Director: Kim Kwang-Tae
Writer: Kim Kwang-Tae (Screenplay)
Starring: Goo Seung-Hyeon, Seung-ryong Ryu, Woo-hee Chun, Joon Lee, Sung-min Lee
Plot: Shortly after the Korean war, a father and a son are wandering through the country and make a stop in a remote village, where strange and dangerous happenings occur.
Runtime: 1 Hour 59 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Keeps Getting Better
Story: The Piper starts with the father (Seung-ryong) and his son Yeong-nam (Seung-Hyeon) traveling through the mountains in the aftermath of the Korean war. With the father being a musician and his son being sick, they are looking for a new home, they come across a remote village where Village Head (Sung-min Lee) lets them stay th night.
As the night unfold the Father learns of a rat problem in the town and offers to use his musical talent to lead them away, but soon he learns about the superstitions mindset of the people in the village which puts both him and his son in danger.
Thoughts on
Characters – The father is doing everything he can to keep his son alive, he will work on any job which the village offers him, he has a musical side which helps him become welcoming to strangers as well as offering an escape for the rats and other animals. He believes he is doing good, but soon learns the danger he has put his son in. Yeong-nam is the son of the Father, he is sick with a lung disease, he wants to help his dad the best he can, which does involve getting into trouble. The Village Head offers him a place to stay while he son can be saved, he makes a deal, he has power over the rest of the village which becomes the weakness that the Father fails to see. Mi-sook is the single woman in the village, blessed with spirit coming to save her, she starts helping the Father who see the danger coming.
Performances – The cast do give us good performances through the film, the lead shows the heart and desperation he needs, while the villain shows his plans as they could bring down everything.
Story – The story here starts of pretty routine, a father trying to keep his son safe and healthy, it turns into a good deed before a hell breaks loose and it turns into a twisted horror movie. The pace of the movie is strange because it is slow to start with as most of the first hour is calm with an air of tension, the second half of the film we learn secrets and twists come thick and fast to make this a wonderful story to see unfold in the second half of the film. it gets dark which helps save the slow start too.
Horror/Mystery – The horror is brilliant in the second half of the film we have gore and tension blending together wonderfully, the mystery comes from just what is meant to be going on in the village as we learn early there is some form of secret behind everything.
Settings – The settings keep us in this remote village which shows how superstition can grab hold off villagers making them make bad decisions.
Special Effects – The practical effects are strong through the film as we see effects of different events, but at times the number of rats we see does feel CGI heavy.
Scene of the Movie – Final act.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Slightly too low of a start.
Final Thoughts – This is another enjoyable Korean horror, sure it doesn’t reach the levels of others, but it gets the horror down to the level we want to for a final showdown.
Overall: Good horror throughout
Rating
