R-Point (DVD)

It is 1972 and the South Koreans are stationed in Vietnam when a radio transmission is received, apparently from a platoon of men thought dead, begging for help. The leaders quickly put together a small team, under the direction of Lieutenant Choi, a man known for his cruelty and ability to get the most of out his men. Choi is to take his men to R Point, the area where the missing platoon was last thought to be. On arrival, the team find an old mansion ...
...are unsettled by a tombstone that tells of the many Vietnamese who were killed by the Chinese in the previous century. Then strange things begin to happen, starting with a visit from a team of Americans who shouldn't have been there. Can Lieutenant Choi find his compatriots and lead his men to safety? Or are they all doomed to die at R Point?

Lieutenant Choi is the leader of the group and, played by Woo-Seong Kam, is really the only ... more

It is 1972 and the South Koreans are stationed in Vietnam when a radio transmission is received, apparently from a platoon of men thought dead, begging for help. The leaders quickly put together a small team, under the direction of Lieutenant Choi, a man known for his cruelty and ability to get the most of out his men. Choi is to take his men to R Point, the area where the missing platoon was last thought to be. On arrival, the team find an old mansion house, where they quickly set up base - however, they are unsettled by a tombstone that tells of the many Vietnamese who were killed by the Chinese in the previous century. Then strange things begin to happen, starting with a visit from a team of Americans who shouldn't have been there. Can Lieutenant Choi find his compatriots and lead his men to safety? Or are they all doomed to die at R Point?

Lieutenant Choi is the leader of the group and, played by Woo-Seong Kam, is really the only recognisable character in the film. I'm not saying that because I think all Koreans look alike - far from it - but they are all in the same uniform and are often working in weather conditions that make it impossible to tell who is who. It didn't matter all that much to the storyline, but it was a little frustrating at times. Kam is really excellent in the role. He isn't a pleasant man - he hasn't reached the stage in his career by treating people with kid gloves - but there is always the knowledge that he wants the best for his men. Unfortunately, they aren't always aware of that and most of them fear and distrust him. They just want to get the mission over so that they can return home to their families.

Despite the fact that the other characters were largely indistinguisable, there is one thing about which I have no doubt - they all gave excellent performances. They spend much of the film looking over their shoulders, feeling scared and expressing that terror. I had no doubt that the actors I was watching really were scared - their performances were incredibly convincing. I'm not sure how much of this is down to the actors, and how much to director and writer Su-chang Kong - nevertheless, as a team effort, it worked incredibly well.

At the beginning of the film, I was very unsure of the direction that the film was going to take - it felt very much like a war film and I was prepared for a lot of fighting with the Viet Cong. War films are far from being my favourite genre though, so I was quite relieved when the film began to take a more interesting direction. Still, it wasn't clear for a long time whether the film was going to be a horror, supernatural, or even science fiction - anything could have happened and I wouldn't have been surprised. I suppose ultimately, it is a mixture of horror and supernatural - there is certainly a lot of nasty bits interspersed with ghostly happenings which are never fully explained.

There is a massive amount of special effects in the film, which are all excellent - the film was only made in 2004 after all. There are some incredibly realistic injuries inflicted on the soldiers, some of which are horrific and really made me flinch. Then there are a number of corpses. Some were under water, and had obviously been there for some time, but still looked very convincing. One was burned to death and looked just as I would presume a charred corpse should look! And the blood was the perfect shade of red and viscosity - this may seem obvious, but all too many horror films have totally unrealistic looking blood. On top of all this, there is the most amazing sound effects, which truly struck fear into my heart before anything had even happened - the film apparently won an award for its sound effects in 2005.

The setting for the film is amazing - largely in a marshy area around the mansion, which was originally part of a French plantation. I presumed it had been filmed in Vietnam, but was immediately reminded of Cambodia - not that I've ever been, but I've seen a number of documentaries - and was pleased to note that the movie was made in Cambodia. Apparently when the film crew went to look for locations, they found that Vietnam had moved on too much from the war era, whereas Cambodia provided exactly what they were looking for. It really is a perfect location and the film crew did an excellent job of ensuring that it was adapted in exactly the right way.

The pacing of the film is absolutely spot on. Right from the beginning, it is clear that there is something very strange about this mystery platoon, who were witnessed as having died by a survivor who is still in the military hospital and is deeply disturbed. Then at each step of the way, something else is revealed to add to the creepiness, until the men themselves are so worked up that they start to scare and fight each other. Much of the time, nothing in particular is going on, but everyone is so uptight that the viewer becomes convinced that something is about to happen - and it invariably does. This is an excellent example of how a director can develop something out of nothing - it's a shame more Hollywood directors don't take note.

The film is in Korean and is therefore subtitled. The subtitles are very clear and I didn't once have any difficulty in understanding what was going on - then again, much of the film is based on action, not speech, and it would be fairly easy to follow it even without subtitles. I suppose that some may struggle with certain cultural aspects of the story, but it isn't really that difficult to understand on a superficial level.

There are a number of extras with the DVD, most of which are worth watching. The first is a behind the scenes documentary, looking at the characters, special effects and the choosing of the location. There are brief interviews with most of the actors, the director, producer, special effects people and the film crew and, although the documentary is half an hour long, I really found it interesting. The second feature is about the sound effects, which I skimmed through. Then there is a short documentary on the situation in Korea in 1972 and how the film crew prepared for it, followed by a special effects featurette and the original trailer. Finally, there's a director's commentary for those who enjoy such things.

I really enjoyed this film. I usually dislike anything related to the war, so was concerned that it wouldn't be for me - however, it soon becomes obvious that it is going off on a completely different tangent, although there is still much that is unexpected. If you enjoy quirky horror and don't mind subtitles, this is certainly a great example of Korean cinema to watch. Recommended.

The DVD is available from play.com for £6.98.

Classification: 15

Running time: 107 minutes 

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