Intensity: 🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed by William Inhyuk Hyoung
A Korean couple fails to heed the warnings of a serial killer on the loose when embarking on a romantic chabak (car camping) excursion. A standout performance by Kim Minchae and a strong story foundation probably pushes one too many melodramatic twists at the end. Still an entertaining slasher film worth watching.
In Chabak – Night of Murder and Romance Korean couple celebrates their first wedding anniversary by partaking in the trend of chabak, a camp-out-of-your-car excursion in the lovely (and dangerous) hills. There is a standout performance by Kim Minchae as the wife with many secrets, in a horror-romantic triangle. The movie provides a lovely tale with strong characters. Unfortunately, the story stretches beyond probability limits with too many contrivances.
The movie is capitalizing on the popular trend in South Korea. Chabak is a casual glamping out of the back of your car excursion defined by “Cha” = car and “Bak”= night. Americans will be familiar with the concept of the road trip, but the Koreans have made this a highly romantic getaway. Traveling to a beach, to the mountains, or a forest getaway. The vehicles are equipped with comfortable convertible beds, a barbeque (hopefully for some flanken-cut galbi ribs! MMMM!!), and some LED string lights for the perfect night out. Car tent extensions are also a popular option and can provide needed privacy. It’s fun and romantic! How about deadly?
For Mi-Yu (Kim) and her husband Su-Won (K-Pop star Danny Ahn) have been planning this particular chabak excursion for a while. Unfortunately, the year of marriage hasn’t been entirely blissful. The couple is going to use the anniversary road trip date as a way to re-commit themselves to their relationship. The return of an incestuous ex-lover of Mi-Yu (Kim Taekyun) right before they depart doesn’t help matters any.
The news reports that chabak campers have gone missing in the mountains where the couple is headed for their trip. Su-Won dismisses these reports as insignificant, despite Mi-Yu’s concerns. As they near their destination, some random encounters with some seriously sketchy strangers should have provided a request for a chabak rain check. But, it’s their anniversary. They have found themselves a nice location by a mountain observatory, and they made the effort, so why not give it a go?
They brush off their encounters with the oddballs and set up their car for a romantic evening under the stars. However, it’s under the watchful eyes of a masked serial killer. As a classic horror trope, dismissing the crazy guy spouting doom warnings is an evergreen moment. It is a warning to the audience. Our protagonists fail to do the obvious. Stay away!
As a thriller, this film provides the classic setup tropes. Fans of conventional slasher films will appreciate the build. Kim Minchae does a fantastic job of balancing a role as a young woman who has made some seriously questionable decisions in her life. Now, she has finally found stability and love. Unfortunately, her bad decisions have finally caught up with her. As the story unfolds, she is subjected to one horrible revelation after another, and she gives us the full range of emotional responses from terror, shame, fury, and stoic resolution. As a result, Kim was rewarded with the Masque Rouge Award for Best Performance at the Portland Horror Film Festival.
The other characters are something of satellites in orbit around Kim’s more nuanced performance. There is more than a little soap opera in play in Chabak. There were multiple moments where they could have stopped the film and put an exclamation mark on it, and it would have been stronger. Less resolved, perhaps, but a better experience. The need to elevate some of the supporting cast into something more sensational seemed a bit unnecessary, as there is a solid skeleton of a slasher film here.
One key revelation that is necessary for the logic of this movie to hold up, is a great twist. DONE! But then a second revelation happens. OK. And then a third. And a fourth. At that point, it felt like the writer was trying too hard to justify every element of the film. That wasn’t necessary. Emphasize the big doozie, and then clap your hands and declare victory. For this movie, using a couple of secondary plot loose ends would have been fine, as the primary exposition had been satisfied.
As always, your mileage may vary. Some people may appreciate the melodrama more than I did. I would equate this movie, structurally, as similar to High Tension. Super solid first two acts. Strong lead protagonist performer, and a suitably thrilling cat and mouse of killer and prey. And probably too much cleverness for its own good in the third act. This movie isn’t nearly as gory as the French Extremism classic, and the twist is very different. But, these films parallel their strong first two acts and deliver a weak and overwrought third act. I would consider that pretty decent praise, as I have a great appreciation for High Tension. Both films left me thinking, “Ah, you should have stopped THERE.”
Chabak – Night of Murder and Romance had its world premiere at the Portland Horror Film Festival, and just got its distribution deal for South Korea, but a Western release date has not yet been issued. This movie is not rated, but would earn an R rating for Violence and Sexual Content.
