Witch Board: Bunshinsaba

Who knows what's the trademark of almost all of the Asian horror movies? Yes, you're right: a ghost or a spirit shaped as a girl(or a woman) with her long, dark hair over the face. In small doses, at the right moment, usually associated with creepy sounds or eerie score, moving suddenly or with broken movements, those out-of-this-world presences have the power to scare to death the poor characters unfortunate enough to be in their path. Now, ladies and gentlemen, in "Bunshinsaba" you have the longest presence on-screen of the aforementioned long-haired female ghosts in the entire Asian horror history. If you have a better example, please let me know.

Now you think that will make this movie the scariest of them all? Errr...no. "Bunshinsaba" is a horror movie, no doubt about it. But, it's scare factor is average or even low. Despite some (very short) disturbing images, it's hard to be really terrified. No unsupportable tension from "Shutter", no gruesome-deformed faces from "The Ring". The last three-quarters of the film we're dealing with the ghost, who-as usually-seek revenge. The main problem is that we have real difficulties to know who's the real person, who's the real person possessed by the vengeful spirit, who's the real spirit, what's real and what's imagination and who's the reincarnation of the spirit. It's not easy to follow. Once invoked(at the beginning) the spirit move from person to person, determining the subsequent behavior. Some commit suicide by putting a plastic bag over the head, spilling flammable liquid over and set it on fire. Other girl throw herself out of window.

About the standard, mandatory, long-haired girl(notice that I didn't said "ghost"): As I said, you will see a LOT of standard stuff. A face looking down and then slightly starting to rise the sight. Don't expect demoniacal expressions, sudden scares in sync with loud sounds. Once is the real girl-school, next time the ghost, next another girl possessed by the ghost. Hmmm, pretty twisted, maybe a second viewing is necessary.

Otherwise, even the plot is relatively clear, it is also pretty twisted. There's a lot of talk. All the girls are beautiful and in general the cast consist in pleasant-looking people. Unfortunately, if you want to be really scared, this is not the right movie.

Bunshinsaba is your typical long-haired ghost-girl trope horror movie, that runs out of steam really fast. It has a very good first act, and is well directed, well lit, and does not rely on special effects. It also has an original premise, and is well acted. I especially liked the opening, which wasted no time to get right to the premise of the movie. The problem is, that the movie quickly turns into a paint-by-numbers of The Ring. A lot of the foreshadowing (if you can even call it that) is so obvious, that if there were any surprises or twists in the second act, they are long gone before you even get there. The movie also over-indulges in dramatic lightning strikes during close ups, and shows the ghosts way too much. This sucks the suspense right out of the movie. Halfway through the film, it started to drag, and I just wanted the movie to end. One of the movie's main problems, is that there are no stakes in the third act. The main characters have no means of stopping the ghost, and thus there is no tension. We're basically just watching the ghost kill a lot of characters that we don't like any way, with no means for the main characters of stopping her. No stakes or likable victims, means no suspense. It's a shame, because the movie is well directed, well shot, and has great use of scene lighting. I even liked the music that played over the ending credits, before it was interrupted by a standard Asian pop song. But I can't really recommend this movie. It's not bad, it's just sub par.

Yoo Jin was transferred back to a high school in her parents' hometown.Having a tough time dealing with her new surroundings,she puts a curse on four girls that tormented her.As each of them mysteriously burns to death,the school is thrown into a chaos.The mayor of the village throws fear into the entire town when he announced that Yoo Jin has called upon the spirits of a mother and daughter who were brutally killed in the village some thirty years back.He suggests that they drive Yoo Jin and her family out of the town.However mysterious deaths still occur...Admittedly the story of "Bunshinsaba" is highly unoriginal as it borrows heavily from "Ringu","Whispering Corridors" and "Into the Mirror",but there is enough creepiness to keep fans of Asian horror on the edge of their seats.The girls in high school uniforms are cute and the acting is decent.Se-eun Lee is stunningly beautiful with her big expressive eyes and soulful looks.The sequence which takes place on a barren highway at night is truly eerie."Bunshinsaba" is definitely quite derivative and uninspired,but if you like Asian spooky flicks give it a look.7 out of 10.

Vengeful ghosts return to haunt and destroy the people that caused their death. You might recognize a little of The Ring, as the mother had special mental powers. The ghosts, of course, have that hair effect with the eyes looking ... ghastly.

A nice plot element is that the ghosts in this film really do have purpose, other than just killing and avenging. They do that beautifully, of course, but as a hobby not as a full time job :)

The problem with the film is that it is not scary. The good ideas in the script are not fully capitalized. When people from a small isolated village see their children die inexplicably one would expect great turmoil and a lot of interesting things happening. Alas it was too low a budget to cover for this. Therefore everything in the movie seems shrunk, detached, to fit the budget.

So, it's a nice film to watch for cultists and horror fans, but not a great movie, almost not a good one.

Being a big fan of Korean horror (Oldboy, I Saw the Devil, Hansel & Gretel etc.) I decided to look at a few lists of people's 'top 10 Korean horror movies' and found that a little obscure film, that I'd never heard of, called, "Bunshinsaba" was number 1 a lot of the time (or at least near the top). However, I was disheartened to find that it had a low average score on IMDb, so I found it on Youtube (didn't want to risk buying it), hoping that IMDb was going to be proved wrong, but unfortunately it wasn't.

Bunshinsaba was extremely disappointing. I liked the creepy opening which immediately set the atmosphere and had me feeling for the main character, but after that it seemed to be incredibly rushed through so I found it hard to get into. There are a lot of ideas pushed into Bunshinsaba that are skimmed over in a flash and not allowing for any sort of character development, thus detaching you from the story. There's also no discourse markers to let you know that the film is going to move on to a different idea, it just goes onto a different scene and it's as if a whole chunk has been cropped out.

The ideas are also not wholly original. It relies on the long-haired white-face ghost were creepy in The Grudge and The Ring, but have become over-used in Japanese horror films, and now it seems the Korean's have started copying them. Although, at least they had a go at constructing a fresh story instead of remaking one! There are also a range of recycled and over-used ideas in ghost films, you could count the clichés on your fingers: We've got the vengeful spirit, possession, exorcism, a secluded town etc. All that have been done to death, and Bunshinsaba doesn't even try doing them in any new or exciting ways.

However, that's not to say that Bunshinsaba is a terrible film, because it's not. Its strongest moments lay in the flash-back sequences, which take upon a slower pace which is much better suited for the film. The back-story is also genuinely interesting, and I found myself gripped to those scenes. There is also some exciting moments dotted around the film, I just wished it had been more original and had taken a slower and more meaningful approach.

It also got a little too confusing at the end and I found myself, just leaning back and watching what unfolds without really knowing what's going on, because the film doesn't allow any time for the viewer to work it out. Bunshinsaba is an OK film and does pass the time on a rainy Friday night, but it should not be the main aim of your life to see this film. It's nothing we haven't seen before and haven't seen done more effectively.