Once Upon A Time In A Dark Dark Forest... A dark and gripping modern age fairy tale for adults spinning the original Grimm fairytale on its head. Following a car crash on a country road Eun-soo (Chun Jeong-Myeong) is led to safety by a girl in a red cloak (Shim Eun-kyoung) to her house deep in the forest. Accepting her family's hospitality for the night he gradually learns that he is trapped in the woods with this strange picture perfect family and of the sinister story behind the seemingly innocent smiles of the children... Sumptuous production design by Ryu Seong-hee... (The Host; Oldboy) and outstanding cinematography by Kim Ji-yong (Forbidden Quest; A Bittersweet Life). [show more]
The classic Grimm's fairytale gets an atmospheric update in this disturbing Korean horror. However, it must be said that only the basic structure of the fairytale are left - there is a house in the woods, and there's more than a nod to cannibalism. But the house isn't made of sweets (although sweets are eaten as a meal by the family living inside) and the house becomes a safe haven for a young man, Eun-soo, who's stumbled away from the wreck of a car crash. When he collapses in the forest, a young girl leads him to the "House of Happy Children". Creepiness oozes from every floorboard, from the cupcake and marshmallow breakfasts they serve their confused traveller to the oddly behaving parents who smile, beam but disappear very suddenly.
When the parents vanish, the children are left in the hands of Eun-soo (and unsurprisingly, he's more than a bit miffed about this situation). But they aren't alone for long, as another pair of sinister adults turn up, and prove far more dangerous than the missing parents. As the second act of the movie enters into more upsetting and visceral areas of horror, we realise that, unlike the fairytale, it is the children here who shall have their enemies for breakfast. However, as more fairytale themes are recklessly ransacked for horror delights, the story starts to buckle under the strain. By the end, you get the feeling that directors Pil-Sung Yim & Yim Phil-Sung may have had something interesting to say about child abuse and the revenge children inflict on their betrayers, but any profound messages are lost under the sheer hysteria of the terror onscreen. Endless shocks and jolts may keep the viewer safe from boredom, but do little to establish a core communication of meaning or reason.
Far removed from anything that could describes as a "children's fantasy", this is dark, shocking and at times upsetting to watch. But never before has such a sense of foreboding and menace been created from such a simple set-up, and for that experience alone I am grateful I gave this reimagining of a classic story a go. Just don't show it to the kids.
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2007 Korean horror/fantasy version of the classic European fairy tale. A man, Eun-soo (Jeong-myeong Cheon), crashes his car and stumbles off into the woods, where he is found by a child. He is taken home by the girl so that he can recover with her family. Eun-soo, however, soon realises that he is trapped in their home and has little prospect of getting away. Eventually, he discovers a fairy tale book which gives him clues to an escape, but he is horrified when he realises that the main character in the book is none other than himself.
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