Kate

I’m on the ghost side.

This is one of the horror movies where you cannot stop yourself from rooting for the “evil” character. I just sat there and thought: it would be a happy ending if everyone dies.

I think the movie does a rather good job at blending the horror with a bit melo romantic undertones. It’s basically rom-com cliches meet vengeful spirit.

Nothing new, nothing outstanding and nothing groundbreaking, but it is a fun watch. The plot is extremely easy to follow, so it serves as a good evening fun watch. We get a few jump scares, we get the sob story, we get some awful teenagers - everything one needs in a teen horror flick.

The acting was good. Ha Neul obviously delivers - I don’t think he ever failed at any role. Kim So Eun might not be the strongest actress out there, but she does well in this role. I do think the majority of the casting was fail age wise - all of them looked like they were in their 20’. Some looked as mature as the teachers… That’s something we often get with stories set in high school though, so I guess there is no point complaining.

Overall, a fun and simple story.

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Even though there were a lot of elements I did not quite like about this show, overall it was an extremely fun ride with some smart, well placed humor and amazingly written characters.

Truth to be told, Fan Xian ain’t exactly a likeable character. The more I thought about his actions, the more pretentious he seemed - to the point I was actually anticipating someone putting him in place, even if just temporarily. For someone who just wants to live a joyful life, he did not try to avoid the attention. For someone who wanted to fight the corrupt, he was too good at manipulating others and using them to his advantage.

Even though I was not on board with him as a person, I still extremely enjoyed his character. I do believe the simping over him from other characters was a bit too much, but there is no doubt - he was that charming.

By the end of the show I had my favorites: Emperor, Ruo Ruo, Teng Zi Jing and Shen Zhong. Seeing how some of these characters are not even the mains, and add to the story for a limited period of time, it shows how much care was put into making even supporting and side characters 3 dimensional, with their own arcs and depth.

Character wise, I have only one complaint: Wan’er. It’s not that I disliked her, I was just painfully indifferent to what her story is. For the majority of the drama she was passive, playing more or less just the role of Fan Xian “kindergarten” like love interest. That said, her character was the center of one of my favorite scenes from Joy of Life so she gain few pints form me.

I’m sure I am not the only one who thinks the characters were the best part. With how well written they were, how unique and entertaining their interactions were presented, no scene felt redundant.

The story itself was truly well paced. Probably one of the best pacings from any Chinese show I have seen. The comedy bits were funny and well spread throughout the show. Joy of Life provides a few emotional scenes, but they never hit me hard - mostly because they were not set up well. It’s hard to get emotional, when literally seconds ago I was laughing on the floor because of the over the top fighting choreography.

The fighting scenes themselves were another aspect that was either hit or miss. Some were perfect, some far from it. Overall, I liked them all, either because I was impressed or entertained.

The drama is full of plot twists, it’s hard to predict characters’ motivations and future plans. Some twists were brilliantly planned, with clues scattered throughout the plot, some came out of nowhere, being completely impossible to predict, only guess (the type I myself quite dislike).

Sadly, the ending left a lot to desire. It was just anticlimactic and infuriating to me as a viewer. More about it in the comment section under spoiler.

Overall, it was an extremely enjoyable ride that led to nowhere and doesn’t make me want to continue the journey - I am off this train. I feel like season 2 will clown me at the end too, leaving me annoyed and forced to watch last season, and I’m not up for it.

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Sometimes we don’t need answers to all questions - the unknown is what’s scary.

Peaked in episode 2, when it was all about survival. Started to dig a hole to die in in episode 5, crossed the path to the afterlife in episode 8, just to have an unnecessary resurrection comeback with after credits scene. Some things should stay dead, and this drama is one of them.

I'm disappointed that I‘m disappointed. I loved the first four episodes when I knew nothing, the characters knew nothing, people were dying and almost dying and the fear of the unknown and unexplained was the horror of it all. But then they slowly started to explain the lore and the motivation of the ghosts and the supernatural and the origin of the app - it all became boring, leading to many illogical choices done by the characters. Making mistakes and making dumb decisions when you don’t know anything is passable. Making dumb decisions when you have a grasp of what is dumb and what is not is inexcusable.

And I’m not one to get annoyed by dumb characters in horror movies - this is literally the feature of the genre. If they were smart the plot would not happen. But there are limits to how dumb you can make the characters before it turns into comedy.

I found the truth of the app's origin underwhelming and ridiculous and not strong enough to have such a big impact in terms of supernatural consequences. Similarly they failed to give a proper motivation to one of the main antagonists of the drama - why were they doing what they were doing? Why does their reasoning change every few minutes? We all know - the plot needed it, so it happened.

Yoo Se A? One of the most boring characters in any horror. Matched with no personality Kim Geon U. They worked in their rom-com moments, I adored these, but anything outside of that was not quite delivered in terms of writing. I kept wishing they would switch the focus on literally any other character.

Preferably to Kang Ha Jun, Bang Ul and Haetsal - this is the trio I actually enjoyed the most. Do I want a second season? No. Do I want a spinoff of their supernatural investigations? Yes. Any scenes with these three were the best aspect of the whole plot and the show. They literally had the best dynamic and relationships. The skeptic that has a bad relationship with his sister who is a shaman, and her boyfriend that tries to make it all work.

And can we talk about Roh Jae Won as Bang Ul? The whole drama I more or less did not care about anyone’s safety, but his. The way Roh Jae Won was able to deliver solid comedy without breaking the tension of the horror - amazing performance.

What’s good? I guess the production. While the design of the ghosts and supernatural was not innovative at all and had that “catch a ghost” app vibe to it, it was delivered in a decent manner. The gore was good, the blood looked like blood and they did not shy from using a lot of it. What’s more, we did not see unreasonable fountains of blood from any wound that happened - yes, there was a lot, but in the realm of reality and possibility.

Overall, they overexplained it all. The best part of the horror genre is leaving some questions unanswered. With thrillers you want the mystery to be solved, with horrors you want to leave the ambiguity of explanation, because the unknown is what's scary.

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It’s like the most cosy and warm sweater, but with an annoying tag.

What I mean by this is - almost everything was perfect for this sweet and slice of life driven romantic comedy, but for some strange reasons they felt the need to add annoying background setting and unprofessional work related aspects with questionable psychology behind it.

If I look at it as just a rom-com - it’s great. Slow paced romance built on trust and mutual understanding, driven by the shared goal. Both leads had their own individual problems and they found courage in each other to improve and get better. The chemistry was great and I’m amazed how well Han Hyo Joo embraced the acting style fitting Japanese production.

I also adored the little side story of everyone involved with Le Sauveur. With every episode focusing on one of the recipes and at times how to improve them we also witnessed the journeys of people involved in the making process - their passions, hesitations, and at times misunderstandings. But at the end of the day the theme of the show was embracing the change. Be it accepting a new boss, dealing with loss, challenging the future.

What’s more, visually this show was amazing. I don’t even like chocolates that much, but with all the cooking scenes and how beautifully they were presented, I wanted to try each and every one of them.

But then we have the annoying tags. Starting with Irene. I have one honest question - why did they make her therapist/counselor? She was so unprofessional in her working conduct I was getting annoyed just looking at her face. And her lack of professionalism had nothing to do with her personal issues - she just lacked the needed ethics. The story could have progressed the same way if they just made her a friend of male lead. You can still link her to the female lead in different ways without making her mental health professional. Cannot believe I saying that, but I rather there not being any professional, and them just getting healed with the power of love.

And then the whole "business politics shenanigans” - why? They literally hinted at it 2-3 times throughout the show, to make it the center of the plot in the last two episodes. It was so in the background of the plot before you needed loupe to see it. And it was again, just like the therapist, unnecessary.

Then, maybe it’s just me, but I wished the cast was actually younger. Or how they were written to be more mature. On paper I have no issue with immature or childish characters, but when almost everyone does not act their age, then it becomes a problem. It was especially evident with Hana. She was less anxious, shy and overwhelmed, and more acting like a child among the adults. Not all the time, but there were times when I truly got “7 years old child” from her.

Overall though, it was a pleasant watch. Definitely had more highs than lows.

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How to be a bad parent - simple guide.

The way all the adults in this movie were truly awful and selfish - I failed to feel touched by any scenes, I was just fueled with frustration. No, I did not come out of this movie with a thought of how vulnerable deaf people are in society and how they need assistance (which alone is honestly borderline offensive), but rather - deaf people can be selfish and dumb too.

By all means Xiao Ma was a victim of his own demise. How many times can a person make the same extremely bad choice before we can stop feeling bad for them and accept they failed themselves? It's one thing when you once get scammed after trusting the wrong people. But to willingly do it over and over again, put yourself and your child in danger? Wild. He was just a bad parent. Not one choice he made was done for his daughter, but for his own selfish need to keep her next to him, not caring if it's beneficial for her or not.

The mother is not better. I do not care what was decided when the child was born - yeeting yourself out of their existence to randomly come back is never right. The way she did not try to slowly build a relationship with her daughter, gain her trust. Poor Mu Mu was forced into an extremely bad situation by both of her parents.

This movie left me with exactly zero positive emotions and thoughts. Every new development made me more angry.

That said, one thing Mumu delivers is the acting. What a performance from both Lay and Li Luo An. I am not going to pretend like I know sign language, but just from a visual standpoint, the characters did feel natural and fluent while using it - it never felt awkward. The emotions felt real and raw. If only the plot was better and the characters sucked less, I would probably cry alone just because of the emotional performances.

Visually speaking also no complaints. It's not outstanding, I cannot think of any memorable scenes in terms of shots and aesthetics, but I also cannot think of any bad aspects in that area of production. Directing and editing wise, I truly loved the "fighting, but pretending to party" scene in the beginning of the movie. It was adorable and it made me smile a little bit.

Overall, I'm just disappointed. The whole movie gives you the idea that deaf people are inherently victims to be made, naive and vulnerable and they need protection and support. When the truth is the majority of the issues male lead faced had nothing to do with him being deaf, but with him being dumb and selfish.

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Was it entertaining? Yes. Do I feel like I would miss a lot if I have not seen it? No. Do I regret watching it? No.

The biggest positive aspect - it had a great variety of characters. And yet a good majority of them annoyed me more often than not. While I understand Sina being suspicious of everyone, her blindly accusing any person in the household of being the evil mastermind was at some point frustrating. She kept showing all her cards and not getting any closer to the truth. Like girl, use your brain.

There was quite a straightforward plot that had a nice conclusion. BUT It felt like a lot happened in the first 20 episodes, and at the same time... nothing was really happening. And then last 10 was a cluster F of plot lines coming together.

The part that at the beginning I enjoyed the most was the amazing chemistry Sina and Thi had, but even this died down a lot in the middle of the show, just to be brought back in the last few episodes in what seemed like a forced manner.

Conclusion: It was fun, but it was not amazing. I guess me and lakorns need to peacefully go our separate ways from now on.

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Exactly what it promises in the synopsis.

This movie will give you exactly what you expect from the plot based on synopsis - nothing more nothing less. There is not that much elaboration on the lore, who the characters are and why they do what they do. It’s simple, and it kind of works.

Lilith is not exactly a niche antagonist, but still better than good old Satan himself. Even if underdeveloped, I liked how the plot centered around womanhood - for good or for bad. Yes, she kind of gave me a red version of Conjuring’s devil, not the most unique design for the “evil being”, but what I do appreciate is how little we actually saw her throughout the movie.

Not enough tension builds up and scares, but I do appreciate that when there were horror elements they went more into weird shit in the corner or seen when passing by, and not in your face jump scares. I also really liked the set design. Smart choices of the locations. Decent use of light - bright enough you don't miss a creepy hand, but dark enough to keep the scary atmosphere.

For the acting - it was good. I don’t really remember which nun, since they all kind of blend together, but one of them especially delivered good creeps.

There was a lot of potential to make the movie better - expanding on the lore of the orphanage, focusing on less characters, making the sibling’s bond more prominent.

Overall, not exactly something you will regret watching, but not something to be excited about.

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Was one boy truly worth it? No girl power in this movie.

The whole plot is teens bullying each other and breaking all the horror rules possible, but somehow too many of them stay alive. I did enjoy how layered the movie was despite the simple plot. Setting on the isolated island for female juvenile offenders (which alone sounds tragic), the supernatural components and well developed lore with interesting visuals, well done kills and even pacing made the movie an enjoyable journey. Yes, there was not one character to truly root for, and more likely than not you will want to see them all dead by the end, but the dynamics, even if annoying, were keeping my attention.

All that said, the movie is too long for such an unsatisfying ending. If I have to sit through over two hours of teens bullying each other, I want some cathartic conclusion, not whatever this was. It was for sure a more interesting ending, but it just left me annoyed. I think they either should have made it more simple, or even more complex with just one more twist as a cherry on top.

Baipor and Perth delivered great performances. Both Ing and Aim were annoying for different reasons, but they played off of each other's characteristics well. The way Ing was slowly breaking more and more, while Aim started to lose her control and confidence - a game in which there are no winners.

The production value was nice. I wish some scenes were better lit, but it was not bad enough where I could not see anything. The design for the supernatural was decent, but not scary. Some kills were better than others.

Overall, it is too long to be called a simple afternoon quick watch, but it is interesting enough to actually sit down and see. Nothing groundbreaking. Simple, but well executed.

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Turn on the light ⇢ How production can ruin a movie.

It took me a month to finish Nokturno. I watched a few minutes here, a few minutes there, but it never grabbed my attention enough for me to dedicate more than 20 minutes in one sitting. Why?

How was the movie? I don't really know. I was mostly watching my reflection on screen because the film was so freaking dark. How can I feel invested in the story, when I literally do not see what is happening? Scared? Of what, when the scares I hidden in the black hole of the lighting department. It was simply frustrating. I was putting my laptop right in front of my face trying to catch a glimpse of that's going on. I honestly considered getting into the wardrobe with hope a pitch black could help.

I get it, horrors are usually not supposed to be all bright and well lit (though, some of the best titles do use light setting for their advantage), but we still need to see something. Anything.

That said, it's not like the poor lighting was the only issue. The plot itself was just mediocre at best. The idea behind the creatures? Interesting - that's the movie I want to watch. Or at least get a better, more elaborate explanation of the background. The way they did not flesh out the supernatural elements, the human one was underdeveloped too - the relationships between the characters, their motivations, reasoning for their choices. Everything was always summed up in one liner.

Nokturno feels like a cheap version of The Ring with The Nun aesthetics. It just felt extremely sloppy. Decent performances meant truly nothing when everything else was distractivelly bad.

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They were not running in circles, they were running a circus…

And I became the Chief Clown with zero regrets. It’s not that something was not right, everything was wrong, but somehow felt just right.

The whole show was stupid. The premise itself and the conclusion it led to made me laugh more than once. Yes, it might have been a slightly “I’m going crazy with this bullshit” laugh, but nonetheless, I was entertained. And by all means this should not have been this fun to watch.

The whole plot is one and the same thing - one misunderstanding and countless miscommunications and wrong assumptions about it… over and over and over again. Ba U? Extremely determined to self-sabotage any potential hope for happiness. He literally is the type of a person who would say “no you don’t” after someone confesses their feelings to them. He was so confident and assured in his wrong assumptions, facts, logic and evidence could not change his mind. He was delulu.

Then we have Ji Hun, my man was going with the flow with no action so hard he was basically not moving at all, but spinning around getting dizzy, just to be like “I guess I was not clear about it” - you were not unclear - you made no statements, you did nothing. He was also delulu.

And then we had Ha Min, who was the cherry on top of this radioactive cake. Loved him since episode one. He knows no boundaries and is so cheeky about it, it was hard for me not to appreciate his presence. He also worked double shifts to make sense of Ba U and Ji Hoon, and if you ask me, made all the right choices. No matter how unhinged he might seem, he was in fact the only one that was not delulu.

While the repetitiveness of the plot did not bother me at all (I actually found it weirdly entertaining), I cannot say the same about the directing and editing. What’s the point of having longer episodes, when we keep getting flashbacks of things that just happened? Characters making the same mistakes all the time is one thing, but then me having to witness them twice every time is just too much.

Acting wise it was fine. I did like Jung Je Hyeon and Ji Min Seo a lot in their roles, but Choi Min Ho as Do Ba U did not fully convince me in some scenes. Sadly, I think it’s the eyes - surprised look with no real emotions behind them.

Overall, if someone asked me why I liked it, I won’t be able to answer and not look crazy. I liked it for all the wrong reasons. I liked it for the flaws and how ridiculously entertaining they were.

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How to ruin a drama with the last few episodes - tutorial.

I am sorry (not really), but the last 3 episodes were tragically bad. They went at such a slow pace in the previous ones, it felt like they had to fast forward three seasons worth of content in the last 4 hours. And it made everything feel so cheap.

Maybe I expected too much? Maybe they just switched the pacing too rapidly closer to the end? Something just did not feel right at all. They started to kill every character left and right, many things that were set up as important had no lasting effects nor consequences and I became completely detached from it all.

I think my biggest issue is the fact… the drama felt weirdly empty. With the slower paced romance, they should have developed the surrounding plots more, but they did not. Nothing really felt like it was highlighted - neither the romance, nor politics, not the scheming. And I just feel empty after finishing it.

Nothing felt like much of a threat, because no one actually did much. The big secret palace maids organization? Did two things throughout the whole plot, barely shown. King Yeong Jo? Bipolar turned dementia - clearly loved San so he never felt like much of a threat either. Hwa Wan was just dumb. The drama pretended like there was some grand complex plot with political struggles and fractions, and then nothing.

I actually wish they made it more character driven. Deok Im’s internal conflict was extremely interesting, especially since no matter what choice she would make, it would hurt her. I wish this was developed to a greater extent. And this leads me to one question: what the fuck happened with the plot after King Yeong Jo died.

They literally fast forwarded all the most interesting aspects of the plot - the aftermath of Deok Im “giving in”. They kept giving me “x years later” and it just made me angry. So many emotional scenes were flat because they completely lacked the context. Do I care about the little prince dying? No. Why? Because I do not know this child at all, I did not see one scene of his existence and then he is dead. Whatever. Yeong Hui dying, while sad, was also so ridiculous - the girl really went with “sex is worth dying for”. And it could have worked, if they set it up. Everyone was just dying left and right, and I was just laughing. And then Deok Im died and my conclusion was “you must be fucking kidding me”. But that was not the end, because San also died, and so did I.

Everything that happened in the last 3 episodes should take place in at least 7. I am so confused about the pacing and writing for this show. What happened? Was it supposed to be a longer show and they had to cut it short after half of it already aired? I just do not understand the choices that were made.

All that said, there were still a lot of things I love. Hong Deok Ro was easily my favorite character. How brazen and misguided he was became one of the highlights for me. I also loved his scenes with Kang Tae Ho and the contrast of what they view the true loyalty was.

Then we have the friendship between Deok Im and the other court maids.

The dynamics between Queen Jung Sun Kim, Consort Dowager Hong and Princess Hwa Wan? Amazing. The power struggle, the scheming and plotting. I want the whole show focused on them.

I know a lot of people loved the acting here, but I was not convinced. I watched the main cast and I kept thinking about other more defining roles they played. I kept seeing them as the actors playing the roles, rather than the characters themselves. The acting was good, don’t get me wrong, but somehow I was never wowed. Probably the best scene from the whole drama was the confrontation between San and Deok Im after the Crown Prince died - the defeat and the answer were extremely well presented.

The Red Sleeve also presents amazing beauty - both in terms of visuals and the soundtrack. Starlight Heart is such an amazing song. I kept listening to it on repeat.

Overall, I was entertained, but left disappointed.

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Felt like a short slice of life dating show.

I am sorry, but if you start this show to watch some thrilling drama filled dating show and everyone being into everyone - it’s on you and it’s your mistake, when the synopsis literally says “Centered around travel and friendships”. This is the “slice of life” version of dating shows.

It’s not really focused on romance, but it does encourage some connections when needed. It was for sure more about friendships and chilling while remembering the previous seasons. For some contestants it was about getting some closure. That said, we did get a few interesting potential future couples from it. The title is fitting though: it’s just a beginning. The show gives us the potential first step, and shows nothing else.

I liked it. Quite a lot. Since I already knew the cast, I could focus on their interactions. I liked a lot of scenes that were focused more on the friendships, rather than the flings. I got what I expected to get and what I wanted to get. Yes, I do wish the show would be a bit longer, but again - this is not really a dating show. It’s more like a special season - these are always shorter.

I also really liked how they invited couples from previous seasons to sit on the panel since they know these people better than any viewer can. Not to mention, it's great to see at least Exchange does not seem like a completely staged show with couples breaking up the moment it finishes airing, because there was nothing truly between them in the first place.

At the end of the day it’s a sweet, short, feel-good special season that is directed strictly to viewers of the previous ones. There are no big romances and dates. It’s just friends hanging out and some finding more connection with each other than others.

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While the first and second half of the movie did not exactly fit in themes, both had quite good ways to create suspense and scare the audience - be it with visuals or the story itself.

Personally I enjoyed the first half far more - the mystery of all the supernatural events, the small details in the background that you need to pay attention to. The directing truly made me focus on what was happening on screen, since I did not want to miss any one of the bizarre moments - all thanks to some small detailed images.

And then the story started to get explained and for me it lost a bit of its charm. The scares shifted from unexplained supernatural to human’s evil deeds - it made me more uncomfortable than scared. There is value in exploring such themes, but it was not something I was looking for in this specific title.

The acting was decent. Nothing too outstanding, but good enough not to get distracting. Koki did a good job with the duality of her performance.

Overall, kept my interest till the end, even if the second half was slightly disappointing.

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Who comes up with these ideas?

This started so normal if we compare it to how it ended. I was in tears from crying during the last 20 minutes. Undoubtedly they had a lot of creative freedom while writing and filming this movie.

It has everything - decent CGI, awful CGI, small snakes, big snakes, friendship, romance, morality lessons, social commentary - all in the amazing trash quality.

I did laugh because of a few stupid jokes that were perfectly timed and well-delivered. I’m just glad there were exactly zero seconds where they tried to be serious about the plot. The acting was surprisingly fine - ain’t no high production quality mainstream title, but I was expecting something far worse.

Whatever comes to your mind after seeing the poster and the title is exactly what you will get.

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Why was it so wholesome?

And why did I enjoy it so much! Give me a gory slice of life with amazing friendship and sweet romance. How does this combination make sense? No idea, but it was fun.

This movie is not scary, this movie is entertaining, heartwarming and silly. Yes, the deaths are gruesome, but the stakes are non-existent. This is probably the most chill horror I have ever seen - no worries, no true tension, just pure enjoyment.

The plot could be separated into distinguishable sections depending on the characters; knowledge of what is happening around them and the growing friendship. With that, it never felt boring, and surprisingly not repetitive at all. We’ve got a cute slice of life during the day, and nightmare in the night - how did it click so well? No idea, but I loved that format.

Production value was fine. I’m glad we only saw the Red Person in the dark and shadows, because giving us a good view of it would ruin the fun - the design was just too silly, looking like something from Five Nights at Freddy's.

Overall, initial confusion about the tone of the movie turned into a tiny excitement and overall a pleasant experience, which is a rare thing to say about a horror movie.

Ps. Don’t even watch the after credits scene - it’s dumb. They thought they got the viewers with a twist, but it makes literally no sense.

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