The top 20 students from a Korean school are put in this special cram school. Shortly after the class starts it is interrupted by a video. The class must answer the questions or one by one the students will die.

WARNING: I will try my best not to spoil anything, but some of my rant could. There are no outright spoilers, but proceed with caution.

I had a sudden urge to want to watch and review a Korean slasher. Two distinct ones came into my head, Bloody Beach and Bloody Reunion, but I was leaving those reviews up for Barb, the Slasher queen. Then I came across Death Bell. The story intrigued me, but I had super low expectations. I did not expect to enjoy it as much as much as I did. It's nowhere close to perfect, but it sucked me in quickly and kept me at the edge of my seat.

I enjoy movies like these, where there is a big group of normal people stuck in an insane situation. Like The Mist (BOOK, not movie), or even to the extreme, Cloverfield, and Battle Royale. The shit starts hitting the fan about 20 minutes in, and at that point I am hooked. The movie just throws these kids and teachers in this insane situation that no one knows how to deal with, so they just stand around either dumbfounded or peeing their pants. Why does this kind of thing excite me? I don't know. I seem to like it when people are thrown out of their civilized life and into a crazy situation. I love how when things start happening everyone is basically either fighting with each other, or just dumbfounded. The atmosphere is great, and very tense. Every time I skim through the film for screenshots I get sucked into watching scenes over again.

Death Bell is very flawed despite my excitement. <rant> The movie doesn't make any damn sense. I'm not talking about all the riddles they have to solve (though I did not understand a one of them), but the actual plot itself. Is it a ghost-girl movie, or a psychological thriller? PICK ONE! Don't keep on switching it! I wished they would have just thrown the ghost girl shite out. It is not needed in this film! Gyaa! I am not tired of ghost-girl movies like a lot of people are, but if you are going to be a ghost-girl movie, be one. Don't have a ghost-girl just to have a ghost-girl. We had the same problem with Red Shoes, but it was still a supernatural film. This movie shouldn't be and would make a lot more sense without the ghost itself. I wish I could explain further, but saying too much would spoil it. If you really think about the plot then the ghost girl does make a little sense. The plot does follow a normal ghost-girl movie plot, and the whole story revolves around the story of the girl who is the ghost. So I get what they were going for, I just think it would be better without the ghost-girl. </rant> At least the ghost-girl scenes were creepy. I loved the zombie looking ghost-girls at the beginning.

I wish I could smack whoever thought the shaky camera effect would be a good idea. Yes, a shaky camera can add to a scene, and a lot of shake can work in a movie like... Cloverfield because that is the point of the movie. But this is not that type of movie! I'm trying not to go off on another rant. The camera was too shaky in calm scenes, and it was way too shaky in chaotic scenes. Hold the damn thing still!

The flow of Death Bell could have been done better, too. I was often confused as to what was going on. Sometimes it was done on purpose, other times it would get confusing. There was this one scene where I thought there was something wrong with my dvd. One group of people were in a room and suddenly they were in a completely different room with no transition. I had to back it up to see if I missed something.

I loved all the actors, even the smaller student roles. Everyone looked scared shitless. Well, I say all, I wasn't completely into Beom Kim's (Hyeon Kang) role. He was alright and had a quirky personality, but he just didn't do it for me. I liked Gyu-ri Nam (Ina) and loved the connection she had with her friend. Considering this seems to be her first acting job, she did great. It was hard finding any info on her, but according to Wikipedia she was the lead singer in the girl band SeeYa until 2009. Her page on IMDb doesn't even show Death Bell as one of the movies she acted in. I had trouble finding info about most of the actors in this movie. I really liked Beom-soo Lee (Chang-wook Hwang) as one of the teachers. There was just something about him that I liked. Jung-hee Yoon's (So-yeong Choi) character didn't seem to stand out too much, but she was comforting. At least there was one level-headed teacher in the bunch.

Death Bell was a gripping ride and despite all my rants, I still enjoyed it. The ghost-girl itself was not needed and the camera work drove me nuts sometimes, but it was still a lot of fun. The deaths were pretty inventive and I was at the edge of my seat a good portion of the film. If you like Korean horror then I recommend giving Death Bell a try. Oh! Don't forget to watch the first part of the credits at the end!

What I liked: The tension; throwing a bunch of smart kids into craziness; ZOMBIE GHOST-GIRLS; the deaths; Hyeon Kang's attempt at sneaking into the school and his little intercom prank; when the shit hit the fan, it hit the fan; did I spot GOM Player on the school computer?! I believe I did!

What I didn't like: The un-needed ghost-girl; zombie ghost-girls were only at the beginning; crazy shaky camera work; People popping from one end of the school to another due to poor cuts; I didn't understand any of the puzzles, or the answers they came up with! Was it lost in translation or am I just that dumb? And I like puzzles!

What I've learned: There are procedures for cell phones during tests now? I guess that makes sense; LCD monitors in the hallway, too?! I feel old!

Death Bell is available to buy at the following vendors:
 

Death Bell is rather hard to find. You can only get it through individuals on Amazon, and they're out of stock on YesAsia. I'd suggest trying Ebay if all else fails. Just be very careful, and don't be surprised if you get a bootleg.