Why does Korea have so many ghost-type moves? I'm wondering what the fascination/ obsession (?) is. (I'm speaking as a Korean)

@mimi - not just korea but japan too - what's with all the horror movies? and it's weird because china doesn't really produce many...

as for choi kang hee's voice - wouldn't it be eerie if a ghost sounded all nice but did such evil things to uhm jung hwa?! i'd get freaked out and never trust a ghost again! (not saying that i do... )

And it seems that all the korean ghosts are women too.....(speaking as a Korean who watched a lot of horror movies :) )

maybe its a manifestation of the repression that some women feel in korean society?

no china does produce a lot of horror movies as well. but there really isn't much hype around them as much as japanese or korean ones.

Hi JB..
Hmm,i want to give u a sugestion..
How about if u separate the top post and recap indeks?
Its a little bit difficult to find the recap indeks..Thx..

I don't understand all the confusion regarding the number of horror movies in the film industry - obviously, horror and macabre in general have always fascinated the human psyche, which explains all the films around the topic. And it's not like it's just Koreans who have a fascination with ghosts, horror stories, and the like; any film industry worldwide will have a plethora of horror films, such as the US film industry! ;)

@3 - Well, the typical, traditional ghost in Korea has always been the "cheonyeo guishin" - you know, the pale girl with long, straight black hair covering her face, wearing a bloodied white garment. A lot of the ghosts in Korean movies reflect this. I think the fact that most ghosts happen to be women actually comes from a certain type of stigma Koreans associate with hair. For example, it's bad luck when hair gets plugged in sinks or in toilets, and - you have to admit - there's something creepy about those piles of black hair on the ground of hair salons and stuff. x} Usually, girls are the only ones who can pull off really long, creepy, black hair. Hence, we get the so-called cheonyeo guishin.

BTW, is it just me or does this movie sound a bit like Secret Window (starring Johnny Depp)?

@ 3 Yeah, I noticed that the ghosts/ spirits are usually women... with long, messy hair. No short bobs?
Anyhow, to me it'd be nice if this fascination/ obsession personified itself and left Korea!

I love Uhm Jung Hwa so I hope this movie is sucessful, but I really wonder if this movie and many other korean movies pay for american film companies for the right to use their story to make the korean adaptation.
Example - this movie and Johnny Depp's movie, A Millionaire's First Love and A Walk To Remember, Miss Gold Digger and Alfie and the list goes on...
There are many korean movie that are way to similar to some american movies to even be considerated uniques, they look more like a korean adaptation of a certain american movie than an original movie. And I think this is such a pity! Korea has so many talented directors and screenwriters, i'm sure they're able to come up with a good and unique movie like they've done several times before.

i don't believe in ghosts...never seen one nor feel one....in my opinion, those who are experiencing ghosts are those who schizophrenic....depends on how strong the schizophrenia...that's how strong the experience will be...

Wait, isn't this right out of Johnny Depp's Secret Window??

female ghosts are not the staple of just korea or japan. the philippines also has its WHITE LADY with long. black hair. i wonder why it's always a white lady? why not a red lady or a blue lady or a pink lady or a green lady. i guess those colors are not as ghostly as white........

@Bleh: White is the color that represents mourning and death. Particularly in Korea, this is the reason why white, plain Hanboks are seen worn during a memorial. As white has many symbolism, this is why the color white is used.

@Poheijo: Or some people can be influenced by media to believe that ghosts to exists, and when some event occurs, they may automatically think that they witnessed a ghost or whatever. I find that saying those who believe in ghosts are schizophrenic is ridiculous and insulting. You can say it's silly or even stupid, but using the term schizophrenic is quite strong to literally accuse a person of.

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The reason why Korea has so many ghost/horror movies is because a good amount of people like it.

There's really no big reason for it or anything.

Why do ghost/spirits have certain features? Well, they won't be the same without them. Vampires wouldn't be the same if they didn't have long fangs or wore dark colors. Why don't Vampires wear white!? Or blue!? OR NEON PINK!?

These features are merely part of their attributes and usually represent something.

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Onto the subject: Not a big fan of anything horror/ghost/spiritism related, but it's UJH! I'll just wait for it to come out on DVD and have the precious FF remote nearby~

i have too been indeed impressed with uhm's performances in film!

but what is that awful blush on choi kanghee? D:

I wasn't planning to view this moive, but with Choi Kang Hee voice in it. I'm willing to check it out, she always give 100 and 10 percent in everything she does. She one of my top 10 korean actress of all time.

I don't know if you ever had the chance to meet Choi Kang Hee, but she is one of the sweetest and most genuine person I had ever met.

I got to meet Choi Kang Hee in a Mall in Maryland...and she is the cat's meow. Even though, she was with a lot of people, she took time to say hello and sign a auto for me. Good Luck Choi Kang....you're special.