Saturday, 1 January 2022

Korean Drama : Sell Your Haunted House

Year Released

2021

Genre

Fantasy, Horror

No. of Episodes

16 - running time of 70 minutes per episode

Starring

Jang Na-ra, Jung Yong-hwa, Kang Mal-geum, Ahn Kil-kang, Baek Eun-hye, Kang Hong-suk

Storyline

Daebak Realty deals with haunted houses/buildings where exorcist Hong Ji-ah (Jang Na-ra) sends away unrested souls with the help of a psychic. Once these souls had been sent, Daebak Realty earns a comission from the sale of houses/buildings.

Ji-ah has been trying to find a way to send her mother Hong Ji-min's (Baek Eun-hye) soul away since her death twenty years ago. She finally meets a strong psychic Oh In-beom (Jung Yong-hwa) and they work together in many exorcising cases.

Ji-ah loses her power after sealing off Do Hak-sung's (Ahn Kil-kang) spirit. She eventually realises a way to help her mother find peace without having to be exorcised.

My View

I love those mini cases Daebak Realty works on and mostly are quite touching. The ghosts here are kind of acceptable in SYHH unlike those in dramas written by Hong Sisters. I would just die on the spot when watching those like A Korean Odyssey and Hotel del Luna. Too damn scary!!

Rating

4/5 Stars


Tuesday, 28 December 2021

Korean Drama : Hellbound

 

Year Released

2021

Genre

Dark fantasy

No. of Episodes

6 - running time of 50 minutes per episode

Starring

Yoo Ah-in, Kim Hyun-joo, Yang Ik-jun, Park Jung-min, Won Jin-ah

Storyline

Jung Jin-soo (Yoo Ah-in), the founder of New Truth religious group, received a prophecy twenty years ago about his own death. He has been travelling around the world in search for similar cases. For those who had the same prophecies, they were burnt to death by three gigantic beasts which seemed to appear from another dimension. The beasts vanished once their tasks are completed.

Jin-soo makes use of these bizarre situations and spreads the words that only those who had sinned would received message from God on their death. Another group named Arrowhead targets those sinners and their families by beating everyone up. Lawyer Min Hye-jin (Kim Hyun-joo) happens to be involved in a 'demonstration' of a victim on live broadcast. She is being attacked by the Arrowheads as she doesn't truly believe all these absurd acts are of God's will.

Fast forward years later where Hye-jin heads an organisation named Sodo which helps victims by making up with excuses such as being chased by loan sharks before they 'disappear'. When suddenly a baby is being prophesied, New Truth struggles to cover their lies while Sodo tries to save the baby.

My View

Okay, the drama ends with a cliffhanger which I hope it really has a part two as I'm very interested to know what's next. This dark fantasy is kind of sick as it portrays the reality in human society. 

I nearly died when I saw the baby being prophesied and thought that the scripwritter must be a psychopath. Was cursing all the way!!

Rating

5/5 Stars


Thursday, 23 December 2021

Korean Drama : Confession

Year Released

2019

Genre

Legal drama

No. of Episodes

16 - running time of 60 minutes per episode

Starring

Lee Jun-ho, Yoo Jae-myung, Nam Ki-ae, Shin Hyun-bin

Storyline

Choi Do-hyun (Lee Jun-ho) becomes a lawyer in order to help his father, Choi Pil-soo (Choi Kwang-il), who was being framed as a murderer. Detective Ki Chun-ho (Yoo Jae-myung) inadvertently caught Choi Pil-soo and put him in prison without proper investigation. He realises his mistake after he gets to know Do-hyun from one of the crimes he worked on.

Together with reporter Ha Yoo-ri (Shin Hyun-bin) and Madam Jin (Nam Ki-ae), the four unravel the actual truth that leads to conspiracy of the real power who can moves Cheong Wa Dae (Blue House).

My View

The plot flows smoothly throughout every episode with not much draggy scenes. The way how secrets are being uncovered work perfectly.

I was literally laughing out loud when the villians were being charged and appeared in court (in their prison uniform).

Rating

4/5 Stars


Friday, 17 December 2021

Korean Drama : Save Me 2

Year Released

2019

Genre

Thriller

No. of Episodes

16 - running time of 60 minutes per episode

Starring

Uhm Tae-goo, Chun Ho-jin, Kim Young-min, Jo Jae-yoon

Storyline

Scam artist Choi Kyung-seok (Chun Ho-jin) disguises himself as Professor Choi from Hankook University in Seoul. He befriends Jung Byung-ryul (Sung Hyuk) from Wolchoori village and later introduces himself as Elder Choi.

Elder Choi helps the villagers in getting maximum compensation from government for their soon-to-be submerged village to make way for a new dam. In return, he gets permission to set up a church in Wolchoori.

Elder Choi directs multiple 'miracles' to the villagers and also turns pastor Sung Cheol-woo (Kim Young-min) into believing that he has healing hands and is son of the God. Once most of the villagers decide to join as church followers, Elder Choi shows them about the religious community, Garden of Eden.

Only Kim Min-cheol (Uhm Tae-goo) is not buying all of these 'sweet talks' and had already seen Choi Kyung-seok's true colours long ago.

My View

As compared to Save Me part one, part two is way better. I certainly did not expect the well played scams and think I would probably be fooled as well. 

For those who feel offended about why a certain religion has to be marked as a cult, don't be. All religions have good teaching and the only reason why they look bad is due to the wrongdoing of evil people.

Rating

5/5 Stars

 

Friday, 10 December 2021

Korean Drama : Save Me

Year Released

2017

Genre

Thriller

No. of Episodes

16 - running time of 60 minutes per episode

Starring

Ok Taec-yeon, Woo Do-hwan, Seo Yea-ji, Jo Sung-ha, Park Ji-young, Jo Jae-yoon

Stoyline

The plot revolves around Guseonwon, a church in Muji town where Spiritual Father Baek Jung-ki (Jo Sung-ha) spreads his beliefs to his followers. He has support from Apostle Jo (Jo Jae-yoon) and Apostle Kang (Park Ji-young).

Unknown to his believers, Spiritual Father is actually a former criminal charged for fraud. He has also been involved in sexual assaults with young girls, mostly are the children of his followers. Baek claims that in order for everyone to enter paradise, he needs to marries a Spriritual Mother.

Im Sang-mi (Seo Yea-ji) is the latest victim of Guseonwon and together with her friends Seok Dong-chul (Woo Do-hwan) & Han Sang-hwan (Ok Taec-yeon), they track down and uncover the truths behind this evil cult.

My View

Save Me is not too bad at first then after a while it starts to get a litte draggy. But the story goes back right on track after that but I think this thriller is not impactful enough. Good artistes there but the story is soso.

Rating

3/5 Stars


Tuesday, 7 December 2021

Korean Drama : Backstreet Rookie

Year Released

2020

Genre

Melodrama

No. of Episodes

16 - running time of 70 minutes per episode

Starring

Ji Chang-wook, Kim Yoo-jung

Storyline

Jung Saet-byul (Kim Yoo-jung) works as a night shift part-timer at Choi Dae-hyun's (Ji Chang-wook) convenience store. A series of misunderstandings lead Dae-hyun to believe that Saet-byul is a girl gangster.

After they get to know each other more, Dae-hyun eventually falls for Saet-byul's personality. 

My View

A light-hearted drama with exaggerating scenes since this is from a webtoon. Love the cute action part of Kim Yoo-jung apart from her usual adorable way.

Sincerely wish to see more action dramas from Ji Chang-wook. Melting Me Softly was meh and Backstreet Rookie is not too bad at least.

Rating

3/5 Stars


Saturday, 20 November 2021

Korean Drama : Haechi

Year Released

2019

Genre

Historical period

No. of Episodes

24 - running time of 60 minutes per episode

Starring

Jung Il-woo, Kwon Yul, Lee Kyung-young, Go Ah-ra, Park Hoon

Storyline

The journey of Prince Yeoning (Jung Il-woo) on how he becomes King Yeongjo of Joseon. Many a time, he impresses his subjects with his methods of ruling. Those who depise King Yeongjo at first eventually end up accepting and be loyal to him.

My View

A very different story of King Yeongjo as compared to The Royal Gambler. Though it looks like the same old political struggle plot, but Haechi kind of nailed it. The suspense keeps me going and wanting to find out what is going to happen in the next episode.

I was skeptical to watch this drama as I don't really like Jung Il-woo. His Cinderella and the Four Knights is okay, but that Night Watchman's Journal is hilariously bad. I mean B.A.D. Guess the scriptwriter is just like I don't know how to write anymore so just F it man! Lol..

As for Kwon Yul, I'm not used to his good character role here. I mean he is so intimidating in Let's Fight, Ghost and Voice series. I still remember vividly about one of the scenes in Let's Fight, Ghost like it scared the hell out of me. Whenever I thought about it, my heart just skips a beat.

Rating

5/5 Stars


Sunday, 14 November 2021

Korean Drama: Mystic Pop-up Bar

Year Released

2020

Genre

Fantasy

No. of Episodes

12 - running time of 68 minutes per episode

Starring

Hwang Jung-eum, Choi Won-young, Yook Sung-jae

Storyline

In order to atone her sins in her past life, Wol Joo (Hwang Jung-eum) has to stay in human realm and comfort 100,000 humans &/or souls.

Together with her is Chef Gwi (Choi Won-young) who used to be in the police squad in hell. The newly recruited Han Kang-bae (Yook Sung-jae) who is able to make humans talk to him about their problems just by sense of touch.

The trio then offer a special wine which allow them to enter to individuals' dreams and help people settle their grudges.

My View

Plot is of similar concept to Hotel del Luna and it is certainly an interesting fantasy kind of drama. Teared quite a lot here and I wish to watch more of such light-hearted stories once in a while.

Stars

5/5 Stars


Saturday, 13 November 2021

Korean Drama: Hidden Identity

Year Released

2015

Genre

Action

No. of Episodes

16 - running time of 60 minutes per episode

Starring

Kim Bum, Park Sung-woong, Kim Tae-hoon, Yoon So-yi, Lee Won-jong, Lee Kyung-young, Im Hyun-sung

Storyline

An undercover police investigation team led by Jang Moo-won (Park Sung-woong) has been trying to track down a criminal name "Ghost" and his accomplices. 

My View

The scenarios planned out by the team are pretty good partiularly the one where Moo-won plays a part as Nam In-ho's (Kang Sung-jin) acquaintance. Action scenes are not too bad, like the ragged look of Kim Bum.

The only annoying part I find that when the team members react to some news, they always go "No way!". Their expression don't look that genuine I think.

Rating

4/5 Stars


Saturday, 6 November 2021

Korean Drama : Extracurricular

Year Released

2020

Genre

Teen

No. of Episodes 

10 - running time of 60 minutes per episode

Starring

Kim Dong-hee, Park Joo-hyun, Choi Min-soo

Storyline

Oh Ji-soo (Kim Dong-hee) may look like a nerdy student in school. But in actual fact, he works with his partner Lee Wang-cheol (Choi Min-soo) in escorting underage high school female students for special services.

If the ladies' get into trouble, they would ask for help by tapping their wristbands. Ji-soo then informs Wang-cheol to save the girls out of trouble and often ends up in a bad fight. The partners' way of communication is by phone and exchanges of monies via packages stored inside train station's locker.

Bae Gyu-ri (Park Joo-hyun) finds out Ji-soo's real identity and would like to be involved in his business as well.

My View

The first episode was kind of interesting as I thought it was some vigilante plot where a saviour is up to catch this psychopath.

After a while, the plot actually got too artistic for me. I just cannot continue watching and keep on fast forwarding each episode.

Rating

1/5 Stars