by Joseph Perry and Mike Imboden
In our “The Good, the Bad, and the Verdict” film reviews, Joseph and Mike give their thoughts on a slice of cinema. For this installment, it’s Korean horror anthology Doombung: The Puddle by Lee DongJu.
Synopsis
The main characters in the anthology Doombung: The Puddle face harrowing experiences involving the titular pond. The film is structured into three episodes: "Goblin Frequency," in which a fisherman (Yoon GyeongHo) becomes entrapped in the pond's ominous aura; "Electric Brain," in which a Bitcoin miner (Lee JongYun) with an ailing mother becomes obsessed with following computer instructions; and "Life Water," in which a young woman (Choi YeEun) experiences bizarre physical changes after drinking the pond water.
The Good
Joseph: I’m highly impressed with how good the performances are in Doombung: The Puddle. The three leads listed in the previous paragraph are terrific, and the supporting cast members are all solid, too. "Goblin Frequency" has a nice old-school EC horror comics vibe to it, while "Electric Brain" offers a classic 'The Twilight Zone' — or, if you prefer, a more modern 'Black Mirror' — riff, and "Life Water" delivers an intriguing nature vs. perversion of science theme along with body horror. The stories are well crafted, and Lee DongJu helms the anthology nicely, showing a keen flair for fear-fare tension building.
Mike: We’ve covered a few anthologies here at GBV and while I’ve probably said this each time then, I’ll say it again; anthologies can be a hit or miss, generally providing one strong entry, a weak one, and a handful of others that could go either way. And so it goes with Doombung: The Puddle - with three “chapters” we’ve got one of each that involves a small pond in an equally as small village.
Things start with a story of a guy just heading out to fish, but things quickly go wrong when he encounters a younger man also out to catch some fish. The second segment seems like it could be right at home in an episode of ‘Black Mirror’ wherein we follow a young man whose mother is sick and requires treatment so he turns to the Internet for help. The final short explores what happens when a young woman who has traveled to the village to work on a study of the local wetlands.
I’m not going to mention which piece fits which description as your own mileage may vary, but I did feel like I should at least put that thought out there. Regardless, all three stories are quite well done with some nice acting and a great sense of keeping the viewer engaged, whether it’s mounting tension or a sense of curiosity as to what may come next.
Like a good anthology with its roots in twisty-ending storytelling, we learn a few lessons along the way such as greed is bad, if something is too good to be true, it’s probably not good to begin with, and vanity can come with a price.
The Bad
Joseph: "Electric Brain" goes on far too long. A bit of editing would tighten things up and give the segment a more suspenseful feel. As it plays now, much of the running time is simply watching someone sit in front of his computer — though the performances are quite strong. Doombung: The Puddle’s final shot also loses points with me because of how cliché it is.
Mike: The biggest problem with Doombung: The Puddle is that it takes three interesting stories and stumbles while trying to stick the landing with each one. None of the endings ruin their story, as such, but they did - in my eyes - take a bit of the power from each one’s punch, although I have to cop out and not go into detail to avoid spoilers. A wee bit more of the legend and/or history of the pond might have helped a bit. As it is, the pond remains a bit of an enigma in which we’re never quite sure what is going on with it.
The Verdict
Joseph: Doombung: The Puddle is a well-balanced horror portmanteau film brought to cinematic life by a director who is obviously well-schooled in horror. Recommended for fright-fare fans of all stripes, and especially for those interested in Asian horror and/or horror anthologies.
Mike: While it has the typical shortcomings of many anthologies, Doombung: The Puddle is still a very well put together film with three very different segments with each hitting a different aspect of the horror genre. Solid acting and well paced directing come together to provide a strong effort that is recommended for fright fans who like their horror in small-than-feature-sized bites.
Doombung: The Puddle
Directed By: Lee Dong-ju
Written By: Lee Dong-ju
Starring: Lee Jong-yun, Yoon Gyeong-ho, Choi Ye-eun
Run Time: 1h 39m
Rating: 15+ (KR)
Release Date: July 5th, 2024 (South Korea)
🚫 No trailer was available at the time of this review
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