Name a korean horror movie. I've seen it.
Where did all the good korean horror from the early 2000s go ?
Somehow people thought "The Wailing" was a great movie and now everyone is trying to copy it. Exorcism, Shamanism everywhere. Where did the subtle creeping up your brain horror go ?
This movie is like an american exorcism movie. It even has jump scares.
It starts rather promising but becomes kinda uncreative quick. I have seen most of this somewhere before, in a better form, in an US movie(Insidious). That's not the kind of horror I want from a korean horror movie. Theres a hundred better US movies with that topic out there.
Not impressed at all.
25 Reviews
A modern "Poltergeist/Insidious" mix from Korea! Great effort overall, definitely recommended!
Mivas_Greece22 September 2021
Metaphysical horror film from South Korea. An obvious influence from other films of the genre, could be a modern Poltergeist or Insidious, with the excellent Korean cinema giving its own identity to the genre. It all started decades ago with a dramatic and painful death of a girl. Something that, however, remained to be haunted over the years. Many children disappeared from time to time under unknown circumstances. Now, a widowed father and his daughter are moving to a remote house close to nature so that the girl can feel a little bit better after the loss of her mother. However, there is something strange in the little girl's room and specifically in the closet. Something that will make the little one change gradually until she mysteriously disappears. How far can her father go to bring her back? An excellent effort from Korea, with good acting, very good direction and effects and a good balance of action / suspense and plot but also a balance of horror / drama and humor, although I would personally remove every element of humor to make it even darker. Very good recommendation overall from Korea and definitely recommended for fans of the genre.
The Beyond (Nightmare)
kosmasp17 December 2020
Korean horror movies have been here for a while and if you are aware of that, you probably know they've put out some really good movies. While I would not put this at the top of any list, I still think it is a really good one. Visually speaking but also from a story standpoint. Characters are flawed as they should be and make decisions that are wrong .. in a way.
Again sometimes it is very hard to know what to do - not to mention certain things are ok to happen or should happen so the story is more interesting. And theer is more to this than just the space of the closet ... there's something behind it (no pun intended). This can be a good/frightening time, if you dig it
Again sometimes it is very hard to know what to do - not to mention certain things are ok to happen or should happen so the story is more interesting. And theer is more to this than just the space of the closet ... there's something behind it (no pun intended). This can be a good/frightening time, if you dig it
Folk tale horror story
el714 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I feel like this is actually somewhere between a six and a seven, but upgrading it due primarily to the enjoyable buddy cop energy between the frantic father and the exorcist.
The Closet has a feel throughout like a folk tale. It's got plot elements that you might recognize as having seen before in Sinister, Pay the Ghost, and The Hallow. The story begins with a shocking cold open that I won't spoil for you, but I will say that it does a great job of setting the stakes for this movie. Then we cut to the main story line, which concerns a newly bereft father Sang-won, a widower who is trying to figure out how to relate to his grieving young daughter I-na. He screws up at it a lot. Backstory shows that he's an ambitious architect, and his toxic work culture has made him wealthy but also made him a workaholic who neglects his family. I-na's grief and disappointment attracts the attention of a supernatural entity who approaches her from the titular closet. The rest of the movie follows Sang-won's attempts to get her back, with the unlikely help of a scrappy young exorcist who, it turns out, has an ulterior motive. And it's not money, as he would initially have Sang-won and the audience believe.
This is not a jump scare movie, nor is it really a creeping dread kind of ghost story. It's atmospherics are more 'dark fairytale' than 'gothic horror' and the scares are set far apart, although there are a few genuinely frightening scenes that come with almost no warning. It's definitely worth a look if you're in the mood for tale that's not too scary to watch before trying to go to sleep.
The Closet has a feel throughout like a folk tale. It's got plot elements that you might recognize as having seen before in Sinister, Pay the Ghost, and The Hallow. The story begins with a shocking cold open that I won't spoil for you, but I will say that it does a great job of setting the stakes for this movie. Then we cut to the main story line, which concerns a newly bereft father Sang-won, a widower who is trying to figure out how to relate to his grieving young daughter I-na. He screws up at it a lot. Backstory shows that he's an ambitious architect, and his toxic work culture has made him wealthy but also made him a workaholic who neglects his family. I-na's grief and disappointment attracts the attention of a supernatural entity who approaches her from the titular closet. The rest of the movie follows Sang-won's attempts to get her back, with the unlikely help of a scrappy young exorcist who, it turns out, has an ulterior motive. And it's not money, as he would initially have Sang-won and the audience believe.
This is not a jump scare movie, nor is it really a creeping dread kind of ghost story. It's atmospherics are more 'dark fairytale' than 'gothic horror' and the scares are set far apart, although there are a few genuinely frightening scenes that come with almost no warning. It's definitely worth a look if you're in the mood for tale that's not too scary to watch before trying to go to sleep.
Decent layering to an over-used theme
AJ_Nel25 September 2021
Kwang-bin Kim's full length directorial debut, Keullojet (the Closet) 2020, is clearly influenced not only by the Ringu series of films but also well-established themes in Asian horror (eg a vindictive female ghost). However there is a lot more to Keullojet. The atmosphere created beautifully compliments the themes which the film conveys and the acting, esp by Jung-wu Ha and Nam-gil Kim, is excellent. As such Keullojet becomes more than something like the tacky Insidious (yet another movie which clearly influenced the second act) and presents a well-scripted secondary layer to it. 7/10.
Done Many Times Before
westsideschl26 January 2021
Non-creatively borrowed (to say politely) theme elements done many times before.
1. Family with tragic history go to live in an isolated house with a past.
2. Usual vengeful spirit inhabiting some hidden space (this case a done before closet).
3. A child is the object of the spirit's attention who also happens to be a child. A stuffed toy as prop, of course.
4. Brief appearances by said spirit-child to possess the human child & bring her into the spirit world.
5. A bit of newspaper digging brings up past child disappearances.
6. A spirt hunter cartoonishly shows up & brings the usual electrical magnetic field detectors to locate spirits, but as any high school student will tell you they're only good at telling you that electricity is in the house - duh!
7. Usual circle of candles w/drumming, chants, and ancient textbook showing pictures of nasty spirits.
Well worth the watch
angeldunn-319897 November 2021
A basic jumpscare horror
ansirahka14 October 2020
Pretty funny that they mention 'interstellar' but not 'insidious' or 'the conjuring' which basically has the same plot as this movie: let's go find the missing kid to their realm, but of course added with some korean flair.
Average Korean Horror film, but BRILLIANT acting from the child actress, Kim Shi-A!
jseynopsis28 August 2020
I would say this is a so-so average korean horror film, I have watched better ones before. But I am definitely IMPRESSED by the child actress Kim Shi-A who portrayed the role of Myung-Jin. Just as I was about to rate this movie a 6/10, I realised it wouldn't do her justice after watching her performance during the 2nd half of the movie. Of course Ha Jung-Woo is already an established actor, but seeing a kid (Kim Shi-A) giving such impressive performance, it's really kudos mann...
Quite the surprise...
ravenhair70219 December 2020
I'm not normally the guy who watches a movie with subtitles, But I have before and I was against watching this one, but my wife talked me into it and really, after twenty minutes or so, I was all in. It's a nice take on the American movie Poltergeist. Kid gets taken to the realm of the dead through a closet. I will say the acting, as far as the kids, was superb. The adults did a fine job too, but to see that range in kids that young is astonishing. Over all I think this movie did the horror genre a great job. I recommend it to anyone looking for a decent horror flick. Peace.
A must watch for horror fans
timjdavis-6930721 April 2020
Korea is fastly becoming one of my favorite countries to produce horror films. Train to Busan is one of my favorite modern horror films and after watching the closet, it's not far behind.
It's creepy, well written, well acted and left me in a ball of tears at the end. Highly recommend this film
Creepy and quite chilling Korean ghost film
kannibalcorpsegrinder1 January 2021
Following his wife's death, a man and his daughter decide to move into a new home out in the country to try to move past the horrific events but once it becomes apparent that supernatural forces are at play within the house that pulls his daughter into their world he turns to an expert to try to get her back at all costs.
On the whole, this one was a rather enjoyable ghost effort. Like most great ghost stories, there's a lot to like here with the general build-up of the story into far greater and more dangerous threats. The element of grief present in the backstory to this one drops a great sense of atmospheric grounding that has a lot to do with what the perception of the daughters' behavior changes as she goes from the intimidated, quiet girl with an unresolved anger problem toward her father to full-on psychotic outbursts. The complete turn-around she experiences is found to be related closely to the spirits inhabiting the house signal the start of the investigation into what's happening once the psychic arrives looking for evidence of the supernatural. These sequences and the resulting explanation into the backstory of the missing child from the house that soon transforms into a much larger case involving multiple missing children in the area and the eventual need to enter their dimension to rescue his daughter. This build-up of events is quite well-handled and one of the best aspects featured here. Likewise, the film gets a lot out of its ghost action and activity. Focusing on the idea of something in the house with the scurrying footsteps, child-like laughing or strange noises off in the distance that are both inhuman and impossible to have been made by the daughter once he arrives to investigate, the gradual build-up of the haunted house they live in is quite nice. The subtle hints of something happening with the famed closet, with the inability to keep it closed, her refusal to let him near it or the strange dream of it the ghostly woman emerging and cutting her throat in front of him cause even more enjoyable supernatural work within here that leads into the second half where it brings the ghoulish ghost-children into the picture to provide far more action than expected. These scenes benefit greatly from the creepy and chilling make-up used on the ghost children which is genuinely terrifying and creepy which certainly goes a long way to helping this one feature some fantastic positives. There are some flaws with this one. The main issue to be found here is the film's reliance on Hollywood-style ghost scenes that don't do anything new to betray their influence. The sequence in the bedroom where all the ghost children emerge and attack him tackles plenty of scene setups and a general atmosphere of many J-horror films, especially with the main ghost attacking the lone victim waiting in the control room. The entire investigation evokes entire J-horror franchises with the heroes up against a clock looking for the source of the supernatural maladies affecting them. Finally, the entire trip into the other dimension to rescue his daughter is a direct and overt ripoff of select American films outright, reducing the impact of these scenes drastically. Since this is where the typical Korean penchant for overblown melodrama emerges as he tries to plead with the ghost to let go of her anger towards his family, this comes off as somewhat cheesy due to the lack of build-up being more straightforward before then. These aren't truly terrible or wholly unworthy but do have a negative aspect on the film as a whole.
Rated Unrated/R: Violence, Language and intense themes of children-in-jeopardy.
On the whole, this one was a rather enjoyable ghost effort. Like most great ghost stories, there's a lot to like here with the general build-up of the story into far greater and more dangerous threats. The element of grief present in the backstory to this one drops a great sense of atmospheric grounding that has a lot to do with what the perception of the daughters' behavior changes as she goes from the intimidated, quiet girl with an unresolved anger problem toward her father to full-on psychotic outbursts. The complete turn-around she experiences is found to be related closely to the spirits inhabiting the house signal the start of the investigation into what's happening once the psychic arrives looking for evidence of the supernatural. These sequences and the resulting explanation into the backstory of the missing child from the house that soon transforms into a much larger case involving multiple missing children in the area and the eventual need to enter their dimension to rescue his daughter. This build-up of events is quite well-handled and one of the best aspects featured here. Likewise, the film gets a lot out of its ghost action and activity. Focusing on the idea of something in the house with the scurrying footsteps, child-like laughing or strange noises off in the distance that are both inhuman and impossible to have been made by the daughter once he arrives to investigate, the gradual build-up of the haunted house they live in is quite nice. The subtle hints of something happening with the famed closet, with the inability to keep it closed, her refusal to let him near it or the strange dream of it the ghostly woman emerging and cutting her throat in front of him cause even more enjoyable supernatural work within here that leads into the second half where it brings the ghoulish ghost-children into the picture to provide far more action than expected. These scenes benefit greatly from the creepy and chilling make-up used on the ghost children which is genuinely terrifying and creepy which certainly goes a long way to helping this one feature some fantastic positives. There are some flaws with this one. The main issue to be found here is the film's reliance on Hollywood-style ghost scenes that don't do anything new to betray their influence. The sequence in the bedroom where all the ghost children emerge and attack him tackles plenty of scene setups and a general atmosphere of many J-horror films, especially with the main ghost attacking the lone victim waiting in the control room. The entire investigation evokes entire J-horror franchises with the heroes up against a clock looking for the source of the supernatural maladies affecting them. Finally, the entire trip into the other dimension to rescue his daughter is a direct and overt ripoff of select American films outright, reducing the impact of these scenes drastically. Since this is where the typical Korean penchant for overblown melodrama emerges as he tries to plead with the ghost to let go of her anger towards his family, this comes off as somewhat cheesy due to the lack of build-up being more straightforward before then. These aren't truly terrible or wholly unworthy but do have a negative aspect on the film as a whole.
Rated Unrated/R: Violence, Language and intense themes of children-in-jeopardy.
Horror Drama
faamkeen21 February 2020
Better than Rated
jmbwithcats4 December 2021
South Korean horror movie, The Closet reminds me of the story, Battle Royale. Where parents turn to desperate and inhuman solutions due to hardships of the economy in a sick society that has leeched all compassion and joy out of life... and the innocents who pay the price.
Great movie!
williamwonkum21 February 2020
Such a thoughtful movie!
lilyhaha21 February 2020
Good horror movie.
Flekoun13 February 2021
Warning: Spoilers
A film that is definitely worth watching with a good story and a relatively good atmosphere. Definitely don't expect a movie hit, but you certainly won't be bored or at least I wasn't bored. It's not a movie where there is a lot of blood and film effects, but it's a cool horror movie and you're sure to find your fans who love ghost horror. And the film's conclusion was also quite successful, about how some people can be cruel to their own children. I definitely recommend this film to anyone who likes ghost horror movies.
Insidious Meets Korea
tiffmasters3 January 2021
Warning: Spoilers
The start is slow and pretty easily predictable, starting out almost exactly like 0.0mhz which i just watched. However, Jung-woo ha hasn't disappointed me in a movie, really ever. And when this seemingly traditional haunting of Korea takes a turn into the closet, very Poltergeist-esquire, we get the twist we were waiting for, and that the movie needed. It is extremely emotional, but that's what these films do. They confront ugly realities of living, they don't lie to us and make things pretty and happy all of the time. They show us our demons and force honesty down our throats. And these kid actors they have, it's incredible.
After a tragic accident leaves Ina without a mother, she and her father disconnect in their grief and move to a new house to try and start over. Isn't it always the way? The new house has seen its horrors though. in twenty+ years dozens of kids have gone missing, and now, Ina has joined them. These kids were unwanted by their parents, and the first of those to die in that house, made a playground to welcome them home.
After a tragic accident leaves Ina without a mother, she and her father disconnect in their grief and move to a new house to try and start over. Isn't it always the way? The new house has seen its horrors though. in twenty+ years dozens of kids have gone missing, and now, Ina has joined them. These kids were unwanted by their parents, and the first of those to die in that house, made a playground to welcome them home.
Better than expected!
candacebrewer15 December 2020
overall the acting was great and I'm looking forward to what Yi Na comes out with next, that precious baby is really talented~
bilalkamaran8 May 2021
For a movie that's only 1 hour and a half long, this wasn't bad, but it might've needed a little more emotional substance. They didn't stress enough how "bad" the relationship between Yi Na and her dad was, tbh it just felt like common sadness, and the dad was a workaholic who tried to make excuses to leave his daughter for a couple of months because he didn't know how to deal with the loss of his wife, and basically they just needed therapy not a new house ;)
anyway it took them a few days or less for Yi Na to act "weirdly" and a few days later she went missing, so there was not much buildup.
I personally used to be a scardy cat and I don't know if I'm just older now or movies lost their fear factor, but this was heartbreaking rather than scary. Especially with the background story of what started it all.
And speaking of how it all started it felt quite basic, plus it was resolved very simply and it didn't need the dramatic fight scenes.
And they only spent a few seconds on the other kids but I think that'd have been the breaking point for them, I honestly teared up on that subject but then it was suddenly over.
I also feel like they could've built a beautiful bromance and connection, tbh Kyung Hoon came in the picture, said 1 thing about why he's doing this and boom they were working and solving what took him 10 or so years to solve. There was no anticipation, no foundation.
Overall the acting was great and I'm looking forward to what Yi Na comes out with next, that precious baby is really talented~
I personally used to be a scardy cat and I don't know if I'm just older now or movies lost their fear factor, but this was heartbreaking rather than scary. Especially with the background story of what started it all.
And speaking of how it all started it felt quite basic, plus it was resolved very simply and it didn't need the dramatic fight scenes.
And they only spent a few seconds on the other kids but I think that'd have been the breaking point for them, I honestly teared up on that subject but then it was suddenly over.
I also feel like they could've built a beautiful bromance and connection, tbh Kyung Hoon came in the picture, said 1 thing about why he's doing this and boom they were working and solving what took him 10 or so years to solve. There was no anticipation, no foundation.
Overall the acting was great and I'm looking forward to what Yi Na comes out with next, that precious baby is really talented~
Familiar but handsome Korean horror show
Leofwine_draca24 February 2023
Now, I do love a bit of Asian horror and THE CLOSET (2020, original title Keullojet) is something special. It's essentially the Korean version of POLTERGEIST and INSIDIOUS, telling the story of a bereaved husband and his young daughter who move into a remote countryside house. The daughter finds an old doll in her bedroom and soon hears voices from the closet, and one day she vanishes. At this point things really get interesting as the media takes an interest in the case.
What's really good about this film is that it shines a light on Korean folklore and religious beliefs in a similar way to THE WAILING. The exorcism scenes are really well staged and although this has some of the same fantasy landscape scenes as INSIDIOUS or STRANGER THINGS, it feels much more grounded and believable. The ghosts are pretty spooky too. Ha Jung-woo has long been my favourite Korean star (since THE YELLOW SEA) and he's great here, although Kim Nam-gil steals his thunder a little. THE CLOSET isn't an extraordinary film, but it ably does what it sets out to do with this premise.
What's really good about this film is that it shines a light on Korean folklore and religious beliefs in a similar way to THE WAILING. The exorcism scenes are really well staged and although this has some of the same fantasy landscape scenes as INSIDIOUS or STRANGER THINGS, it feels much more grounded and believable. The ghosts are pretty spooky too. Ha Jung-woo has long been my favourite Korean star (since THE YELLOW SEA) and he's great here, although Kim Nam-gil steals his thunder a little. THE CLOSET isn't an extraordinary film, but it ably does what it sets out to do with this premise.
Refreshingly lacking in blood and gore --and still very edgy.
emw-0819223 January 2024
O my gosh--there's a decent back story and build up to the supernatural elements --and the horror does not rely on buckets of blood and gore. Atmosphere. Shaman concepts. Relationships. Tragedy. And a resolution seldom seen in the horror genre. Mum's the word on that. It's been a while since I've actually enjoyed a tale of the supernatural but The Closet hit the spot for me. It's not The Wailing by any means but it's not one of those disappointing films that leaves you thinking "Damn, what a waste of potential. That could have been so much better. What a waste of talent." This strives to do the best with everything it's got going--solid cinematography, quality performances and non-western story concepts--and that last is a very good thing indeed. Noted that there's a very wide range of reviews. To be expected. My advice is to watch and enjoy for what it's worth--which is a lot more than blood baths.
Not a good horror movie but a great family movie
nbquynhanhvn5 September 2020
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