Black House (2007)

Wednesday, 23 July 2008 00:00

Reviewed by Carol Sullivan

Genre: Horror
Released: April 22, 2008
Rating: Unrated

Director: Yoshimitsu Morita
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Features
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Truth About Psychopaths: The Making of Black House

Secret of Black House: Production Design Featurette

Deleted Scenes

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"These people don't have hearts..."
-- Quote from college thesis in Black House"

Black House, the latest horror/thriller import from Korea is a delightfully scary movie well worth renting tonight! The original novel, written by Yusuke Kishi, was also adapted into the Japanese thriller, Kuroi ,in 1999.

The movie begins as we follow Juno (Hwang Jung-Min), a soft-spoken life insurance agent, as he is sent to a policy-holder's home to discuss the family's coverage. Juno arrives at the Park residence; a grubby, run-down house on a muddy lane and discovers that the family is barely above poverty level. Wondering how they can possibly afford their massive insurance policy, Juno chats with Mr. Park (Kang Shin-Il). Mr. Park is a little strange and a bit twitchy, so we are concerned when he asks Juno, a complete stranger, to go and speak with his rebellious son.

Juno reluctantly agrees and opens the boy's bedroom door. To his horror, he finds the young boy has hung himself; his small body, still in pajamas, swinging from the rafters.

After this shocking scene, Juno investigates the boy's death as he does not agree with the police that it was suicide. How could a 10 year old contemplate, much less carry out, his own suicide? Soon, Juno is drawn into this secretive family and their terrible history of death and insanity. He finds that it is a terrible glimpse into the mind of a psychopath and now he is in danger as well.

I found Black House to be a tense and completely disturbing movie. It starts out as more of a mystery thriller, but once it gets going, the horror part of the movie never lets-up. The emotional performances by the entire cast are impressive and the make-up effects look so real that I was climbing out of my skin!

Flawlessly directed by Terra Shin, Black House is a perfect blend of shockers and psychological tension; the result being a movie that I would definitely recommend!

Overall Rating : 4

FYI
The film was based on the popular Japanese novel by Yusuke Kishi called Kuroi Ie (aka The Black House). A Japanese version of the film was made in 1999.

MORE | Film Info & Stills | Original Trailer

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Last Updated ( Thursday, 16 July 2009 14:50 )