Teenage Hooker Becomes a Killing Machine (2000) User Reviews

Sounds cool; is actually rather tepid.

[BA_Harrison · 4/10 · 26 June 2011]

Despite its extremely exploitative sounding title, which suggests to me a purely trashy revenge flick packed with gratuitous titillation and graphic violence, Teenage Hooker Becomes A Killing Machine is less Tarantino and more Tsukamoto, as director Gee-woong adopts an unfathomable art-house approach loaded with tired cyberpunk pretencions to go along with his gore and boobs.

I guess the film can't really be accused of misleading with its title, for the basic plot does indeed feature a teenage hooker (played by Korean cutie So-yun Lee) who becomes a killing machine, but there's much more to this weird effort than a simple revenge tale. Before the high-school prostitute turns deadly, viewers must endure a whacked-out romance between the girl and her freaky teacher (who sports Bo-selecta style prosthetic make-up), impromptu dancing, a foetus suspended at the end of a twenty foot umbilical cord, and a pair of extremely irritating giggling maniacs, all of which is shot with a cheap SOV aesthetic (ie., terrible quality image and lots of experimental lighting). This all sounds rather cool, but is actually pretty dreary, making this one strictly for fans of confusing avant-garde/surreal nonsense.

Worst Korean film ever

[Leofwine_draca · 1/10 · 26 May 2015]

Despite the one-of-a-kind title, TEENAGE HOOKER BECOMES A KILLING MACHINE is one of the worst ever films I've watched. It's by far the worst South Korean movie I've sat through, and this is a country normally noted for the calibre of its productions. It's amateur hour throughout, a pointless, senseless waste of time for all involved, not least the viewer.

Although the running time is only an hour long (and ten minutes of this is padded out with endless credits, half of which feel made up), this is a movie which drags on and on and on. A teenage hooker is killed by a client, then her body is turned into an android by a trio of random laughing guys who show up, then she goes and kills a bunch of people. There's nothing more to it than that, except lots of the dud camera angles and effects that student filmmakers always put into their movies to try to disguise a lack of storyline. The whole thing feels like it was shot in the street with a camcorder on a single evening, with no script either.

The only, and I mean only, interesting thing about this production is that it predates the current Japanese wave of ultra low budget gore flicks in which high school girls have machine parts attached to their bodies and fight off OTT enemies with body parts flying across the screen, a la MACHINE GIRL. It probably served to inspire them, but as it stands it's a complete dud.

Weird, boring and unexpectedly bad...

[paul_haakonsen · 1/10 · 12 May 2013]

"Teenage Hooker Became a Killing Machine" is without a doubt the worst Korean movie I have ever seen in my entire 37 years of watching movies. The title of the movie, as bizarre and odd as it may sound, does seem interesting on some level, but don't get suckered in by it, because you are in for one boring movie experience.

The storyline is slow moving and often falls to the ground entirely when injected with strange dancing scenes and scenes of laughing and other such pointless and meaningless things. It disrupts the flow of the movie and just becomes a nuisance to watch.

This movie will definitely test your ability of suffering and torture, as it drains away your will to live. "Teenage Hooker Became a Killing Machine" is a great swing and miss from the otherwise good movie production company Third Window Films, that have some impressive Asian movies to their name; but they failed horribly with this one.

The characters in the movie are one-dimensional and lacking personalities, and you don't really get any kind of emotional bond or connection to either of them, as they seem like cardboard characters.

I enjoy Asian movies a lot, but "Teenage Hooker Became a Killing Machine" was really a disappointment and a test to sit through. There are far, far better Asian movies available out there, so don't waste your time on this one.

Experimental remake of La Femme Nikita

[keith-215 · 7 March 2003]

Really low budget film shot on DV. Plot is simplistic version of La Femme Nikita, they match shot for shot with the test that takes place in the restaurant, except she doesn't dive threw a laundry shoot. Overall interesting film, the DP to a great job using DV to his advantage. Plus a dancing sequence in the alleyway is great, I agree with another commentor "Travolta and Thurman watch out(Pulp Fiction)

Teenage Dirtbag.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 1/10 · 3 July 2011]

Due to a new Cash Converters having recently opened near by me,I decided to go and have a look to see what DVDs they have in stock.Looking down the shelves,I was very disappointed to see that almost all of the DVD section was filled with very cheap and grotty looking DVDs.Happily,as I started to look at the last row,I suddenly noticed a title which,sounded like a film that would be a fun,gritty revenge movie.Sadly,when I eventually watched the film,I discovered that it was, (even with a running time of 56 minutes)one of the most slow-moving,un-engaging dull movies that I have ever seen.

The plot:

With being caught giving "full service" outside the house of her teachers grandmother,a young prostitute decides to offer herself to the teacher,hoping that he will accept and not go to the police.Due to fining it almost impossible to say no,the teacher accepts the offer.Sadly,things don't go according to plan,when the teacher gets the prostitute pregnant.Not wanting this to ruin his chance for a promotion,the teacher gets hold of a gun,and kills the prostitute and her unborn child.Wanting her to disappear,he next pays four gangsters to chop her body up,and throw all of the pieces away.After secretly watching the gangsters bin the body parts,a scientist appears,who plans to use the body parts to bring the girl back to life as a cyborg,so she can at last get revenge on everyone that tried to make her disappear.

View on the film:

As the six minute long opening credits scene began,which features the unnamed prostitute walking down a street,A through suddenly began to enter my head,that even with a short running time,this was going to be a very drawn out film.For the visuals,writer/director Nam Ki-Woong makes the movie look as if he has turned the brightness up on a TV to 11,with the transformation of the girl into a cyborg,,looking like Ki-Woong has just chucked a few cans of paint over the actress.Whilst the outline of the plot should give plenty of opportunities for the movie to have tons of great,gritty action scenes and a fast pace.Ki-woong sadly,completely destroys any chance of that happening,due to making all the scenes be about three minutes too long,and not building up any sense of anticipation for the girl to get her revenge.

Final view on the film:

A terrible screenplay,which is screeched to death,and embarrassingly bad directing from writer/director Nam Ki-Woong.

Fails at every aspect

[Severance96 · 2/10 · 25 July 2013]

First off, me like everyone else who watched this movie surely was aware that it's a budget production, and would not expect more than what it could've been. But this movie does not fall because of a non-existing budget, but because it's just a complete fail.

Why did I watch it? Well, the idea behind the movie is what made me interested, thinking it might be some sort of fusion between Machine Girl and the Guinea Pig series, hoping for a bold, unpolished, and raw story. Much to my disappointment it's not, and here's why: The acting is pathetic, even if it would be a middle school arts project, every single role is executed without heart or motivation. There's no excuse no matter how budget a movie is to allow such poor acting. The editing and filming is just as bad as the acting, where the movie appears to go for artistic and clever shots in order to intrigue the viewer (like many other budget movies), the reality is that it's just annoying and ruins any form flow in the movie, and does definitely not intrigue. The script is not any better; the story is as coherent as if a five year old would've written it. What else can be critiqued.. well everything but the music, and perhaps three minutes of total footage that was actually cleverly made.

All in all, this is by far one of the worst budget productions I've ever seen. It's an hour of your life - the only reason why I could even finish it - which does not seem like much, but you're better off watching an our of nyancat than spending your time on this.

Flawed, but Fun, Trashy, and Visually Exciting.

[massaster760 · 6/10 · 11 December 2007]

It seems that Director Nam Ki-Woong must have been watching Tsukamoto's Tetsuo films when he wrote and directed Teenage Hooker Became a Killing Machine. Which plays as a low-budget homage to Shinya's 1989 Cyber-punk classic with a bit of the famous Korean revenge style type flicks mixed in. Just as in Tetsuo, Nam opts more for visuals and atmosphere than a coherent plot line. Which is not necessarily a bad thing though... you don't watch films named "Teenage Hooker Became a Killing Machine" for the plot.

But the plot goes something like this (as best I could tell). So-Yun Lee plays a teenage hooker who is mentored by her teacher (Dae-tong Kim). Their relationship is not a platonic one, and after long her teacher impregnates the nameless high school girl. In order to avoid controversy, the Teacher kills the girl's baby and then enlists his brothers for a immensely disturbing murder scene involving a double-handled saw! Anyway, Teenage Hooker is then rebuilt (by whom is unclear) into a mechanical Killing Machine. After her first mission, the girl goes on a revenge spree going after her murderers and the sadistic Teacher.

As mentioned, the plot is truly insignificant. The real reason you watch films like this is for the brilliant visuals and the exploitational aspects. Both of which Teenage Hooker has plenty of. Shot in a multitude of grainy hues, the film seems to straddle the line between art and trash. Some scenes are exquisitely crafted, which is quite an accomplishment considering the extremely low-budget nature of the film. It seems to be shot on digital video, but what it lacks in production values it makes up for in imagination.

While I enjoyed the film on various levels, mostly for the visual nature and the shear ambition of Director Nam Ki-Woong's vision, the film has one crucial flaw. It's not long enough. At it's 60 minute run time, including a very long-and bizarre-opening credit roll, Teenage Hooker doesn't have enough time to expand on the theme's it produces. Some scenes seem a bit rushed and I wished the filmmaker would have lengthened the film a bit in order to let the revenge storyline gel in the viewer's brain.

Teenage Hooker is what it is though and maybe I was expecting to much. But what it is, is a fun, trashy, and visually arresting flick worthy of a view. Especially if you take into factor the low production value's (most other director's wouldn't have done half as good a job with twice the money) Director Ki-Woong did a good deed bringing this bizarre vision to life.

Strange and affecting

[christopher-underwood · 7/10 · 26 October 2010]

Strange and affecting, this low budget quickie is just that little bit different and well worth a watch. With a running time of only sixty minutes, I was astonished at the length of the opening credits and indeed, thought maybe I had fast forwarded to the end! The movie soon gets going, however, and then it is sex, violence gore and opera all the way. Not just opera, either, the imaginative soundtrack also includes, local and western rock as well as Cambridge's King's College Choir. Some of the goriest moments get the most beautiful music and by the end the combination of erotic and bloody visuals and harsh and inspiring sounds combine to help create an irresistible nightmare fantasy. I became irritated by all the cackling laughter but despite this enjoyed this the more it went on.

cool title but...

[quinolas · 7/10 · 17 November 2001]

-SPOILER WARNING- This is a very low, low, low budget film from South Korea, a country that for the last 5 years has experienced a boom in its film industry. Two years ago a film called Swiri defeated Titanic at the South Korean box office. Last year, Chingu, a film seen by over eight million people in Korea, became the all-time box office champion. The plot is very simple and the title is self-explanatory too. A teenage hooker gets pregnant by her teacher. He hires three killers who chop her to pieces. A mysterious onlooker takes the pieces away a reconstructs her as a cyborg. She then takes revenge on the four men. The teenage, wearing a typical schoolgirl sailor uniform represents the three archetypes of mother, whore and Madonna. The film starts as a really funny comedy. She asks a client if he wants to do it right there on the spot or go for a mile, this meaning playing a raping game where she runs for a mile followed by her customer and finally gets raped. To another customer she asks: Honey or Dad ?. She then meets her teacher and they start to dance to the rhythm of a song by a South Korean rock band. This is probably the funniest and also weirdest sequence in the whole film. John Travolta and Uma Thurman: GET LOST!!!. This is followed by the schoolgirl's announcement that she is pregnant and her desire to be a good mother. She wants to forget her days as a prostitute, including having recently had sex with her new stepfather. She also tells the teacher how much she loves him and reminds him of how even though she sucked every single penny from the Ethics & Biology teachers she never charged him. Just as she is being rebuilt into a killing machine there is a shot where she is seen with tubes connected to her body in a position that looks like the Madonna in numerous paintings. The halo of light surrounding her gives her an even more heavenly nature. This sequence borrows imaginary from the anime Ghost in the Shell. It also borrows from Test, especially in the final sequence where she kills her teacher with a mechanical penis gun. The film has an atmospheric but perverse feeling thanks to the use of surreal compositions, colour filters and wide angle lenses But it gets bogged down with the use of too many shots of the schoolgirls walking around the centre of Seoul. The music does not help much either, apart from the above mention rock song, as it levels the film down to a music video. Nevertheless is a reassuring film for filmmakers beginners'. Shot on DV on an ultra low budget, it has actually been shown at the London Film Festival this year.

Midnight mass at the Underground: It's that sort of movie.

[Cinema_Fan · 7/10 · 10 March 2008]

Having its US' Premiere at the 9th New York Underground Film Festival, 2002, and quite fittingly, "Teenage Hooker Became a Killing Machine", or to give it its full Korean title "Daehakno-yeseo maechoon-hadaka tomaksalhae danghan yeogosaeng ajik Daehakno-ye Issda" is one hell of a train ride. An exploitation movie with added zest, that's exploitation as in plot and narrative, and too, genre. This concoction of sci-fi - horror and surreal black comedy is director Gee-woong Nam's coming together of the generation gap, represented by So-yun Lee as the young schoolgirl and her middle-aged teacher Dae-tong Kim and each character having no name except being called by their respective parts. This is where youth is seen as promiscuous, beautiful and in the same breath being independent to the limits of self-exploitive to further her own gains. The older generation is seen as square and exploitive of their young, ugly and controlling while at the same time forming the next generations path for their own needs; nasty business indeed, from both sides.

Most definitely a love it or hate it movie if bizarre and surrealism is your thing, with its unforgettable dance ritual, between Teacher and Teenage hooker, that can quite possibly be translated as sexual foreplay, the films highlight and most surreal moment. The soft focused and gritty imaginary can also be translated as to replicate a dream like state that this young Teenage hooker resides, but somehow the horrors of reality are more than evident with the political stance it takes. This may have its surreal fantasy overtones but its underlining concept of social controls and its menacing delivery is never far away. Macabre and unsettling to say the least.

Wronged and betrayed by a society that is meant to care for her she is finally put to rest by what can only be deemed as a corrupt and hypocritical system in the guise of three "morality" killers who then go about cutting and chopping our young lady to pieces.

Exploited from beyond the grave, reborn and rebuilt; think of Fritz Lang's 1927 classic Metropolis, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Luc Besson's Nikita and roll them all into one. Using her schoolgirl charm, once more, to infiltrate her targets, as she once had with her punters-of-the-night this sweet and innocent looking demeanour has transcended into a highly skilled robotic killing machine, a creation of SDH, Division 6. A man-made tool, this killing machine's thoughts are very similar to her past life's thoughts: socially programmed, a means to an end. But, has it all been a very bad dream? With the Teachers final insights are we to believe that this young girl is not metallic but still in fact human, but, subconsciously and unknowingly, still, a by-product of the system, eroding away any form of individualism and will? Gee-woong Nam's film of fantasy and science fiction has evolved into a midnight movie classic that when finally surfacing from the underground movement shall become one of Koreas finest moments. Seek it out. Be amazed.

Dark, dark, and silly fun

[Polaris_DiB · 6/10 · 10 May 2007]

This is an "experimental video" by Korean director Gee-woong Nam, which is barely feature length and rather absurd. It's mostly a very dark comedy about a teenage prostitute that becomes a "killing machine" after her murder by the hands of her teacher. The murder is kind of confusing because it seems as if the teacher and his lackeys are murdering two people, but I think the point is that it's only her.

The imagery is pretty unique. It's definitely video, and the lighting and saturation of the image makes everything burn feverishly. It's kind of hard to see sometimes, and other times it's hard to tell what exactly the videomakers are trying to do. Some of the more stand-out moments include when the teacher and prostitute are dancing in the street and when the killing machine jumps onto the car (probably the most brilliant moment in editing and visuals in the movie).

This movie seems to be inspired by video games, anime, and Eurotrash features, and I really wouldn't recommend this movie to anybody who doesn't enjoy those kinds of things and doesn't have a twisted sense of humor.

--PolarisDiB