Everyone is certainly aware of the Japanese Ringu series, one of the first few Asian movies that made audiences terrified of women whose hair was longer than shoulder length. Although South Korea is responsible for making films that continue this particular genre trope, Dead Friend, otherwise titled the Ghost, is the one film that is potentially South Korea's answer to this iconic Japanese franchise. With this in mind, the feature contains in-depth originality that sets it apart from other films, and even when the next horror scene is predicted by the viewership, the film is still capable of surprising us with the unexpected, essentially providing the audience with a satisfying horror film.Though the explanation regarding why the ghost in question decides to begin extracting its vengeance is only loosely explained, and thus open to interpretation, the plot itself is as unexpected as it is entertaining, providing the viewer with a story that is not only coherent, but has enough suspenseful twists to keep viewers engaged until the end.Eun-seo (Hye-bin Jeon) is violently attacked by a water bound entity not long after her sister, Eun-jeong (Yun-ji Lee) uses a bunshinsaba with her friends to contact the dead. After this opening, which effectively grasps our attention, the story focuses upon Min Ji-won (Ha-Neul Kim), who has been suffering from amnesia. Her consulting physician makes it known that her condition is beginning to settle, and despite this being cause for celebration in most instances, in this feature, it is quite the opposite.Haunted by an unidentifiable figure in her dreams, which always has some bizarre connection with water, Ji-won begins a desperate investigation to find the link between the entity whose haunting her, and the memories she has long forgotten, and what's more, how all of it is connected to other young women, haunted by the same faceless terror.Unlike in films like Memento Mori, where the audience is on the outside looking in, Dead Friend thrusts the viewers right into the thick of the terrifying scenario. The effects are satisfactorily delivered, but it is the depth of character that really benefits the feature, with a collection of sympathetic, vile and enjoyable individuals that make this film such a great experience.The end of the feature could have been vastly more conclusive, though this is certainly overshadowed by the film's success; after watching this, you will never look at a glass of water the same way again.

Oh boy. Another long-haired girl ghost pumped out by the Asian horror generator. For those who are new to Asian horror, movies centered around creepy long-haired female ghosts (a la "The Ring" or "The Grudge") are the slasher movies of Asian cinema - there are ten million of them, and they're generally riddled with clichés. This film centers around an amnesiac college student whose high school friends have begun to die mysteriously, apparently at the hands of a creepy long-haired ghost girl. Naturally, the poor main character must go and dredge up her lost memories to find out this angry spirit's identity and what exactly her beef is. Now, let me get this out on the table - there is almost nothing original about this movie. If you have seen a couple other Asian horror movies, especially "The Grudge" and "Shutter", you have basically seen this movie (There is one scene that honestly looks like it was straight up stolen from "Shutter"). Now, a few good words for the movie. It is well-paced and does have some decently scary moments, which is unusual for Korean horror flicks IMO. Most Korean horror movies I have seen are extremely slow, not scary in the least, and make very little sense. This movie avoids all but the last one. The plot is fairly straightforward for most of the film, but there is a twist at the end which comes basically out of nowhere, except for some extremely vague foreshadowing. Add this to an opening scene that seems to have no relation to the rest of the movie, and you've got a recipe for confusion. Again, however, it is far from the worst I've seen. I would really not go so far as to call this a bad movie. The budget was obviously pretty high and the film itself looks pretty slick. Again, there are some decent scares, though nothing that will stay with you afterwards. It could be enjoyable to newcomers (and I mean REALLY new) to the Asian horror genre, but others are better off giving it a pass.

An amnesiac, Ji-won(Ha-Neul Kim, playing the character as vacant and lost as possible)troubled by a traumatic past which is slowly unraveling memories, begins to realize that a ghost, possibly of a high school girl, Su-in(Sang-mi Nam)is killing former friends who ridiculed this girl because of her low-income status. What Ji-won doesn't realize is that her "past self" was a nasty rich bitch who treated those less fortunate, from a financial standpoint, like dirt while her "rat pack" would join in on the festivities of name calling among other cruelties. Along with her boyfriend, Ji-won will indeed seek out the truth behind the deaths of her former friends and who is behind them. Soon, the complete mystery tucked away in her subconscious, will reveal a horrifying drowning that perhaps shapes what has been taking place to her former school chums. Each of Ji-won's high school friends die by drowning shortly after the ghost appears to them in a vulnerable state unable to find help from their menacing visitor.As you've read throughout the user comment section already, "The Ghost" is stylishly directed and rather well acted. The film looks great and the cast doesn't disappoint. There are even a few scares here and there..but it's all rather familiar. The twist at the end saves this film, I believe, from completely feeling "been there done that." It's a mind-boggling doozy of an ending, I'll tell you, where someone isn't who they appear to be..it's the case of "identity crisis" where jealousy can drive the motivations of a cast-away so longing to have the life of the one they envy. It's the kind of twist that takes you right back through what you just have seen, putting a new light on the story and central character. The film is designed like "The Grudge" as a spook film, so there isn't any graphic violence, the emphasis is on creeping the audience, not blood-letting. The ghost, as can probably be pictured in the minds of those who have seen numerous Asian horror flicks, is a girl with long black hair which splits to reveal this discolored eyeball that peers at a potential victim. When her hands reach out, and her feet walk across the floor, water is shown soaking off, foretelling to the viewer this restless spirit's fate. I felt the director skillfully crafts the story, supplying the memories of a past conveying to us just the kind of loathsome person Ji-won was, and how Si-un was treated by her. This back-story is supplemented as the story comes to the obvious confrontation between Ji-won and the ghost. I think one can rightfully criticize how similar this film feels to others that have came before it, but at least we get a back story into their lives and what motivates the horrors to those who kept a specific secret one fateful day.

Simply put, I was amazingly disappointed. I'm a huge fan of Asian Horror, and I can watch unoriginality (I myself enjoyed "The Red Shoes" and "Phone"), but this was just poor.The movie has a lot of elements that are very high-quality: the photography is eye-catching, the visuals are cool, the directing is inspired, the acting is pretty good, the music is easy on the ears, and the CGI is incredible. But, since this is a horror film, we are expected to be scared, which just won't happen with this film. As with most South Korean horrors, this is unoriginal almost from beginning to end: there's the trademark long-haired vengeful female ghost, ominous clumps of thick, black hair and puddles of water, and near the end, a twist that *almost*, but not quite makes sense out of the whole thing (the twist is easily one of the best qualities). And to the viewer's irritation, when the film isn't recycling (at times, so exact that it could easily be dubbed plagiarized) imagery from other movies, it's making you jump. A lot. And by jumps, I don't mean things jumping out or anything, just VERY loud noises and screeches in the soundtrack used to make the audience jump six feet in the air (there's even a few "made-you-jump" moments that are simply infuriating). And when it is not ripping-off other movies, it's boring, and hard to sit through.And it's a shame, because "Ryeong" could have easily been really good, and it has everything to make it good, but its the annoying overuse of completely predictable loud noises and jump scares that eventually ruin the movie. A perfect example of how good it could have been: there's a moment when one of out characters is looking at a corpse, and without a sound, the corpse looks back. It's wholly predictable, but the use of silence in that scene is brilliant. And unfortunately, that's as scary as the movie got for me.Admittedly, "Ryeong" has a few good features, and even a couple jumps that aren't as predictable, and do work. There's a very good and sad back-story used to explain the events, and the twist is pretty unpredictable. Those are the only things that separate the film from any other Asian ghost/horror film. But the problem with these is, even though they do work, they have been used before (J-Horror fans will easily realize the big reveal was inspired by "A Tale of Two Sisters"), and it takes the back-story a good fifty minutes to get going.So in the end, "Ryong" really seems like a truly wasted opportunity. Tae-kyeong Kim hoped that the plot twist and other good features act as diversions, so the audience won't notice the huge flaws. But he failed, and well... We noticed everything.My rating: 4/10.