Scarecrow-88 Yoo-jin(Se-eun Lee)is so enraged with female classmates, who have singled her out because of being an *outsider*, that she invokes a "Bunshinsaba" spell on a witch board, placing a curse on the four tormentors, drawing the vengeful spirits of a mother and daughter, Chun-hee & Kim in-sook, who were burned alive by a village mob after their role in the forced suicide of a bully. When the girls all commit suicide by drowning a bag with gasoline before lighting it while on their heads, burning themselves alive due to the powerful hypnotic abilities of witch-ghost Chun-hee, the citizenry grows terrified and alarmed, believing that the 30-year old murder which bloodies the history of their town(..which occurred to Chun-hee and her blind daughter who were "psychically linked" at the hands of a mob of angry villagers who wanted them out of their area by any means necessary)has returned for payback. Home-room teacher Han jae-hoon(Seong-min Choi)attempts to protect Yoo-jin when her role in bringing the evil spirits from the grave reaches the frightened city counsel leaders who had a major part in the tragedy of Chun-hee and her daughter so many years ago. The mayor, school principal and others desire to send Yoo-jin packing, having found out that she possibly harbors the violent spirit of Kim in-sook. In another alternating story-line, a new teacher, Miss Lee(Gyu-ri Kim)has taken a position in the turbulent school, with the powerful spirit of Chun-hee using her as a host for carrying out acts against potential threats like hypnotist/psychic Ho-kyeoung(Jeong-yun Choi)who has discovered past occurrences through the troubled Yoo-jin, after she was "put under". Meanwhile, Chun-hee has special plans for Miss Lee once she rids herself of her enemies, those she hold responsible for the horrifying crimes against her and daughter Kim in-sook long ago.Standard story of vengeful spirit seeking supernatural revenge on those who wronged her in the past is technically well made, if rather average and predictable. The ghost of Chun-hee, rearing her ugly face when her host is under hypnosis(..those "red-light hypnosis sessions" are particularly eerie, especially when Yoo-jin is under and her eyes blacken), is especially creepy. And, the suicides(..and particularly Kim in-sook's terrible fate at the hands of torch-carrying angry villagers)are truly memorable and shocking. I think director Byeong-ki Ahn(Phone;Nightmare)is at his best showing a village under a siege of fear, completely overwhelmed by their own guilt and prejudices, and feeling the effects of what they did to those not born within their community. I do think Ahn is a gifted filmmaker who can certainly develop scenes which give you the creeps, and his technical skills are top-notch, but he has yet to make that one film which defines himself as a bona-fide story-teller. He, as of now, has made films which are closely related thematically to oft-made Asian horror hits that are(..and have been)flooding the market for years now. I do wish this film was titled something better because Bunshinsaba(..I watched it under the label "Witch Board:Bunshinsaba")really is only used to invoke the spirit, and isn't the focus of the story. The cast is superb right down the line, very attractive and help lift the rather ordinary material. Overall, Ahn's film will fulfill 90 minutes, and has some visual spooks to offer, but look elsewhere for originality.

siderite Vengeful ghosts return to haunt and destroy the people that caused their death. You might recognize a little of The Ring, as the mother had special mental powers. The ghosts, of course, have that hair effect with the eyes looking ... ghastly.A nice plot element is that the ghosts in this film really do have purpose, other than just killing and avenging. They do that beautifully, of course, but as a hobby not as a full time job :)The problem with the film is that it is not scary. The good ideas in the script are not fully capitalized. When people from a small isolated village see their children die inexplicably one would expect great turmoil and a lot of interesting things happening. Alas it was too low a budget to cover for this. Therefore everything in the movie seems shrunk, detached, to fit the budget.So, it's a nice film to watch for cultists and horror fans, but not a great movie, almost not a good one.

Ky-D Much like Ringu, Ju-on, Ryong, A Tale of two Sisters and about a thousand other Asian horror films, we have a female ghost with with thick-black hair pulled over her face exacting some kind of hellish retribution on hapless victims.What keeps this from simply disappearing underneath the mounds of similar films is a greater focus on story (specifically the who and why) and a couple creative death scenes.All around the filming is solid and most of the scare set-ups work pretty well. Some of the characters are a little over-written/acted and the film looses focus moving toward the end, as if the movie is trying to cover too much ground to fast.A mostly enjoyable, if wholly forgettable, supernatural yarn.6/10

gfreema2-1 Totally thought this would be a garbage throwaway movie, but was pleasantly surprised. If you like Ringu or Ju-on you will love this movie. The number of times that the people in the theater gasped or shrieked was surprising. The row of young people (was this in Singapore) next to me watched the whole movie through their hands or with the collars of their shirts ready to cover their eyes. Excellent. Creepy and atmospheric, with enough twists to make you follow it to the end. Heathers meets Freddy. Top Notch.