R-Point (2004) User Reviews

Frighteningly effective psychological Korean horror tale set in Vietnam War

[joebloggscity · 8/10 · 26 May 2006]

War films are usually ten a penny, with similar plots or ideas, but R-Point bucks the trend. The film centres round a mission by a Korean unit during the Vietnam who find themselves haunted by forces they don't know, and progressively end up going mad and self-destructing.

The film blends together what the many things that have been great about Korean cinema. Sharp intelligent written story, beautiful settings and perfect acting are the crux of the movie. The setting could hardly have been any better done, whilst the tone of the movie is well paced to avoid this following into the same trap that many a horror film follow. An original film in many ways, but really it is taking various genres and blending them in them together finely.

I don't want to say too much else I will give too much away, but this is a film to watch, and is the best horror movie I have seen for a while. Shows again why Korean cinema is the best anywhere in the world at the moment. Top notch!

An Original, Scary and Ambiguous Journey to Hell of the Innermost Fear

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 30 September 2007]

On 07 January 2007, the South Korean base in Nah-Trang, Vietnam, receives a radio transmission from a missing platoon presumed dead. The high-command assigns the veteran and decorated Lieutenant Choi Tae-in (Woo-seong Kam) to lead a squad with eight other soldiers and rescue the missing soldiers from the R-Point. When they arrive in the location, they have a shooting and defeat a Vietnamese woman with a machine gun in a trench. Later, they find a tombstone telling that one hundred years ago, Chinese killed Vietnamese, dropped them in a lake and built a temple over the place, being a sacred location to the Vietnamese. While chasing the missing soldiers, weird things happen with the rescue team.

"R-Point" is an original, scary and ambiguous journey to hell of the innermost fear of a group of soldiers. This horror movie explores the supernatural, but its ambiguity allows the logical interpretation that nothing happened but the madness process of a group of stressed soldiers, alone in a creepy and sacred location, affected by the dark atmosphere of the spot and killing each other. An Asian horror movie is my favorite genre due to this type of intelligent screenplay that leaves the interpretation open to the viewers. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Fantasmas da Guerra" ("Ghosts of War")

scary but never o-t-t

[snow0r · 8/10 · 19 August 2007]

Six months prior to the beginning of the film, a group of recon soldiers are sent to "R-Point", a strategically significant island south of Saigon. Radio contact is lost, and they're presumed dead, until six months later ("present day" in the film's sense) radio transmissions are received claiming that the soldiers are alive and in grave danger. A squad of 9 soldiers, led by hardened veteran Lt. Choi, are dispatched to find them and bring them home.

What follows isn't an action-heavy horror movie, but a more tense, atmospheric exploration of the lines between the supernatural and reality. Surrounded by miles of jungle and rumours of ghosts, the soldiers begin to crack under the pressures of their situation and begin to turn on one another. It's difficult to describe what they encounter without making it sound trite or clichéd (R-Point is neither), but the physical pressures of the jungle combined with the psychological pressures of the legends of R-Point are captured brilliantly both by the camera-work and the actors portraying their private descents into madness.

Atmospheric and full of suspense, R-Point is tense, very creepy, and definitely worth watching. It never goes over the top and remains tight and controlled. Horror movies and war movies cross over well, it seems. After is, war is hell, and in R-Point, each soldier certainly goes through that.

A new genre of horror film

[info-2513 · 10/10 · 19 October 2004]

1972, what happened there?

'R-Point' - refers to a once strategically important region in an island 150 km south of HO Chi Minh city. French soldiers were fascinated by the beauty of the island, upon which a leisure facility and a military hospital were built. But the area has a secret past, a haunting curse untold for 30 years.

1st Vietnamese War -1949- 12 French soldiers who were in battle with communist guerrillas went mysteriously missing. A total of 650 people have been reported missing there without any explanation.

2nd Vietnamese War -1972- 9 Korean soldiers went missing in the area. There are accounts of unexplainable radio transmissions sent by the group for 6 months requesting to be rescued.

Are these freak occurrences real or not? The fact is that a gravestone which says 'No return' still stands, marking the entrance of the area. In addition, to this day, there are reported sightings by local people of the girl who was slaughtered mercilessly a long time ago.

The premise of this film is based on a story that has been passed on by oral tradition. Both French and Korean soldiers have gone missing in the area known as R-Point. In 1972, when American forces were being withdrawn from Vietnam, Korean troops eager to go home, dreaming of returning to their family and friends baring American made gifts and earned money from their service, were unexpectedly sent to R-Point on a mission which would prove fatal. Although their desire to return home was everything to them, once they entered the haunted jungles of R-Point, all hopes of coming back alive were lost. It was the living dead in the jungle that would not let them go. To this day, the cursed spirits of dead Korean soldiers roam R-Point, continuing to search for a way out.

R-Point

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 22 November 2018]

This Korean chiller is set in 1972 and centred on a squad of soldiers serving in the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Choi Tae-in and eight other soldiers head to R-Point on an island 150 km south of Saigon; their task to discover what happened to another squad that had been presumed dead for the last six months but had recently radioed in. Once there they are engaged by a female Viet Cong soldier but manage to defeat her. As they head further into the island they find a marker stating that a hundred years previously Chinese forces had massacred the local Vietnamese and dumped them in a lake that was filled and turned into a shrine. The next norming they discover a large colonial era building which they use as a base. Soon the troops start seeing things and things get very creepy and very dangerous as tempers fray and paranoia grows.

This film opens well with the introduction of Choi and his group of misfit soldiers. Once on the island it starts like a typical war film with a nice little firefight in a bamboo forest; the splintering bamboo makes it look real. Things then get a little chilly as we learn more about the island and the surprising number of people who have died there over the years. Once the suggestion that the island is haunted is aired the atmosphere is really chilly; many moments gave me real goose bumps. Often something that appears perfectly normal is later shown to be something quite other. The scares are achieved without the jumps and gore employed in many horror movies. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to horror fans who like to be chilled and kept on edge rather and gore and jumps

These comments are based on watching the film in Korean with English subtitles.

Creepy as hell.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 9/10 · 1 March 2007]

Vietnam,1972.A troop of South Korean soldiers are urged by a mysterious radio signal to locate a missing patrol unit in the location called R-Point.Finding far more to fear than snipers,these carefully conceived characters,each with his own involving emotional history,discover that the miseries of war aren't confined to the physical territories of the jungle-they also resonate throughout the dark depths of the unknown."R-Point" totally creeped me out.It features some truly scary moments that will linger in the memory of viewer for a long period of time."R-Point" scores most of its points in the last half hour,when the situation escalates into full-blown bloody madness and the final desperate stand-off is a perfect end to the film.Highly recommended.9 out of 10.

Do not believe the hype this is not a Korean or supernatural Apocalypse Now

[dbborroughs · 6/10 · 6 February 2005]

This is being sold as a Korean version of Apocalypse Now. Its not. Other than the plot device of investigating mysterious radio signals there is no similarities at all. Do not believe the hype.

The plot concerns a group of soldiers sent to R-Point to investigate a group radio signals from a group of supposedly dead men. Once they cross the line into the area all sorts of strange things begin to happen and they slowly begin to dwindle in number. Yes, you've probably seen it before in other films, you know the drill a group of men cut off in a strange place where they are hunted by a seemingly supernatural force. Recent films such as the Bunker, or Deathwatch cover similar territory to varying degrees of success.

For most of the running time R-Point works, as a good but not great thriller. There is a slowly building sense of dread as it goes on that thankfully never becomes overwhelming. It's not perfect as most of the men blend together and you really have no idea who is who. The real problem is that around an hour or so in the film starts to not make sense. Events become disjointed and there are some turns that seems out of left field. Granted this is a film that asks you to pay attention as little things early on show up later or give clues to whats going on, so if you look away you may feel lost. I did look away and did feel lost.

I also have reservations about the reasons for events toward the end, they don't seem natural, I suspect this is due to the director attempting to add more weight to the story than a straight horror film could carry. I think the attempts at allegory weaken the film and prevent it from being either a horror film or allegory.

Still I do recommend the film for those people who want to see something creepy but not too scary, and who don't mind it doesn't completely work to the end.

A Interesting Vietnam War Horror Movie

[vghb95a · 8/10 · 3 December 2004]

A very unique point-of-view of Vietnam war from the Korean coalition soldiers, with a side of supernatural also. If you like movies such as, "Session 9", "Deathwatch", and "Below" you will like this one, although you will have to read subtitle.

The plot of this movie is very similar to the movie like "Deathwatch".

It is about a group of Korean soldiers sent on a mission to an island with some very bad juju going on. They are there to search for another group of Korean soldiers who have gone missing earlier. Between the Viet Cons, the ghosts, and the phantom American and Korean soldiers, They must keep their sanity if the soldiers want to return alive.

This movie is beautifully shot on location in Vietnam and Cambodia and also includes a building that will reminds you of the hospital in "Session 9". The ensemble cast is very good for their roles. But I do have problem with the filmmaker portrayal of the soldiers during Vietnam war. I truly think a military adviser during the making of this film will make the soldiers more like soldiers and less like boy scouts out on a field trip.

A genuinely creepy movie....

[clouddead-1 · 10/10 · 14 April 2007]

The plot of R Point revolves around a Korean platoon operating near the end of the Vietnam war. They are sent out to investigate the disappearance of some allied soldiers in/near a ruined fort in Vietnam. Upon arrival it is obvious that the location to which they have been sent is somehow menacing and that the area might be haunted.

This is by no means a Hollywood style, all out horror flick, and for myself this was its strength: The film starts in a fairly relaxed way, but subtly becomes more and more eerie as it progresses. There is no 'turning point' as such in the story, where things go from bad to worse. Instead we have a sense of growing menace and foreboding. The subtlety with which this is achieved is excellent.

The characters are well developed and have distinct personalities of their own rather than behaving like generic 'movie soldiers'. This helps add to the realism as collectively the platoon starts off just fine but gradually descends into a nightmare.

Whilst not especially gory, R point is a genuinely scary flick. There are a number of strange plot twists which keep the viewer wondering exactly where this whole thing is headed. The camera work is also good and the location has been chosen well. The area in which the story unfolds is dark, deserted, seemingly miles from civilisation and has an air of isolation and evil hanging over it.

All in all this goes down as one of my favourite horror films, a sort of blend of Apocalypse Now and Ring with an originality of its own. The film is intelligent, haunting and the characters believable. All in all, definitely worth watching =)

Nice horror film from Korea

[udar55 · 7/10 · 27 August 2005]

This Korean horror film is set towards the end of the Vietnam conflict. I was really impressed by this. The basic plot is that a platoon of Korean soldiers went missing at R-Point, a former French plantation in Vietnam. A new group of soldiers is sent to investigate the disappearance after a radio message is received from the missing squad claiming they are still alive. There are two amazingly creepy scenes in it and, although it owes a lot to John Carpenter's THE THING when it gets down to a few guys left, it keeps up the intensity. The film is also impressive because it is an Asian horror film that made it to Korean theaters and no one has purchased the US remake rights.

Nice idea, weak and confusing execution

[mw_director · 5/10 · 21 February 2006]

There's a lot of promise in R-Point, but very little fulfillment of any of it. I suppose the reason we don't see too many meldings of the war and supernatural horror genres is that the reality of war is infinitely more horrific than any "boo! a ghost!" plot line any screenwriter could cook up. That doesn't mean it's impossible to make a good war/horror movie. Still, what examples I've seen in the past -- The Bunker, The Keep, Below -- have been sad disappointments, relying on the genre's clichés rather than any narrative depth to evoke horror.

R-Point wants to explore such depth, putting a platoon of men in a situation where they question their very sanity. But ultimately, it falls back on horror movie clichés -- yes, there's even a black-haired ghost woman. Still, there are several good scenes, and enough hints at what a good movie this could have been, that it's worth watching at least once for hardcore Asian-horror fans. It's the kind of movie where you sit around after it was over and talk about how awesome it would have been if only they'd done X or Y.

The first half of the movie is reasonably strong. A Korean platoon in Vietnam that vanished six months before our story starts, in a remote area designated R-Point, has suddenly started radioing in to HQ. Another platoon is whipped together to find them. Trekking out to the eerie location, they set up base camp in an abandoned mansion and begin reconning the area. Promptly weirdness starts occurring. In the best scene, one soldier gets separated from his search party, only to find them crossing a field...but is it them? In another, a late night visit from a passing American platoon divulges some of R-Point's backstory, and sets up a creepy reveal later in the film.

Up to this point, atmosphere is very disturbing and there is a lot of tension. Unfortunately it begins to weaken when little to no explanation is ever satisfactorily given for the weird goings-on. I forget where I read it, but someone once said that any genre movie can be forgiven its worst failings as long as it follows the "Awesome!" rule -- that it has at least one knockout scene that makes you say, "Okay, _that_ was awesome!" R-Point has no such scene.

The soldiers begin fighting amongst one another, but you don't really know them that well, so it's hard to understand why. Most of them are one-dimensional soldier stereotypes (the scared rookie, the guy who can't wait to get home to take his kid to the zoo so we know he's gonna die early, the gruff sarge whom many of the grunts trust more than the green lieutenant), so we don't feel any sense of personal stake in their fate. Worse still is the director's choice to throw in the occasional green-tinted ghost POV shot. It begins early in the movie and completely wrecks the mood every time, because it's such an obvious cheap horror movie device. What are we supposed to think? "Ooooo, scarrrrrry, they're being watched from behind a tree by a ghost!" Uhh, sorry, doesn't work. For one thing, if I were a ghost...why would I hide behind a tree?

Ultimately, the movie just doesn't pay off. It's a shame, because there are hints that with a few more rewrites, this could have been a really amazing combination of the real-life horror of Platoon or Apocalypse Now, and the "who can you trust?" themes of Body Snatchers or John Carpenter's The Thing. Watch it for yourself, and I bet you come up with several better ways the story could have played out.

The Next Big Hollywood Remake

[joe-barnes · 8/10 · 5 July 2005]

Low on gore, few special effects and not a single large breasted girl running through a forest. Like many of the best horrors the fear in R-Point comes from what you don't see.

It's a simple premise for a film: a ghostly horror set in the dying days of the Vietnam War. It twists and pant-filling turns are so effective you think surely Hollywood couldn't resist remaking it with a giant budget. And of course they couldn't. Zhang Yimou the director of Hero is already in the process of making an English language version.

A Korean platoon are dispatched to a remote island to investigate the disappearance of nine soldiers, who despite being presumed dead have begun radioing back blood curdling messages to HQ. As usual with these type of things it's not long before a spooky girl with long dark hair turns up on the scene.

Think Blair Witch put in a blender with The Ring and Full Metal Jacket.

Eery and enjoyable

[jade-mail · 7/10 · 6 August 2006]

I enjoyed this movie. Confusion and uncertainty exist in war, so I felt it gave a taste to the viewer of what the troops were going through. If anything, it added to the nightmarish quality. Strange place, scared sh*tless, etc.

Very creepy, lots of tension, great location. I agree with earlier posts, it was reminiscent of The Shining (evil location induces madness and murder).

It won't appeal to everyone (as we all have different tastes) but I find this type of thoughtful horror far more terrifying and disturbing than the usual 'obvious' Hollywood horror - mainly because it invites you to use your imagination (a scary unlimited place!) instead of spelling it all out and tying up the loose ends.

R-Point

[Scarecrow-88 · 9/10 · 17 June 2007]

Those who liked "Deathwatch" may wish to check out this(even better)Korean ghost tale from director Su-chang Kong about a group of South Korean troops in Vietnam searching for a missing group they heard a distress signal from. Once they get up to a location called R-Point where these old Temple Ruins are located(signifying in a different language that anyone with blood on their hands would be cursed;it's stated that this location goes untouched by either the North or South Vietnamese)weird things start to occur. They meet people, actually talking to them in conversations, only later finding their dead corpses. They set-up a base-camp at an eerie dilapidated castle and try their damnedest to find the soldiers..but even finding their own way out of R-Point seems impossible. Soon various soldiers loose their grip on sanity..we soon learn that ghosts and guns can only lead to a heap of trouble. There's possibly even some possession involved as well.

I thought it was good and creepy. The setting amongst the grass-infested ruins and castle just adds to the eerie atmosphere of the ghosts often appearing from the dark.

Avoid at all costs, in fact, pay not to see!

[Enchorde · 2/10 · 9 November 2005]

Recap: Suddenly, a Korean platoon that went missing at R-Point, an island(?), suddenly starts to send radio messages requesting help. But the message also hints of a fateful end to the mission. A new mission is planned, a new platoon formed. And off they go to find out whatever happened at R-Point. The area should be clear of enemies, Vietcong, but the platoon takes fire on their way in. The ambusher turns out to be a lone girl, now fatally wounded, and a few long dead corpses. Soon thereafter the platoon encounters an inscription that tells the history of the place. Supposedly this is the site of an ancient massacre, on the inscription promises, that those who enters and has blood on their hands, will never leave. The platoon goes on though, and starts the search for the lost soldiers. But something is horribly wrong. And when one of the privates in the platoon turn up dead, and turns out to be one of the members of the lost platoon, all is horribly wrong.

Comments: The movie is clearly built up as horror-movie set in war. Yet there are no enemies. And even if the movie uses sound and music in an attempt to be scary, it fails miserably. First and foremost, there is a huge flaw in the story, In fact, the story is one enormous flaw in itself. It is extremely inconsistent, the whats and whys, if there ever was any (or if the director just wanted to play with some effects and thought that would be scary enough, this is my guess), is never told or revealed in the movie. In fact, there are strong hints that the officers know more than we or the privates do. My guess is that director hopes this will add to the mystery, but its just annoying as no new facts are ever revealed. The entire story seems to be a more or less random series of unexplained events.

Second greatest flaw. My experience from the military is not big. But how those soldiers, those officers got through kindergarten is beyond me. I've never seen a collection of so stupid, thick and dumb people on a movie before. A few examples; a) No one, including the officers, has any idea of how many or who is in their platoon. This is shown when no one reacts when people get lost and go missing, or when an extra soldier suddenly appears. In fact, the commanding officer orders a soldier that is not in his platoon, a soldier that is his mission to find, to stand guard! b) The soldiers are fighting among themselves all the time. A reason for a fight (when you stand guard) is that the other guard has a picture. c) The soldiers do not tell anyone when they notice someone go missing. This happens when the extra soldier disappears, and when one of the real soldiers run off into the forest at night. The guards only reaction, a shrug and a comment "well, there he goes." d) When searching for a missing soldier, some of them refuse because they don't "feel like" searching for a companion. Conclusion, those must be the worst soldiers ever.

In fact, the unexplained random effects, and the extremely stupid squad, stops any attempt of the movie at being scary. Mostly I felt annoyed at the bad story and the stupid squad, but sometimes one of them died, and I felt a little happy, because I knew the movie was closer to its end. Because in addition to being inconsistent, it is totally predictable. It is just a matter when they die.

The movie had one last chance at redeeming itself at the end, if it had presented some smart end, some twist that had explained what happened, and made the events understandable. But the movie showed, a little surprisingly, some consistency at last. Like all other parts, the end failed miserably as well.

To complete the failure, the movie shows some good footage, actually, but is poorly edited, and the characters show no development. The actors also contribute with a lot of bad acting.

Conclusion: An extremely bad, not scary, failed horror-movie full with questions and contradictions. Do not see. It is a complete waste of time.

2/10

Better Than Average Asian Ghost Film

[EVOL666 · 7/10 · 3 September 2006]

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a big fan of Asian ghost films. Most of them tend to be derivative of each other and/or dull, but R-POINT has a somewhat original story-line for a ghost film, and it works on most levels.

A group of soldiers have disappeared from the supposedly demilitarized Romeo-Point, and another group is sent in to find out what happened. The requisite "strange happenings" begin, and we watch as the new team is picked off by a strange force that possesses the men...

Not an entirely original concept, but the story behind R-POINT at least mostly shys away from the typical "scary-girl-with-long-black-hair" trappings that many Asian ghost films have fallen into since the success of RINGU and JU-ON. The story-line was relatively engaging in this one and held my interest. A relatively strong entry in a tired genre...7.5/10

Creepy war horror from Korea

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 4 November 2016]

R-POINT is one of the recent wake of films that cross the barriers between warfare and horror to deliver a kind of startling, in-your-face type of movie in which unlucky soldiers find themselves dealing with both enemy gunfire and spirits of the dead. DEATHWATCH and THE BUNKER are two of the best-known examples, although as a film, R-POINT ably holds its own with those two and offers a highly atmospheric film with just a few flaws that stop it being perfect. I'll list the flaws first; the script, for instance, is very much mundane and repetitive, consisting of the main characters shouting at each other a lot and calling each other expletives. In fact there isn't a great deal of characterisation in the movie as a whole, with only one or two unique characters among a lot of other interchangeable ones. The main other flaw is that the film is too darn mysterious for its own good; the ghostly horror is never really fully explained, and there'll be a lot of confusion if you don't pay the utmost attention to every scene throughout the film.

Now for the good stuff: R-POINT is a film that makes full use of the spooky, isolated locations. The creepy jungles are interspersed with creepy bush scenes, haunted graveyards, and a rotting Chinese temple. Best of all is an old hospital, by the looks of it, which recalls the kind of 'evil derelict building' seen in low budget US horrors like SESSION 9 and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. Fill most of these locations with rotted corpses and weird goings-on and you have a truly spooky film that, while never reaching terrifying heights, packs more than a few scares into the running time. Much is made of superstition, glimpses of people who really shouldn't be there, and one or two great shocks, such as the scene with the guy sitting on the steps who gets a literal and unexpected bloodbath. The main menace in the film is a girl in a long white dress with long black hair; yep, the cliché stock character of many an Asian horror flick in the wake of RING.

The war elements of the film feel as realistic as other recent entries into the genre and there's a fair amount of bloodshed to add to the gritty appeal. The best scene by far is the finale, a bloody shoot-out on the level of RESERVOIR DOGS, in which the heroic lieutenant separates the wheat from the chaff by ordering his men to identify themselves; those who can't are clearly possessed. It's a sequence which recalls the infamous blood-test interlude in John Carpenter's THE THING, and while not as knuckle-whitening as in that particular film, it still packs an undeniable punch and ends the film on a high. Unsurprisingly, a Hollywood remake is on the horizon

Decent Supernatural Elements and Intriguing Locations but Thin Characters and Plot as Well as an Absence of Scary Scenes

[kluseba · 6/10 · 6 January 2022]

All the movies released by legendary label Tartan Asia Extreme are at least average and in most cases great or even brilliant. R-Point is however one of the more ordinary releases and only qualifies as plain average movie. This Korean military drama with supernatural elements is only for the most faithful fans of Asian cinema.

The story takes places in Vietnam in the early seventies. Several people among the military personnel are preparing themselves for returning home after an arduous tour in hotsile territory. However, the South Korean base then receives a mysterious radio transmission from a platoon that disappearaed without a trace half a year ago. The high-command assigns a decorated lieutenant to lead a squad with eight soldiers to search and rescue the missing soldiers whose last transmissions came from a location described as Romeo Point. Upon arriving at the isolated location, the military personnel is ambushed by a mysterious Vietnamese woman who doesn't speak a single word. Up next, they discover an old temple with mysterious warning signs. Then, they discover a dilapidated mansion in the middle of the fog where they decide to set up camp. The military personnel is then contacted by American military personnel who also warn them and tell them that this location is haunted. While the South Koreans are still unable to find members of the missing platoon, they receive strange radio transmissions by a French soldier who is looking for his twin brother. The different events become more and more mysterious and the rescue mission soon becomes a fight for sanity and survival.

This military drama with supernatural elements convinces on a few levels. First of all, there aren't too many movies about South Korean involvement in the Vietnam War, so it's interesting to discover such an unusual perspective of that dreadful conflict. Some of the locations are quite diversified, intriguing and unique. Especially the old temple and the dilapidated mansion ooze with atmosphere. The movie includes a few interesting events that keep viewers watching until the very end. Especially the mysterious Vietnamese woman who keeps appearing around the soldiers and the gloomy meeting with the American soldiers are quite memorable in that regard.

This film however also has several downsides. First of all, the plot is quite thin and especially the outcome of this movie is underwhelming and ends the movie on an unsatisfactorily low note. Up next, the different characters are barely fleshed out. Including nine characters among the rescue mission for a movie of only one hundred seven minutes is too ambitious. It would have been a much better option to focus on five strong characters and develop significant ties between one another. Another issue is that this movie has been marketed as a horror movie. However, the film might be mysterious but certainly not scary. Yelling loud menaces with foul vocabulary doesn't make for an ominous atmosphere.

At the end of the day, R-Point is an average military drama with decent supernatural elements and a few intriguing locations but weak characters and plot as well as an absence of scary scenes. The movie is only recommended to the most faithful fans of Asian cinema but can be ignored by anyone who isn't an adamant collector of Tartan Asia Extreme releases.

Korean version of Apocalypse Now

[junghoonlee21 · 31 August 2004]

The motif of this movie is similar to that of "apocalypse now". Like this classic movies about Vietnam, R point described the horror which the soldiers confronted at the battle field. Although this movie adopted many things from 'apocalypse now', it shows another type of the horror- in the oriental meaning- "punitive justice". no one would return home if he committed bloody thing. What the soldiers felt as original sin is what they committed in Vietnam. And the curse was cast on them as Chinese troop, french troop, and US troop (they were all the invaders to Vietnam) were "punished".

The director said that he wanted to make this movie as antiwar movie. I think that he oscillated between "horror movie" and "antiwar movie". The plot is monotonous and solders' mental state and personal history were so much omitted that it hard to understand without further information. However, I think that his attempt is relatively successful. I thought much about the deployment of Korean troop to Iraq, after I saw this movie.

O.K., but seemingly would never end..

[kwhp · 5/10 · 20 March 2007]

A number of the negative reviews nailed it on this movie. It was nothing really special and -- while I don't particularly enjoy horror films (particularly with a lot of gratuitous gore, Al or otherwise) -- I had to watch this one in installments because it got somewhat repetitive and predictable.

Not speaking Korean, I relied on subtitles but was surprised at how pedestrian the dialog was. The members of the lost squad of Korean soldiers spent the better part of the movie calling each other "assholes" and dropping the F-bomb on each other. Now, I know these are soldiers and all that, but the writers (translators) could have made it just a little more interesting..

..recommended only if desperate and there's really *nothing* decent to watch.

an ok horror

[killercharm · 5/10 · 10 March 2022]

S. Korean soldiers fighting in Vietnam in 1972 are sent out to find six of their own who have gone missing at R-Point. As they approach the Point they come to find out it is a sacred place and they have a curse on them because of their profession. If you have blood on your hands you cannot leave R-Point, sayeth the curse. This flick starts out gangbusters. It has great tension and the terrain is presented as terrifying if it chooses. The story starts to lose its way in the second half. There isn't enough terror to warrant the terrified reactions and there needs to be.

Creepy Asian horror

[siderite · 7/10 · 23 June 2012]

The movie does have its faults, but not being creepy scary is not one of them. A military group is sent to investigate a missing company that mysteriously vanished and now is sending radio signals. They go there and nasty stuff begins to happen.

The reason the film is so effective is because it doesn't skimp away on the character development. Each person has a name, a way they react to one another and are plausible characters. It adds to the viewer's compassion that everyone except the lieutenant are poor uneducated saps trying to get home to their families and villages. Then they die.

The feeling of hopelessness is both a strong and weak part of the movie. On one hand, if you are in the middle of things you can hardly just give up, but on the other hand, if you see there is nothing you can do, why bother? And if the characters are obviously ill equipped to deal with the situation, the details are irrelevant for some viewers.

As usual in the latest Asian horror, the ghosts are hardly interested in the logic of things. There is no right or wrong, they just need to separate people from their lives and they do it in the most creepy way. I believe R-Point is pretty scary and would have a maximum effect while watched at night with no lights on.

Good, but not scary

[yojimbo999 · 1/10 · 11 November 2004]

I've heard people comparing this film to APOCALYPSE NOW. Puh-leeze. It's a good little psychological thriller, but it's not scary at all, or very deep for that matter. PRetty straight forward, in fact. I liked the lead, but the rest of the soldiers basically crumbled into little pieces when the sh*t hit the fan. I mean, these guys are supposed to be hardened soldiers that have been in Vietnam for years? They act more like little girls! Also, the filmmakers wanted to have it both ways -- make it a horror movie, but also as a psychological horror (i.e. is it real or not?) Etc. But he kept showing things that undermine his own point. Why did we keep seeing things from the ghost's point of view? That ghost girl? Then at the end, he tried to give us a twist ending. This movie reminded me of THE BUNKER, which was pretty good, and had almost exactly the same story as R-POINT. Except THE BUNKER came first, so who stole from who? I give it 6 out of 10.

Unsatisfying and formulaic horror film squanders initial promise

[droctagon · 4/10 · 19 March 2007]

PLOT: A squad of Korean soldiers is deployed on a search & rescue mission after a radio transmission is received from a missing team, killed by unknown forces.

REVIEW: R-Point does well in establishing an ominous atmosphere at the beginning of the film. The initial reconnaissance by the team unfolds with foreboding and tension, and the viewer is both eager and frightened to see what they will discover. Unfortunately, this tension quickly morphs into boredom. Little happens for much of the film, and the mood set by the introduction is lost. It doesn't help that the characters are unengaging and for the most part interchangeable. The performances quickly become annoying: everyone seems to be constantly hysterical, with characters grabbing each others' lapels and shaking them, or dropping to their knees and sobbing, every other minute. Most frustrating is that for all the buildup, the tale turns out to be a pretty generic ghost story, and not a very exciting or scary one. R-Point starts with an intriguing premise, but wholly fails to deliver.

Good job!

[hauntedbear · 10/10 · 5 December 2006]

With the right setting, perfect camera angles and some excellent acting you don't need a lot of special effect, blood or lame monster/murderer around corner scenes to make a real good horror film. You wont jump out of your chair to much but throughout the film you always feel that indescribable feeling that only a really good horror movie can communicate. The very first scene sets the mood and they keep it up all the way to the end. The story might not be very unique but really its all a matter of presentation. And this film has really presented it in a very rare and intriguing way. If you want a film you can just watch, scream to and forget the next day this might not be for you. But if you like me really enjoy those films that really gets to you then what are you waiting for?