ARANG - DVD review

When "Arang" arrived in the mail, all I could think was, "Here we go again." Yet another in an unending torrent of Asian horror films, "Arang" attempts to do something different with the stale genre, but winds up wallowing in its derivativeness. Any diehard fan or even someone who has only viewed the big ones ("Ringu", "Grudge") will immediately notice numerous elements already seen in other films. Writer/director Ahn Sang-hoon, in his feature-film debut, does try to tilt "Arang" towards the thriller, hoping to clone "Se7en", but falling well short of such a lofty goal.

For the most part, the Asian horror films follow the formula of the lead characters experience supernatural events and unravel a mystery involving death, murder, betrayal, and/or revenge. "Arang" changes things up a bit by making the main protagonists a pair of police detectives. They are So-young (Song Yun-ah) and her rookie partner, Hyun-ki (Lee Dong-wook). As you can guess, So-young is the cynical veteran, while Hyun-ki is the bumbling, wet-behind-the-ears, newcomer. Heck, he even forgets to put film in the camera while photographing a crime scene. Rather than being haunted by ghosts, the detectives are investigating the ghost's victims. Ahn struggles to add a "CSI" dimension to his film, but he obviously didn't do the research. The detectives do all the basic things you see on TV, question suspects, examine the bodies, etc. But, there's never anything thought out enough to qualify "Arang" as a true procedural.

What case are they investigating, you ask? A group of well-to-do friends are dropping like flies. Before each death, they receive a strange email and an accompanying lullaby. Their deaths are a result of exposure to poisonous gas that emanated from inside their bodies. When So-young digs further, she finds herself in a small village where local legend has it that a salt storehouse is haunted by a vengeful ghosts. She learns the friends vacationed there a decade ago and got into a violent brawl which led to the death of a local boy and that his girlfriend disappeared soon after. Using their wealth, they were able to cover up their heinous act and move on with their lives. With the detectives being the main focus of the film, we hardly get to know any of the victims at all. They're just faceless actors there to add to the body count.

As I said earlier, if you know your Asian horror films, then you're likely to pick out all the recycled plot points. The evil emails ("Pulse"), the spooky lullaby music ("One Missed Call"), and the ghost girl with pale skin and long, black hair (like a billion other movies). A victim spies the ghost through his camcorder in a scene that looks like it was lifted frame-by-frame from "Shutter." Even the actors are recycled. Lead actress Song Yun-ah played a similar role that of a forensics lab assistant, in her previous film, "Face." The film is also riddled with flashback sequences that look so much like the ones from "Oldboy", you wonder whether or not the director was just watching other people's films while sitting in his comfy director's chair.

With "Arang" offering nothing new, does it at least provide some good scares? Negative on that, dear reader. Gore-hounds looking for bloody carnage will have to look elsewhere to quench their appetites for flayed corpses and dismembered limbs. There really isn't anything in the film that would cause you to lose your lunch. Just a crumpled body covered in blood or two. One killing is downright laughable. One victim is showering when the water suddenly stops (actually, it's just footage of the showerhead played backwards) and the whole shower is covered with stringy, black hair. No, Drain-O handy? What's also laughable is the cheesy dialogue, with lines like, "Your life is worth less than a dog in a rut." Something must have been lost in translation or, perhaps, the dialogue was bad in any language.

If there are any redeeming qualities to be found in "Arang", it is that the film's final twist actually works. I won't spoil it, but it is a revelation that is surprising, but more importantly, downright believable. I also enjoyed some of the interplay between So-young and Hyun-ki during their getting to know you moments, which there were far too little of.

VIDEO:
"Arang" is presented in anamorphic widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.66:1. The picture is clean without any discernable specks, grain, or other defects. The colors are quite pale so the film comes off flat. It's quite murky and gray.

AUDIO:
The audio is presented in two tracks Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1. Both are in the original Korean language with optional English and Spanish subtitles.

EXTRAS:
First up, is a commentary track featuring writer/director Ahn Sang-hoon, actors Song Yun-ah & Lee Dong-wook, and producer Lee Min-ho. They talk throughout the film and have plenty of info to discuss though some of it is repeated in the other extras. The track is in Korean with English subtitles.

The Making of Arang runs over half an hour and features interviews with the cast and director interspersed between behind the scenes footage. It's a bit dry and most of the time you're just watching them shoot their scenes.

Behind the Scenes is a similar feature and focuses more on the technical aspects such as make-up and production design.

Interview with the Cast and Crew is a brief three minute segment with actor Lee Dong-wook and make-up artist Kim Jin-sook telling stories about supernatural events during the making of the film.

Interview with the Music Director runs over thirteen minutes and finds Jung Dong-in discussing how he put together the film's score.

Finally, rounding out the extras are a collection of deleted scenes and trailers for "Arang" and other Tartan releases.

FILM VALUE:
On the back of the DVD case, "Arang" is described as "CSI" meets "The Grudge." It's more like "CSI" meets a dozen other horror films that have already been plagiarized ad nauseum. The addition of procedural elements are a welcome change of pace, but the film lacks the intricate details needed to successfully capture the authenticity of shows like "CSI" and "Bones." In the end, "Arang" is just another stale Asian horror film that's missing the originality and style that gave birth to the genre.