| POUPEES DE SANG : Jeong Yong-Ki's 'The Doll Master' [6/10] |
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| Monday, 04 July 2005 | |
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Remakes of far-eastern horror films are somewhat thick on the ground at the moment. So much so that when, last November, the movie trade-press reported that Dimension Films, the genre-oriented subsidiary of leading US independent studio Miramax, had bought the rights to remake South Korean chiller The Doll Master after seeing it at the Pusan Film Festival, few eyebrows were raised - not even at the reported $1.3m pricetag. It might more newsworthy, in fact, if the picture hadn't followed the likes of Ring, Dark Water and The Eye into the jaws of the seemingly insatiable Hollywood remake machine. There's no guarantee, of course, that any announced project will ever make it onto our screens - but so hefty was Dimension's investment we can confidently look forward to a Stateside transplant of The Doll Master sooner rather than later. In fact, studio sources reckon they might even have a "franchise" on their hands, which suggests they're already thinking about sequels and others spinoffs. It's not hard to see why: the film itself, while nobody's idea of a masterpiece, has the potential to translate well to the Hollywood format. There are several problems with the script by writer-director Jeong Yong-Ki, not least the fact that the plot becomes more and more incomprehensible as it goes on. But the basic premise is a strong one: creepy mansion, creepy dolls, messy murders. The gibberish-heavy, far-fetched "explanation" can - and no doubt will - be heavily revised by the time the Stateside version's cameras start to roll. The idea of dolls coming to life with malevolent intent has been a staple of horror fiction and cinema for many decades - long before even Tod Browning's The Devil Doll from 1936. It's still perhaps most effectively and memorably realised via the 'murderous homunculi' framing-story used in Roy Ward Baker's 1972 omnibus Asylum, in which an incarcerated Herbert Lom transferred his own vengeful malevolence into robotic, murderous little thingies with Thunderbirds-ish human faces. In recent years the sub-genre has been somewhat hijacked by the notorious Chucky (and company) from the seemingly endless series of movies spawned by Tom Holland's underrated, genuinely disturbing 1988 Child's Play. That particular franchise seems to have settled into a cosy, campy, self-referential jokiness - culminating in the current Seed of Chucky with its John Waters cameo and unbridled ripping-off of (another overlooked, relatively recent minor genre classic) Wes Craven's New Nightmare. The Doll Master could thus arrive as the perfect antidote to such daftness, as it's a resolutely dark, downbeat, and bracingly serious affair. It's also refreshingly old-fashioned, following what might be called the ageless "mansion-invite" template in which a group of assorted attractive young (or young-ish) people assemble at an isolated rural pile. This one is a suitably bizarre former 'cathedral' of sorts, now a kind of art gallery, located in an out-of-the-way spot which has - surprise, surprise - no mobile-phone signal... Recruited via an internet advert, the blokes are male-model Tae-Sung (Shim Hyung-Tak) and boorish, larger-than-life photographer Hong Jung-Ki (Im Hyung-Joon); the girls are sculptor Hae-Mi (Kim You-Mi), introverted ("I don't like moving around much") novelist Jung Young-Ha (Ok Ji-Young) and bubbly ("I'm very sweet!!") high-schooler Lee Sun-Young (Lee Ka-Young). They are welcomed by Mr Choi (Chun Ho-Jin) who explains that each of them are lucky enough to have been selected as models for the beautiful, three-foot-high dolls made by taciturn, paraplegic Mrs Im (Kim Bo-Young) - presented and received as a signal honour. Needless to say, things aren't quite as benevolent as they seem. And things start to take a supernatural dimension when the increasingly nervous Hae-Mi meets a friendly but ethereal child, Mina, played by Eun-Kyeong Lim (the eponymous waif in 2002's Korean megaflop Resurrection of the Little Match-Girl). Before long the visitors are being picked off one by one - could Mrs Im sinister, ubiquitous dolls be the culprits? The explanations trace back to events in the area years and even decades before - but working out exactly why, who and how is likely to be beyond even the most attentive viewer. Something seems to have gone astray in Jeong's various script rewrites, and it seems likely only the man himself - taking charge of his first feature - has a proper grasp of the fiendishly-complex plot. Not to mention some sub-Scooby Doo, oh-come-on-for-Gepetto's-sake moments such as the bit where a main character ends up in handcuffs only for the key to go inconveniently missing. These aren't major problems, however, as Jeong's skills as a director more than compensate for his shortcomings as a writer. He marshals a classy package, from Cheol-Ho Jo's crystalline cinematography to Ji-Woong Park's nicely-modulated score - the house's intricate decor-scheme and the icky sound effects accompanying the murders are also worthy of note. Though capable of indulging in grisly gore on occasion (after the one-hour mark, that is), Jeong mostly prefers to exercise a teasing restraint that's increasingly unusual these days. The finished product recalls (perhaps accidentally) a pair of Japanese chillers from 2001 which travelled far and wide on the horror-film-festival circuit in 2001: Shimoyama Ten's St John's Wort (aka Otogiriso) with its isolated mansion, internet angles and rooms full of sinister dolls; and Norio Tsuruta's Scarecrow (aka Kakashi) with its inanimate humanoid presences coming to slow, murderous life. Of the three, Scarecrow - which also functioned as a kind of far-eastern variant Wicker Man - is undoubtedly the most multi-layered and open to interpretation, subtly interweaving its visceral jolts with a careful explanation of rural society's animism and atavism. The Doll Master, however, is really just a shock-machine, Jeong competently but somewhat mechanically raiding established tension/release/tension/release formulas. It helps immensely that he gets some strong, convincing performances from his cast, especially the females: Kim Yu-Mu makes for an engaging scream-queen lead and Lim hits just the right notes of vulnerability and threat in what's effectively the 'Sadako' role. But it's Kim Bo-Young who steals the show in her relatively brief appearances as the mysterious Mrs Im, her early eerie calm giving way to some spectacular displays of unbridled, near-demonic histrionics. It's hard to see who could step into the role and deliver such entertaining venom - unless somebody at Dimension fancies luring Barbara Steele out of retirement. Even so, The Doll Master does represent something of a missed opportunity. Jeong's biggest mis-step is his handling of what is by far the most unnerving and intriguing aspect of the whole film, namely Young-Ha's own doll Damien (!). Slightly smaller than Mrs Im's creations, Damien occupies a weird, not-quite-defined status in both the picture itself and in Young-Ha's life - she's almost insanely protective of the little wooden fella, and her comments on their "relationship" suggest that Damien has some kind of independent life of his own. The script seems to point towards him playing a key (heroic?) role in the finale - but his surprisingly early exit, in a scene more goosepimple-raising than any of the human demises, firmly dashes such expectations, and it's debatable whether The Doll Master ever quite regains its poise. Prequel, ju-se-yo! Neil Young 31st May, 2005 THE DOLL MASTER : [6/10] : Inhyeongsa : (South) Korea 2004 : JEONG Yong-Ki : 90 mins seen on VHS in Sunderland (UK), 12th May 2005 This article was originally written for the June issue of Impact magazine. Internet version posted 4th July, 2005.
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