Movie Review: A Blood Pledge

Posted by: artsyfutsy on: February 22, 2010

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A Blood Pledge (2009) is a horror movie directed by Lee Jong Yong. It is the fifth in the series of South Korean horror films set in an all-girls high school, which began from ‘The Whispering Corridors’ (1998). The cast of the movie consists of: Son Eun-Seo as SoYi, Jang Kyeong-Ah as EonJu, Oh YeonSeo as Yujin, Song Minjeong as Eunyeong and Yu ShinAe as Jeongeon (EonJu’s younger sister).

The movie deals with taboo issues such as parental violence, teenage pregnancy, bullying and betrayal. Blood Pledge is about four students who swear their friendship with a blood pact and promise each other that they will die together. The movie starts with a gruesome scene where EonJu is being flung down from the roof of the school’s chapel and her body lands right in front of Jeongeon. Jeongeon decides to investigate the cause of her sister’s death and learns about the blood pact. At the same time, EonJu comes back to haunt the rest of her friends as her other friends did not follow the promises they made written on the pact.

The director did not really go into depth about the taboo issues and only show glimpses of how these issues can affect one’s life. Also, a shortcoming in the movie was that the plot was neither here nor there, and the ending of the movie was not really convincing, hence leaving audiences unsatisfied with the movie. Another flaw in the movie is that the time sequence was really poor. There were numerous flashbacks in the movie which made me confuse about what was happening in the movie.

Shortcomings aside, I think the director should receive some credit for the ambience created in the movie. One of the most common camera technique used was the ‘sweeping’ technique where the camera sweeps across the roof, catching views off guard as EonJu’s ghost suddenly pops up in front of the camera. The ominous, eerie orchestral music compliments the camera techniques used. There is not much to expect in the physical appearance of the ghost as this movie also follows the trend of stereotyping Asian female ghosts as those with dark long hair and pale skin.

This South Korean film has been sold to distributors from South-east Asia and it has also been reported that there might be possibilities of remakes of the film.

A Blood Pledge is great for those who are looking for a movie to give them a slight shock or a nightmare, however if you are looking for a more in-depth horror movie, it would be advisable to give this movie a miss.

You can watch the official trailer  here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yutvPl3ohWI

Rating: 5/10

-Miriam