The greatest movie ever!

Purely Joyful Movie!

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Absolutely brilliant

Bunshinsaba is your typical long-haired ghost-girl trope horror movie, that runs out of steam really fast. It has a very good first act, and is well directed, well lit, and does not rely on special effects. It also has an original premise, and is well acted. I especially liked the opening, which wasted no time to get right to the premise of the movie. The problem is, that the movie quickly turns into a paint-by-numbers of The Ring. A lot of the foreshadowing (if you can even call it that) is so obvious, that if there were any surprises or twists in the second act, they are long gone before you even get there. The movie also over-indulges in dramatic lightning strikes during close ups, and shows the ghosts way too much. This sucks the suspense right out of the movie. Halfway through the film, it started to drag, and I just wanted the movie to end. One of the movie's main problems, is that there are no stakes in the third act. The main characters have no means of stopping the ghost, and thus there is no tension. We're basically just watching the ghost kill a lot of characters that we don't like any way, with no means for the main characters of stopping her. No stakes or likable victims, means no suspense. It's a shame, because the movie is well directed, well shot, and has great use of scene lighting. I even liked the music that played over the ending credits, before it was interrupted by a standard Asian pop song. But I can't really recommend this movie. It's not bad, it's just sub par.

Yoo-jin(Se-eun Lee)is so enraged with female classmates, who have singled her out because of being an *outsider*, that she invokes a "Bunshinsaba" spell on a witch board, placing a curse on the four tormentors, drawing the vengeful spirits of a mother and daughter, Chun-hee & Kim in-sook, who were burned alive by a village mob after their role in the forced suicide of a bully. When the girls all commit suicide by drowning a bag with gasoline before lighting it while on their heads, burning themselves alive due to the powerful hypnotic abilities of witch-ghost Chun-hee, the citizenry grows terrified and alarmed, believing that the 30-year old murder which bloodies the history of their town(..which occurred to Chun-hee and her blind daughter who were "psychically linked" at the hands of a mob of angry villagers who wanted them out of their area by any means necessary)has returned for payback. Home-room teacher Han jae-hoon(Seong-min Choi)attempts to protect Yoo-jin when her role in bringing the evil spirits from the grave reaches the frightened city counsel leaders who had a major part in the tragedy of Chun-hee and her daughter so many years ago. The mayor, school principal and others desire to send Yoo-jin packing, having found out that she possibly harbors the violent spirit of Kim in-sook. In another alternating story-line, a new teacher, Miss Lee(Gyu-ri Kim)has taken a position in the turbulent school, with the powerful spirit of Chun-hee using her as a host for carrying out acts against potential threats like hypnotist/psychic Ho-kyeoung(Jeong-yun Choi)who has discovered past occurrences through the troubled Yoo-jin, after she was "put under". Meanwhile, Chun-hee has special plans for Miss Lee once she rids herself of her enemies, those she hold responsible for the horrifying crimes against her and daughter Kim in-sook long ago.Standard story of vengeful spirit seeking supernatural revenge on those who wronged her in the past is technically well made, if rather average and predictable. The ghost of Chun-hee, rearing her ugly face when her host is under hypnosis(..those "red-light hypnosis sessions" are particularly eerie, especially when Yoo-jin is under and her eyes blacken), is especially creepy. And, the suicides(..and particularly Kim in-sook's terrible fate at the hands of torch-carrying angry villagers)are truly memorable and shocking. I think director Byeong-ki Ahn(Phone;Nightmare)is at his best showing a village under a siege of fear, completely overwhelmed by their own guilt and prejudices, and feeling the effects of what they did to those not born within their community. I do think Ahn is a gifted filmmaker who can certainly develop scenes which give you the creeps, and his technical skills are top-notch, but he has yet to make that one film which defines himself as a bona-fide story-teller. He, as of now, has made films which are closely related thematically to oft-made Asian horror hits that are(..and have been)flooding the market for years now. I do wish this film was titled something better because Bunshinsaba(..I watched it under the label "Witch Board:Bunshinsaba")really is only used to invoke the spirit, and isn't the focus of the story. The cast is superb right down the line, very attractive and help lift the rather ordinary material. Overall, Ahn's film will fulfill 90 minutes, and has some visual spooks to offer, but look elsewhere for originality.

I recently saw Bunshinsaba, and I'm less than impressed. I think the story wasn't very good, if even a bit stereotypical. Vengeful spirit, horrible curse, etc etc. (I suppose, though, after being quite used to movies like Ringu, Ju-on, Phone, and the like, things like that really aren't scary. So maybe some people would find it frightening.) I've seen both Phone and Nightmare, directed by Ahn as well, and I liked those better than Bunshinsaba- I wouldn't say Nightmare was very notable either, but Phone was very very good. So I was expecting Bunshinsaba to be pretty decent. Not scary at all, but it did manage to keep me somewhat interested for the most part. (And I gotta say, it really amused me that there was a Dollmore doll in the movie.)

Totally thought this would be a garbage throwaway movie, but was pleasantly surprised. If you like Ringu or Ju-on you will love this movie. The number of times that the people in the theater gasped or shrieked was surprising. The row of young people (was this in Singapore) next to me watched the whole movie through their hands or with the collars of their shirts ready to cover their eyes. Excellent. Creepy and atmospheric, with enough twists to make you follow it to the end. Heathers meets Freddy. Top Notch.