Riddles in literature are a common motif. From Oedipus Rex trying to solve "What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening?" to Gollum and Bilbo riddling it out in The Hobbit to Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and the riddle of the caskets to the spider riddle in Harry Potter: The Goblet of Fire to Alice in Wonderland to Ulysses the list goes on and on. There are even riddles in The Bible, lots of them in Proverbs. It’s a device used by many storytellers and Death Bell is no exception.
As a matter of fact, most horror and mystery movies stem from a basic riddle…“Who is killing every one?” It’s not a very sophisticated riddle, but it drives the action.
In Death Bell, the killer ratchets the drama up by including riddles or questions the students being terrorized and threatened have to solve. A little summary may be in order here.
In Death Bell, the killer ratchets the drama up by including riddles or questions the students being terrorized and threatened have to solve. A little summary may be in order here.
The top 20 elite students are asked to stay for extra study to prepare for exams. That's what the title means Gosu is the name of the exams. Just a quick note…in Korea these university entrance exams are SO important and the pressure to do well is extremely high that some students every year commit suicide due to the stress, so a horror movie surrounding students studying for an exam may not seem likely to a Western audience, but Koreans get it!
But things turn creepy and one by one the students are getting picked off and one of them figures out they’re being picked off in order of their school ranking. That’s when the real fun starts. To be top ranked in Korea is the golden egg…a film that puts that into any other perspective is frightening as hell for a Korean student and thus that explains why many foreigners who see this film and go, “Uh, it’s Saw meets torture porn” and don’t get why it’s such a scary movie.
But things turn creepy and one by one the students are getting picked off and one of them figures out they’re being picked off in order of their school ranking. That’s when the real fun starts. To be top ranked in Korea is the golden egg…a film that puts that into any other perspective is frightening as hell for a Korean student and thus that explains why many foreigners who see this film and go, “Uh, it’s Saw meets torture porn” and don’t get why it’s such a scary movie.
But the killer gives the students, the elite, a chance to save themselves and their friends by solving clues to riddles which inevitably they do just a little too late each time. The methods of death are somewhat creative, but it’s the ultimate riddle… "Who is doing this and why" that really drives the film. This film was very popular for two reasons…1) it’s not too bad as a genre flick and 2) it was the only horror movie released in Korea in 2008 and for a genre that Koreans love…the success of not having any competition is no riddle!
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