Country: South Korea

Ryoo Seung-Wan’s film is still compelling and stringently efficient like its two protagonists, a fact that outweighs the negatives that poke through.

A gripping often emotional rollercoaster of a thriller, ‘The Chaser’ isn’t just one of the best Korean films of the year but one of the best films of the year.

Kwak Jae-young has presented us with a film that is difficult to properly judge. It starts quietly, edges towards something quite special and finally nosedives into woeful melodrama.

Despite not getting the rhythm completely correct throughout, it still reminds the viewer that Korea has an understanding of the quiet desperation of loneliness that has rarely been achieved in the West.

While it relies a little too much on the creepy long haired girl ghost plot device, ‘The Doll Master’ is an entertaining slice of freaky cursed doll horror.

Despite its obvious shortcomings, ‘The Foul King’ is an excellent advert for Korean cinema and retains a strong entertainment value even during its weaker moments.

Under all the zaniness, singing and the odd bit of blood, ‘The Fox Family’ is actually quite a sweet modern fairytale.

Wisely building to the big combat scenes, ‘The Front Line’ lets us, the viewer, get to know the characters and watch them transform through their actions and what they must go through to survive.

Kim Tae-Kyung’s ‘The Ghost’ rises well above the attempts of its contemporaries to cut an individualistic path through legions of countless ‘Ring’ imitators.

Essentially though, it’s a painfully predictable outing that is knocked down a notch or two by its awkward blend of genres.

‘The Good, The Bad, The Weird’ is a great achievement and another success for Kim Jee-woon and is most importantly big, bright and ballistic entertainment that should be seen on a screen as big as possible.

‘The Guard Post’ is a much more successful film than ‘R-Point’, in style, pacing, tension and acting, and a very satisfying and creepy slice of Korean ghostly horror.