Movie Digest
Do Hun is a model college student studying English literature. His professor introduces him to Jin Ho, who is undergoing psychotherapy. Jin Ho is using hypnosis as a part of his psychotherapy to overcome trauma. Do Hyun upon learning this suggests he too wants to experience what being under hypnosis feels like. However, since the time Do Hyun and his friends have tried hypnosis they begin to experience all sorts of weird things happening to them, and memories are being unearthed now.
The Feel Good Part
Horror movies have always appealed to the masses with morbid curiosity. It won’t fit well into everyone’s fav go-to movie list. But that does not take away from its macabre appeal. The plot for hypnosis sounds promising. The movie starts by showing how Do Hyun is living his life at college attending frat parties and fooling around with girls all expected of a college boy. Upon being introduced to jin Ho, Do Hyun now wants to experience hypnosis. The background score that works the magic in most horror films does its job here exceptionally well. The mystery behind who hypnotized Do Hyun and why they are being plagued by the memories of their childhood friend Seung Min is also worth the watch. Do Hyun does not take the hypnotherapy session well as he begins to hallucinate and see images of people hanging, a girl whose head is covered with a sack, and an abandoned orphanage. The eerie part about all of this is it’s not just Do Hyun who goes through these episodes of seeing creepy things, his friends go through the same things as well. It has slow gruesome scenes in it that do not compare to the usual horror film content. But that makes it all the more interesting to watch. The synth music and the premise of this film are sure to run a chill through your spine.
The Disappointing Factor
One thing disappointing about this movie is despite having an exceptionally original plot, the movie bungles its attempt at making a cult classic horror movie by using gruesome and grotesque scenes simply for jumps cares. There is no correlation to why certain gruesome scenes are displayed. Symbolism plays a huge part in unfolding a horror film but hypnosis loses its charm on that front. Not to mention that right after the premise of this movie is set clear the plot becomes exceedingly predictable. The movie has only put the horror scenes just to scare the audience, it barely makes a connection with the characters, hypnosis is such a fledgling science and it is not the first time we see this science foraying into the realm of horror movies. However, there is a method to making horror movies that will remain etched in the minds of the viewers forever as compared to simply trying to garner shock value by adding gruesome scenes.
In-Depth Analysis
There seems to be a disconnect in storytelling. For example, one of the characters plagued by hallucinations after hypnosis goes through one particularly scary ordeal. After that the second time we see him post that ordeal there seems to be no difference in his behavior. No mention of what happened or anything at all. The entirety of scenes involving horror and c=gruesome details in it have been directed this way. It feels extremely choppy and put together only for shock value. The friend group shown is also very dry and unconnected to each other. The only thing that saves this film is its beautiful setting and camerawork. Some of the frames are visually striking. It’s very much the style of what we expect from the director Choi Jae Hoon.
Star Power
David Lee plays the role of Do Hyun, who has previously worked on the famous drama Hotel Del Luna, as well as Kim Nam Woo who plays the role of Jin Ho.
Overall Opinion
The director Choi Jae Hoon has previously made the film the swordsman and it’s very surprising, to say the least, that the Hypnosis failed so badly. It had to partly do with the scenes, nevertheless, Jae Hoon does not spare the aesthetic, and camerawork is known for his signature style. This film could have failed because of its genre because it had a very promising storyline. Any other strong script based on this storyline would have made this film a must-watch, cult classic. This movie won’t do justice for the horror h=genre fans and neither anyone else. It’s skippable at best unless you want to watch and give it a try.
