The Piper: South Korean Folk Horror take on the legend. It's 1953, just after the Armistice, a man and his young son wandering through a forest finds a village. The chief of the settlement invites them to stay for the night. The stranger entertains the locals playing tunes on his pipe. His music causes rats to move. He is asked to stay on and is offered a reward when he claims he can rid the village of it's plague of rats. These are fearsome rodents, they eat cats and menace humans. When the villagers had to flee during the war, the sick and there Shaman wouldn't leave and they were massacred by the rampaging Chinese soldiers. The Chief and his followers returned to find their bodies being devoured by rats. Using his pipe and bait the piper clears the rats out. But as in the fable the villagers renege on the deal. There is real horror ib this film, the rats descending in swarms, devouring the living and the dead, the spirit of a wronged Shaman returns and possesses a young woman, gruesome murders. It is far darker than the original legend as the villagers are also hiding secrets which shame them. The rats deserve an award for best ensemble performance. The psychological horror is also impressive as the Piper's achievements are denied, accused of being a spy, the far of the stranger used to turn a mob against him. The existential terror of the final scenes will stick with me for a while I reckon. Written and Directed by Kim Gwang-tae. 8/10.
