"White: The Melody of the Curse" movie review, part two

 

 Release Date: June 9, 2011  Length: 106 minutes  Directors: Kim Gok and Kim Sun

Main Cast: Top four are the members of the Idol group Pink Dolls.

Ham Eun-Jung as Choi Eun-Ju.... Leader and oldest member of Pink Dolls. Eun-Ju had been a backup dancer in the past but has never made it to the big time which of course is the wish for her and any Idol. Finally her wish comes true to be the main vocalist of a song but that meant the death of three others and was the fame worth it?

Choi Ah-Ra as Ah Rang.... Youngest in the group and kind of a dour girl but in a way all four are. Shin-Ji is considered to be the best dancer in the group but to me Ah-Rang is, she was the third victim of the 'curse'.

Kim May Doni as Shin-Ji.... As mentioned most feel she's the best dancer in the group but isn't much of a singer but does 'rap' on occasion during songs, the second 'victim'.

Jin Se-Yeon as Jenny.... Usually is the main singer for Pink Dolls' songs but doesn't have much stage presence, the first victim of the 'White Curse'.

Hwang Seul-Hye as Sun-Ye.... Eun-Ju's best friend though she's about ten years older and at one time was also an aspiring Idol. Sun-Ye is Eun-Ju's vocal coach and helps out during the recording sessions, she was the one to finally discover what the real curse was however it was just a bit too late to save anyone.

Pyeon Jung-Su as Kim.... The manager of Pink Dolls and it may seem hard to believe but her name was never mentioned once during this film though she had a large role. The character's name isn't in any cast list either so will call her Kim as I do need a name for her, a very strict yet fair manager.

Choi Min-Chul as Choi Tae-Gon.... Sponsor of the group and also a TV show host.

Kim Young Min as Lee.... Recording producer for the group.

 Trailer that's subbed in English

 

 To Eun-Ju the clue to this curse has to lie on the videotape. She and Sun-Ye watched it endlesssly doing various things to it such as viewing it backwards along with also having the audio play in reverse. Really not much success though it appears there was a second voice on the recording even though it was just a solo song. To Eun-Ju's ears it sounded like someone was saying 'It's so hot' which is what her three Pink Dolls mates said before their accidents. Sun-Ye didn't mention it at the time but she recalls the song to an extent and if memory serves her well she may have provided that audio doubling track! The pair even held a mini memorial for Jang, the main vocalist on the video, to perhaps get rid of the curse but as we'll see it had no effect. Now that Pink Dolls is down to one member hard to call Eun-Ju that name as she's now a solo artist and has finally recorded the "White" song which after two days is already #1 on the charts. She's really changed her appearance for as you can see she's dyed her hair white and as is the case for many overnight successes Eun-Ju has developed such a nasty attitude, even towards Sun-Ye.

 The worse thing by far though was Eun-Ju claiming to a reporter above that she wrote the "White" song which was an out and out lie. But it had been a song no one had heard until now so who could step and say Eun-Ju was a liar? The spirits can and they will show their anger soon, also Eun-Ju had found what may be Jang's 'suicide note' in a electrical box on the floor, could it be real and if so why wasn't it signed? One other tidbit is that now that Eun-Jo is a solo artist she's 'expected' to do some favors for her sponsor/director. Such as sleeping with him which did happen though it was just implied and we didn't see the pair spending the night together. It's past the seventy minute mark with a half hour to go, what's become of the other three members of Pink Dolls? All are in the hospital and sharing the same room, though the trio were all badly hurt for the most part they're recovered and their manager Kim has scheduled a TV appearance for the trio on a music show where they'll be the hosts. And it was sadly the last time the public will ever see these gals alive and don't think many fans of the group cared as their big fave is now Eun-Ju. As you can see below what a disaster this performance turned out to be and was the evil spirit of the 'White' song still seeking revenge?

 On the way to the TV studio the trio did meet up with Eun-Ju and they pleaded with their ex-friend to stop singing the "White" song but to no avail, Eun-Ju gave her mates a snobby brushoff. This music show was live and tragedy struck during their performance, the trio still called themselves Pink Dolls. One by one the trio of Jenny, A-Rang and Shin-Ji all grabbed a bottle of bleach and guzzled it right down!!!! The whole audience looked on in disbelief and within a minute or so the poisonous liquid destroyed their insides killing them instantly and there's no doubt the evil spirits were behind this tragedy. Whew, what a painful way to day and we soon learned why that happened. Sun-Ye had returned to the studio to watch the "White" video numerous times, the clues to the curse have to be in it. With the help of the recording engineer Lee the pair eventually made a few discoveries plus there was a mini article about the studio fire on the web. As mentioned Sun-Ye had been involved with adding vocals to the "White" song but had never met the members of this unnamed group.

 Kim Soo-Hyun was the name of this back dancer and she was the one who wrote the "White" song. Jang was furious at this no name trying to upstage her, with the help of her group mates Jang stole the song and then proceeded to dump acid on the face of Kim!!!! Needless to say that act destroyed her life and soon after drank a bottle of bleach that killed her, now we now know why the trio of Pink Dolls members also drank bleach. So since then this back dancer is out to curse any person involved with the song, she's the one who set the fire to the studio killing Jang and her group mates. But there were no killings for almost fifteen years as the video had been hidden away until Eun-Ju found it. There were a few other tidbits about Kim's curse such as was she the back dancer in the video? But to make it a shorter story Sun-Ye knows that there's only one person left for Kim to go after who is Eun-Ju, she knew nothing about the recent deaths and was on her way to appear on a music show.

 Music Fever was the name of this show and it was their special 200th episode. The audience votes on what the best song of the day is, barely edging out the rival Pure group was Eun-Ju with naturally the "White" song. It was the first time she had performed it live on TV and she didn't do all that good of a job. During the song Eun-Ju felt the presence of something(the curse?) and her dance routine didn't go smoothly though her massive fan base were too blinded to notice! Halfway through the song is when things went haywire as the lights began to flicker before going completely out for a few moments. In a state of panic was Eun-Ju, her manager Kim and assistant rushed to the stage to save her but to no avail as they were both killed by this curse. Arriving on the scene was Sun-Ye who had such a struggle trying to get through the horde of fans escaping the studio. She was finally noticed by Eun-Ju who tried to rush to her friend but sadly never came close due to the bedlam.

 Hard to believe that Eun-Ju wouldn't stand out in the crowd but that's exactly what happened. In the stampede of fan fleeing she was knocked to the ground and had no chance of standing back up. That's because within a matter of seconds it seemed fifty or more fans stepped on Eun-Ju, the impact of being stepped on so many times left our 'anti-heroine' Eun-Ju the fourth member of Pink Dolls to perish. As mentioned before don't know why other viewers thought there weren't many horror scenes for there were plenty of them, so many like this final scene were actually done quite well. In the final minute Sun-Ye had headed to a Karaoke bar which she used to frequent with Eun-Ju. Sun-Ye had brought a bag of "White" CD's and also some other promo things, she felt if they were burned then the curse would finally be lifted. However Sun-Ye forgot that she too had been involved in the song by singing background vocals, as she started the mini blaze coming on the music screen was the video for "White" and the film ended with Sun-Ye about to be the fifth new victim of this curse.

 That wraps this review up and have to say I was pleasantly surprised at how scary this film was. Have seen better horror movies but this was a decent view and lot more chills than I had been expecting. For a final grade will give it a 8.3/10, only minor beefs was that it may have been ten minutes too long and the history of the "White" song could have been explained better. Don't know what will be up next as far as reviewing films go. Horror movies are my faves but don't want to get into a rut with just writing about them but there's so many out there should be able to find something decent, perhaps some sort of crime thriller? Plenty more screenshots to view here and as mentioned often they do help you follow the story a bit better.