Say Yes (2001) Review

“Say Yes” Korean Theatrical Poster

Director: Kim Sung-hong
Writer: Yeo Hye-yeong
Producer: Hwang Gi-Seong
Cast: Park Joong-hoon, Chu Sang-Mi, Kim Ju-Hyeok, Gi Ju-Bong, Lee Chang-Yeong
Running Time: 105 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Think of Asian horror during the late 90’s and early 2000’s, and the image that comes to mind will most likely be one of a long black haired female ghost. The 1998 Japanese movie Ring triggered a whole host of Asian horror movies, all of which relied upon the sight of long black haired apparitions to strike fear into the heart of the viewer. Korea was no exception, offering their own adaptation of the novel that Ring was based on with 1999’s The Ring Virus, and in 2002 with the derivative Phone. However Korea’s horror genre didn’t rely solely on long black hair, and during the same time period its film industry produced a number of grizzly murder thrillers, which easily veered into horror territory.

From the severed blood soaked body parts found in 1999’s Tell Me Something, to the graphic images of sliced up pregnant women found in 2002’s H, both movies relied on the more primeval horror trope of gruesome imagery to sell themselves. Say Yes, from 2001, falls into the same category, however unlike its peers it goes down a different path than the murder mystery, instead opting to go for a more direct approach. If any movie was worth drawing a comparison to, it would be Robert Harmon’s 1986 thriller The Hitcher, which has Rutger Hauer playing a psychotic hitch-hiker who makes life hell for a young couple, played by C. Thomas Howell and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

The director of Say Yes, Kim Sung-hong, seems to have quite an affinity for making movies which revolve around a psychotic character. From 1997’s The Hole, to even his most recent effort with 2012’s Doctor (a movie which became more famous for lead actor Kim Chang-wan stating in a TV interview that he wished he’d never made it), Sung-hong isn’t one to shy away from recycling his own movies themes and characters. With Say Yes, we’re introduced to a married couple played by Kim Joo-hyuk and Chu Sang-mi. To celebrate Joo-hyuk successfully finding a publisher for a novel he’s written, the pair decide to take a road trip from Seoul to the seaside town of Sokcho, in Joo-hyuk’s newly purchased car.

Things are going well, until they take a break in a service station along the way. While Joo-hyuk is busy buying coffee, Sang-mi notices a man who persistently stares in her direction. When Joo-hyuk returns he insists that it’s no big deal, however upon pulling out of the car park, the same man throws himself in front of their car, feigning that he didn’t see them pulling out. As an apology, Joo-hyuk agrees to give him a ride to Sokcho, where he’s also headed, and as the expression goes – you should never give a ride to strangers.

The man in question is played by Park Joong-hoon, one of the most recognizable faces in Korean cinema. Joong-hoon was the star in one of the very first Korean movies to get distributed internationally, in the 1999 movie Nowhere to Hide, which had him playing a stubbornly determined cop on the trail of a hitman. He’s an actor who’s been in the industry since the mid-80’s, and at the time of its production was easily the most established star in the cast of Say Yes. It’s surprising then, that if anything his nameless psychopath is really the weak point of the movie.

The issue comes down to the fact that a lot of characterization has gone into establishing Joo-hyuk and Sang-mi’s freshly married couple. They bicker, make up, and worry about things like money and what the future holds. Their relationship seems very real, which seems at odds with Joong-hoon’s one note monotone psycho. It almost seems as if the movie should be a romantic drama, but has had Joong-hoon teleported in as a joke, to see what would happen if a horror movie psychopath is randomly thrown into the mix. Their actions in reaction to Joong-hoon also seem far fetched. Apart from the fact that they let him into their car in the first place, when Joong-hoon casually states that he’s contemplating which one of them he’s going to kill first, as expected Joo-hyuk pulls the car over and angrily yells at him to get out. When Joong-hoon insists that he was just kidding, unbelievably they decide to let him stay in.

Proceedings continue with Joo-hyuk and Sang-mi attempting to enjoy their holiday, only for Joong-hoon to repeatedly step in to ruin things or terrorize them in some way. We really have no idea why he’s chosen the couple as the target of his stalking, so for the longest time we’re questioning why he’s doing such things just as much as the couple themselves are. It isn’t until around mid-way through that, while crushing shards of glass in his fist, Joong-hoon explains that he’s hardly slept a minute for the past 3 years, and as a result can no longer feel anything. Well, that clarifies it then. Still, he seems to be in a significant amount of pain later on when he’s beaten full force over the head with a spade several times over, and then impaled in the chest with a pitch fork.

Sung-hong reaches a level of unintentional hilarity however, when shortly after the previously mentioned impaling, Joong-hoon appears behind the wheel of a truck and chases Joo-hyuk and Sang-mi through the streets, ploughing through cars and even whole buildings. Combined with the glass shard crushing, I’m at least partially convinced that Say Yes started life as a Korean version of The Terminator, with Joong-hoon sent back from the future to stop Joo-hyuk and Sang-mi conceiving the savior of mankind (at one point he even throws a stone through the window while the pair are having sex). Either way, his ability to recover in just a couple of minutes from a beating which pretty much guaranteed death, ensures that we no longer take the movie seriously.

The final third of Say Yes rather awkwardly shoehorns in a police investigation, which comes across as rather forced when the whole movie so far has focused exclusively on the trio. What’s more, the complete uselessness of the investigation raises the question of why it was introduced into the plot in the first place. Events build to a particularly mean spirited finale, which is made all the more cruel by effectively being a double climax. With everything resolved, it seems the movie has come to its close, and the couple can finally return to Seoul, probably traumatized for life, but at least still alive and together. But then it turns out there’s still another 15 minutes to go, during which everything goes straight to hell, and events build to what becomes a literal bloodbath. Sung-hong’s movies seem to have a running theme of mean spiritedness, and in the case of Say Yes, it left somewhat of a bad taste in the mouth.

There’s a closing sequence which takes place a few months after the bloody finale, and it’s a sequence which shows just how misguided Sung-hong’s effort is. My recommendation would be that if someone suggests you to watch Say Yes, the best thing to do would be to say no.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 4/10