Runtime: 100 minutes
Directed by: Young Nam Ko
Starring: Il-Bong Yun, Yeong-Ae Kim, Ki-Seom Lee, Hye-Ri Han
From: Nam-A Pictures
Even among film fans this is pretty obscure; it is unfortunate as this South Korean horror flick is actually quite entertaining, if a little silly. At least one of those boutique DVD/Blu labels is going to release it; that may inspire more to see this, although it can be viewed on Amazon, which is what I did. I explain it all below:
This is a movie (I really know nothing of K Horror before the mid 90's; I haven't even seen the most famous Korean horror flicks, although one day I'll get around to them) I only found out about on Monday, when an account I follow on Twitter mentioned that the Mondo Macabro label would be putting this out soon. Mondo Macabro isn't the most prolific boutique label of obscure/cult films out there, but despite having an output that isn't as much as the popular labels like Shout/Scream Factory, Twilight Time, Kino Lorber, Scorpion Releasing, etc., they do typically release rather unique foreign titles that are little known among even the most diehard fans of such stuff. Anyhow, while looking for more info on a movie that will be out on Blu later in the year, I was shocked to see this was available for free on Amazon, as long as you are a Prime member. Then again, if Amazon has f'ing Mystics in Bali for streaming... no matter if you call this Suddenly in Dark Night, Suddenly in the Dark, Suddenly at Midnight, or even its Korean title of Gipuen Bam Gabjabi, I figured it was worth a shot.
Turns out, this was worth the watch. The plot: there's a family which consists of a husband that collects butterflies (!), the mom stays at home and they have a young daughter. They still need a housemaid, because... well, back then the plot device of housemaids were popular in South Korean cinema. The husband literally found her on the street and thought that this random 19 year old girl-who happens to be attractive and as the movie blatantly made note of, “had a great body”; housemaid also carries around a creepy wooden doll and is the daughter of a late shaman lady. Now what could go wrong there?
This has little in the way of violence or blood; sleaze, though... this has a lot of it. There are bare breasts, a sex scene, and plenty of ogling shots of the young housemaid. The main focus is on the psychological aspect. What is the actual truth... is the housemaid having an affair with her husband, is she trying to drive her crazy and is that doll haunted, or is extreme paranoia and jealousy making her crazy? This is done in basically one setting and that's a house which practically screams “1970's”; there's dark green patterned wallpaper, a room which has a bright green floor, you get to see bright red furniture... what a house it is.
It is filmed in an interesting way, in terms of shot composition, camera movement and all that. Plus, some shots are either through a kaleidoscope or what appears to be the bottom of a glass Coke bottle; they are done during certain moments and while it may sound too flashy, at least I appreciated the attempt. There is even an early 80's synth score and as I typically dig such things, it was something that I enjoyed. While this is more based on hearsay than what I have witnessed so far, South Korean movies did not suddenly become good or worthwhile in the past 20 years; they have made quality flicks for longer than that. Who knows how many hidden gems are out there that people just don't know about.
I am delighted Mondo Macabro is putting out the film on Blu; if you want to try it out first the copy on Amazon looks decent enough and it's actually subtitled.
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