

Overall, this show is just perfect and I wish they could do a Season 2 in the same way, in my opinion, Fantasy Boys didn't follow the same format and it just didn't work that well.

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