This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Based on the cover of the DVD and the fact that it is a part of the '8 movies to die for' series, then "Voices" (aka "Du saram-yida") seemed promising and it was with a certain amount of anticipation that I sat down to watch it.And now that it is finished, I must admit that I have an empty feeling and a sense of having been cheated out of something potentially great.So why did "Voices" fail to deliver? Well, because it was a predictable storyline that held no surprises to throw off the audience. And director Ki-Hwan Oh failed to impress where it mattered.The acting performances in "Voices" were good, despite of the limitations imposed by the director and the lack of a proper script.And the absence of scares and spooky moments just made the movie even more mundane - to put it mildly.This movie scores a mere four out of ten stars from me solely on the production value and acting performances.

In Sung-Nam City, the teenager Ga-in Kim (Jin-seo Yun) goes with her family and her boy-friend Hyung-Joong (Ki-woo Lee) to the wedding of her aunt Ji-sun and she sees the bride falling off a balcony. Then she witnesses Jung-sun (Yu-jeong Seo) violently stabbing her sister Ji-sun in the hospital. In school, the outcast Sung-min (Gi-woong Park) tells her that the events were not accidents and advises her to not trust anyone, friends, and family, not even herself. Ga-in believes in a family curse and almost gets killed by the classmate Eun-kyung (Kan-hie Lee); then by her teacher; then by her mate in fencing. When her mother attempts to kill her, Ga-in becomes completely paranoid and travels to visit a strange with Sung-min to seek answers for the curse."Du saram-yida" a.k.a. "Voices" is an ambiguous and confused tale of manipulation and paranoia with a great potential. Unfortunately the flawed and messy screenplay is never clear and it seems that Sung-min is indeed a manipulative demon or evil force that is visible only for his victims that pushes the characters to a paranoid behavior, culminating with a death wish. I like Asian movies that usually requires interpretation of the stories; however, the subplot with Ga-in's boyfriend is ridiculous and the weakest part of the complicated screenplay. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): Not Available

Sometimes I think that many reviewers are simply too lazy to understand films with indirect communication. I've heard people complain that "Asian horror movies don't make sense", which is usually just a roundabout way of saying, "I'm too lazy to figure them out." However, there are some films that prove to be very difficult to understand (e.g., Spider Forest) or simply don't make the slightest bit of sense at all (e.g., Marronnier). "Voices" (aka "Someone Behind You") is one of those projects that is most definitely a bit too vague for its own good, so it's understandable that many viewers have serious problems figuring this movie out.This is a shell game kind of movie that tries to bait the viewer into red herring traps from start to finish. Don't be fooled, this is simply and solely about a demon (in human form) who is one gigantic scumbag that uses varying degrees of manipulation to coerce and/or control human beings for his own sick little games and perverted enjoyment. His favorite statement, "Don't trust anyone, not even yourself" is nothing more than a patronizing taunt to scare his victims. If he was more forthcoming, he would say something like this: "I will coerce your friends and family to kill you. If that doesn't work, I will force them into a state of temporary insanity to kill you." The only true escape from this disastrous situation is to simply move into a desolate, isolated area and live the rest of your life in seclusion, which isn't exactly a losing proposition for a scumbag demon who wants to see people suffer, both physically and/or psychologically.The psychological effects come into play when his victims prove particularly difficult to kill – and our lead protagonist is one tough cookie, eluding a number of attacks from friends and family members. In cases such as this, the attempted murders will form an unprecedented pattern that points towards some supernatural, uncommon influence. Think about it. Why would every single friend and family member attempt to kill someone? At this point, the possibility of a curse no longer seems so far-fetched. In addition, paranoia reaches its highest level, and the target will suffer greatly when attempting to reconcile these crazy events with their newly acquired mistrust and fear of their loved ones. Just the kind of psychological games a sick, demonic scumbag would love to watch. It also makes this film hella interesting.While somewhat obvious that the demon has added outside influence to every attempted murder, what makes this movie even more appealing during a second viewing is pondering just how much manipulation is required to push a particular person over the edge into attempted murder. For example, the husband who throws his wife into the path of a moving bus is possibly the least influenced murder herein. It is possible that the demon made the phone calls to his house, but I have no problems assuming that the character is wholly responsible for his actions and that the demon simply instilled some doubt into his mind regarding his love's possible infidelity. To take a contrasting example, the groom who tosses his bride off the balcony had no identifiable motive for doing so, which leans more towards a demon-influenced state of temporary insanity. The other instances of assault usually fall between those two extremes.Not everything in this film is cut and dry though. As I mentioned earlier, the script is vague and ambiguous, leaving unexplained gaps in the storyline. Most of these are easily rectified with logical, common sense assumptions because there's very little (if any) blatant contradictions when one understands that a demonic scumbag is behind everything; and as we all know, demonic scumbags are not bound to follow a set or rules or guidelines. I would post my specific thoughts, but this 1000-word review is very limited (read the message board instead). Also, I knowingly confess that this film is flawed in terms of scriptwriting, so there's really no hard-hitting points to be made in that regard anyways.However, the blemishes in "Someone Behind You" are overshadowed by a number of positive qualities. At the very least you'll get solid acting and a refreshingly different premise, which automatically elevates this film above most non-Asian horror fare. The aforementioned murder attempts are well-executed (some of which are very bloody) and the sense of paranoia is most definitely highlighted at numerous points. The protagonists are also very likable and their decision-making is understandable. What you end up with is a flick that's pretty damn entertaining.The last few years have been fantastic for the South Korean horror/thriller genre. "Someone Behind You" (2007) is a nice compliment to films like "Hansel and Gretel" (2007), "The Chaser" (2008), "The Return" (aka "Wide Awake") (2007), "Epitaph" (2007), "Muoi" (2007), "Bloody Reunion" (2006), "Loner" (2008), "A Bloody Aria" (2006), "Seven Days" (2007), "Cadaver" (2007), "A Good Wife" (2007), "Coma" (2006 miniseries), and "D-Day" (aka "Roommates") (2006). Most of these have their own particular flaws (most films do), but this is a very good lineup of titles that would make an awesome weekend marathon. I'll never understand why everyone reflexively runs out to rent the U.S. "Shutter" remake while ignoring these little gems. There is a significant minority of movie buffs who like Asian horror, but more people need to see these movies. I rarely (if ever) hear anyone talk about them. Even the formulaic entries like "D-Day" are really cool – and all of them are better than 90% of the crap coming out of Hollywood these days. Please check them out.

Watching "Voices," a subtitled South Korean import, I kept asking myself: When will this movie be remade in America? It's not that I want it to be remade. It's just that, with the recent releases of "The Ring," "The Grudge," "The Eye," "Mirrors," "Shutter," and "One Missed Call" ... well, you just know it's going to happen sooner or later. When it does happen, I can only hope that American filmmakers will be able to make something out of the plot. Yes, this movie does have a plot, but God help me, I have no idea how I can describe it to you; it's one of those films that seems to intentionally forgo any degree of clarity, the story shifting gradually from vague to incomprehensible. I watched the bloody murder scenes and I read the subtitles and I studied the characters as best I could, but somehow, absolutely nothing was clicking. Now, I realize I may be at a serious disadvantage. It is, after all, a foreign language film, so it was most likely made with a very different audience in mind. Maybe there are cultural considerations I'm not aware of. In my review of "Slumdog Millionaire," I noted that the main character's sense of optimism seemed unlikely given his terrible circumstances; readers were shocked at my ignorance, and a few even took the time to inform me that I was looking at this film from a very Western perspective, that even the most downtrodden in Mumbai survive only because they find something to live for. So it's quite possible that I'm looking at "Voices" from a very Western perspective. I may in fact lack the cultural understanding required to make sense of the story, which turns back on itself so many times that it eventually seemed less like a plot and more like a frightening dreamscape. The original Korean title is "Du Saram-Yida," which literally translates as "Someone Behind You." This does accurately describe the sense of paranoia and uncertainty permeating the story. Paranoia is often times baseless and irrational, much like the story, in which a teenage fencing champion named Ga-in (Jin-seo Yun) finds herself at the mercy of an unstoppable and unexplainable death curse. At least, I think it's a curse. It seems that everyone around her wants someone else to die, and in a fit of rage, they act on it: one of Ga-in's aunts is pushed off a balcony on her wedding day, and as she recovers in the hospital, another aunt violently stabs her to death; one of Ga-in's classmates, a perfect student in all respects, becomes so jealous that she tries to stab Ga-in in the nurse's office; at a certain point, Ga-in's mother starts wielding a knife, screaming, "Die! Die! Die!" as her husband tries to subdue her. So then some supernatural force has been unleashed on Ga-in's family. Or has it? All throughout, a reclusive, sunken-eyed teenage boy named Seok-min (Ki-woong Park) keeps appearing to give her this ominous piece of advice: "Don't trust anyone. Not your friends, not your family, not even yourself." This may or may not have something to do with a bad thing that happened to him as a boy, which may or may not have something to do with the film's ending, at which point any remaining thread of plot cohesion is cut away. Watching those final scenes is like watching a demo reel of murders and surrealistic images and plot twists all edited together. It's a meaningless jumble of moments that wanted to reveal something without actually revealing it. To say I had no idea what was going on would be like saying that the surface of the sun is warm. The most maddening thing is that characters are constantly offering some kind of vague reason for what's happening. They keep talking, yet somehow they're not really saying anything. They certainly aren't saying anything understandable. How strange that a movie in dire need of clarity could have done with a lot less explanation. There's a point at which Ga-in travels outside the city to see an elderly recluse who killed his wife in a fit of rage decades earlier. Despite the fact that his scenes are annoyingly light on specifics, at least they hinted that the rest of the film would follow some kind of narrative logic. But then comes the ending. Dear God, the ending--a bleak, nonsensical muddle that reverses pretty much everything I thought I knew about the plot. This is one of the most frustrating experiences I've had in a long time. Rarely has a film worked so hard at being a confusing mess. Let it be known that I went into "Voices" with an open mind, and for the first forty-five minutes or so, I really did try my hardest to make sense of it. But at a certain point, it was obvious that there wasn't much to make sense of, and I threw in the towel. Yes, it's a frightening movie, full of gory death scenes and surprise scares and quiet moments that build tension. But when story is neglected in favor of atmosphere, you have nothing more than a thrill-a-minute funhouse ride. If I had wanted that, I would have gone to a carnival. American filmmakers will have their work cut out for them once they latch onto this screenplay and begin reworking it. Don't think it won't happen somewhere down the line. - Chris Pandolfi