Drama Digest
2021 Summer Drama College: Monster Mansion (Director Jo Bareun) narrates the narrative of Ji-woo, a webtoon writer, who visits an ancient apartment complex, Gwanglim Mansion, for coverage and the weird occurrences he learns from the management. Gwanglim Mansion and its horrifying secrets get disclosed, where strange happenings continued, such as noise between floors from a residence where no children lived, a sensor that kept flashing in an empty spot, and a mold-infested mansion.
The Feel-Good Part
The technique of connecting the Gwanglim Mansion building with the story was good. Stuff like noise between floors, sewage problems, and mold plays an appropriate role in raising the sympathy and fear of city dwellers. It is a story with a clear ending. The casting is also fantastic.
The Disappointing Factor
The story was not much scary, but it is a technically well-crafted horror.
In-Depth Analysis
The main character that binds the movie is horror webtoon writer Jung Ji Woo. He is a person who is in dire need of new ideas because he has rolled up his previous work. An old apartment building, Gwanglin Mansion, which belonged to an ancient cult. The building has rumours of being bizarre. Jung Ji Woo hears many stories from a caretaker. The main characters are a writer who comes to an apartment to write a book and gets bullied by the ghost of a neighbor’s children, a pharmacist who has an affair with a married man and suffers terrible things, and a real estate agent who lives with a sex doll, etc. In the end, Ji-woo himself becomes part of the story. The novelist (Lee Chang-hoon), who lives in Room 504, moved in secretly from his wife to avoid a noisy house. While absorbed in writing, he can’t concentrate on the sound of thumping footsteps and the clutter of children’s laughter. Unbearable and angry, the novelist seeks revenge by finding the cause of the noise between floors downstairs. In Room 708, a real estate agent lived who had a bizarre hobby. He witnesses a strange sight at the sink. It’s not enough that the drain drains backflow while grunting, so the illusion appears, and the creepiness heightens. To make matters worse, the doll moves on its own. In Room 604, an international student comes back from abroad and lives with a friend. He greets warmly, but it seems uncomfortable.
Star Power
2021 Summer Drama College: Monster Mansion is a film in which actors with different charms, such as Sung-jun, Kim Hong-pa, and Kim Bo-ra, as well as Lee Chang-hoon, Park So-jin, Seo Hyeon-woo, Lee Seok-Hyang, Kang Yoo-Seok, Shin Yun-Seop, and Jo Su-Hyang, performed enthusiastically and improved the play’s perfection. While the theatrical version received a lot of attention, as did the original version
Overall Opinion
The film takes the form of the narrator, the manager, telling the story to the listener. Although it is called a ghost story, it evokes sympathy and fear simultaneously by using everyday life to depict the bizarreness. It is a familiar style in which episodes woven around the narrator are listed, but the reality melts by combining anecdotes that can happen in an apartment building.
