The Red Shoes (2005)

If you could imagine all of the Asian horror clichés thrown into a single film, then with every single aspect cranked up to 11 without any cleverness or reason, you'd get a pretty bad film. Make it a couple of notches worse and you'd almost get The Red Shoes. There is absolutely no cleverness, no wit, no intelligence behind this film. Everything is exaggerated and amplified to the point where nothing is tied together, and every opportunity for gratuitous gore and violence thrown under the excuse of "psychological thriller" is used. The film is so over-the-top that it could be passed off as an acid, mean-spirited satire of Asian horror with perhaps a few small changes.The film manages something impressive: while it shows absolutely no restraint in terms of jump scares, gore shots and blood gushing, the film isn't really unpredictable, and the story as a whole follows every single rule in the book. Everything is there. It's even worse than Avatar in terms of following the conventions. And you can't even use the argument that "the visuals are pretty" here, because everything is so in-your-face, it's downright tragic: the monochromatic shots, the blurriness, the uncomfortable close-ups, the occasional Shaky-Cam, and so on and on. Just avoid this film. Even if you're genuinely scared by horror films, go pick something better.

The title of this show is called THE RED SHOES mainly because of the blood around the shoes. This is my second favourite horror movie and was really scary. I had nightmares at night after I watched it. I personally find this show quite original. The two mothers thing showing the main character getting possessed on and off was terrifying. This show probably has one of the most terrifying opening scene. This show is very well paced. It shows the main character loving the shoes so much for the first 1/3 of the movie, for the next 2/3 of the movie everything just goes awfully wrong. Every time the main character tries to throw away the Red Shoes, they just come back. The subway scene around the ending of this film is probably one of the most terrifying scenes in cinematographic history for me. This film has its mystery elements and is really entertaining in various ways and keeps one at the edge of their seat. The flaws in this film is that this film gets really complicating towards the end and I did not understand the last scene which the young girl dance in front of the mirror. The ending requires really a lot of thinking. Other than that, this film is just awesome and is really frightening. I really enjoyed the mystery elements of this film. This film is very much like One Missed Call because the backstory about the ghost was only explained until the very end. Throughout the whole film, you do not know why weird stuff are all happening. This makes the weird and scary stuff much more frightening. Highly recriminated Score:10/10

'THE RED SHOES' is a supernatural tale with its center revolving around a pretty typical plot involving a mother alone with her daughter, struggling in the world. The reoccurring images you see in far too many Korean ghost stories are present here. There are pale faced girls with long black hair hanging in their face and cursed artifacts that bring misfortune to those that possess them. But there are enough unique touches paired with an intriguing performance by the lead actress that helps to elevate its status.Sun-Jae unexpectedly goes home in the middle of the day to find her husband banging some other woman. She moves out on her own with her young daughter Han Tae-su to an inexpensive apartment near Goksung Station. She meets handsome young architect, In-cheol who is designing her eye clinic and the two embark on a relationship. On the subway on her way home Sun-Jae sees a seemingly abandoned pair of shoes she cannot resist picking up. The shoes bring the worst out in people, including her daughter who becomes obsessed with them on sight. When a friend is found dead and her daughters behavior becomes more severe, Sun-Jae and In-cheol will need to solve the mystery behind the cursed footwear before it's too late.Bloody death scenes filmed in sterile white environments can be extremely effective. The opening scene of 'THE RED SHOES' is an outstanding example of this. There are some cherry props also. The main character is obsessed with shoes. The depth of the obsession is shown with a massive glass store display prop. The stacked glass boxes showcases each individual pair of shoes. The visuals are strong throughout. There are some respectable moments of suspense, but not nearly enough of them. Violence and gore is slim but I enjoyed what there was of it. The performances were strong and there is some interesting character development. I found the lead actress, Hye-su Kim fascinating. The love interest, In-cheol is very easy on the eyes. The problem is, that I liked the films individual pieces more than the completed work. I had a serious issue with certain "spooky" images. One in particular stood out because it is a carbon copy of something I've seen in at least two other films and seemed completely irrelevant to the story. Obviously added in for mood, it was totally ineffective. There are some predictable plot twists that also bog it down. The story is uneven and trips over its own feet, but ultimately for a ghost story it just isn't very scary. That said, I still think this is a really nice looking film with strong performances and enough special touches that it's worth a watch.

The Red Shoes uses every Asian Horror motif we've seen many times before. Most notably the young, attractive, professional female lead who's got a cheating husband and a daughter that goes freaky. Its plot is constructed around some 'thing' that connects the natural and supernatural worlds via the kid. There's a hip, interested, and understanding 'other man' hanging around, helping when he can. The infamous J-Horror Goth Chick even makes appearances. If all this is a deal breaker with regards to your viewing pleasure, skip this one. If it's not, then add it your queue immediately.The red shoes, usually referred to in the singular in this film, are really more of a fuchsia pink set of come find me pumps. The "Red" is surely meant to symbolize blood, as in "blood on your hands", but I digress.It's the production values of The Red Shoes that make it worthwhile. This is a good looking film whose creators clearly cared about doing it well. The cinematography is creepy and creative, accentuating the sense of dread with distortions, colors and inspired scene locations. The soundtrack is understated and almost peaceful—it's not used to create tension where none exists. And the script, typical of Asian Horror, is loose enough for the viewer to choose from a number of interpretive styles: is it a dream, a figment of some dreadful imagination, or is everybody a different aspect of a multiple personalty? The Red Shoes doesn't break any new ground but if you are a fan of the genre this is a professionally put together package.