|
 The
Cut (Hae-boo-hak-kyo-sil - 2007)
R3 / NTSC DVD
Ssamzie Ivision / 2007
Director: Son Tae-woong
Writer: Park Seon-jae, Jeon Soon-wook & Son Tae-woong
Cast: Han Ji-min, Oh Tae-kyeong, On Joo-wan & Jo Min-ki
Review by Phillip Escott
Six medical students discover a shocking secret about the
cadaver they are assigned to carve up for anatomy class.
They also appear to be suffering from the same nightmare; a
one-eyed doctor with a leg brace, who seems hell-bent on
extracting revenge on them. But what has this to do with the
young lady on their nice shiny table? And what the hell have
they done to deserve the punishment this doctor wishes to
lay upon them all? Will they find out in time to solve the
death of their cadaver before they end up sharing a slab
with her?
Okay, The Cut is not a good film; it’s confused; poorly
acted, for the majority, with some awful dialogue and so
many unnecessary plot twists that the film gets lost up its
own back-passage. A strong first half is let down by a
clumsy final third, that lays crappy revelation upon crappy
revelation, with never an apparent ending in sight and
growing increasingly senseless: this should have clocked in
at 90 minutes - max, but director Son Tae-woong just doesn’t
seem able to let his baby go.
Having said that, it does have its heart in the right place;
it tries oh so hard to be a frightening little horror film
(it even has the trusty stock character formula: The Final
Girl™ + The Geek + The Hunk + The Slut + The Fatty + The
Ugly Duckling = Safe Ground!) but fails because of it. Some
of the ‘scares’ seem thought up on the spot and make no
sense with the overall run of things. The first half, in
which it appears the film will be a clear ‘who dunnit?’ is
tragically let down by the introduction of a vengeful spirit
of a dead girl, with long-black hair, taking over in the
second-half (originality? huh?).
For all the flaws, it will entertain fans of Asian horror,
even though it brings nothing new to the table. The
blood-letting is restrained and the silly frights become a
bore but, having said that, it does remain a beautiful
looking piece. Some truly Argento inspired visuals break the
monotony of the proceedings and certain set-pieces pay
homage to Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Kairo while still remaining a
little spooky; but only because it reminds one of a superior
movie and the frights associated with said film, which is
the best way of describing The Cut: an appetizer to the main
course; it may fill a hole, but it will leave you wanting
much more. |
