Customer Reviews

The Quiet Family

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The thoughtfulness of the satire in this film may be lost on those seeking a cheap or violent thrill. This film is a not-so-subtle jab at Korean culture, as well as being entertaining and fun. The re-make, "Happiness of the Katakuris" is more energetic and crazy but loses the cultural insight that sets this film apart from just another 'Asian Horror Movie'.
If you enjoyed Hitchcock's "The Trouble With Harry", you will notice some similarities, right down to a few identical shots and sequences.

My rating is more for the DVD quality than the actual movie. The movie itself I'd give around 3.5 stars. I've seen a couple of TaiSeng release DVD's now and must say they are terrible. The TaiSeng Quiet Family version that I got was the special edition so I can't say for sure its the same as this one. But the picture quality is comparable to VHS and the subtitles are terrible. Numerous times throughout the film, the subtitles will flash on the screen for a second if that and the translation often seems to be poor. So I'd only recommend getting this if you don't mind poor quality DVD picture and you understand Korean. Otherwise, you'll probably be very detracted when watching this.

Everyone wants to remake Asian horror films, overlooking little gems like this film. The dearth of new ideas in American movies (I refuse to attach the term cinema to most American films)makes this ripe for the picking. I've watched it half a dozen times and I'm still laughing.

One of the worst things that can happen to a hotel is for someone to die there. But what if the deaths, suicides and possible murders just won't stop?

That's the dilemma facing the titular "Quiet Family," in a Korean dark comedy that gives new meaning to the phrase "sick sense of humour." While the movie starts off in a relatively relaxed, normal manner, Kim Ji-woon's first movie becomes more warped and frenetic as the death-count rises, and the deliciously complex plot becomes cleverer. You'll never look at a rural bed-and-breakfast in quite the same way again.

The Kang family recently moved from Seoul to a some remote rural area, where Dae Gu (Park In-hwa) has purchased a remote little hotel after being told that a major road is going to be run nearby. But nobody checks in until one rainy night, when a strange man appears -- and then stabs himself on a sharpened keychain. Terrified that the suicide will ruin their reputation, the family (except the two teen daughters) freaks out and buries the body in the woods.

For most people, that would be the end -- except the Kangs seem to be under a sort of curse. More people die in bizarre and gruesome ways, and end up buried in the woods. As if police investigations and road construction weren't causing enough stress, a local businessman makes Dae Gu a party to his own little plot -- he's going to order a hit on his sister. When THAT goes wrong, can the Quiet Family pull it together -- or will everything blow up in their faces?

Takashi Miike later remade this movie as the surreal musical "The Happiness of the Katakuris." But don't let that colour any opinions of the original film, because Miike's work is very different from "The Quiet Family."

This movie starts off pretty tamely, with the Kang family's problems getting any guests into their hotel. In fact, it's a bit dull watching them potter around the place, hoping that incoming phone calls will be for something other than Chinese food orders. But after the second round of suicides -- and the discovery that one about-to-be-buried corpse isn't quite dead -- the storyline starts to blossom. As the family's subterfuge spins out of control, the plot becomes more complex, more chaotic, and much weirder.

By the time the entire hit-man-on-the-premises subplot enters the scene, the entire family is spinning out of control -- literally nothing is going to go right for them. And the crazier it gets, the more hilarious it is. By the climax this little family has taken hostages, set fires, peeped in on couples having sex, buried a small crowd out in the woods, and a couple of them have chased ex-guests with axes and shovels... but with no ill intent.

The only really disturbing scene is one where Mina almost gets raped by one of the guests, only to be rescued by her bumbling brother in what is possibly the most pathetic fight scene ever, followed by a very undignified demise involving a clifftop and a swinging door.

But Kim Ji-Woon's greatest triumph is something most directors can't do -- subtle sick humor. Consider the bloody rapist lurching through the inn like a serial killer, or the gloriously gruesome spectacle of a mostly-dead, semi-nude man lunging around and roaring like a zombie... only to get whacked in the head with a shovel. The increasingly loopy, desensitized reactions to the deaths are simply sidesplitting, and it leaves you wondering if the Kangs will be found out.

Park In-hwa does an excellent job as the patriarch of this little clan, who appears to have severely stunted morals, while Na Moon-hee is good as his long-suffering wife. Song Kang Ho as the not-so-bright son and Lee Yun Sung as the flirtatious younger daughter are also excellent, but the cleverer, somewhat sarcastic Go Ho Kyun is the real standout among the assorted kids.

It's worth noting that the Tai Seng version of this movie has some rather faulty subtitling -- while the translation is of typical quality, sometimes the latter part of sentences are cut off. You can still tell what is going on in the movie, but it's a little frustrating.

"The Quiet Family" is a deceptively peaceful title for a frenetic, hilariously sick little dark comedy. It may start slow, but as the bodies pile up, so does the humor.

I gave a scathing review for Takashi Miike's dreadful "Happiness of the Katakuris". Not good. It turns out that it was a remake of a Korean film, namely "The Quiet Family". While much better than the remake, the film still struggles under the weight of trying too hard to make the black humor strike home, although several moments are quite well done and elicited a minor chuckle. The basic story is a family who opens a lodge on a hiking trail and their guest keep accidentally dying off so rather than have it reflect badly on their lodge, they start hiding the bodies. THe main problem here is that its just not that funny and not at all scary which a horror/comedy should have at least one of those qualities. It left me, quite frankly, bored.