MovieChat Forums > Gokseong (2016) Discussion > This is like watching The Three Stooges ...

This is like watching The Three Stooges Halloween special or something

posted 5 years ago by Jehosaphet (1063)
3 replies | jump to latest

I'm 3/4 of the way through here and had to stop to complain...I just can't take how dang idiotic these people are...the "good guys"?
They're bumbling idiots...its ridiculous. Its a strange way to make a horror film...maybe its to take away the edge some? To make the good guys more endearing...relatable?

They're bumbling and fumbling their way through this, falling down, flailing and goddang if they don't scream so much that its a subject for another thread. The amount of screaming in this movie is incredible. Long, drawn out fits of screaming and hysterics that go on and on.

What is this? This movie would be WAY creepier without all the slapstick stupidity...is this a common thread in Korean movies, maybe? Just something that kind of comes with the territory? Jesus this is tiring, trying stuff lol

[–] kuku (3510) 5 years ago

You're watching it as it was a western movie. It's not. Rules are different in Asian horror.

Western horror is often portrayed as a conflict between a supernatural entity and some human. The main characters in the movie often go into mode 'how can I beat the threat? how can I win this conflict?'.

That's not the case in most of Asian horror (unless it's Asian horror that follows western tropes). In Asian horror, the supernatural is not portrayed as an antagonist, but as a maleficent force of nature. People scream, and bumble, the same way people scream and bumble in Titanic. When supernatural enters your life, you know you're doomed, you know you're cursed. It's like being on the Titanic after it hit the Iceberg: you scream, because you know it's the end. That's what Asian horror is about. People rarely fight, because there's not fight. It's not a conflict, it's the hidden side of nature telling you your time is done.

[–] Jehosaphet (1063) 5 years ago

Holy hell that was an amazing explanation...that just explained so much, so many of the scenes that'd bothered me up until that point.
That makes a lot of sense..and is pretty interesting. Gave me something to chew on here a bit, thanks Kuku.

[–] kuku (3510) 5 years ago

You're welcome ^_^

You can clearly notice it in the Ju-On franchise (The Grudge, in English). It's the most popular franchise in Asian horror, about 6-7 movies. Each movie has 4-5 main characters dealing with the curse. During the whole franchise, not a single character survives. Once you're cursed, there's no way out, there's no final girls. In pure Asian horror, everybody dies, and what's more: the characters know it.