February 14, 2017

In "Bloody Reunion", a group of South Korean former class mates are invited to a reunion in a nice cottage located in the countryside. Mrs. Park, an old teacher from elementary school, who happens to be very ill and crippled, wants to see her favorite students reunited again. However, when these former class mates arrive to the cottage, the plot thickens and we realize that Mrs. Park actually wasn't exactly very nice to her students and as a cons… read the rest.

In "Bloody Reunion", a group of South Korean former class mates are invited to a reunion in a nice cottage located in the countryside. Mrs. Park, an old teacher from elementary school, who happens to be very ill and crippled, wants to see her favorite students reunited again. However, when these former class mates arrive to the cottage, the plot thickens and we realize that Mrs. Park actually wasn't exactly very nice to her students and as a consequence, they still hold a big grudge against her. Unfortunately, the old woman doesn't seem to remember much of it, maybe due to her illness or perhaps it's just a fake reaction in order to cause sympathy and avoid having her head chopped off. The only truth that can't be denied is that Mrs. Park has caused an immense scar on her students and they're all in the mood for revenge.

Even though I really enjoy Asian horror films for what they are, with their repeated and yet somehow dissimilar premises, I still wanted to see something completely different. If we keep in mind that some of the finest Asian flicks were remade in the United States, frankly, I don't see why we should bash a movie that falls into the slasher category. Especially, if we keep in mind that the ending, somehow turns the whole thing around in a matter of seconds and what seemed to be a slasher at first, quickly turns into a gory drama flick with a big mystery revealed. In order to avoid possible spoilers, that's all I have to say regarding the genre of this film and its ending. While "Bloody Reunion" doesn't exactly belong to my all time favorite horror movies, I still appreciate the director's dignified effort of leaving the ghosts aside for a second and mostly focusing on a graciously gory tale about revenge. With some obvious winks to "Friday the 13th", this film somehow tricks the audience into believing something that ends up being the complete opposite. Even though I'm not a big fan of these "incredibly amazing twists" (notice the sarcasm, please) that horror movies tend to include nowadays, I dislike insulting predictable endings a lot more. These predictable endings are even more blameworthy when we're talking about a slasher or a giallo, which are two horror sub-genres that are mostly captivating because of the mystery and uncertainness. In "Bloody Reunion", the ending turns out to be pretty one-dimensional and yet quite dramatic. I will not spoil it, but it's perhaps one of the highest points in the movie and one of the main reasons why "Bloody Reunions" separates itself from the typical American slashers.

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