“Trap: Lethal Temptation” Theatrical Poster
Director: Bong Man-Dae
Writer: Lee Chang-Yeol, Bong Man-Dae
Cast: Yu Ha-Jun, Jung Min-Gyul, Na Sang-Gyu, Kang Yong-Gyu, Jo Soo-Jung, Lee Sang-Hwa
Running Time: 107 min.
By Paul Bramhall
In Korea director Bong Man-dae is something of an anomaly. Even today he remains the only director to successfully transition from the world of erotic B-movies to mainstream cinema. After cranking out 12 titles in the 3 years spanning 1999 – 2002, a snail like pace considering the rapid-fire nature of such productions, in 2003 he helmed his breakthrough The Sweet Sex and Love, which put him on the map as a director to look out for (it was even reviewed by Variety!). Since then he’s gone on to direct the horror Cinderella, and perhaps what could be considered his crowning achievement, with the 2013 gonzo docu-drama Playboy Bong (so called after his nickname in the industry), in which he plays himself attempting to direct a new erotic movie.
A couple of years after the self-reflective Playboy Bong, Man-dae finds himself back in familiar territory with his latest, Trap: Lethal Temptation. Not to be confused with similarly named titles – namely Yoon Yeo-chang’s The Trap, another erotic drama from the same year, the Ma Dong-seok psycho thriller Deep Trap, also from the same year, and of course Kim Sung-hong’s classic Trap from 1997. The plot for Trap: Lethal Temptation shares a striking similarity with Noh Young-seok’s sophomore feature The Intruders from 2013, in that it focuses on a writer who decides to escape to a remote guesthouse in the depths of winter, so that they can concentrate on their writing.
The writer in question here is a script writer played by Yoo Ha-joon (The Prison), who after having had his latest script re-written against his will, decides to get away from it all by heading into the snow covered wilderness for some quiet time. Of course, his lack of creative control isn’t his only source of self-esteem issues, as he’s also just been dumped by his girlfriend of 4 years (whom, in the opening scene, his head is rather enthusiastically between the legs of). It’s in the midst of this tantalizing foreplay that she announces she’s through with him, a clear indicator of his lack of skills in the bedroom if ever there was one.
Ha-joon eventually comes across a guest house in the mountains, albeit one which is so shabby and rundown, he quickly reaches the decision to keep driving and settle for one in the nearby town. However, when who appears to be the grumpy owner’s attractive teenage daughter emerges, offering to throw in meals as well, suddenly the prospect of spending a few days there doesn’t seem so bad. What follows is a strange mix of sexual pot boiler meets psychological thriller. The teenager is played by Jung Min-gyul (who was born in 1990, so is definitely not a teenager), who has to be the only actress with 2 credits to her name listed as High school girl 2 – the first in Confession of Murder in 2012, and again in Tattoo, also from 2015. Koreans simply don’t age.
Ha-joon finds himself becoming increasingly curious about Min-gyul , who comes across as mysteriously alluring, while also playing hot and cold in her brief exchanges with Ha-joon. After glimpsing her heading to the bathhouse one evening, he’s soon crawling along the rusty tin roof to ogle her bathing through a crack in the tiles. While all of this sounds very graphic, it’s worth noting that Man-dae shows very little skin for the vast majority of Trap: Lethal Temptation. As someone who’s been associated with the erotic genre for over 15 years, Man-dae has become something of a master in the art of teasing rather than showing.
Indeed more mainstream blockbusters like A Frozen Flower and The Treacherous show much more than anything bared here. The talent that Man-dae has is to maintain a constant undercurrent of sexual tension, one that’s kept simmering away for a whole hour before anything significant actually happens in terms of physical interactions. Instead of exposed flesh, the narrative takes the direction of making us question exactly what’s happening between Ha-joon and Min-gyul. She begins to frequently visit his room in the evening, initially bringing food and drink, before waking him up to entice him with her body. However whenever they see each other the next day, his questions about their interactions together are met with bewilderment.
He soon begins to question if any of their more intimate encounters are in fact just in his head, a bi-product of his stress at attempting to write a new script, and his obvious horniness. All of this is combined with the fact that she’s only 19 (the age of consent in Korea is 20), and it increasingly becomes questionable if the apparently mute owner is in fact her father at all. In some ways the narrative structure of Trap: Lethal Attraction reminded me of the types of movie that can be found within Japan’s Pink Eiga genre. Movies like Prison Girl also have the audience (and the characters) questioning the reality of what’s happening, and while the promise of some sexy scenes is what these movies are sold on, the filmmakers behind them often use the genre for more ambitious storytelling.
Trap: Lethal Temptation is never going to be mistaken for an unknown masterpiece, however the plot offers up something much more than just city guy and countryside girl getting it on in the woods. Man-dae incorporates some nice touches of black humor along the way, such as when Ha-joon cuts his foot on a severed chicken head, that the owner had previously thrown away when he was cooking it for dinner the previous day. By the time the truth is revealed behind Min-gyul’s interactions with Ha-joon, it becomes clear that he’s gotten in way over his head, and that neither the owner or Min-gyul are to be trusted.
With that being said, there’s no denying that Man-dae’s latest is a low budget affair, and sometimes it suffers for it. At one point Min-gyul disappears from proceedings all together, only for her to show up and have Ha-joon tell her how much he’s missed her. Quite where she’s gone and how long for is never clearly explained, making it difficult to ascertain how much time has passed, especially considering the short period that Ha-joon is staying at the inn. Such instances are indicative of a likely rushed production schedule, and while they don’t damage the narrative overall, they do result in some mild head scratching.
Her return significantly sees her long hair chopped off to a bob, no longer looking like the innocent 19 year old school girl of the earlier scenes, it’s a change in appearance which seems to indicate the end of the mind games which have been being played. The price for Ha-joon to give in to his temptation is an unexpected one (and one that notably, is detailed in the official synopsis despite not appearing until 90 minutes in. So if you don’t want an important plot point spoiled beforehand, stay away from the plot descriptions!), revealing the true nature of the title, which leads to a satisfying conclusion.
While Man-dae has arguably come a long way from those early days of directing erotic B-movies, in many ways he remains a director who’s a contradiction for the industry he’s working in. He openly states he’s still interested in eroticism and how it can be portrayed, and to a large degree his reputation as Playboy Bong precedes him, no doubt making it difficult to ever fully get away from the image of a director that makes sexy movies. Trap: Lethal Temptation serves as the perfect example of showing off Man-dae’s strengths at being able to tastefully tease the audience, but also shows the budget constraints he’s likely to be restricted to working with. For what it is though, anchored by strong performances from Ha-joon and Min-gyul, his latest does its job of being both tantalizing and thrilling, which is arguably exactly what it set out to do.
Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7/10
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