Muoi (2007)

Director:

Tae-kyeong Kim

Writer:

Tae-kyeong Kim (writer)

Release Date:

26 July 2007 (South Korea)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

"Muoi" charts the path of a Korean writer who travels to Vietnam in search of stories for her second novel. There she learns about a mystery centered around a century-old vengeful spirit. |

Plot Keywords:

Spirit | Best Friend | Novelist | One Word Title | Ritual

Cast

Anh Thu	...	Muoi
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Anh-Thu
Ye-ryeon Cha	...	Seo-yeon
Anh Hong
So-hee Hong
An Jo	...	Yun-hui
Yong-tae Kim
Dong-yeob Ko
Seong-Eon Lim
Binh Minh

Also Known As:

Meui (South Korea)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

South Korea | Vietnam

Language:

Vietnamese | Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

South Korea:15 | Taiwan:R-12 | Singapore:NC-16

Company:

Billy Pictures

Trivia:

Part of the backbone for the film includes the traditional Vietnamese dress, the Ao Dai. However, the version of the dress seen in the film is a much more recent (and the well known) creation (starting in 40's at the earliest). This contradicts the fact the legend of "Muoi" is a hundred years old. The Vietnamese co-producers should have forced the Korean director to change such a blatant mistake.

The best parts were the Vietnamese ones

This is one of the first times Korea has worked directly with Vietnamese producers and actors to create a feature length film. This is important to note because it is a joint production between a rich and developed industry (Korea) versus a very small and poor one (Vietnam). Although the film is thoroughly Korean in style and direction, the Vietnamese setting and supporting characters add a very nice touch.

The teaser trailer released actually has little to do with this film. It was almost like a separate 'fake' trailer. I find the premise of that more interesting than the story of the film.

The story has a lot of twists and is rather hard to comprehend. The best parts were definitely the Vietnamese 'flashbacks' presented a few times throughout the film. I wish there could have been more spoken dialogue in Vietnamese, however.

The film has a unique setting but it uses way too many East-Asian horror clichés. It almost becomes annoying and boring. Using 'cliches' is almost unavoidable in horror but depending on how talented the director is, he/she can present it in a new way.

Muoi tries to find its place within Korean horror but ultimately fails to bring anything worthy to the genre.

I recommend this film mainly in support of Vietnam.