Black House (2007) User Reviews

Nice Twisted Tale of Murder and Thrills

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 17 August 2008]

An insurance agent, still fresh on the job, gets called to a home where he witnesses an apparent suicide. After the initial shock, though, he begins to suspect murder and sets his sights on investigating the boy's father. As the investigation continues, so does the creepy nature of the father. How far will both men go to achieve their ends, and what other secrets is this family hiding?

I'm relatively new to the Korean horror scene, but have liked much of what has come my way. "Black House" is no exception. While it isn't a perfect film, it certainly kept my interest, even during the hours where I would typically be asleep. The flaws are forgivable -- it carries on a bit longer than necessary, expects us to believe a killer capable of some extraordinary feats (considering the killer isn't in peak physical condition). But what horror film doesn't have us believe the unbelievable?

The lead characters/actors were great. Jeon Juno (Jeong-min Hwang) was a decent lead as a courageous everyman, and Park Chung-bae (Shin-il Kang) was a formidable opponent. He played up the "less is more" approach perfectly, allowing his stares to send chills. Park's wife (Seon Yu) was both beautiful and evil at the same time. The secondary characters were alright, too... though I wasn't overly impressed by Jeon's girlfriend Mina (Seo-hyeong Kim).

The visuals were well done. There was a darkness, but at the same time a crisp feel to the film, showing a sizable production. Many foreign films tend to have a lower budget feel, but this was not one of those. The blood and gore were superb, and I even felt they tended to mix violence and sexuality in a way that is sensually magnificent (particularly towards the end). Not least was the soundtrack, with very simple but effective piano melodies (presumably by Seung-hyun Choi). In some scenes they came off as repetitive, but there was one sad tune that was haunting and pulled me emotionally into the picture against my will.

I have no complaints with the writing, directing, acting, cinematography. This film came together nicely and was effective. All too often, Asian (particularly Japanese) films fall back on the "dream" and "ghost" subgenres of horror. This one stayed far away, giving us a mystery-thriller that was right up the alley of Italian giallo (though more horror than mystery). If you're looking for a good foreign flick, this one's worth a shot... see it before someone tries to remake it (again, since this is in itself a remake).

Engaging Serial Killer Slasher Film With A Touch Of Dark Humour

[meddlecore · 7/10 · 20 October 2017]

An insurance claims adjuster is sent to meet a man, his company believes is a con artist, engaged in insurance fraud.

And during this meeting he makes a grisly discovery...the body of a young boy who has recently been hung.

Despite the fact that he is not his actual son...the man has a very large insurance policy out on the boy's life. And he has the claim written up before his ashes are even spread.

This leads the insurance adjuster to suspect the man has murdered the boy...so he starts to investigate this man and his past.

With the insurance company refusing to pay out- before the police make a decision on the cause of death- the man becomes increasingly disgruntled...and starts to target the insurance adjuster.

They eventually pay him out, but the adjuster becomes worried his wife will be next...because he also has a large policy out on her, as well.

He feels particularly responsible, because, as a child, he witnessed his younger brother commit suicide...and still feels guilty for having failed to prevent it.

So he acts to intervene- warning the woman of what he suspects her husband's intentions are.

But a few days later, the couple is back...to collect on another claim...after the man has cut off both his arms.

Now, the adjuster realizes...it was his psychopath wife the whole time.

But it's too late...his brother is dead, his girlfriend's dog has had it's head cut off, and his girlfriend has suddenly been kidnapped.

Obviously, this woman is not one to be trifled with.

This is a really engaging serial killer-slasher, from South Korea's Terra Shin. The insurance claims adjuster is such a lovable anti-hero...that you just don't expect him to be caught up in a gore-laden situation. But that is what gives this film that subtle touch of dark humour that makes it so damn enjoyable.

Recommended.

6.5 out of 10.

Good Korean remake

[movieman_kev · 7/10 · 26 April 2008]

Insurance agent, Jun-oh (jeong-min Hwang) goes to a house to talk to an insurance client, where he finds the hanging body of the client's son dead of an apparent suicide. But he soon feels that the young lad didn't kill himself, but was killed to get at a sizable insurance payout. When no one else seems to believe him or even care, Jun decides to get to the truth by himself by digging into the past of the troubled family.

Let it be noted that I have yet to see "Kuroi ie" the 1999 Japanese adaptation of the same Yûsuke Kishi novel that this film was also based on, so I can't offer up any comparisons. That being said, I found the South Korean version of the story to be captivating enough to keep my attention throughout and marginally well acted. The film plays it's horror out mostly psychologically until it's last 40 minutes when the film goes all out Slasher and the gore becomes much more visceral. I enjoyed and recommend it.

My grade: B-

Region 1 DVD Extras: A 21 minute Making of; Production design featurette (7 minute); and 10 deleted scenes

Sympathy for Lady Psychopath

[Coventry · 6/10 · 7 September 2012]

"Black House" is a wildly uneven but nevertheless very entertaining horror/thriller from South Korea. The plot doesn't contain a single element you haven't seen at least three dozen of times before, and it seems as if director Terra Shin couldn't decide what type of movie he wanted to deliver, but at least it guarantees a good 100 minutes of suspense and (speaking for my girlfriend) a few horrible sleepless nights. The title "Black House" suggests a supernatural haunted house thriller, but the titular residential building is actually of no relevance to the plot whatsoever… It opens as an ambitious psychological thriller about a young insurance agent, naturally struggling with some unprocessed childhood traumas, who tries to prove that one of his clients deliberately murdered his young stepson in order to claim the insurance money. The story, albeit highly unoriginal, is overall compelling and intense. The film features several downright creepy moments (like an answering machine full of silent recordings) as well as horrendous genre clichés (like decapitated pet dogs). But then, suddenly, the plot takes a complete U-turn and atmosphere as well as tone and direction alters entirely. Through some revelations and discoveries, our insurance agent all of a sudden finds himself relentlessly pursued by a totally insane and maniacal female! The whole insurance fraud scheme, carefully built up until then, doesn't matter anymore and "Black House" turns into a derivative slasher/torture porn flick with sadist murder sequences and an indestructible killer. Oh well, fine by me also, it just requires a fast and rather unanticipated switch of mindset. The acting performances are decent, the make-up effects suitably vile and the set-pieces nicely sinister. South Korea arguably brings forward the best horror/thriller productions of the entire Asian continent, with for example the works of Jee-Woon Kim ("A Tale of Two Sisters", "I Saw the Devil") and Chan-wook Park ("Oldboy", "Lady Vengeance"). "Black House" doesn't belong to the elite, of course, but it's definitely worth tracking down.

Nice crime thriller movie..!

[kamalbeeee · 7/10 · 5 March 2021]

A physcopath women kills her 1st and 2nd hubby for insurance money...but the protogonist insurance agent suspected her and try to bring her to justice.. But he got into problem because of her and he try to kill her to save his wife.. Must watchable movie...

A movie keeping you interested but ultimately going nowhere

[dschmeding · 4/10 · 15 September 2008]

"Black House" (why the hell the title by the way??) is an interesting Korean movie that at first looks like going a different way. I guess you could call this a horror movie but it has a lot of thriller elements and rather sticks to reality than going for the typical Asian ghost mythology. The movie starts out with the main character, an insurance claims agent who gets a new client who especially asks for him after the previous agent seemed to unfriendly. Right after meeting at the clients house the first dead person appears... the son is found hung in is room. Since the client acts pretty strange and tries to collect the money right away the agent looks into the story and considers it a murder... he soon gets drawn deep into the strange clients life and finds out his wife is even stranger. From here on the movie moves slowly like a thriller about a bizarre insurance fraud that is slowly mixed with Slasher elements when the agents dog gets decapitated, his answering machine is filled with silent calls, people lose limbs and disappear while he uncovers the strange history of his client.

Although the movie is really slow paced and like many Asian movies way too long for my taste it kept my attention by building tension that is mainly relying on the excellent main actors and on the great cinematography. Unfortunately the movie takes a dive in the end because suddenly you find yourself in a very well known story about a strange woman killing people and doing that in a way that reminded me more of many Asian ghost horror movies.

Spoiler: When the movie incorporates things like sowing eyes and mouths shut but never explains why and in the end makes the ghost of the dead woman reappear in a girl that paints pictures like the woman did before you feel like the director was not sure if he wanted to make a thriller or a ghost/horror movie. All these elements are pretty fragmented and either I didn't get the connection or there simply is none which I'd suspect. If the director stuck to the real world and the bizarre fraud story and tightened the script this could have been a great movie... like many movies "Black house" takes a dive when it is supposed to deliver meaning to an otherwise suspenseful story.

The perfect example of a Hollywood imitation

[Thomas_Neville_Servo · 2/10 · 26 October 2008]

By the title of my review, you might think I would chide films for imitating Hollywood out of some sort of reverence for the latter, but that couldn't be farther from the truth as Black House's imitation is its ultimate downfall. Being a fan of Korean cinema and having seen the original film (Kuroi Ie from Japan), I was disappointed to find that director Shin Terra basically removed the deeper aspects of psychology from the story and chose instead to focus on developing the plot along in the most basic of manners.

At the beginning of the film, insurance agent Jun-oh is drawn into a complex web of death, dismemberment, and deceit as he suspects the apparent suicide of a client's son was not suicide at all. What would seem like simple insurance fraud grows into something much more sinister as Jun-oh encounters a true psychopath. But where the film goes wrong is in focusing on Jun-oh and his generic, last-minute back story rather than on the nature of a psychopath. Let's face it, Jun-oh the character is not interesting in the least. He goes through no changes throughout the film and his immovable belief in humanity at the end of the film is all the more laughable and ridiculous after the graphic horrors he witnesses. Sure, as you say, the killer is just like you. They just like to rip the heads off of dogs and cut people into little pieces. But they're just like you. Where Kuroi Ie goes right in this aspect is first depicting the psychopath from the very beginning of the film. You know who you're dealing with, so the whole movie carries a tense atmosphere. Black House, on the other hand, chooses to go the red herring route with an oh-so-obvious red herring and oh-so-obvious culprit. The ultimate revelation for Jun-oh is neither surprising nor shocking. Kuroi Ie scores here in a second manner by depicting the psychopath with a true disconnect, a real sense of going through life without a care, rather than as a bland and boring caricature TRYING to act like a psychopath.

In the end, Black House tries to differentiate itself from the stale output of vengeful ghost films, but it falls instead into the generic thriller camp. Too stupid to be scary, and too boring to be intelligent. Couple all that with a cheesy, tacked-on ending about the cycle of violence and you've got yourself the worst kind of film - one that thinks its being artsy.

Black House Review: Step in if you have courage!

[Achyut_Prashast_Singh · 9/10 · 13 November 2017]

Movie: Black House (18)

Rating: 4.5/5

South Korean films are definitely worth watching, especially action thrillers. But horror movies from there are also quite well made, and this film BLACK HOUSE is the proof. It's very nearly written, well conceived and quite refreshing. It has got the basic elements which will impress any moviegoer, and it's not merely for horror fans.

BLACK HOUSE opens on a gripping note and proceeds to tell the story without any hiccups, thanks to the editing. The screenplay is quite engaging, and it would be hard to leave this film in between, even if you're busy. The film stays true to the genre, and this is absolutely a positive sign.

Hwang Jung-min is a very talented actor who with his performance proves that he can pull out roles of any kind he's given. He excels in multiple sequences, and his dialogue delivery is decent. Yoo Sun and Kang Shin-il are menacing and their solid performances are a major asset to the film. Kim Seo-Hyung and other supporting actors, however don't have much to do but still end up delivering good performances.

The cinematography is decent, and is excellent in multiple shots. The small action bits have been done decently, and some shots are really praiseworthy. The climax was unexpectedly amazing and jaw-dropping. See it to believe!

If you love watching horror films, then BLACK HOUSE is a treat of course, but even if you don't, the film will take you on a creepy ride if you have courage to step in!

Black House

[Scarecrow-88 · 8/10 · 23 September 2010]

Jean Juno, a former banker, starts a new job working as an insurance salesman, immediately finding himself in a bit of a quandary, a client, demanding payment on the loss of his child, could have murdered his own step-son. Juno, not accepting that this little boy actually committed suicide, believing he was murdered, will attempt to prove his death was in fact a homicide. Juno is haunted by the suicide of his brother(a victim of bullies)and this has shaped him as an adult.

In regards to cold blooded female psychopaths, Shin Yi-Hwa reminded me of Béatrice Dalle from À l'intérieur and Asami Yamazaki(Eihi Shiina)of Takashi Miike's Ôdishon. She has these black soulless eyes reminiscent to Michael Meyers, there's a void where humanity should be present yet isn't. Yi-Hwa moves in a deliberate but determined manner, a crook in her walk due to a handicapped foot which bends inward. Director Terra Shin often points his camera at Yi-Hwa's feet, establishing her presence in a room approaching her quarry with evil intent. The hero of this movie Jean Juno(Jeong-min Hwang)wants desperately to believe that Yi-Hwa is human, that she has emotions, can feel something. What we see, though, is anything but. To manipulate her unstable (third) husband to chop of his arms for insurance money(and to sew a victim's eyes shut, pulling another with a chain in front of a moving train), it's hard to accept that Yi-Hwa is human at all. BLACK HOUSE is definitely macabre in the grandest sense as Jean Juno's insurance salesman/investigator questions whether or not Yi-Hwa's son actually committed suicide or was hung by his step-father, Park Choong-Bae(Shin-il Kang)for a 30 million dollar policy taken out only recently on the entire family. Choong-Bae was heavily in debt due to a gambling habit, only a sheet metal worker unemployed yet somehow still making the payments on the policy. Juno is a direct opposite of Yi-Hwa, his heart is pure and only wants justice for the dead boy he found hung in Choong-Bae's home. At the onset, Juno thought Yi-Hwa was in danger, but as he crusades in behalf of the fallen child, a startling discovery awakens him to the truth..it's not Choong-Bae who is the mastermind behind gaining moneys from insurance policies, but Yi-Hwa. Warning Juno to pay up and butt out, Yi-Hwa is only concerned with the money and will kill anyone who stands in her way. Labeling Yi-Hwa as dedicated would be an understatement. Juno also inadvertently brings his beloved girlfriend, a hospital doc, Mina(Seao-hyeong Kim)into the cross-hairs of Yi-Hwa's mania. Yi-Hwa will use Mina to draw Juno into her lair, a veritable slaughterhouse where multiple victims(including an insurance investigator from Juno's company whose upper torso is hanging from hooks, eyes and mouth sown shut)and their body parts are stored. I'm amused at how the butcher knives in horror movies nowadays resemble machetes, they're so long and gigantic, quite imposing especially when you have someone as intimidating as Yi-Hwa pressing her way towards you with only one goal in mind, burying it into her prey's body. Juno pays a price for his courage, taking his share of lumps(more like stabs)because of this pursuit to see that Yi-Hwa is stopped. Fans of horror movies about psychotics should enjoy this one. There's a character whose role is small but important as it pertains to Yi-Hwa's downfall, a student working on a thesis about psychopaths who provides Juno some information on his subject, this research costing him his life. I imagine that anyone who sees BLACK HOUSE will be hard pressed to forget Seon Yu's role as Yi-Hwa; she definitely leaves a lump in the throat, particularly at the end where she toys with her bleeding eye socket(Juno punctures it with a house key!)seemingly unable to feel any pain whatsoever.