This Korean film (Title literally means The Cat: Eyes That See Death) is a nice, well-paced ghost story. It’s straight forward with no shocking plot twists or much sensationalism at all. The plot is similar to Dark Water, but whereas that movie was meant to scare, this one is meant to move the viewer. It’s just a nice, sad story that’s well-acted and well told.
The main character suffers from claustrophobia, so that’s what I’d like to link this too. Though Phobia is more of a science term than a literary one, so many stories deal with these paralyzing fears that I think it justifies being on this list. It’s her claustrophobia that also ties into the narrative of the ghost as well as all the people who are killed in the film. It’s an essential part of the story.
Phobias are fears, plain and simple; however, they are fears elevated to the level of crippling and disabling. They tend to be irrational to those who do not share them. For example, spiders are creepy, but many people suffer from the fear of spiders or arachnophobia. Literature throughout the ages has dealt with fears. But for my money, the king of the claustrophobic narrative has to be Edgar Allan Poe. With stories like “Premature Burial”, The Cask of Amatillado”, and “The Black Cat” one can see a reoccurring theme of being fatally shut in before one’s time. H.G. Wells also utilized the theme of claustrophobia in his work In The War of the Worlds, it’s men who are driven underground and forced to live in claustrophobic environments. The Invisible Man is literally forced to survive wrapped up like a mummy. Even in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë has the Red Room that scares her forever.
It’s just nice to see a Korean horror movie that’s NOT set in a high school!
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