Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Jeong Yonk-Ki
Starring: Kim Bo-Ra, Kim Jae-Hyun, Shin So-Yul, Kim Kang-il
Hollywood spent much of the noughties imitating and remaking the
Japanese "J-Horror" hits of the turn of the century. Director Jeong Yonk-Ki's
The Ghost Station suggests it's now time for Korea to ape
its close neighbour. The film is based on a popular Korean animated
series from 2011 and inspired by an urban legend from that country but
Japanese co-writer Hiroshi Takahashi ensures that we don't forget
he wrote the script for
The Ring, the 1998 movie that made global audiences obsessed with J-Horror for
a brief period.
Like so many J-Horrors, The Ghost Station revolves around
a curse. This one involves a Seoul train station that was built over
some cursed ground, and in a not so subtle nod to The Ring, there's an old well involved in its history.
Having brought her TMZ-style tabloid gossip website into disrepute for
accidentally humiliating a trans woman, young journalist Kim Na-yeong
(Kim Bo-ra) is desperate for a scoop to save her job. Wouldn't
you know, one lands in her lap when her friend Woo-won (Kim Jae-hyun) has a harrowing experience while working at the cursed station in
question. Attempting to get a seemingly suicidal man off the tracks,
Woo-won sees a ruddy-faced child peeping out from under the siding just
before the man is struck by an oncoming train. The coroner, Yeom (Kim Kang-il), also sees the child while cleaning up the mess.
Teaming up with the nervy Woo-won, Kim investigates and finds that the
many people who perished in the station in recent years were heard
muttering four digit numbers prior to the deaths, along with bearing
distinctive scars on their hands. What could it all mean?
Many of the classic J-Horrors of the late '90s and early 2000s suffered
from pacing issues and got a little too bogged down in their procedural
narratives at the expense of scares and suspense. At a mere 80 minutes,
The Ghost Station certainly can't be accused of following
suit. It moves at such a rapid pace that I was tempted to check if my
screener wasn't accidentally playing at 1.25x speed. While its briskness
is refreshing it's also a little exhausting in parts and the movie could
do with taking a chill pill at points to allow the viewer to catch
up.
The Ghost Station has a far lighter tone than the sort of
movies it's emulating, and Bo-ra is a goofy presence as Kim, which helps
us empathise with a character who could have been very unlikeable given
their unethical work practices. Jump scares are effective the first
couple of times you see a bloody hand emerging over someone's shoulder
or a creepy kid appearing from the shadows, but director Yonk-Ki is
overly reliant on such well-worn devices. There's a grisly prologue that
sets up the action in striking fashion but it's never referred to again
and I couldn't figure out if it was supposed to be a flashback or a
flash forward. The most effective sequence involves a cellphone focusing
on an apparition that can't be seen by human eyes, the focus square
growing larger as the ghoul advances. It's something I haven't seen
before yet seems obvious, and we'll no doubt see it copied in some
upcoming Hollywood horror.
With creepy kids, a spooky well, a curse and even a sinister woman with
lank hair, The Ghost Station transposes all the classic
J-Horror elements to a Korean setting. It's not an entirely successful
transition but with its light touch and brisk pace,
The Ghost Station might be the ideal movie to introduce
younger viewers to the thrills of East Asian horror. Plus, if you've
ever fantasised about cursing your boss you'll appreciate the closing
scene.
