The Soul Guardians (1998)

Park Kwang-Chun

Korea

96 mins, color, Korean (English subtitles)

An ultra-slick horror outing about two priests trying to stop Satan from getting reborn. The film sports all the usual suspects. The older, and wiser, priest, and his young and somewhat overzealous but devilishly handsome colleague. There's the cops who always run ten minutes late and few blocks to the right. Satan, up to his usual gimmicks, is lusting after nubile flesh, and understandably so. I'd be possessing Seung-Hee too if I were Satan; heck, I'd be possessing her if SHE were Satan. A bunch of people die in grotesque and extremely bloody ways before Good can get up to speed with its battle against Evil. And the final confrontation, as customary, ends abruptly and quite inexplicably. Well, it is SUPPOSED to be supernatural.

The acting is actually very well done, and the special effects are nothing to sneeze at. I was particularly partial to the flying dagger bit, and the demonic chick in the very end. The female protagonist is beautiful and very touching in her suffering, and although the young priest was somewhat one-dimensional for my taste, he made a passable love object. I guess my favorite scene in the movie came at the very end, right after the "Big, But Indeterminate, Battle with Evil" (tm), but I won't tell the end so not to spoil it all.

This film was surprisingly good because (a) we don't get to see many Korean films, and certainly not too many of this calibre; and (b) because it was very nicely done, both in terms of cinematography (some very cool shots in this one), acting, and special effects. It looks and feels like a Hollywood big budget movie, like STIGMATA or THE END OF DAYS, but has nothing of the pathetic hackneyed moralistic comments that are so offensive. It's a straightforward horror film that definitely has me on the lookout for other films from this country.

April 11, 2001. BLS