South
Korean horror became increasingly popular (as well as available) with Western
moviegoers in the early 2000s, moving from a niche interest to full blown
mainstream popularity. With some titles
even being remade for the West or South Korean directors coming stateside to
unleash their talents un unsuspecting cinephiles, South Korean cinema and in
particular horror was booming in the 2000s.
Unbeknownst
to myself, however, the roots of horror in South Korean film stem much further
back than you’d expect, dating all the way back to the mid-60s and onward. As the Korean Film Archive gradually
continues to pursue restoring many of these forgotten and largely unseen gems
of East Asian horror back into the cinematic playground, one such film to crop
up and be given a proper stateside release for the first time is Mondo
Macabro’s blu-ray disc of the 1981 South Korean shamanist supernatural horror
shocker Suddenly in the Dark.
Also
known as Suddenly at Midnight, the
film directed by industry veteran Ko Young-nam tells the story of a middle-aged
couple involving an entomologist named Yu-jin (Yun Il-bong) and his wife
Seon-hee (late actress Kim Yeong-ae) and young daughter whose tranquil existence
is shaken by the arrival of a mysterious beautiful housemaid named Mi-Ok (Lee
Ki-seon). All seems well at first, until
a creepy doll Mi-Ok carries with her at all times belonging to a deceased
shaman shows up in the entomologist’s slideshow as well as turning up seemingly
in the most unlikely of places at all times.
Compounded
with the young woman’s carefree attitude towards her scantily clad appearance
and Seon-hee’s own increasing jealousies and paranoia over the girl, Suddenly in the Dark soon charges full
steam ahead into a phantasmagorical odyssey into…madness? The supernatural? The psychosexual? One can never really tell. What is apparent onscreen is that the film
shares with viewers an almost total commitment to Seon-hee’s state of mind with
every projected perceived fantasy/reality playing out onscreen.
While
the fear of shamanism doesn’t come off as harrowing as, say, The Wailing, Suddenly in the Dark does however prove to be a kaleidoscopic cacophony
of psychedelic horror through the perspective of a terrified middle-aged
woman. Featuring lush vistas of the
Korean countryside, innovative cinematographic techniques thanks to Jeong
Pil-si and rapid-fire editing by Hyeon Dong-chun, Suddenly in the Dark gradually transforms into one viscerally
arresting ride.
Sonically,
the film’s soundtrack is just as unhinged, thanks to a wacky electronic score
by Choi Jong-hyuk that would make the likes of Cliff Martinez proud. With weird, off-kilter Theremin sounds and preexisting
tracks sneakily repurposed from other movies including but not limited to Flash Gordon, the soundscape creates an
uneasy tone of what could simply be a fragile psyche unraveling or something
much more sinister and implacable.
Almost
completely unknown in the West until now thanks to Mondo Macabro’s blu-ray
disc, this forgotten little South Korean gem is an early example of 1980s East
Asian horror that grows increasingly spooky as it presses on and manages to
offer some colorful thrills not seen since the funky psychedelia of, say,
Nobuhiko Obayashi’s utterly insane Hausu. Both frightening and a lot of offbeat fun, Suddenly in the Dark is one of the best
South Korean slices of horror you’ve never heard of!
--Andrew Kotwicki
