7 Oct 2008

The Guard Post

Original Title: G.P. 506

Director: Kong Su-Chang

Language: Korean with English subtitles

Starring: Choi Kyoo-Hwan, Chun Ho-Jin, Do Byeong-Cheol, Cho Hyun-Jae, Jo Jin-woong

Release: 2008-10-07

Korean supernatural flicks have been on the wane lately, but this sophomore effort by director Kong Su-Chang (R-Point) does have a lot going for it. While it's not the perfect horror film, it still stands above others in the genre because of Su-Chang's directorial skill in ratcheting up the tension and distributing the scares.

The Guard Post takes place on the border between North and South Korea, where tensions between the two countries run high. When a border guardpost stops sending regular signals to its headquarters, the headquarters sends in soldiers to investigate. There, they discover that everyone is dead — save for one soldier who's too traumatized to speak.

What's going on? Who killed the other soldiers? And will it kill the new contingent of soldiers too? Director Su-Chang has quite a few surprises up his sleeve...

Casual moviegoers may cringe at the images of severed limbs and rotting bodies, but gorehounds and horror fans will dig it. It must be said, though, that at 2 hours long, this supernatural tale does try your patience somewhat.