The (not so) Red Shoes

The Red Shoes (2005) aka Bunhongsin
Dir - Yong-gyun Kim


After recently seeing the great Powell/Pressburger film The Red Shoes (1948) I felt it made complete sense that I see what South Korea could do with the same material. Surprise, it didn't take my breath away like the classic.

This is definitely a darker, horror fueled take on the Hans Christian Andersen tale. Unfortunately there is not much separating this from other Asian horror films of the last ten or so years. In fact some scenes feel directly lifted from other films, like an elevator scene that borders on something from The Eye. Another gripe is that most of the time the shoes don't look very red, more pink. Still there are some decent moments and a cool dancing sequence in a flashback.