Horror Movie Reviews
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Title: Face (2005) |
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Review of Face
- Hot on the trail of a serial killer who uses acid on his victims leaving behind only the bones, the police turn to Hyun-min, a former forensic sculptor adept in reconstructing faces by examining and interpreting skulls. With the victims' bones in his house, Hyun-min's daughter experiences disturbing visions of a long-haired woman in a white robe, a woman whom she may know. As he races against time to find the answers before the visions overtake his daughter, the deadly truth behind these victims reveals a sinister conspiracy that threatens everyone involved.
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Comments for Face
- Posted on 2008-04-12
In the right hands, horror can be a poignantly beautiful thing
Face isn't the best or scariest Asian horror film you'll ever see - many may in fact find it rather dull and boring - but I say it encapsulates everything that makes Asian horror superior to that of the West. If you see an American horror movie, you no doubt get up to leave as soon as the ending credits begin to roll - i.e., American horror makes no emotional impression whatsoever on the viewer. At the end of Face, however, I sat here dwelling on the beauty of the story I had just watched play out in front of my eyes.
The opening scene of the film suggests that Face will be a pretty bloody, violent film (it doesn't' get much more violent than kidnapping and tying up a victim, then cutting out her heart while she is still alive and quite conscious). It's a great opening scene, but it will have some viewers quickly becoming disappointed by the distinct lack of more blood and guts that follows in its wake. Instead, what you get is a poignant story of a very sick little girl and her deeply concerned father. The girl has just received a heart transplant, and her father, Hyun-min (Hyeon-jun Shin), worries a great deal about her health. He even tries his best to find out where his little girl's new heart came from (with no success, as the doctor is not about to release that kind of information).
In the midst of all this drama is a string of murders, with the victims' bodies all but destroyed in acid. The police desperately need Hyun-min's skills at facial reconstruction to try and put a name to the latest victim, but he is too torn up over his daughter's health crisis to be of much help - until, that is, Jung Sun-Young (Yun-ah Song), a new initiate in the field of facial reconstruction, comes calling with the latest unidentified skull and news that she is to be Hyun-min's new assistant. Things start getting more interesting later on when Hyun-min, having been haunted by strange apparitions, bad dreams, and other oddities, comes to believe that the skull he is reconstructing is that of the person whose heart now beats within his daughter's chest.
Halfway through the film, I was wondering if this thing was going to pack any sort of punch at all - the answer is a resounding yes, so whatever you do, don't give up on this film once you start watching it. Yes, watching a couple of rather uncommunicative people sitting around a model of a human skull doesn't put you on the edge of your seat, but even these slowest of scenes ultimately play a crucial part in the story.
The film isn't perfect, by any means. A number of the random scare tactics are too Ringu-like to unsettle anybody, and I never even spotted a ramp for a couple of the extreme jumps in logic that push the story toward its conclusions. Still, though, Face features a couple of twists that some may not see coming (although it's fairly easy to spot the clues in hindsight, which leads me to say that the core of the story is wound together pretty tightly) and ends with an almost unparalleled air of beauty and poignant grace. As much a human drama and mystery thriller as it is a horror film, Face breathes new life into all of the genres it touches upon and - best of all - stirs the few dying embers that symbolize what little is seemingly left of horror as an art form in and of itself.
Score: 4
- Posted on 2007-10-25
A Decent Supernatural Film: Above Average
"Face," by director Sang-Gon Yoo is not a great horror film, but it is well above average. The film is a thriller, suspense, and horror film rolled into one. I am not quite sure what attracted me to this film--but I did find it to be one of the better ones of the genre. Not great, but good enough to recommend to others. The film centers around the character Hyun-min Lee (Hyun-jun Shin) who is a facial reconstructionist, and it is his job to put faces to unknown skulls. He works for the police, and his work entails the methodical and near exact science of trying to put a name to the unknown dead. Further, Hyun-min Lee is a widower, and he is taking care of a very sick child. Because of his daughters weakening condition [she has recently had a heart transplant] he decides to leave the force in order to take care of her. However, because he is needed by the police to help identify unknown victims--it is decided that he can work at home. This way he can take care of his daughter while also helping the police.
Moreover, he has a new assistant. She is Jung Sun-Young (Yoon-ah Song). She leaves a skull in a box in his lab, telling him that the face needs to be recognized. However, for some reason he refuses to work on this skull. Yet, strange things begin to happen and a strange event occurs which leads him to believe that the spirit of the deceased wants to be recognized. Suddenly, many strange occurrences begin to happen. With the eagerness of Lee now trying to solve the identity of the latest skull, another area of the film opens up. The lead Detective who has been investigating a recent spate of murders discovers that there is a connection to the killings, as they have all had there hearts checked out prior to their deaths. Moreover, the detective discovers that Lee's daughter has a condition called beta-allergy, and that his daughter Jin is a patient of a one Dr. Yoon, who is a heart transplant specialist.
The detective begins to suspect something about the skull that Lee is presently working on. I do not wish to spoil this film for you. Therefore, I will go no further with the plot, other than to say that the film is very good for this type of genre. Plus, the film acts as a thriller, mystery, suspense, and horror film rolled into one. What is it about this skull? And what connection does it have to Lee? Will Lee be able to identify this skull? And what about all of the strange behavior happening around him? Will it finally cease? Or is there something more sinister surrounding the skull. I liked this film. The twists in the film are great, and you will see this worked out at the end of the narrative. I don't want to give out too many details, but the film does deliver as a very good mystery. Recommended. Rent it first. [Stars: 3.5]
Score: 4 - Posted on 2007-07-18
Facial....
There's this guy who does facial reconstructions for the police. His daughter is about to undergo heart transplantation but he is handed a case which he refuses to look after his daughter.
He is "sent" an assistant and, after much supernatural trauma (many familiar motifs here), he decides to accept the case.
The beauty of this film is that it takes you here, then there, then somewhere else and ultimately leaves you not knowing the direction you're going in...until you've got there.
It's a good one.
Score: 4 - Posted on 2007-06-20
Finding a face for the unidentified dead
Someone is murdering young women and dumping their skulls. Not only that but the murderer is melting the bodies. If it were merely a matter of removing fingers or pulling out teeth to prevent identification, sure, but the whole body? A very grisly opening scene involving the removal of the heart sets opens Face, so titled because of the rights of the unidentified dead, to get their faces and hence their identities back, setting the theme of the movie.
The person placing names to skulls is National Institute of Scientific Investigation facial reconstruction artist Lee Hyun-min, a widower whose young daughter Jin recently had a heart transplant, but because she is beta-allergic, she is having reactions following surgery. He demands to know whether the donor had heart issues, but the doctor evasively brushes him off by saying that the donor's family wanted confidentiality, plus that he personally checked the heart himself. Lee wants to resign to look after Jin, but the police need him to ID faces ASAP. The director compromises by allowing him to work at home. Lee also sends his daughter to his mother's place in the country away from the hustle and bustle of Seoul.
In comes Jung Sun-Young, his new assistant as appointed by his boss. She's pretty but a bit cheeky, as she leaves behind a skull assigned to him that he refuses to ID. She tells him, "That victim had a face. Whoever it was deserves one, and you can get it back." However, his refusal results in weird happenings, such as weird high-pitched sounds, sand in the sink, and yes, before you can see Ju'on, the presence of a crawling woman in a white dress. The materialization of that presence provides one of the creepier moments of the film. He agrees and lets Sun-Young help him, but on a limited basis. In flashbacks, the viewer sees Jung as a member of a scuba diving club. She also seems to have a philosophical but positive outlook on life. When commented on how she entered facial reconstruction in college, by changing boats, she tells her classmates, "That's what life's all about. Your fate changes before you ever know it. That's the fun part of life."
In the meantime, Detective Suh is investigating the murders, and discovers a connection when he finds out that they had their hearts scanned prior to their deaths. That leads him to finding out about beta-allergy and Dr. Yoon, a renowned heart-transplant specialist at Daeyoung Hospital who also happens to be Jin's doctor. He's the typical intelligent cop with a correct hunch, and with a boss who dismisses his theories. His meeting with Lee leads the latter to wonder if the skull he's working on belonged to the victim whose heart is now in Jin.
Lee's talent as an artist can be seen, his work on the skull, from the extending pegs set on the skull, and the gray-green clay he uses to duplicate muscles and skin. He expertly explains to his assistant how the masseter and zygomatic muscles vary distinctively from person to person and that is why people have different faces. The wrong amount of clay applied to the skull, and one might get a whole different face. He does gradually warm up to Sun-Young, even giving her a hairclip to keep her hair in place after she puts a pair of bulldog clips in her hair. But even after he IDs the skull, the weird noises continue, as well as a dream leading him to yet another skull.
Ostensibly told linearly, a sudden clever twist towards the end makes the viewer realize that such is not the case. And after watching the film, the viewer realizes some innocuous words that in hindsight were clues to the mystery.
Part horror, part suspense, part detective-thriller, the well-directed Face is one of the better Korean films distributed in the U.S. by Tartan Asia Extreme, with its two winning leads, Shin Hyun-Jun as the low-key but gentle Lee, and Song Yoon-Ah as Jung Sun-Young. Face is also about regaining one's soul and happiness. Lee is tired and worried throughout the film because of his daughter and work. And by finding victims their faces, he does them a service and thus gets his grace, or soul back. So if you watch this, you won't lose face--sorry I just couldn't resist.
Score: 4 - Posted on 2006-11-11
great j-horror
this was an excellent j-horror movie, the subtitles were kinda annoying but when the creeps went down there was no talking, the first time I watched it it freaked me out. a watch and watch again
Score: 5