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| ▲ This photo, provided by Tving, shows the poster for "Monstrous." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by Tving, shows Tving original series "Monstrous." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by Tving, shows the poster for "Monstrous." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, May 1 (Yonhap) -- “Monstrous,” which director Yeon Sang-ho participated in writing the script, was selected as Tving’s most anticipated work for the first half of this year. However, as it was revealed on the 29th, it has been getting unexpected criticisms.
Set in the fictional rural village, Jinyang County, “Monstorus,” tells the story of a cursed Buddha statue “Gwibul” that begins to throw the village into chaos due to Kwon Jong-soo (Park Ho-san) forcibly starting a tourism business for his own greed.
As the villagers who saw the eyes of the “gwibul” are trapped in their respective hells, killing and destroying each other, archaeologist Jung Ki-hoon (Koo Gyo-hwan) struggles to end this bizarre phenomenon.
The main subject of the drama “Monstorus” are the gwibuls that appeared in “Method” written by director Yeon Sang-ho while Jinyang county comes out in the movie “Train to Busan.” Considering these factors, “Monstrous” was expected to be a work that would expand the world of director Yeon Sang-ho.
However, rather than expanding the “Yeon Sang-ho Universe,” elements from previous works only re-appeared, and were not able to escape the obvious structure where there is a chaos in the village caused by the gwibul and people trying to end the chaos.
In particular, the gwibuls, which are supposed to be at the center of the work, was excavated and exhibited by people, and then was destroyed so easily that it barely had any activity.
It contrasts with the appearance of the ghost in “Method,” which raised tension by providing another risk factor, such as throwing flesh to those who approached.
Additionally, people falling into their own hell and showing excessive violence was like the Netflix original series “Sweet Home,” while the black rain and the appearance of a flock of crows attacking people were repetitive in existing occult works. Thus, the work has also failed to save the fun of the genre.
The scene where Ki-hoon and Seok-hee were chased by a flock of crows had an especially unrealistic computer graphic, not allowing the viewers to concentrate.
Despite the excellent performances from the actors, due to the plain narration of the story, the charm of the characters did not shine.
Lee Soo-Jin (Shin Hyun-Bin) who were excellent in deciphering letters and symbols as an archaeologist did not have a lot of role, and Kwak Yong-Joo (Kwak Dong-Yeon) who could have been the most outstanding character failed to get justice for its character. Han Seok-Hee (Kim Ji-Young) and her son Han Do-Kyung (Nam Da-Reum) also made the viewers question the story rather than impressing them because the narrative was not fully solved.
“There was no creativity that was up to the standards of director Yeon Sang-ho,” said Jung Deok-hyeon, a pop culture critic. “It seems to be a work that has only collaborated the different worlds that director Yeon has created through the previous works. It just looks like a self-replication.”
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