Dead Friend keeps the established formula of the ever popular Ringu type Asian Horror movie intact. Sadly it doesn't really offer anything particularly new to those already familiar with this type of film.
The plot partially revolves around a group of friends who are one by one, haunted and killed by a vengeful ghost. But the main part of the film is focused around a traumatized girl who is trying to recover parts of her lost memory. At some point both stories intervene with each other and as most horrors of this type the viewer will experience the same type of plot devices seen before. Here is in fact the disappointing part, "Dead Friend" had a really good opportunity of elevating above the typical A-horror movie by creating a much more personal and character centric film. That delves deep in around themes such as friendship and redemption. A good example of the way that could have been done is if the movie ended with the revelation at the lake. If so had happened the main character would have found herself transgressed into a much more grown and mature person who took responsibility for her actions. Sadly as it is that is not the choice of the filmmaker as in a few minutes later he presents us the what has become already a very overused plot device. Namely the plot-twist. With it all those ideas mentioned above are destroyed and the characters find themselves the same as they were from the start. A sad way to end what could have been a very promising film.
The acting is good but not anything entirely special. All of the main cast perform adequately with the given dialog and keep the movie's overall feel to a much more grounded level. For what it's worth director Tae-kyeong Kim is able to create a very tense and dark atmosphere through his good camera work. But again it's really nothing we haven't seen before.
Even with a missed opportunity to create a much more memorable experience "Dead Friend" is still an entertaining movie. That could as a well easily introduce more people to this genre and also prove a nice watch to those aiming to fill their Asian-Horror collection.
The plot partially revolves around a group of friends who are one by one, haunted and killed by a vengeful ghost. But the main part of the film is focused around a traumatized girl who is trying to recover parts of her lost memory. At some point both stories intervene with each other and as most horrors of this type the viewer will experience the same type of plot devices seen before. Here is in fact the disappointing part, "Dead Friend" had a really good opportunity of elevating above the typical A-horror movie by creating a much more personal and character centric film. That delves deep in around themes such as friendship and redemption. A good example of the way that could have been done is if the movie ended with the revelation at the lake. If so had happened the main character would have found herself transgressed into a much more grown and mature person who took responsibility for her actions. Sadly as it is that is not the choice of the filmmaker as in a few minutes later he presents us the what has become already a very overused plot device. Namely the plot-twist. With it all those ideas mentioned above are destroyed and the characters find themselves the same as they were from the start. A sad way to end what could have been a very promising film.
The acting is good but not anything entirely special. All of the main cast perform adequately with the given dialog and keep the movie's overall feel to a much more grounded level. For what it's worth director Tae-kyeong Kim is able to create a very tense and dark atmosphere through his good camera work. But again it's really nothing we haven't seen before.
Even with a missed opportunity to create a much more memorable experience "Dead Friend" is still an entertaining movie. That could as a well easily introduce more people to this genre and also prove a nice watch to those aiming to fill their Asian-Horror collection.