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Cast: Jung-woo Ha (The Handmaiden, Ashfall, Chaser, The Yellow Sea), Yool Heo (Mother), Nam-gil Kim (Memoir of a Murderer, The Fiery Priest), Sung-woong Park (New World, Rugal)
Director: Kwang-bin Kim
After the tragic death of his wife, architect Sang-won moves into a new home with his daughter, Ina, hopeful to restore their relationship. Despite his efforts, Ina feels increasingly neglected by her busy father. She starts keeping to herself more and more and turns to strange noises from within her closet for comfort.
Meanwhile, Sang-won is plagued by eerie nightmares and soon after, Ina disappears without a trace. While searching for her, Sang-won meets the enigmatic Kyung-hoon who claims to know Ina‘s whereabouts. Desperate to find his daughter, Sang-won reaches out to open the mysterious closet.
'The Closet' tells the story of Sang-won who is trying to piece together his life with his daughter Ina after the tragic death of his wife in a car crash. Sang-won struggles between work and spending time with his daughter so she gets neglected. One day while at work Ina goes missing and for weeks no one is able to find her until Sang-won meets Kyung-hoon who claims to know where Ina is and he also tells Sang-won that she is not the first child to go missing. That 32 children have gone missing since 1998. Now with help from Kyung-hoon Sang-won will risk his life to save his daughter before it is too late.
On the surface 'The Closet' is just another Asian horror film. As the film opens Sang-won are traveling to their new home in an area where he will have his next job. The film introduces us to the main characters and it lays down some of the background story but the rest of it comes later. Early on the film provides a few jump scares to get the blood flowing before it settles in.
Behind the ghost story there are other subjects the film deals with like child abuse both psychical and emotional. That is where the true horror resides. This is the debut feature film from Director, Kwang-bin Kim eho does a great job keeping things interesting and the true horror kicks in later on in the movies. He has plenty of help with the amazing cast including Jung-woo Ha who plays Sang Won, Yool Heo who plays Ina and Nam-gil Kim who plays Kyeong Hoon. The rest of the supporting cast was all terrific as well.
'The Closet' is a slow burn horror film for most of its run time but when the action kicks in during the final act it is then a roller coaster ride of thrills and emotions all the way to the end. Korean Cinema has delivered the best Asian films for a number of years now and although this one doesn't match up against some others it is still a highly entertaining film. Capelight Pictures and Dark Sky Films proudly announce the December 15th release of THE CLOSET on digital platforms and DVD.
Released by Capelight Pictures/Dark Sky
*** 3/4 Out Of *****