NIGHTMARE

Subtlety is hardly the word in Nightmare, a Korean splatter thriller that knows what it wants to do and makes no apologies. Well-produced, with a barrage of special and visual effects, this first film by former assistant director Ahn Byung-ki contrasts strongly with artier Korean psycho-horrors but delivers the goods in spades. Film bombed on release this summer but would make good midnight fare at Western fantasy fests. Story is of the who's-next variety as the seven members of a group of university students, calling themselves "A Few Good Men", are gradually eliminated two years later by an unknown killer. Plot kicks off with Sun-ae back from the U.S. visiting her former classmate, Hye-jin, and claiming she's being stalked by a mutual friend she thought was dead. None of the group believes her, but when one, a film director, dies with his eyes pulled out, and another, a movie actress, is stabbed in the shower, Hye-jin investigates. Among the young, sexy cast, actress Ha Ji-won (from psychodrama Truth or Dare, released in the spring) stands out as the group's creepiest member.