GHOST, THE - DVD review

"The Ghost" isn't exactly the most original of titles. Then again, it isn't exactly the most original of movies. The DVD cover advertises "The Ghost" as "'The Grudge' meets ‘Dark Water.'" I can only imagine that when someone gets together to make one of these films they have a big board with the names of all the big Asian horror hits. Then, it's just a case of throwing darts and mix and matching whatever they hit.

"The Ghost" begins with Eun-jin (Lee Yun-ji) and her two schoolgirl friends trying to summon a ghost through their Ouija board. The ever-present ghostly girl with long black hair bursts through their doorway. Alas, it is just Eun-jin's older sister Eun-seo (Bin) who berates the trio for goofing off instead of studying. Minutes later, Eun-seo meets her demise after vomiting gallons upon gallons of water. It's downright silly, but I'll give them credit for giving us a death that's a little different.

Following that opening coda, we are introduced to the lead character Min Ji-won (Kim Ha-neul), a studious college student who has suffered from amnesia after since a terrible accident. She doesn't remember much of her past and those that do aren't inclined to speak about it. Ji-won hopes to study abroad to make a fresh start of things, which makes her overly possessive widowed mother quite angry. Life takes a sudden and sharp turn to the left when an old friend, a photographer named Yu-jung (Jeon Hie-ju), informs Ji-won that Eun-seo has died. Ji-won begins suffering from strange visions. A little girl plays hide and seek in her locker only to disappear seconds later. A pale girl grabs her shoulder in a movie theater. And an invisible force pulls her down into the bottom of a swimming pool.

Soon, Yu-jung is found dead, having drowned somehow in her darkroom. Ji-won digs deeper into her past with the help of her male friend, Jin-ho (Ryu Jin), who hopes their friendship blossoms into something more. What Ji-won uncovers is that she wasn't always such a nice person. She discovers that she and the two dead girls were part of a quartet of bullies. A spiteful clique straight out of "Heathers" who found particular delight in tormenting a shy girl named Su-in (Nam Sang-mi) and nobody has seen her for years. The last remaining of Ji-won's friends is Mi-kyeong (Yi Shin) who has been institutionalized for years with an extreme case of hydrophobia. Mi-kyeong can't stand being anywhere near water or even drinking it for constant fear of someone coming to get her. It doesn't take a master detective to figure out that Su-in is haunting her former tormentors from the grave. Or is she?

"The Ghost" doesn't offer up anything new. The plot is pretty predictable and adheres strictly to the formula created by the film's more renowned peers. The ghostly girl with black hair and water themes has already been recycled constantly. The one thing you could count on with an Asian horror film, even the also-rans and copycats, was that, at least, there was a strong sense of visual style. However, the genre has gotten to the point where everyone is just beating a dead horse. Like so many of its kind, "The Ghost" is written and directed by a first-time filmmaker, in this case, it's Kim Tae-kyeong. Mister Kim doesn't bring anything unique to the table in his cinematic debut. I couldn't pick out any scene from the film that really jumped out at me. Shaky camera work and close-ups of actors with their eyes bugged out don't really have an effect on me anymore. Kim also packs on the cheese with an overly melodramatic score with screeching violin strikes when we're supposed to be scared and a melancholy piano tune during touching moments.

If the film has a strong point, it comes from its wild, out of left field, twist ending. It's a resolution isn't telegraphed miles away and sort of breaks the monotony of an otherwise listless movie. Plus, there's a cool bit with the ghost emerging from a shallow puddle of water. I'd say the end bumps "The Ghost" up from poor and derivative to just under mediocre.

VIDEO:
The video is presented in anamorphic widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The colors don't come off very strong, but I imagine it has more to do with how the film was shot than the transfer. The picture is relatively clean with hardly any noticeable flaws.

AUDIO:
The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 with both tracks in the original Korean language. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are available. The sound isn't reference quality, but it's crisp. The dialogue is easily heard and the sound effects and score all come in loud and clear.

EXTRAS:
Cast Interviews runs just under six minutes and contains two brief interviews with actors Kim Ha-neul and Ryu Jin.

Behind the Scenes is just a two minute montage of making-of clips with quick snippets of the actors discussing shooting the picture.

The usual TV spots and trailers round out the sparse bonus material on this DVD.

FILM VALUE:
It seems I'm almost running out of ideas to tell you all how these filmmakers are running out of ideas. "The Ghost" is a run-of-the-mill effort that does nothing to distance itself from the ever-growing pack. It does finish with a solid and slightly inventive ending, but I don't think ten to fifteen minutes of screen time is enough to sit through another eighty tepid minutes.