COMMENTS
I did a little research on this Korean thriller before checking this out and most of what I read was positive, so I had high hopes for this movie. After viewing it I was quite pleased with the end-result. This movie can compared to the 80s movie The Hitcher, because of the similar theme, but, although the movie came close to being as good as Hitcher was, it just didn't have enough to make it better.

Starts off pretty interesting with the couple going on a weekend trip. Everything seems fine until they make a stop to get something to eat. Apon leaving they hit a stranger walking behind the car. He requests a ride and having just hit the guy, the couple reluctantly accepted.

From the start you can tell this stranger is trouble. Later on in the car he jokes around with the couple about death, which puts them a little on edge. They drop him off, but before the stranger leaves he makes a comment about how he never makes jokes.

Anyway, through the rest of the movie we get obvious hints that the stranger is following the couple. A rock is thrown at their hotel window while they make love. They are almost chased off the road by a phantom car. Eventually the boyfriend confronts the stranger at a public street and beats the crap out of him. Stupid of him, because the stranger ended up calling the cops.

To make things short, the stranger harrasses the couple through the rest of te movie and later on they are forced to make a deal where the couple has to spend the rest of their weekend with the stranger. That and the title is explained in the movie.

There was a wicked torture scene in this movie that I found rather amusing. Hard to watch for the squeamish. I thought the couple was really stupid in certain scenes because they basically fell into the stranger's trap from the start, where things could have been resolved easier. The movie had a lot of cool scenes, but not enough action. I thought it would have a bit more. That hitcher guy sure is a hard-to-kill mofo.

I would have given the movie a higher-rating, but I expected more and found the ending, while it is pretty cool, rather predictable. Talk about a lot of blood. You can get your hands on an all-region DVD of this movie [at HKFlix.com].

OVERALL
Pretty cool Korean thriller in the vein of The Hitcher. I say if you enjoyed the 80s Hitcher movie that you'll enjoy this.

And, so begins a terrifying weekend in the life of the couple. For some reason this stranger has targeted them, and he slyly weaves himself in and out of their lives, while also making it difficult for them to get any outside help. And whether or not just one of them survives the ordeal seems to involve saying one simple word, “Yes”. But, the consequences of saying “yes” to his request is unfathomable for a couple that is in love.

THE FILM:
The 2001 Korean horror film Say, Yes is another in the long line of psychopathic drifter films like The Hitcher, Hitch-Hike, and The Devil Thumbs a Ride. As a matter of fact it borrows pretty liberally from The Hitcher, as well as a certain modern horror masterpiece (a film so well known if I mention it I’ll spoil the finale). Basically, despite the unoriginality, it starts out rather promising before trudging through too much bad horror clichés and lack of logic. What is rather odd is how slick the film is, featuring a believable couple and a few keen little suspense pieces- ranging from simple little shocking scenes involving a rock thrown through a window, to a full on big truck and car chases, to a harrowing torture scene. But, it still stumbles into too much that is unbelievable- for instance (this is early in the film so its not really a spoiler) the drifter frames Jung-hyun, gets him arrested, and says that the only way he’ll agree to dropping the charges is if Jung-hyun apologizes and (secretly he arranges with Yoon-hee) that they let him ride with them some more. Now, honestly, if some guy had just nearly murdered you and cast hints that he’d like to rape your wife, would you agree to let him tag along with you?

What it all boils down to is this- The Hitcher was brilliant because it is like a surreal nightmare with plenty of amped up action, going from suspense set up to suspense set up. It defied logic, like a dream and had a charismatic, otherworldly villain. In Say, Yes we have basically the same premise and type of villain, only here, it is less suspenseful because it doesn’t fully let go of reality and has a villain that is less charismatic and more just plain creepy... But, horror is as subjective as comedy. Just because I couldn’t lose myself in the film, that doesn’t mean a lot of horror fans wont really enjoy it. I could be jaded from reading too many true crime books. I’d say the easygoing horror fan, the Halloween 2, Valentine, Sleepy Hollow crowd will really enjoy it... It is really nice production, and while it does have copious amounts of blood, stabbings, and bone breaking, its not really graphic, more subtle and effectively gory/queasy in its scenes. So, it is a nice curiosity, that although I was annoyed by its story flaws, I was still very entertained and would hesitantly recommend it to die-hard horror fans.

I looked up the stars the director on the imdb. Director Sung-Hong Kim’s most recent films were titled Deep Scratch and A Growing Business, neither of which I recognize. The drifter is a well known face in Asian cinema, he’s primarily a comedian and low budget action star named Joon-Hung Park. The girl playing Yoon-hee is named Sang Mu Chi, and she has starred in a few films, including another Korean horror called Soul Guardians. The actor playing the husband apparently hasn’t been in anything else yet.

THE DVD:
20th Century Fox Korea, so it is a high caliber DVD, level with Fox’s US releases. DVD says Region 3 on the back but is NTSC All Region. Picture- Letterboxed, Anamorphic, 1:85:1. It is a pretty slick production, on par with any average budgeted Hollywood film, and it is well represented by this DVD. Strong color and sharpness, great black levels, and little/no signs of wear and tear on the print. Sound- Dolby Digital 5.1 Korean language with optional English and Korean subtitles. Fantastic sound, clear and pretty dynamic, a superb sound mix, eerie music, crashes, rain, and other mood enhancing sound comes through really well. Extras- 24 Chapters--- Theatrical Trailer--- Cast & Director Profiles--- Interviews with the director and three main stars (pretty brief)--- Making of segment, featuring behind the scenes looks at several film sequences--- Here is where we come to the "international" problem, the Profiles, Interviews and Making Of segments are all in Korean with no subtitles, so normally they would be great extras but for those of us who don’t speak Korean, they don’t do us much good (although it was still kind of neat to watch the behind the scenes stuff).

In celebration of his newly published book, Jeong-hyun (Kim Ju-hyuk) and his beautiful girlfriend (Shu Sang-mi) are taking a weekend getaway. Everything is fine and dandy until they stop at a cafe where they run into (literally!) a strange man (Park Joong-hoon) who asks them if he can get a lift to their destination. Being the typical thriller this movie is, they agree to help the guy out. While on the road, the strange man gets more and more odd by the minute. His wicked presence, sinister stairs and wicked silence start to build extreme tension towards the couple. He even goes as far as lighting a cigarette in their new car and intentionally blowing smoke in the couple's direction.

Need I go on? I'm sure you know exactly where this film is going and you're right on the target...

Somewhere in the first half of the film, Jeong-hyun is given a fair chance to end the terror. During this time, the following phrases are apparent: Will you kill to save the one you love? Will you go through extreme pain to save the one you love? Will you die to save the one you love?

Again, this film borrows heavily from the mentioned Hollywood films above, but it does have a quality of it's own in terms of entertainment and outcome. Besides, Park Joong-hoon's performance is worth seeing alone. Being the pervert I am, I might as well mention that it was nice to see Shu Sang-mi's flawless nude body more than once.

I'm starting to REALLY like Korean films. Haven't seen a bad one yet!