Customer Reviews

The Wig (Unrated)

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This Korean movie tries to answer the pressing question: can someone make a horror movie out of a wig? The answer depends on what you mean by "horror." I was horrified at the end to realize I had purchased this dud on line from Amazon.
The main characters are two sisters, one dying from leukemia (who has lost her hair to chemotherapy) and the other suffering from a failed marriage. The suffering sibling gives her sister a wig. When the dying woman puts it on, she immediately loses the 10:00 shadows under the eyes, her posture improves, and she gets surges of energy. Unfortunately, during one of these energy surges she tries to seduce her soon-to-be-ex-brother-in-law, to the horror (again that word) of her suffering sister.
Meanwhile strange things are happening. The wig, for instance, keeps falling off its hanger onto the floor. This may be because 1) it is too heavy for the hanger, or 2) it actually prefers the floor. The answer is 2), for reasons explained at the end of the movie.
One key sequence encapsulates some of the problems with this film. A friend of the two girls borrows the wig, and the next day she and her husband turn up dead. The wig magically returns to its owner. I had to watch this sequence again, because I did not know who was who. In fact, this is a problem during the key revelation flashback, when the origin of the wig and its relationship to the main characters is revealed. I was wondering, "Who?" "What?" "Why?" And who is doing what to whom? A lot of these characters look alike.
The really "scary" scene at the climax shows the hair climbing up a flight of stairs. This is reminiscent of the Terminator, when the mutilated machine crawls across the floor and up some steps to terminate Sarah Connors. In that movie the effect was to show how implacable the machine was. In this movie it was laughable. We now discover that the wig really likes to be on the ground, moving around like a "skink." (Don't look this one up in Webster's: a "skink" is a long-haired legless animal that crawls up stairs in Asian horror movies.)
The penultimate scene showing one of the sisters holding the dead body of her sibling goes on and on and on, as if repetition will make it seem more pathetic. Whether or not it works depends on what you mean by "pathetic."
By this time the characters and you, the viewer, will all have had a Bad Hair Day.

It's a very good movie, and one I highly recommend to all, if you like Asian horror, especially K-horror. It certainly has some pretty creepy moments, let me tell you - worth a watch. It isn't as silly as its premise might at first seem.

Ji-hyeon [Seon-Yu] has lost everything--her voice to a freak accident, her fiancee, Ki-Seok, to reasons she does not understand, and now she is about to lose her sister, Su-hyeon [Min-seo Chai] her only living family member, to leukemia. Trying to cover up the severity of Su-hyeon's illness for both herself and her sister, she tells her sister she is cured, and presents her with a wig to cover the baldness caused by chemotherapy. But the hair of the wig was illegally obtained from the dead, and one dead person in particular, causing drastic changes in Su-hyeon's body and mind. Ji-hyeon must find a way to free her sister from the curse that comes with the Wig. The Wig is both terrifying and heartwrenching, with excellent character development and a strong story, along with eerie effects as the wig takes on a life of its own.

As a fan of horror films I can say this one can be quite engaging and frightening at times, despite numerous flaws. As with most of the Asian horror movies, most of the frightening scenes are hallucinations/dreams/psychological, which can get boring at times but also allows a movie to add more scares without making it a gore-fest. This movie does have it's share of violence toward the end, but it also has a lot of drama throughout for those who cannot stand that genre (personally I think it made the film much more entertaining). I found the ending to be the best part of the movie in how brilliantly tragic they made it. I will not spoil the ending of a horror film in a review but I found it very depressing even for a horror/drama movie.

However this movie wasn't perfect like other reviewers said. The wig going up staircases by itself and magically falling off hangers and moving across the floor really ruined it. Without that, the movie could certainly be taken more seriously and would have a deeper psychological impact. Also the random hallucinations can get a bit annoying with their repetetiveness, but that may be just an opinion.

Overall, it was an entertaining horror flick with just enough, perphaps a little too much drama mixed in, but certainly not very original or a masterpiece, if that is what you are looking for.

Does the world really need a film about a demonic hairpiece? That's a question that the Korean shocker "The Wig" would like to answer in the affirmative. There are a lot of great examples of Asian horror in the DVD marketplace. Too much of it, in my opinion, centers around shaggy haired ghost girls who show up at inopportune moments. Sorry, it's just a bit overdone! So when, near the beginning of "The Wig," I was faced with a moving mass of hair wriggling along the floor--I nearly flipped the movie off. Ghost girls are bad enough really--but hair without even a ghost girl seemed somewhat pathetic. However, I stuck with it and "The Wig," while not a particularly above-average film, does have a compelling back story that kept my interest.

"The Wig" centers around two sisters--one of which has suffered the loss of her hair due to leukemia. When presented with a wig, with mysterious origins (naturally), she is initially reluctant. But when she tries it on, she starts to feel stronger and healthier. In many ways, she starts to become reliant on the hair and that dependence starts to put her under the thrall of the wig's originator. "The Wig" becomes a story of possession and I liked some of the elements (there is even a "Picture of Dorian Gray" vibe as the girl's condition degenerates when not wearing the wig). Her interactions with her sister and her sister's boyfriend lend emotional significance to the picture--they are both subject to her dementia and responsible for helping to save her (even at the cost of returning her to a diseased state).

In the final showdown, the revelations are more psychological than horror based--and I also found that somewhat interesting. The history of the hair plays out even as the main characters combat one another for the soul of the girl. I liked the explanation. But once the wig takes on a life of its own, once again, "The Wig" lost me. So, here's the scorecard for me: Wig possessing girl--good. Wig acting on its own--bad. Ultimately, "The Wig" is an intriguing if only partially successful film. There's much better out there--but I've seen much worse as well. Give it a gamble if you're in the right mood. About 2 1/2 stars. KGHarris, 10/10.

This is NOT your progressive state-of-theart- horror scare fare. Neither is it that killer condom, or some part or a body that has been replaced like The Eye. What it is happens it be a really strange story that gets more disturbing as you turn it and look at the angles. I like cheesy movies and I like oddity - this was both and yet horrible at the same time.

The movie starts with one sister giving another a getting-out-of-the-hospital gift. Its a wig she bought for her to hide the embarassment of all of her treatment - and to make her more comforatable because her prognosis is grim. When the sister takes it she looks frail and borken but, soon after, changes begin. She shapes the hair and she molds it to her needs, then starts talking about things that are mental and physical. All the while, she starts doing things she's not suppose to do - like dance club time - and that astounds the doctors. But her sister - she sees a different side of things and it is horrific for her to watch as it shapes.

I had absolutely NO idea what I was goinginto when I watched this but, comign out, I have to say the endign really stunned me. Out of all the things that could have happened in a movie, this one was one of the things that was really out there - and really extreme. It took an idea, one you think you kow, and tweeked it until it became something you din't.
I loved that.

Another thing I thought was good was the photograpghy. A wig that has a need for some dastardly stuff is, well, a story that doesn't sound good on the boards. Then again, neither does something liek The Eye when you look too closely. But a few scenes shore that up well. Come it with some fair to good acting and you have some gore, some horror, and some fun.

You want serious horror then you need to look elsewhere. I'm not saying this doesn't have soemthign serious within it, but it is not something that will power the SS Horrible anytime soon. At the same time, it is a legit horror film - I sat through the 80s and remember far worse ideas comign tthrough well - and think people should check thsis out. I laughed, I cringed (that bathroom thing was terrible, I wondered, and I even felt a little bad for some of the people here.
That says I had a 4 star experiences, noting that I like things like this and that I am drawn to ideas liek this as well.