Scary shit has never been my cup of tea. You know that movie
Disturbia with Shia LeBeouf? The boy
finds out that his neighbor is killing people, stashing bodies in his garage.
Well when I saw it in theaters I had a jacket over my head with a small hole to
peek through. Granted that was many years ago it's the gist of how much of a wimp I am, not that I mind. Another time I was watching The Woman in Black with a group of
friends and a lovely cat sitting in my lap. At one part this bird pops up out
of nowhere which caused me to jump in surprise which probably
scarred the once content cat for life as he bolted up the stairs not to be seen
for the remainder of the day. Knowing this about myself, for stupid reasons, I
have put myself in the line of fire by deciding to put my declaration against
scary/thriller media to a temporary end. It started with the French zombie-type
thriller Les Revenants moving on to
the South Korean drama White Christmas. What
I’m willing to watch for six handsome boys…
You might counter that the series is not that scary.
Well, I’m a scaredy-cat.
EPISODE 1:
The episode starts with the talk of monsters and my man Baek
Sung Hyun looking stoic. I’ve followed him since Tree of Heaven, a time where getting hit by cars or cancer were the
norm. There was no such thing as a happy ending. It’s Christmas break at the
most prestigious high school ever. We’re talking about the top 1% here. Seven
students and one teacher decide to stay behind. The first episode spends a
majority of its time setting up the characters, revealing that they have all
received an anonymous letter foreshadowing death. Some students speculate the
meaning, but for the most part they don’t take it too seriously. One creepy
night they discover a bloody man at the school’s gate. Not thinking hey this
man can be dangerous because this is pretty much how all horror themed media
goes, they let him in. Out of the seven students there is only one girl
(Eun-Sung). At the end of the episode she attempts to commit suicide, exactly
where the letter predicted. Coincidence? Maybe not.
EPISODE 2:
Eun-Sung lives another day. The creepy man is still there.
My gosh, just looking at him gives me the chills. More character development is
done, which I would love to share with you, but well I’ve sort of got a life
now. You should just watch it instead, it’s worth it…DO IT NOW! The whole
episode revolves around finding the person who wrote the mysterious letter,
back stories, scary looks, and the start of teenage angst. I’ve got to say this
was the first episode in the series that I had to pause the show and take a
breather due to the creepy factor rising. One moment you think the boy is all
alone in his room and the next BAM there’s a hand on the chair. The episode
ends with the viewer discovering that the teacher has a note as well. No one is
safe.
What I love about the show is that by prolonging the
inevitable death the viewer is constantly on defense wondering when it’s going
to happen. And it’s not like the romantic comedies that string you along for
ages wondering when the two will end up together, because the character development
and the environment they live in are fleshed out enough to keep you invested.
