Seen in Jeonju

More than one Bunshinsaba?

27th June 2013

Bunshinsaba 2012 Bunshinsaba 2 Back in July 2012, I wrote a review of Ahn Byeog-ki’s 2004 film, Bunshinsaba. The very first sentence of the review, for those of you who do not wish to click the link, was “If… I could choose any recent movie I wished to remake, it would be Bunshinsaba.” Earlier today, I was looking at the selections for the Pucheon International Fantastic Film Festival and saw that there will be a movie screened, directed by Ahn Byeong-ki, called Bunshinsaba 2. The movie, however, is not listed as a Korean-made film. Instead it was produced in China. A quick check of Ahn filmography revealed that he had directed another film in China a year early, that one entitled Bunshinsaba. Was it a remake of the Korean film that Ahn had made nearly a decade earlier? It turns out that the answer is ‘No.’ I tracked down the 2012 Bunshinsaba and have watched about half of it before writing this post.. I will be going back to viewing it soon. The new Bunshinsaba is completely unrelated. Instead of the story taking place in a high school with a tortured ghost possessing young women and causing them to set themselves on fire, the new movies have an entirely different premise. It is about a mother running from what may seems like an abusive relationship.. although at this point in the film I am beginning to question just how much I can believe of the main character’s memories and stories. She takes her young son with her to get him away from his father and they move into an old colonial style house owned by a friend deep in a forest. However, strange things begin happening almost immediately upon their arrival and her son forms a bizarre attachment to an ugly, scowling doll he finds in the garden. It soon becomes apparent to the woman that her son is not himself and the doll keeps turning up in the strangest places. At the point I am at in the film now, the doll is actually quite threatening… Of course, the movie is entirely in Chinese.. and has Chinese subtitles.. so I will not be writing a detailed review of a film I can’t understand. It is not a bad movie, but as yet has not really tread any new ground.
Judging by the image on the poster of Bunshinsaba 2, it will be using the ghost that has been appearing in the 2012 story. Below are the trailers for Bunshinaba (2012) and Bunshinsaba 2 (2013) both by director Ahn Byeong-ki

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