4/5 a real thriller
  by Francisco P. Neto (Brazil)
This is definitely not a movie for anyone. One has to have guts to watch some of the scenes. However, this only intensifies the atmosphere of tension and terror.

3/5 An above-average horror/thriller hybrid
  by z hayes (plano,texas)
I recently watched another Korean horror/thriller hybrid which was also a police procedural titled "Arang" and thought it was well-made. Well, "Face" is similar yet different and both are generally quite good.

In "Face", Hyun-min (Shin Hyun-jun) plays a face reconstruction specialist who basically helps the police ID murder victims by reconstructing their faces [based on their skulls]. His daughter Gin is suffering some side effects from a recent heart transplant and Hyun-Min thinks it has something to do with the donor whose identity the surgeon won't reveal.Meanwhile, the police are desperate to solve a series of murders where victims' skeletal remains are found without any flesh. One day ,an attractive young woman Sun-Young [Song Yoon-Ah] appears on his doorstep with a skull purported to be from the fourth victim for his analysis. She claims she is from the National Insitute of Scientific Investigation and when her appeals for assistance fall on deaf ears, she leaves the skull with him.

When Hyun Min begins experiencing bizarre and horrifying visions of creepy looking entities, he finally ties it to the fact that he needs to work on the skull and gets to work, grudgingly accepting Sun-Young's help. The rest of the story deals with how Hyun Min and Sun-Young gradually unravel the mystery of skull leading them to further clues that point towards other victims and eventually the solving of the case.

There are some unexpected twists in this movie that kept my interest - and even shades of the Sixth Sense, so this is not just a pure scare-a-minute Asian horror movie.

Though the scare effects are not very convincing, there are some gotcha moments that make you think. If it's pure creepy factor that you're going for, you will be disappointed. But, if you are a fan of police procedurals and thrillers with a creepy undertone, then this is worth a viewing. I liked both Face and Arang, both hybrid horror/thrillers and found the suspense element carried the movie through with a bit of horror to enhance the viewing experience. All in all, well worth a try!


3/5 This South Korean Horror Film Doesn't Really Lose its "Face"...
  by Woopak (Where Dark Asian Knights Dwell)
FACE (2004) is a South Korean thriller directed by Sang Gon Yoo, the same man who directed the Korean erotic drama "Yellow Flower". Equal parts ghost story and equal parts murder mystery with a touch of forbidden romance; the film is quite ambitious. However, the problems with the movie weren't all about its script, it also lacked coherency.

Lee Hyun-Min (Shin Hyeon Jun) is a sculptor but not your usual artist. He is the kind who assists the police to reconstruct skulls in order to recreate a "face". Hyun-Min's daughter is just recovering from a heart transplant and Hyun-Min needs to take a sabbatical. Unfortunately, a serial killer is on the loose and he has a very distinct way of eliminating the bodies that will require his expertise. Aided by a beautiful aspiring facial reconstructive sculptor; Jun Sun-Young (Sung Yu-ah), what he stumbles upon is something more sinister than he could have imagined--that involves human organs and the supernatural.

The film is full of atmosphere and it exudes creepiness. Of course, the long-haired ghost makes an appearance, and those scenes are quite creepy in its own way. The usual formulas are present as the ghost gives the main character the feeling of dread. The appearances of the ghost were puzzling and at the same time it arouses my curiosity enough to see just where everything is headed. However, this is not your typical ghost movie and the film does attempt to find its "heart". The film is also a murder mystery and it focuses more on this premise rather than the ghost itself. Most of its proceedings involve investigation and the scares are there only to provide some reminder of the supernatural's presence.

The problems with "FACE" is that it seemed to have pitched too many ideas with potential but it ended up not developing each one with credibility. The visions experienced by Hyun-Min's child has so severely underdeveloped that it seemed like a cheap way to induce the usual scares. True, it may make some sense in the climax but it somehow didn't add anything more to the film's pace. Also, the film may have showed its hand too soon. I would have preferred its `shock value' to be revealed perhaps after everything has slowed down. The direction was competent enough but it just didn't play its `aces' well.

The film is also decently acted as Shin Hyeon-Jun is by no means a slouch in his performance. The man has done comedies (Guns and Talks) and action epics (Bichunmoo); now he tries his hand at horror. He does a decent performance despite that he has so little to work with, he was rather convincing as the single father of an ailing child. Pretty Song Yu-Ah is the most intriguing character in the film. She is lovely, smart and exudes that "girl next door look". The blossoming feelings that start to surface between the two isn't surprising; this is a Korean film so expect the a "bittersweet" resolution to all of this.

"Face" is a decent horror movie from South Korea. The plot does have some holes when you nit-pick each one and its direction needed to be more coherent and solid. There were times that I felt that the script was just running all over the place. The supposed `shocking' revelation lost some of its effect because it showed its hand too soon that it felt like a throw-away detail. I was rather disappointed that the direction didn't play all its cards right. On a film like this, timing is everything. On the plus side, the film is quite touching in its own way and plays its theme of love and devotion successfully. The film isn't really that bad but thankfully it wasn't a lot worse.

Recommended with caution, Rent it first. [3 Stars]




4/5 In the right hands, horror can be a poignantly beautiful thing
  by Daniel Jolley (Shelby, North Carolina USA)
Face isn't the best or scariest Asian horror film you'll ever see - many may in fact find it rather dull and boring - but I say it encapsulates everything that makes Asian horror superior to that of the West. If you see an American horror movie, you no doubt get up to leave as soon as the ending credits begin to roll - i.e., American horror makes no emotional impression whatsoever on the viewer. At the end of Face, however, I sat here dwelling on the beauty of the story I had just watched play out in front of my eyes.

The opening scene of the film suggests that Face will be a pretty bloody, violent film (it doesn't' get much more violent than kidnapping and tying up a victim, then cutting out her heart while she is still alive and quite conscious). It's a great opening scene, but it will have some viewers quickly becoming disappointed by the distinct lack of more blood and guts that follows in its wake. Instead, what you get is a poignant story of a very sick little girl and her deeply concerned father. The girl has just received a heart transplant, and her father, Hyun-min (Hyeon-jun Shin), worries a great deal about her health. He even tries his best to find out where his little girl's new heart came from (with no success, as the doctor is not about to release that kind of information).

In the midst of all this drama is a string of murders, with the victims' bodies all but destroyed in acid. The police desperately need Hyun-min's skills at facial reconstruction to try and put a name to the latest victim, but he is too torn up over his daughter's health crisis to be of much help - until, that is, Jung Sun-Young (Yun-ah Song), a new initiate in the field of facial reconstruction, comes calling with the latest unidentified skull and news that she is to be Hyun-min's new assistant. Things start getting more interesting later on when Hyun-min, having been haunted by strange apparitions, bad dreams, and other oddities, comes to believe that the skull he is reconstructing is that of the person whose heart now beats within his daughter's chest.

Halfway through the film, I was wondering if this thing was going to pack any sort of punch at all - the answer is a resounding yes, so whatever you do, don't give up on this film once you start watching it. Yes, watching a couple of rather uncommunicative people sitting around a model of a human skull doesn't put you on the edge of your seat, but even these slowest of scenes ultimately play a crucial part in the story.

The film isn't perfect, by any means. A number of the random scare tactics are too Ringu-like to unsettle anybody, and I never even spotted a ramp for a couple of the extreme jumps in logic that push the story toward its conclusions. Still, though, Face features a couple of twists that some may not see coming (although it's fairly easy to spot the clues in hindsight, which leads me to say that the core of the story is wound together pretty tightly) and ends with an almost unparalleled air of beauty and poignant grace. As much a human drama and mystery thriller as it is a horror film, Face breathes new life into all of the genres it touches upon and - best of all - stirs the few dying embers that symbolize what little is seemingly left of horror as an art form in and of itself.

4/5 A Decent Supernatural Film: Above Average
  by Ernest Jagger (Culver City, California)
"Face," by director Sang-Gon Yoo is not a great horror film, but it is well above average. The film is a thriller, suspense, and horror film rolled into one. I am not quite sure what attracted me to this film--but I did find it to be one of the better ones of the genre. Not great, but good enough to recommend to others. The film centers around the character Hyun-min Lee (Hyun-jun Shin) who is a facial reconstructionist, and it is his job to put faces to unknown skulls. He works for the police, and his work entails the methodical and near exact science of trying to put a name to the unknown dead. Further, Hyun-min Lee is a widower, and he is taking care of a very sick child. Because of his daughters weakening condition [she has recently had a heart transplant] he decides to leave the force in order to take care of her. However, because he is needed by the police to help identify unknown victims--it is decided that he can work at home. This way he can take care of his daughter while also helping the police.

Moreover, he has a new assistant. She is Jung Sun-Young (Yoon-ah Song). She leaves a skull in a box in his lab, telling him that the face needs to be recognized. However, for some reason he refuses to work on this skull. Yet, strange things begin to happen and a strange event occurs which leads him to believe that the spirit of the deceased wants to be recognized. Suddenly, many strange occurrences begin to happen. With the eagerness of Lee now trying to solve the identity of the latest skull, another area of the film opens up. The lead Detective who has been investigating a recent spate of murders discovers that there is a connection to the killings, as they have all had there hearts checked out prior to their deaths. Moreover, the detective discovers that Lee's daughter has a condition called beta-allergy, and that his daughter Jin is a patient of a one Dr. Yoon, who is a heart transplant specialist.

The detective begins to suspect something about the skull that Lee is presently working on. I do not wish to spoil this film for you. Therefore, I will go no further with the plot, other than to say that the film is very good for this type of genre. Plus, the film acts as a thriller, mystery, suspense, and horror film rolled into one. What is it about this skull? And what connection does it have to Lee? Will Lee be able to identify this skull? And what about all of the strange behavior happening around him? Will it finally cease? Or is there something more sinister surrounding the skull. I liked this film. The twists in the film are great, and you will see this worked out at the end of the narrative. I don't want to give out too many details, but the film does deliver as a very good mystery. Recommended. Rent it first. [Stars: 3.5]