The Red Shoes (2005)

Purely Joyful Movie!

People are voting emotionally.

A Disappointing Continuation

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

First of all I must say that I am puzzled about the statement on the DVD cover; 'genuinely creepy' and 'ghostly disturbing, violent and bloody' The Red Shoes is one of the year's must-see horror films'. I just wonder if I actually watched the same movie as whomever had written that.The story is about a pair of haunted red shoes - yeah, exactly. Enough said! The storyline was a tad too silly for me and the entire movie was just lacking a proper red line throughout the entire storyline.The movie wasn't spooky or scary, and it managed to stay afloat and pass as semi-watchable because of the acting performances put on by the cast. But the performances couldn't really manage to lift up the movie because the story was lacking the all-important spice. And as such, this movie was a below average experience.South Korea do manage to put some really great horror movies out there, but "The Red Shoes" (aka "Bunhongsin") just wasn't one such occurrence.

Whether or not this is indeed based loosely on the grotesque fairy tale of the same name, "The Red Shoes" is a bizarre offering, even for the Korean cinema. After catching her husband in flagrante delicto, a woman walks out on him taking her precocious young daughter with her, who is being hot-housed in traditional Oriental fashion, attending dancing classes in this case.Their new home is very downmarket, although she can afford an interior designer to spruce it up for her, and it isn't only her apartment he has designs for.Then there is the little matter of the actual red shoes. Her daughter appears to be fascinated by them, and she isn't the only one, but they leave a trail of death and destruction wherever they walk. As with not a few films in especially the horror genre, the use or rather the abuse of the dream sequence leaves much to be desired, but there is a twist, perhaps the shoes are not that significant at all? Its resolution somewhat reminiscent of "Angel Heart", and the heroine faces a similar fate, deservedly so, apparently.

"The Red Shoes" is an entertaining and definitely fun Asian ghost film.**SPOILERS**Moving into a new apartment, Sun-jae, (Kim Hye-soo) and her daughter Tae-su, (Park Yeon-ah) try to move on with their lives following her painful divorce. When she suffers a series of personal tragedies, she manages to find a pair of red shoes and takes them home, experiencing a slight reversal of fortune while having them. Using them, she manages to meet In-cheol, (Kim Sung-su) who is helping her start over with her new career, but a vicious jealous streak emerges with everyone who she feels is attempting to steal away the shoes. When it soon becomes apparent that some outside force is killing off those who are involved with her, she realizes the deadly curse attached to them and tries to find a way of keeping her loved ones from being part of the tragedies.The Good News: This was an enjoyable and entertaining ghost entry. One of the best parts is that, like most of the normal Asian ghost films, this one is simply filled with really striking visuals during the course of the film. Some, including the opening attack where a woman is stalked through a gigantic walkway inside a train station, only to be confronted by a supernatural force that moves over the ground, into her shoes and then begins screaming, pulling back to reveal that the amount of skin covered by the floating supernatural force has been bloodily removed, as well as other scenes are just outstanding, and quite suspenseful at times. Another brilliant scene occurs on the roof of the hospital, where, while discussing what's happening, they look up to notice the picture of the person haunting them and are then doused in blood raining down like snowflake, which is made apparent to them after-the-fact. Other big scenes, such as the nightmare in the bedroom where the ceiling opens up and pulls her into it, then rains down gallons-upon-gallons of blood on her or the simply chilling twist-ending that is extremely well-thought-out and makes for some fun times, are some more great examples. Perhaps, though, one of the best features here is the rather great amount of time spent on making the shoes to be something worthwhile, due to the obsessive behavior exhibited just to own them. The opening scene again shows this trait, as does the attitude and behavior of the daughter once she takes them home, as well as the different ways people react when they're on, from the murdered friend to passerby on the street and more, the film does a great job at building up a solid mystery as to what the shoes will drive a person to do. That they manage to keep reappearing, despite being visibly thrown away on numerous occasions, shows the power they have, and that is a simply effective tool no matter what. This one also manages to have an effective back-story in here that spells out the convoluted but still understandable premise with a great deal of clarity, which is a strong plus when considering these kinds of films but is also quite fun as well with a fantastic duel murder thrown in. That brings up the last plus, the rather strong gore on display. There's the aforementioned legs being lopped off, an eyeball cut out, a shoe heel stabbed in the eye, a broken glass shard slicing the legs off and two victims, at once, being hung-up on a supernaturally-powered noose. These here are what make the film work.The Bad News: There wasn't much wrong with this one. A pretty big flaw in here is the simply large amount of time spent on the adultery angle. There's a rather lengthy scene early on of her running around town and then stumbling upon the act, which is fine, but the fact that this plot point continues to become relevant in the middle of the film is quite troublesome. It had already been dealt with beforehand with the various people all commentating on the differences she had experienced since moving on, yet to keep bringing it up when there's very little cause to do so is simply weird and confusing. Another problematic point is the attitude of the daughter, who's constant whining and complaining about the shoes got tiresome. They're screaming matches, one of which turns into a brawl, to regain custody of the shoes is certainly not that fun due to the annoying habit of the daughter, and was certainly a case where discipline was needed. The last flaw is the slow middle part, where the story is given some legs and as such there isn't much in the way of excitement during these scenes, although that's to be expected in an Asian ghost film, and isn't detrimental. These here are the film's problems.The Final Verdict: A strong entry in the genre, not entirely without flaws but still with such impressive positive points to hold the bad-parts down. Strongly recommended for fans of these films or of Asian cinema in general, as well as the curious, while the only ones who won't take to it are non-Asian fans.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Language

Yeah sure they are pink shoes but its a metaphor. They are "red" because of all the blood and gore and stuff. Get it. Anyway this movie is excellent. It is definitely not what i expected. It is surprisingly emotional, sad and beautiful. There is lots if disgusting blood and gore thats for sure and its the goriest part in the first subway scene. This movie also has an interesting story line based in the hans Christian anderson tale "the red shoes". It also has the first sex scene sort of thing i have ever seen in an Asian film. It will haunt my dreams forever. It has fights between the mother and the 5 year old daughter which makes you just want to scream at the screen STOP. because it is such good acting. It is so horrible in a good way that they would hurt and kill each others family just to have the shoes.