Beauty Water

The story concerns a fat and ugly girl who turns into a beautiful and successful star, thanks to the beauty solution offered by a mysterious woman. Of course things eventually go wrong and a serial killer with body modification fetish is also involved in the plot. Very nice body horror entry in the anime genre and it echoes early David Cronenberg as well as Hisayasu Sato (NAKED BLOOD). Keep in mind that it contains violence, gore and nudity, so it's definitely not for kids. The animation is mostly 3D, which might annoy some viewers, but overall it's a really interesting anime thriller, because it's dark and violent visuals go hand-in-hand with some apt messages about physical beauty, greed and consumerism.

The film by Cho Kyung-hun touches on many important topics, how he reveals this is like a cautionary tale. Right now there are billions of audience whose fascination with Kpop or anything Korean is regarded as a culture, a movement across the globe. But here, the director picks South Korea, the plastic surgery capital of the world and places a obese girl as the central character and how she is a victim/slave to unnatural plastic reconstructions which impacts her socioeconomic standing. It is not preachy but you suddenly realise its shockingly accurate and scathing critique of present day South Korea.

Based on popular Korean thriller webtoon by Oh Seong-dae, this film focusses on Yaeji, a make-up artist working in the fashion industry. She is enormously obese encountering hatefilled people from the industry who make fun of her in the worst way possible. One day, Yaeji receives an anonymous offer to a elixir, after facing so many conflicts within her family and mentally drained, the first success appears. Yaeji looks almost twenty years younger and she is happy that large chunk of extra skin and flab is completely gone. However, it's predictable as anyone can see the disastrous side effects coming as she becomes a walking corpse and looks disgusting which will break everything in her life including her family.

I know many CGI puritans will have a divided opinion if they see this one, yes the animation is sometimes on the amateur side, but it is limited anyway. My favourite is in the last scenes will, the animation was nightmarish and image of a monster with living eyes in the body was the best in this body horror. The art style blends so well, and it reminded me alot of works by Junji Ito and Kev Walker, the man behind Death Metal legend Autopsy's album art for Severed Survival and Mental Funeral.

The central character is partly well-developed and it's not a minus. For a film that doesn't waste time to menace right from the start, it manages to hold it till the finale. Beauty Water is a grotesquely fascinating movie that may be a amateur on the animation side but it is heavy on the efforts and the themes!

In all honesty, I have never ever seen anything so profound. This anime has multiple messages of morality to convey to the viewer and it does so masterfully. Some critics say that this is a body horror type of adult animated film, in the same vein as the Cronenberg horror movies(The Brood, The Fly, Rabid, Scanners). I have to partially agree. This is a film unto itself. You'll have to watch and form your own opinions. I enjoyed this one and wholeheartedly recommend it for you.

I have seen a few animated horror films in my time: Dracula Sovereign Of The Damned 1980, Monster of Frankenstein 1981, Vampire Hunter D 1985, Bio Hunter 1995, Wicked City 1987, Seoul Station 2016. This movie belongs in this selection.

The plot of the film concerns an overweight woman, looked down upon by her co-workers. To boot, she does not have a pretty face as well. So she is unable to get a boyfriend and engage in a romantic relationship. Hope arrives in the form of a mysterious package addressed to her. Opening the package will change her life for good.

I enjoyed the animation, direction and flawless script. This one is among the rare ones that has real quality to it.

A movie based on a Korean web horror comic. It depicts a dystopia where people who are too obsessed with the beauty and ugliness of themselves and others end up.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't have any complaints about the quality of the 3D animation, but it's a masterpiece that clearly reflects the problems of modern Korean society. A Korean YouTuber said that in Korea, if you don't look good, you will be at a disadvantage when it comes to finding a job, so some people undergo plastic surgery beforehand. With advances in plastic surgery technology, lookism in South Korea seems to be intensifying year by year.