Directed by: Lim Dae-woong (임대웅) Starring: Oh Mi-hee (오미희), Seo Young-hee (서영희), Yeo Hyun-soo (여현수), Lee Ji-hyun (이지현), Yu Seol-a (유설아), Park Hyo-jun (박효준), Lee Dong-kyu (이동규), Jang Seong-won (장성원) Release Date: August 3rd, 2006
Particularly during the mid-early 2000’s, Western and Asian horror films were quite distinct from each other. While Western horrors typically featured demonic possession or a group of acquaintances falling victim one after the next to a uniquely disguised serial-killing murderer, Asian horror tended to favor psychological creep-outs featuring long dark-haired female ghosts with a vengeance usually aimed at school-aged girls.
When Western audiences began to get a dose of Asian horror aesthetics with remakes like The Ring (2002), Dark Water (2005), and Pulse (2006), Korean director Lim Dae-woong (House of the Disappeared) was experimenting with some Western horror tropes of his own to bring a new look and feel to the Korean horror landscape. Lim’s feature-length directorial debut, To Sir, With Love, draws inspiration from western horror slashers like Friday the 13th (1980) and more modern (at the time) torture-porn styled splatter movies like Hostel (2005). But in classic Korean style, To Sir, With Love doubles down on its dramatic tone in terms of story, resulting in one of the more curious horror hybrids out there.
Widowed and suffering from ill health, retired primary school teacher Park Yeo-wook (Oh Mi-hee) has been receiving personal care from a grateful former student named Mi-ja (Seo Young-hee) who is now studying to become a teacher herself. Mi-ja decides to organize a reunion among her former classmates in the hopes it will raise Yeo-wook’s sprits. Now, sixteen years after graduation, seven classmates will reunite at their ailing teacher’s seaside house to personally convey their sincere regards to her in what may be her final days.
Now engaged to be married, former class president Se-ho (Yeo Hyun-soo) and former class vice president Eun-young (Yu Seol-a) are the first to arrive. They are followed by the beautiful Sun-hee (Lee Ji-hyun), who has undergone a huge physical transformation after losing weight and receiving plastic surgery, the great former athlete Dal-bong (Park Hyo-jun), the strong and handsome Myung-ho (Lee Dong-kyu), and the shy loner Jung-won (Jang Seong-won). Upon arriving, each of the former students expresses their thanks and best wishes to their teacher. But as the evening progresses, the students’ memories of the time spent with their teacher Park begin to reflect a darker reality. As tensions run high amidst an ever-growing list of grievances against their teacher, an unexpected guest harboring the ultimate grudge sets to crash the party and arrives with deathly intentions to inflict maximum pain.
To Sir, With Love, or the English title I like to refer to it as, Bloody Reunion, is based on the concept of giving thanks to teachers. The Korean title of the film is an expression of gratitude often found dutifully written on cards and presents given to teachers by students of all age in Korea on the ‘Teacher’s Day’ holiday. But as the production team of To Sir, With Love found through a survey of 1,000 people on the streets, 98% of respondents reported negative feelings or resentment towards a former teacher citing a lasting pain from an event experienced in their school days. But in a culture that historically teaches near militant levels of respect towards elders and persons of high status, there is typically a ‘shut up and bear it’ mindset employed by those who feel wronged by such individuals. So on something like ‘Teacher’s Day,’ most all students smile regardless and give their thanks.
To Sir, With Love attempts to be the manifestation of all this resentment by offering audiences an experience that allows them to confront a teacher face-to-face and boldly ask “Why did you do that?” The characters in To Sir, With Love run the gamut of negative experiences, everything from being ostracized for being poor, fat, and having ‘unrealistic dreams’ to being physically beaten or sexually abused. So there’s this a heavy undertone to the film that feels very serious at times, and the slasher inspired horror aspects are meant to drive those points home.
Unfortunately, after such heavy drama that sets up the circumstances for delivering the horror, the switch to all-out slasher seems to come out of left field. On one part, I like the surprise bloody turn of events in To Sir, With Love, but the ‘true horror’ approach to the drama lacked the necessary slow-creep factor needed to drive the outrageous horror moments home. Because visually, the kill set ups are on point. There are great moments of stalking and gruesome scenes of torture with some of the most bload-soaked death scenes I’ve seen in a Korean movie.
The ensemble cast is overall great, and each brings an interesting sense of individualism and personality to their roles. I especially liked Park Hyo-jun (Once Upon a Time in High School) as Dal-bong, who dreamed of soccer stardom as a student but now finds himself physically disabled after a bout of corporal punishment dished out by his former teacher Park. And Seo Young-hee (Night of the Undead, Bedevilled) as the standout star of To Sir, With Love delivers her most contrasting character performance next to Bedevilled (2010). She goes from being the sweetest most gentle woman in town to the one who should be most feared.
To Sir, With Love is engaging on so many levels it terms of story, characters, and filmmaking style particularly in the first 45 minutes, but comes off as unconvincing perhaps where it matters most, the horror department. It almost feels like the slasher elements were hastily written on top of a more devastating drama script at times. The redeeming quality of To Sir, With Love comes through its powerful performances and unique style of horror along the Korean cinema landscape. With most of K-Horror wrapped up in ghosts or zombies, To Sir, With Love stands out with its western styled slasher approach.
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