El Chupacabra

Korea

R-Point was the fourth highest grossing movie in Korean in 2004, but that doesn't mean it crosses the cultural bridge to North America. It draws inspiration from the recently popular Japanese horror movie genre with relatively slick production, a supernatural slant, an aversion to gore in favor of atmosphere, bewilderment and suspense, and a sometimes plodding pace. Japanese horror movies such as Ringu (The Ring) or Ju-On: The Grudge seem to follow a particular recipe:

Ingredients:

Some sort of unstoppable supernatural force that can never be defeated, despite all the ideas for ending the evil once and for all that the protagonists cook up.

Weird, yet creepy imagery such as little boys meowing and ladies in white dresses disappearing into the woods. 

Instructions:

Place individuals in creepy setting with gloomy lighting and expose them to an escalating series of supernatural incidents.

Have these occurrences reach a climax in which everyone is either killed, made insane, or led to believe they are going to make it, at least until the sequel is released. 

R-Point follows this rough outline, but it is interspersed with some original ideas, at least in the context of Korean horror movies, which helps set it slightly apart from the fare of their Asian neighbors. This assumes you can follow the subtitles well enough to pick up any of this. Otherwise, it's two hours of confusion as a handful of Korean soldiers run around an abandoned building somewhere in Vietnam.

The plot can best be described as a combination of The Predator and Fallen with a Korean twist. The Korea twist being contributed entirely from the interesting subtitling and Korean cast. I didn't feel like the subtitles were portraying the actors emotions very well. Then again, I forgot to read them from time to time, but I always paid attention when someone swore so I could learn how to say "bastard" in Korean. You can also figure out who the hero is by picking out the most attractive castmember. Apparently Koreans like their action stars the same way Americans do with square jaws and steely eyes.

I compare R-Point to The Predator because I initially picked the movie up expecting a group of Korean soldiers versus some sort of Korean jungle monster. Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed when a Korean Schwarzenegger failed to appear. Then it took a supernatural tack when the spirits of two dead French soldiers get on the radio looking for victims. It seems their base camp is in the middle of the site of a massacre of French soldiers by the Vietnamese. This plot direction seemed to slow things right down as Japanese horror movies sometime do when too much detail is given to developing the atmosphere as opposed to building characters or telling a story. It also didn't help that I had to read a TV for an hour and a half. The ending won some points back with its parallels to Fallen.

There's not a lot of Korean horror movies out there so if you're itching to see one, then R-Point would be your best if not only bet. That being said and not wanting to diminish the achievements of the makers of R-Point, if you're looking for an Asian horror movie your money may be better spent on a ubiquitous, but popular Japanese horror (or the American remakes). For a non-Asian suggestion that originates from the same ocean try Undead (Australia). For a non-Asian movie that has the same military theme and more similarity to The Predator try Dog Soldiers (UK).

Charles Bronson

BORING, BORING AND MORE BORING