User reviews

I'm in a quandary over this film. Like many other reviewers have amply illustrated here, this film is like a Korean Klone in lots of ways. It borrows moves from the Ringu play-book, the Dark Water play-book, the Ju-On play-book, The Eye play-book...please stop me. It's got a daughter and mother all alone in the world facing supernatural evil. It's got hunched-over, black-haired teens with bad attitudes and osteoporosis floating around upside-down and showing up in elevators. It's got the cheating hubby, the young love interest, the entrepreneurial "young Asian professional female" slowly losing her mind. Most importantly, it's got the requisite cursed artifact (not a wig, not a videotape, not a pair of transplanted corneas, but a swanky set of pink stilettos that a particular ghost doesn't want any mortal wearing).

BUT GOSH DARN IT, I LIKED THIS FILM! I guess it says something if I feel compelled to excuse myself for this fact, but I really did care for the characters and the serious situation they are hopelessly trapped in. Indeed, I was hooked by the grue--people getting their feet forcibly removed gets my attention. The cinematography is colorful, and artful, and top notch--as we have come to expect from Korean directors. (Did you catch those cool on-purpose-out-of-focus shots? Fuzzy weirdness...) The music is actually pretty unique--the low-key guitar ditty that recurs off and on is melodic, and personal, and not overwrought. Yes, the plot "twists and turns" in terribly predictable ways: Could our protagonist really be the guilty one? Is it possible that we might find the answer to the horrible mystery by rifling through old newspaper copy in the library? Even though we've "properly buried" the red shoes with their owner, is it possible the evil will return nevertheless to wreak ultimate revenge? When we get to the end, will the decidedly downbeat narrative actually make very little sense? Yes, you've seen--and come to expect--it all.

But, darn it, this flick is done with such panache in a very gutsy way. The characters are carefully drawn, the direction is solid. And when you get right down to it, America simply does not make films like this. I don't think America ever will again. We used to make great, sad, horror films, but not anymore. We real horror fans have got to rely on films like "Bunhongsin" to get our fix. In fact, that's precisely why I give this film the benefit of the doubt.

'THE RED SHOES' is a supernatural tale with its center revolving around a pretty typical plot involving a mother alone with her daughter, struggling in the world. The reoccurring images you see in far too many Korean ghost stories are present here. There are pale faced girls with long black hair hanging in their face and cursed artifacts that bring misfortune to those that possess them. But there are enough unique touches paired with an intriguing performance by the lead actress that helps to elevate its status.

Sun-Jae unexpectedly goes home in the middle of the day to find her husband banging some other woman. She moves out on her own with her young daughter Han Tae-su to an inexpensive apartment near Goksung Station. She meets handsome young architect, In-cheol who is designing her eye clinic and the two embark on a relationship. On the subway on her way home Sun-Jae sees a seemingly abandoned pair of shoes she cannot resist picking up. The shoes bring the worst out in people, including her daughter who becomes obsessed with them on sight. When a friend is found dead and her daughters behavior becomes more severe, Sun-Jae and In-cheol will need to solve the mystery behind the cursed footwear before it's too late.

Bloody death scenes filmed in sterile white environments can be extremely effective. The opening scene of 'THE RED SHOES' is an outstanding example of this. There are some cherry props also. The main character is obsessed with shoes. The depth of the obsession is shown with a massive glass store display prop. The stacked glass boxes showcases each individual pair of shoes. The visuals are strong throughout. There are some respectable moments of suspense, but not nearly enough of them. Violence and gore is slim but I enjoyed what there was of it. The performances were strong and there is some interesting character development. I found the lead actress, Hye-su Kim fascinating. The love interest, In-cheol is very easy on the eyes. The problem is, that I liked the films individual pieces more than the completed work. I had a serious issue with certain "spooky" images. One in particular stood out because it is a carbon copy of something I've seen in at least two other films and seemed completely irrelevant to the story. Obviously added in for mood, it was totally ineffective. There are some predictable plot twists that also bog it down. The story is uneven and trips over its own feet, but ultimately for a ghost story it just isn't very scary. That said, I still think this is a really nice looking film with strong performances and enough special touches that it's worth a watch.

Recently, there is much criticism aimed at a seemingly stagnant Asian Horror market, with increasing remarks that the genre has run out of ideas with more and more modern releases stealing blatantly from other, more successful films such as The Ring, Ju-On and Dark Water.

Whilst The Red Shoes isn't exactly an exercise in originality, 'borrowing' ideas is not the problem here. Yes, there are similarities with other movies mentioned above; we indeed have a single mother and young daughter relationship at the film's core, yes, they have a penchant for renting a dirty, run down apartment and yes, we have a cursed inanimate object - or objects - (the eponymous shoes) that reek havoc on those who encounter them.

We also have atmospheric, claustrophobic cinematography; (although epileptics should be aware that there are more flashing neons here than in an 80's themed disco). We also have decent acting, but much of this is style over substance. The film takes itself deadly seriously, but the concept of haunted footwear just plain isn't frightening.

With The Ring, the curse spread through various copies of the video-tape, but in order for the curse to spread here, we have to endure scenes of histrionic screaming women and girls trying to steal the shoes from each other at various times of the day/night - the whole thing just seems so unlikely. Not content to lend the shoes an air of supernatural mystery, the film-makers also 'treat' us to some pretty looking, but ultimately distracting and too frequent flash-backs where the shoes supposedly tragic (but ultimately dull) history is revealed.

Finally, The Red Shoes also falls very short in the scares. I watched it twice, alone, and not one of the film's attempts to chill/shock or scare me worked. All in all, The Red Shoes will prove a bitter (and expensive at £20.00) disappointment to fans of horror, who like me, expect - if not originality, then at least to be frightened.

'Bunhongshin' (Pink Shoes) is a fine example of the growing Korean film industry. While still lacking enough refinements for universal appeal, it still is an entertaining yarn and a fine scary movie.

A pair of bright pink shoes keep popping up on a subway line. For inexplicable reasons, any girl who sees them becomes violently attached to the shoes (to the point of beating anyone who might touch them), that is until someone/thing comes along and severs the girls feet as a penance for wearing the garment.

Visually top-notch, with nice color and camera usage. Most notable are the scare scenes; the imagery in these scenes is creepy and effective in conveying dread. Some limited optical effects and CG round out the package.

Performance wise, it's a mixed bag and where the film takes the biggest hit. Acting is suffice, but nothing special. The story just doesn't work; it is not only disjointed and uninvolved, it's also just plain difficult to understand what the hell happened in the end. As is the norm for many Korean film, the pacing is all kinds of wrong; taking way too long to make a point and dragging on way too many scenes needlessly.

For the spot-on horror imagery, 'Bunhongshin' is one to look out for, just try to ignore the scripting and pacing issues.

7/10

The trailer to this Korean movie looked promising and honestly when the movie started I was thrilled. Two girls fight over a pair of shoes in a subway where they found the abandoned shoes. One gets left behind, the other walks through endless corridors wearing her new shoes with pride but you know something is wrong when she hears footsteps around her. Cinematography is awesome with washed out colors, blurry areas making you focus on certain elements and the pink shoes over-saturated and shining. Awesome... when the girl wakes up to find the shoes and feet gone screaming in a puddle of blood I thought this will be a good one for sure. But it wasn't. "The red shoes" is a totally incoherent mess of story telling, mixing several ideas of Asian ghost movies like dark-haired girls, bloody eyes, creepy elevator rides and endless creepy corridors in for the horror audience. Otherwise the movie is slow, way too long and mixing loads of element in a fashion that to me made absolutely no sense in the end. Basically the movie continues with a woman and her daughter Tae-Soo (I will never forget that name because her mother screams and cries her name like a million times throughout this movie which gets really annoying after a while) who separate from their father who has an affair. They move into a new apartment to live on their own, the woman finds the pink shoes on a subway ride and things start to get strange including many flashbacks melting the plot together with the opening. From here on its all about her and her daughter, both beginning to be obsessed with the shoes, an architect who builds her new bureau and gets into her life and the resulting love story. People die, flashbacks show to a back story about a murder involving the shoes and vengeful ghosts. There are both creepy and beautiful moments, especially on the visual side but the mix of flashbacks gets pretty torn up and in the end you think they didn't want to end the movie because you get like three ends piled upon another. The movie is pretty hard to understand and I think its because the script is a mess.. many things happen without explanation (the birds, the blood dripping from sky and ceiling several times, the idiotic newspaper ad and internet story...). If the story was that complex and psychological they sure wouldn't end the movie with pink shoes standing somewhere and another woman reaching to take them. I would have expected such ending in any stupid slashed movie but not in this one. "The red shoes" is loosely based on the Andersen story mixing in some typical Asian ghost elements, love story and psychological elements. To me it totally fails except for some nice scares. A real big let down after such a strong beginning and another proof that sometimes less is way more.

This is a decent adaptation of this particular fairy tale. It is about having something offered to you that you shouldn't take, aren't forced to take but by overwhelming compulsion, you take it anyway. This leads to disastrous problems because once you indulge, the item has literally become a part of you that you simply cannot get rid of easily.

I liked this for the most part. I thought the acting. costuming and effects were done well. There were some scenes that were a bit dark and that sorta bugged me. I just felt like I couldn't see enough. Nice little horror movie.

I have just watched the Korean horror film The Red Shoes, and i thought that it was not too bad, but i have seen much better Asian horror films. It is about a woman called Sun-jae, whose husband is unfaithful and cheats on her with a lover, Sun-jae moves to a cheap apartment at Goksung Station, with her daughter Han Tae-soo. While she is travelling back home in the subway, Sun-jae finds a pair of pink shoes and brings them home with her. Her daughter Han Tae-soo starts to become fascinated by the shoes, that her mother has bought. but they bring greed and jealousy to whoever sees them, Sun-jae starts to have visions and nightmares about ghosts and blood. When her friend Kim-mi Hee steals the shoes, she has an accident and dies. She finds out that the of pink shoes that she found on a subway platform seems to bring a curse on whoever wears them. And rips them from the owners feet and taking the owners feet with them. Sun-jae tries to find out what is causing the curse to happen. i found this horror film to be not to bad to watch 4/10

Yeah sure they are pink shoes but its a metaphor. They are "red" because of all the blood and gore and stuff. Get it. Anyway this movie is excellent. It is definitely not what i expected. It is surprisingly emotional, sad and beautiful. There is lots if disgusting blood and gore thats for sure and its the goriest part in the first subway scene. This movie also has an interesting story line based in the hans Christian anderson tale "the red shoes". It also has the first sex scene sort of thing i have ever seen in an Asian film. It will haunt my dreams forever. It has fights between the mother and the 5 year old daughter which makes you just want to scream at the screen STOP. because it is such good acting. It is so horrible in a good way that they would hurt and kill each others family just to have the shoes.

I saw this film at the AFI fest and Loved it. The shots were stunning. Beautiful composition and cinematography

I did however give this film a mere 7, and the reason for that is the extensive use of orchestra hits used as a gimmick to startle the audience. This was fine for the first five minutes, but after the twentieth time, I was getting kind of annoyed. THERE ARE TOO MANY!! Honestly i believe that the images are intense enough and the excessive use of music is unnecessary. If you're going to watch this movie, watch it on mute. The images are the best part of it. But as my world cinema instructor would say, "That's all that matters."

The Red Shoes (2005), not to be confused with the 1948 drama romance movie is a brutal South-Korean horror flick about a pair of high heels who's owner is followed by jealousy, greed and death. Unlike the title should suggests these red shoes are in fact pink high heels but that could be seen as a metaphor for all the blood it is responsible for. You see our protagonist spiraling down into madness while people around her try to claim these shoes are getting punished with a brutal death.

It's your typical run of the mill haunted item horror movie with nothing too spectacular or special to differentiate the movie from others. Even though its stylish and definitely has some brutal scenes with great makeup effects the movie overall ended up to be very average. We have seen similar movies before and this movie definitely will find its audience somewhere but overall I don't think it's a movie to be remembered. Still a decent watch for you if you enjoy creepy Asian supernatural horror movies. [5,2/10]

South Korean horror is an entire minefield of either being a complete miss and a snooze fest, or they are absolutely stunning and keep you thinking for hours or even days afterwards. Rarely, you come across these gems that are interesting and exciting in a more thriller type way than horror; they're not absolutely blow your mind amazing movies, but they also aren't going to put you to sleep with a pathetic excuse of a plot line.

The Red Shoes is one of those rare, not quite a hit but definitely not a miss movies.

At first, this movie held me with a lot of intrigues. Based on the original fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson where beautiful red ballet slippers will force the wearer to dance until they die or to cut their own feet/legs off in an attempt at survival, I was highly excited to see where this film took that original line. With the number of remakes and basic plot rip-offs of 'The Red Shoes', I was excited to see a film that took the premise but made it original for once. With some parts, inherently the same as the story and others completely changed around to make it the director's own. Kim Yong-gyun has definitely succeeded in making something on this. I was whisked away into the whole new world of the red shoes story. I found myself gripped and gasping for a lot of the first half of this film.

The acting was stunning, from all the actors and actresses. I want to give a big shout out to Park Yeon-ah and Kim Hye-soo who play the films prevalent mother-daughter combo. They were convincing, there wasn't a moment I doubted these characters weren't real and weren't living through this on the other side of the world. I cannot fault any of the cast in this film and the main and support role actors, I will definitely be watching more of their filmographies just from their performance in this film.

However, I have a couple of complaints about The Red Shoes as much as I have praise for it.

Firstly - and this sounds nitpicking and petty - but the shoes aren't even red. They're a magenta, some would even argue a pale pink in some of the lightings. Now, I understand that this was a choice based on Kim Yong-gyun's decisions to make the film his own. I'm not against it, I quite liked that choice to take it one further step away from Anderson's story and to make it into Yong-gyun's story. The reason I have an issue with this mainly is that keeping the title and such as it was, as "The Red Shoes", looks to me that they were relying on the name of the original story to fill out theatres a bit more. Again, that's fair and it's a commonly used marketing strategy with some films like this. However, it feels a little to me as though they might have been doubting the film's ability to stand on its own without that basis. This could have easily been named The Pink Shoes and been its own story without the comparison to Anderson's story; it would be similar, but wouldn't have been fully linked. This is more of a personal grievance and it doesn't really affect much within the movie, but it did make my eye twitch a few times through the film - each to their own pleasures and grievances, I suppose.

My second issue with The Red Shoes was that... this isn't a horror film. Yes, there are parts of it that are genuinely scary. There are parts of this that only fit into the horror genre aspect. However, when it came down to it, it really wasn't so scary. As a horror fanatic, this kind of horror is just "infantile" for a lack of better word. This is the horror that directors make to appeal to NON-horror fans rather than horror fans themselves. Word spreads, people who are easier scared go to see the film, they pass on word of mouth, etc; whilst horror fans find themselves struggling to sit through the entire film. This is much more of a bloody slasher thriller than it is a supernatural horror - and it's painfully obvious that Yong-gyun was aiming for supernatural horror, not a gory thriller. This film used so many cliches that are ripped from successful films before it of it's attempted genre that it's almost laughable.

This all being said - I did enjoy it to a degree. I think the idea and the plot line was refreshing. I think the acting was spot on. I liked the twists in the story much more than I have a lot of horror plot twists. However, I feel like this lacked in just as much as it did well.

If you aren't such a massive horror fan, then this will probably be a terrifying film to you, or will definitely make you quite paranoid about what shoes you're trying on. If you are a die-hard horror fan like myself, I think the only reason you should really watch this is that it has a refreshing new take on a fairy tale that's been used in so many horror mediums before. I appreciate Yong-gyun's efforts with this film, I do, but he missed the mark quite severely on quite a few things. I wish my rating could be higher, but there's too much lag for me to consider an extra half a star or two.

First of all I must say that I am puzzled about the statement on the DVD cover; 'genuinely creepy' and 'ghostly disturbing, violent and bloody' The Red Shoes is one of the year's must-see horror films'. I just wonder if I actually watched the same movie as whomever had written that.

The story is about a pair of haunted red shoes - yeah, exactly. Enough said! The storyline was a tad too silly for me and the entire movie was just lacking a proper red line throughout the entire storyline.

The movie wasn't spooky or scary, and it managed to stay afloat and pass as semi-watchable because of the acting performances put on by the cast. But the performances couldn't really manage to lift up the movie because the story was lacking the all-important spice. And as such, this movie was a below average experience.

South Korea do manage to put some really great horror movies out there, but "The Red Shoes" (aka "Bunhongsin") just wasn't one such occurrence.

We have a pair of bold pink shoes and they seem to have an interesting power: they bring out the the worst violent, obsessive and jealous tendencies in the women who wear them.

While there is a backstory for these shoes, elegantly set during the Japanese occupation, it's more interesting to see how they highlight toxic dynamics between women: rivalry between mother and daughter, wife and lover, married and single friends. I think that this aspect should have been explored more.

I love a good horror film, including a number of Asian titles from the last twenty years or so, but this seemed like a butchered version of what was meant to be a longer film. (No cause and effect, unclear motivation, difficult chronology.) It made very little sense to me (maybe if I was Korean, it would have made more sense, but I have my doubts.) The main character and her daughter are also two of the most annoying characters I've seen on film in the last few years: screaming at each other constantly... angry... petulant. I wanted them both dead half an hour in. There are some nice visuals here and there (and the male lead has some charisma), but to be honest, I barely made it through this utter mess of a film.

Sun-jae is a woman who leads a happy life: her daughter Tae-soo is learning ballet, her husband is kind and loving, she has a decent job, etc. That's all shattered once she finds her husband with another woman... Sun-jae splits, along with her daughter, and they move into a decrepit, old apartment complex. They try to live life normally, but their new "home" gets in the way, and the crazy old hag living around the building isn't helping much. One night, while riding the subway, Sun-jae finds a pair of red (okay, *pink*) shoes. She brings them home, but she doesn't realize that along with the shoes comes greed, obsession, murder, and a terrible curse bound to destroy Sun-jae's life.

I was immensely surprised by "The Red Shoes". The first thing I noticed was it's appearance: as with many South Korean horror films, the photography and visuals are incredibly breathtaking, and the music is equally great. The acting is also very high quality: Hye-soo Kim plays her character very well, showing how Sun-jae's mind is quickly deteriorating and becoming obsessed; Yeon-ah Park as the adorable Tae-soo is especially impressive, you can really tell she put in an amazing effort. All the other actors did a great job also.

Now to -in my opinion- the film's only flaw: it lacks originality. The scares are effective, there's a great Gothic creepy atmosphere, but it doesn't have many original scares. Haven't we seen the long-haired-ghost-with-back-problem too many times? What about the loud noises as jumps? We've seen a lot of it before, the only real originality in the scares is in the creative death scenes.

But, if you're not tired of the long-haired ghost story yet (like me), you'll love this.

My rating: 8/10.

If you could imagine all of the Asian horror clichés thrown into a single film, then with every single aspect cranked up to 11 without any cleverness or reason, you'd get a pretty bad film. Make it a couple of notches worse and you'd almost get The Red Shoes. There is absolutely no cleverness, no wit, no intelligence behind this film. Everything is exaggerated and amplified to the point where nothing is tied together, and every opportunity for gratuitous gore and violence thrown under the excuse of "psychological thriller" is used. The film is so over-the-top that it could be passed off as an acid, mean-spirited satire of Asian horror with perhaps a few small changes.

The film manages something impressive: while it shows absolutely no restraint in terms of jump scares, gore shots and blood gushing, the film isn't really unpredictable, and the story as a whole follows every single rule in the book. Everything is there. It's even worse than Avatar in terms of following the conventions. And you can't even use the argument that "the visuals are pretty" here, because everything is so in-your-face, it's downright tragic: the monochromatic shots, the blurriness, the uncomfortable close-ups, the occasional Shaky-Cam, and so on and on. Just avoid this film. Even if you're genuinely scared by horror films, go pick something better.