Bloody Beach (South Korea, 2000)
★★★★★
Decent Western-type teen slasher flick from Korea
A rare teen slasher type of flick from South Korea. I saw this one at a special midnight showing shortly after its release there. In accordance with the 1980s US-made horror/slasher films, the cast here is a group of 20-somethings and the most promiscuous of the bunch are the ones who don’t make it to the final credits.
The group, who met through an Internet chat room, decide to spend the summer together at a rented beach house to get better acquainted with each other. Apparently though, a former member of the chat group who used the screen name “Sandmanz,” committed suicide when he was ousted from the group and has the others divided over why he chose to take his own life. The killings continue one-by-one until the remaining members of the group believe Sandmanz is actually still alive and in their presence. The prime suspect leads you to believe he’s too obvious to be Sandmanz, but don’t forget, that same premise was used to make you think that Billy Loomis couldn’t have been the killer in the first film of the Scream trilogy.
Kim Min-seon, who’s probably the best known of this cast, is limited to the film’s opening scene, where her character is the killer’s first victim. Lee Eun-ju, who committed suicide in February of 2005, has a very brief, non-speaking role at the end of this film (which should be a contributing factor for this film achieving cult status). However, it wasn’t until after her death that I saw her listed as one of the film’s “stars.”
About the author
Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Chris flirted with the music business there and in Nashville before joining the U.S. Army and serving in South Korea. He remained in Asia for several years afterwards, teaching English, traveling, and covering the regional entertainment scenes. A former Xanga blogger ("Xangan"), Chris is still in a mindset between Seoul and San Francisco. Besides Idol Features, you can also catch his writings in the print edition of the monthly magazine, Effective.
