December 7th, 2015 - Arang (2006)

Arang is a just fine-ish Korean ghost-tale/thriller about someone... or something... killing off a bunch of well-to-do dudes. The only connection at first seems to be the fact that they've all been instant messaged a link to this "terrifying" website. I mean, I guess it's just a tourist advertisement for this little town by the sea - particularly this one old salt house. For those of you not in the know (like me), it's an old salt storage place by the sea - in this case, it's a creepy old wooden cabin looking thing. But the website is not very effective as a marketing tool. It makes the town look creepy, and it's shot all ominously, slow panning in black-and-white. It's clearly not meant for public consumption. But these victims seem to be spooked, and it's obvious that something more is going on here than anonymous instant messaging.

Detective So-young is assigned to the case. She has just returned to the police department after a forced sabbatical. She's not necessarily a loose cannon and doesn't totally "play by her own rules," but she gets partnered with an inexperienced guy anyways. Together, they try to figure out who... or what... has committed these murders, and how they can stop them from happening again.

For most of the film, Arang plays like a kind of slow but somewhat engaging ghost story. The characters are enjoyable, and the film is well shot with lots of style. It's not particularly scary though. The website looks kind of creepy, but most of the attacks are of the sort where the camera just lingers over the victim while they stare up into space terrified. There's potential in the way these scenes are set up, but the attacks themselves never really live up to it.

Once the story kicks into high gear (revolving around a crime that took place at the old salt house), there are some crazy leaps of detective logic. (i.e. "Maybe that victims dead dog had something hidden in its stomach." It's a gross - but not as gross as it sounds - extraction.) And even though the ghost angle is front and center, probably the most unsettling thing in the film is not even supernatural. So-young discovers some video footage of the crime that not only serves as evidence but lends a little taste of found footage to the proceedings. It's well done and more than a little bit disturbing, and has more to do with the horrible things people can do to each other, rather than any paranormal activity.

I need to be getting into spoiler territory if I talk about the third act... so all I'll say is that it didn't really work for me. Things get kind of needlessly complicated here. I thought Arang was going along just fine: the detective story (and dynamic between the partners) works, it's got nice sets/scenery, it's well shot, and has a nice visual tone. It didn't really need the third act shenanigans to work, in my opinion.

Horror-wise, it's just not as intense as I had hoped for. It's still a decidedly an R-rated flick, but it never really goes for any tremendous scares. There's some tension in the "attack" scenes, but the fact that you mostly see the victims reactions rather than the attacker sort of brings things down a notch or two. You do end up seeing a disturbing non-supernatural crimes - which is as legitimately scary as the film gets.

Overall, I think Arang is a hard film to dislike. It's well done in most of the ways that matter. It's just never all that exciting, and the twist in the final third of the film is kind of annoying. But still, it's a mostly enjoyable and kind of low-key detective/ghost/revenge tale... they can't all make your heart race, I guess.

I would   probably recommend   this film.