REVIEW: Anchor (2022)
A Korean horror thriller about a news anchor who is about to be replaced by a younger, better-looking candidate!
I don’t have anything too witty to say about this movie.
On the surface this looks like a great thriller. But then again on the surface a lot of movies look great!
But scratch that surface away, and you’ll find there’s not much under there besides a shallow thriller that plays its trump card way too early.
Plot
Se-ra is an anchor woman for a Korean TV station. Her career is on the rise and she’s about to secure the covered position of the 9PM news co-anchor.
Before going to air one evening, she answers a call from a woman who claims someone is stalking and trying to kill her. She ends the call saying she would be honoured if Se-ra covered her death personally for the news.
Later that evening, and still shook up by the phone call, she pays a visit to the woman’s residence and finds the dead body of her daughter in the bathtub, and the woman’s corpse in the closet.
Realising she has the scoop of her career, she continues to pursue the reporting of this strange case until she crosses paths with a controversial psychologist who specializes in hypnotherapy, who also has a sordid past with another similar incident.
I think if just that was the plot, then this would have been a far more interesting film. Instead, the film decided to go down a mental illness/split personality route, but the problem is that it telegraphs it’s ending so early in the film, that when the reveal occurs, there is no impact for the viewer.
There are so many hints early on until the film virtually tells you when Se-ra has her first meeting with the hypnotherapist.
For those who haven’t seen the film, and are watching the review first, then I will resist the urge to spoil what happens.
Admittedly the movie does build up the story and drip feed enough details at an interesting enough pace, and if you’re lucky – or unlucky – enough to not have worked out the ending, then there is a competent thriller here.
Leading the way in the film Woo-hee Chun, whose only other film of hers I have seen in the awesome 2016 highly acclaimed horror film The Wailing. But to be honest, I don’t remember her role in the film. She does a great job as the anchor with a split personality who allows the stress and pressure of her job to consume and take over her life.
Additionally, Shin Ha-kyun as the psychologist/hypnotherapist is great. But the problem is I need more than just a few solid performances from quality actors to fully enjoy a film.
I’m struggling with this review, just like I was struggling to enjoy the film.
Actually that’s not entirely true, I enjoyed the fact that I knew what was going on in the film. I just wish I hadn’t.
Using my patent pending ghost rating, which stands for Great Horror Or Stupid Trash, or in this case Thriller, I am actually going to award this film 2 ghosts. It’s a competent thriller that some people will really enjoy, some people will find ho-hum and other people will so “not the mental illness thing again”
It is what it is. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
If you’ve seen it, what did you think?
Genre Psychological Horror/Thriller
Director Ji-Yeon Jung
Starring Cheon Woo Hee, Ha-kyun Shin
Original Title 앵커
Country of Origin Korea
Release Date April 20 2022