Final exams at Chang-In High School are about to begin. However, a certain subset of students must remain in school for an additional few days. When a class from Eaton, the twin school, pays Chang-In High School a visit, the top twenty students of the year must represent the school well. The kids must finish a few lessons under the direction of teachers Hwang Chang-wook (Lee Beom-su) and Choi So-yeong (Yoon Jeong-hee) in English in order to be ready for the big day. But all of a sudden, fear enters the school. One of the female classmates is taken hostage and ensnared in a lethal game. Within the next few hours, the pupils must solve a number of puzzles; if they offer the wrong answer or take too long, one of them will perish. I-na (Nam Gyoo-ri) and her pretend boyfriend Kang Hyeon (Kim Beom) work very hard to figure out the killer's motivation while also doing everything in their power to carry out the murderer's assignments. In the process, the two come across a name they recognize. Jang-won, a girl discovered dead in her school a few years prior. Either her ghost couldn't find any rest and is now wandering the school, or someone is now exacting retribution on her.
A school, a female student's ghost... When you hear this, the "Whispering Corridors" series can't help but come to mind. Even yet, "Death Bell" avoids down the path of a psychological horror movie and isn't a Sadako ripoff, even if one of the opening images features merely the face of a female with long black hair and grey skin. Rather, it aims to satisfy aficionados of teen horror films. Even though the movie leaves up the option of turning everything into a ghost narrative at some point, the fact that there appears to be a real, insane entity behind all the killings this time alone should earn it some extra points.But what happens next in the movie is a series of scenes that, with their lack of plausibility and haphazard rushing around school hallways, will only make you smack yourself in the forehead. Even though the tempo is quickening throughout, the regrettably thin character drawings prevent you from really getting attached to the characters, so even as the pace is quickening, tension is not immediately created.
In Korea in 2008, "Death Bell" was the sole horror movie. As a result, it also enjoyed some respectable box office success. Enough to allow it to be released internationally on DVD and pave the possibility for a follow-up. But this triumph isn't at all deserved. This horror movie's entertainment value decreased multiple times due to a shoddy writing and numerous logical holes. And this is true even though the picture has strong technical aspects and is supported by enough big-name talent, like singer Nam Gyoo-ri ("More than Blue") and actor Lee Beom-su ("City of Violence"). The hand that Lee Beom-su has been dealt is particularly poor. He has a lot of charisma at first, but as the events unfold, his persona changes significantly in ways that are inexplicable given the emotional strain of the circumstances. This reality is likewise unaffected by the final justification for his actions. His persona lacks coherence in its drawing. While the rest of the pupils essentially stand as a homogenous pulp with different names attached to them, Yoon Jeong-hee is frequently quite cold and unkind.
As the lead actress, Nam Gyoo-ri likewise lacks luster and acts just as foolishly as the entire class. Which comes me to the most enjoyable portion of this review. pointing up the logical errors. Usually, in order to avoid giving anything away, you have to hold back a little. Well, with a movie like "Death Bell," that's not really essential, but I will still exercise some self control. Now let's get going. Isolated from the outside world, the children and a few teachers are confined within a school facility. The phone is dead, all of the kids' cellphones were taken away at the start of the session, and it appears that the professors had never heard of a mobile phone. In addition, their phones are all broken for unknown reasons. None of them appear to have an appointment with someone outside the school premises who may become concerned. The school appears to be a completely remote location. Additionally, rather than solving the first riddle—which, incidentally, the murderer didn't even name—students and teachers would rather quarrel, which results in a pupil drowning on the monitors in front of them.
"Death Bell" appears to be a violent film with graphic killings and torture.
