Face (2004)

Lee Hyun-min, who works reconstructing faces from their skull, quits his work in a institute to stay with his Beta-allergic daughter Jin that was submitted to a transplant of heart by the ... See full summary »

Director:

Sang-gon Yoo

Writers:

Hie-jae Kim, Cheol-hie Park

Stars:

Yun-ah Song, Hyeon-jun Shin, Seung-wook Kim

Cast

Credited cast:
Yun-ah Song	...	Jeong Seon-yeong
Hyeon-jun Shin	...	Lee Hyeon-min
Seung-wook Kim	...	Detective Seo
Suk-hwan Ahn	...	Ph.D Yoon (as Seok-Hwan An)
Won-hui Jo	...	Kim Han-soo
Jae-ho Song	...	Department head Song
Ye-rin Han	...	Lee-jin
Ju-ran Lee
Cheong-jo Son	...	Police officer Son
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Suk-Won Chang	...	Dong-chul
Ju-Seon Eo	...	Patient
Su-a Hong	...	Jo Hye-ran
Joo-sil Lee	...	Hyun-min's mother

Storyline

Lee Hyun-min, who works reconstructing faces from their skull, quits his work in a institute to stay with his Beta-allergic daughter Jin that was submitted to a transplant of heart by the specialist Dr. Yoon. The newcomer researcher to the institute Jung Sun-young comes to his house bringing the skull of a victim of a serial-killer that had her whole body melted down with acid by the murderer. Hyun-min refuses the assignment, but he is haunted by the ghost of the victim and scared he decides to reconstruct the face of the woman. When Jin has trouble with the transplanted heart, Hyun-min requests the donor case history to Dr. Yoon, but the doctor refuses to give the information, claiming confidentiality issue. Dr. Yoon becomes the prime suspect of Detective Suh, who is in charge of the investigation of the murder cases, and he discloses the identity of the victim based on the reconstructed face. Meanwhile Hyun-min has a premonition and finds another skull buried a long time ago below ...

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Plot Keywords:

skull | murder | heart transplant | ghost | white noise | 

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Taglines:

Horror Has a New Look ...

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Genres:

Drama | Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violent images

Details

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Release Date:

11 June 2004 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

Face

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,366, 17 October 2004

Gross USA:

$108,151

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$162,717

Company Credits

Production Co:

CJ Entertainment, Taewon Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min 84 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The story about the curse of the faceless.

User Reviews

You May Not Face Your Fears in this Particular Horror Movie, but you will Certainly be Impressed

Two thirds of the predictions I made six minutes into Face were proved accurate by the end of the feature. In that sense, predictability is something this film suffers from, with other aspects of the film's conclusion been foreseen over the course of the plot. However, in no way does this hamper the film's entertaining features.

Dr. Yoon (Suk-hwan Ahn) has recently completed a heart transplant on young Lee-jin (Ye-rin Han) who is Beta-allergic, meaning the operation was more difficult when in contrast with other patients. Appearing successful, Lee-jin's father, Lee Hyeon-min (Hyeon-jin Shin), who works as a facial reconstruction expert, resigns his post in order to spend more time with his daughter.

His hope for some quality father-daughter time is shattered though when his former boss, without his permission, forces him to become a part of an ongoing case. Jeong Seon-yeong (Yuh-ah Song), a recent addition to the institute Lee used to work for, arrives with a skull connected to a murder case. Someone is prowling the streets, killing women, and using an acidic substance to dispose of their bodies. The only way to stop this unidentified killer, is to put a face to his victim.

Originally adamant he will not participate, Lee finds himself haunted by the ghost of the victim, and is torn between been a good father, and fulfilling this final job. With Jeong's assistance he begins to put a face to the mystery, and with every new reconstruction, they get closer to revealing the victim - and their killer.

In the beginning, Face provides the audience with what can only be described as an overdose of horror, this plentiful assortment becoming less prominent as the film progresses. The jump scares are not entirely terrifying, but will certainly assist in keeping you rooted to the spot, despite a number of them been cliché Asian horror tropes.

What makes Face so rewarding is the depth provided to the central characters. The chemistry between Lee and Jeong is a joy to watch, and you cannot help but hope for a happy conclusion between them. Their characterization however comes at the expense that other individuals, including Detective Seo (Seung-wook Kim), who is the lead investigator on the case, are not provided the same thorough level of depth.

The same can be said for Lee-jin, and though there is no doubt that Lee loves his daughter, there are moments in the film when there is no mention of her for a substantial period of time. Face is a movie with several plots occurring simultaneously, and though everything is effectively intertwined, this movie is evident that when film developer's are dealing with more than a couple of ideas, some inevitably remain in the background for a majority of the feature.

The filmmaker's use of revealing past events to the audience over the course of the story is a technique similarly used in other Asian horror features, and like some of them, it can occasionally become difficult to separate history from the present, though everything succinctly comes together in the end.

Though Face is a movie constructed from ideas that are not uniquely imaginative, the plot continuously keeps your interest, and the beautifully sad conclusion will truly leave you feeling impressed.