Acacia and The Doll Master

[DylanDog]

Here's two entries from Korea I recently watched. There's not too much to say about The Doll Master. It's a simple story that you've all seen before. Desire for revenge + witchcraft + dolls = dead young people. Perhaps the best thing I can say about it is that it's not a Ring ripoff. It's more in the style of 80s American horrors.

Acacia I liked a lot despite the fact that it combines two things I'm pretty down on lately, those being Asian horror and twist endings. It's about a couple who want to have a child, but can't so they adopt a young boy with great artistic talent who happens to believe that his mother died and became an Acacia tree. He's a bit morose but not a bad kid and things are fine....until the mother suddenly is surprised to learn that she is pregnant after all and then the family situation spirals downward. The ending is not a real surprising twist, but the facts of the situation are delivered very effectively. I was a bit reminded of Mario Bava's shock as I watched this one, another great family oriented horror film.