Acacia (2003)

Movie Rating R Contains: Strong Language Violence

Director: Ki-Hyung Park Movie Genre: Horror, Ghost Story Country: South Korea Acacia Score Card The following scores are based on a 0.0 to 10.0 rating scale Hover your mouse pointer over the name of each scoring category below for a description Direction: 6.2 Writing: 5.8 Acting: 6.0 Cinematography: 6.0 Sound and Score: 5.0 Functionality: 6.3 Presentation: 7.0 Genre Comparison: 6.0 General Comparison: 5.8 Overall: 6.6 Reviewed 2005-12-09 02:12:14

Writer-director Ki-hyung Park’s Acacia is a moody, atmospheric, Korean horror movie about a couple who are unable to conceive. They adopt Jin-seong, who is obsessed with the acacia tree in the backyard. When the couple have a biological child, Jin-seong's obsession with the tree intensifies and he seems to be responsible for a series of harmful "accidents".

The pacing of this movie is deliberately slow, but not daunting. It starts tame, then, through the course of the story, swells to an explosive climax. The ending is telegraphed early in the movie and the story's themes are quite common. Still, Acacia is worth watching, if only for the eerie mood that it evokes.

The cinematography by Hyeon-je Oh is dark and brooding. The use of bright reds in the house juxtaposed with the gray sky outdoors lends an element of gothic suspense that significantly enhances the feel of the movie. The horror elements are more centered on overall creepiness and suspense, rather than violence and gore. In fact, the minimal use of blood in Acacia is much more shocking and effective than most gory horror movies.

Acacia is genre cinema in its purest form. It is one of the most atmospheric horror films to come from Korea. Although the themes in Acacia are clichéd, they have rarely been implemented this successfully. Also, it is refreshing to see an Asian horror movie that does not involve a female ghost with long black hair.