Dead Camping the Live (2022) Review

“Dead Camping the Live ” Poster

Director: Kim Hyun-woo
Cast: Nam Jihyun, Lee Jae-seok, Lee Pu Reum, Kim Jung Joo, Jo Myung-haeng, Jeong In-gi, Dong-Hyung Kim, Rim-Hoo Kim, Seung-Jae Won, Big Alex
Running Time: 72 min. 

By Paul Bramhall

Ladened with the kind of grammatically challenged title that feels like it came straight out of 80’s or 90’s Hong Kong cinema, 2022’s Dead Camping the Live is a low budget entry in the rape-revenge genre, a kind of Korean spin on I Spit on Your Grave (and probably made for less) if you will. So, yes, it’s a very low budget entry in Korea’s largely invisible B-movie scene, home to the descendants of the taekwon-action genre, unfussy horror flicks, and softcore romps whose posters promise far more than they deliver. Not that low budgets are necessarily a negative, however in the Korean film industry there’s an assumed level of polish expected from their productions, an expectation that needs to be significantly dialled back once you enter its micro-budget underbelly.

The sophomore feature length production from director Kim Hyun-woo following 2021’s Memory: Manipulated Murder, it would appear he’s something of a jack of all trades in the film industry, having previously worked as a planner, producer, cinematographer, editor, and production designer. Prior to helming his feature length outings, Hyun-woo spent the 2010’s helming a number of short films, including the likes of 2016’s Magic Blanket and 2015’s Man and Wife. Clearly a fan of tight runtimes, for a Korean production Dead Camping the Live clocks in at a surprisingly economical 70 minutes, so doesn’t take long to get down to business.

Nam Jihyun (Trade Your Love, The Youth) plays a vlogger whose speciality is live streaming her solo camping trips from remote locations. We spend the prerequisite time with Jihyun while she does the usual vlogger schtick – cooks up some noodles, acts cute, and poses on the beach – but unfortunately for her this time her live stream has caught the attention of another group of live streamers who call themselves FLEX. A reprehensible group of masked youths led by newcomer Kim Jung-joo, their sole reason for existing appears to be to locate vulnerable females who they can track down and rape, live streaming it for a select audience on Telegram. A kind of 21^st century version of the snuff film, played out in real time.

It doesn’t take long for the gang to figure out where Jihyun is streaming from, so they pack up the masks and jump in their car, obnoxiously setting off on what can best be described as a rapey road trip. Soon Jihyun’s peaceful evening is disturbed by the group slashing her tent open and dragging her outside, where she proceeds to be help captive, even joined by a couple of special guests who’ve been invited through the stream to get in on the debauched action (one of whom is played by Lee Jae-seok, who I bring up simply as an excuse to mention the title Delicious Moms: Stepmom, Friends’s Mom, Mom’s Friend in which he plays a part). Thankfully she manages to escape before the assault can begin, at which point I’d expected Dead Camping the Live to turn into a harrowing tale of innocent damsel in distress pursued by a bunch of overly excited sex maniacs, but as it happens, Hyun-woo (who also wrote the script) has other ideas.

It turns out Jihyun is basically the female version of Rambo in First Blood, and the whole vlogger deal is just a ruse. Jung-joo and his FLEX lackeys may believe they’re the hunters, but in reality, it turns out she’s the one hunting them, and they’ve just delivered themselves right to her doorstep. It’s an entertaining bait and switch, since the whole narrative to this point has set up Jihyun as an unsuspecting victim about to go through a traumatic sexual assault, so the reversal of roles makes for an unexpected twist. We learn that Jihyun comes from a military background, however when her sister is raped by the same group and commits suicide in the aftermath, she swears she’ll find those responsible and take revenge on them. Or in other words, she’s going to Dead Camping the Live (my guess at how the title is intended to be used).

That’s essentially all there is to the plot, and with the group consisting of 8 members, the majority of the runtime is spent with Jihyun tracking them down (or in some cases randomly bumping into each other), and watching her kill them off one by one. It’s lack of pretention is part of the appeal of Hyun-woo’s latest, as there’s a simple pleasure in watching Jihyun skulk around and do her thing. Whether that be furiously stabbing someone repeatedly between the legs, or impaling someone’s rectum with a large tree branch, she’s there to exact her revenge, and nothing that could complicate or risk extending the runtime beyond 70 minutes is going to get in the way. If you’re looking for underlying social commentary or a subtle take on female empowerment, this is definitely the wrong place.

Despite its modest ambitions there are still elements of the production that feel amateurish. Characters sprawled on the floor who are supposed to be dead are clearly still breathing, the direction given to the FLEX crew feels like it consisted of “scream all of your dialogue in the most manic way possible”, and the picture quality is inconsistent throughout (with a painful amount of pixelation at the beginning). There’s also a bizarre moment when Jihyun changes from her vlogger attire into combat gear, and she breaks out camouflage paint to smear on her face. The shot of her applying it is taken from behind, so I was surprised when she turned to face the camera that it somehow resulted in the application of black eyeliner, and that’s it. Sure it offers up a striking look, and I guess the whole army paint angle was more fitting than a scene of eyeliner application, so in some ways it could be considered a genius move to combine the 2.

The most interesting addition to the cast of Dead Camping the Live is Jo Myung-haeng, a martial artist who regularly works both behind (War of the Arrows, Gangnam Blues) and in front (Night of the Assassin, The Showdown) of the camera. His role as the other guest who’s been invited to get involved is mostly a non-descript one, relegated to a stock character also hunting Jihyun down in typical Korean uncle style hiking gear (think bucket hat, functional fishnet vest worn over a shirt, and cargo pants). However when he ends up being one of the last two standing, his character comes to the fore, offering up a legitimate opponent for Jihyun to face off against.

The result is the surprising inclusion of a one-on-one fight finale, as the pair go at each other in an abandoned farmhouse. Choreographed by Han Jung-hyun (Soo, Quick Man), you’re not going to be stumbling across a hidden gem of a fight scene by any means, however their throwdown is a suitably scrappy and intense affair that works well, partly down to how unexpected it is. Considering Myung-haeng rarely gets a chance to take front and centre, from the position of an action fan at least it’s a pleasure to see him show off his talents, and Jihyun gives as good as she gets, dishing out some worthy boot work that ensures she makes for a convincing opponent (one that ends the fight on a fittingly gory note, keeping with the theme of how most of the group are dispatched!).

Sure, there’s a lot in Dead Camping the Live that doesn’t make sense (apart from the title). Characters make dumb decisions like they’re going out of fashion, the whole concept of live streaming a rape and not expecting to be located is kind of laughable, and there’s a habit of flashing back to scenes that happened barely 20 minutes ago as if we may have forgotten them already. However it’s also true that the same factors are the main reason why the narrative is able to be as lean as it is, offering up an easily digestible dose of revenge fulfillment with minimum frills and distractions. Imagine a low budgeted version of Hard Target, only minus the mullets and faux-Cajun trappings, and perhaps Dead Camping the Live isn’t too far away from what you’d end up with.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 6/10