Park Jeong-nam acquires his old photo album from 1942 and remembers the tragedies that happened at the Anseong Hospital where he was an intern.

I'm just going to get this over with. I needed this movie. I have yet to feel this way about a movie since first getting into Asian horror. Back when ghost-girls scared me, when it was new and refreshing from the movies I usually saw. I remember when Barb and I watched Ju-on: the Grudge for the first time. Back when it was really hard to get a hold of any Asian movies. It was a terrible copy and messed up halfway through, so we didn't get to watch all of it. But I remembered how freaked out I was by it, how the atmosphere sucked me in. Sadly, with the massive amount of ghost-girl movies we've seen now, I've become jaded. I still enjoy them and they can still sometimes creep me out, but none of them have ever come close to when I first saw the classics. Ju-on, Ringu, Pulse, Dark Water... all impacted me in the beginning. They weren't ghost-girl movies when I saw them, they were just ghost stories (well, Pulse can never be considered a ghost-girl movie anyway). That is exactly what Epitaph is -- a ghost story. A damn good ghost story.

I was hooked almost instantly. I don't know exactly what did it. It just felt... good. It reminded me of the feeling I got when I read Ghost Story by Peter Straub. It didn't feel like I was reading a book, it felt real. This movie felt real. Most of Epitaph takes place in a hospital in the 1940s, and it was very convincing. I didn't want to think this was a modern movie placed in the 40s, but more of actual events I'm seeing in the 40s. Of course, the quality of the film is way too good to be from the 40s, but don't tell my brain that. The actors were amazing and made the movie even more like I was watching the lives of real people.

Epitaph is told through several stories of different groups of people who work for this hospital. All the stories happen around the same time, just different focuses. They all have the same theme of love, loss, and scary-as-hell ghosts. I would have a hard time calling Epitaph an all-out horror movie. It's more of a drama/tragedy with horror elements, both important ingredients for a well-done ghost story. The main purpose of a good ghost story shouldn't be to scare the piss out of teenagers. The best ghost stories are normally about a tragedy that happened, a sad tale of loss, with added eeriness and dread. Each story in Epitaph is very meaningful, sad, and beautifully told. The last third of Epitaph focused even more on drama than horror, which didn't bother me. The pacing remained slow and eerie with very tense and suspenseful scenes.

One major thing Epitaph has is atmosphere, atmosphere, atmosphere. The score and the cinematography just pulled me in. And the suspense, OH the suspense! It's been a while since I had forgotten to breath while watching a movie. The scares didn't feel like they were there for the sole purpose of scaring the watcher. It was more like they were there for us to understand the characters in the film, what they're going through. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it didn't feel gimmicky. Because of that, it made the scares much much more scary.

The ghosts in Epitaph terrified me. Even now, I am currently rewatching the movie while typing this very review and I'm getting freaked out. Not just a little freaked, but full blown goosebumps freaked. I can't remember the last time I felt likenwefjklld; SONOFA#$^%@#$Q#$

...

...Heh...

...Excuse me...

*pauses the movie so she can continue the review without peeing her pants*.

...Heh heh... so anyway... even the second time around while doing other things the feking jump scares STILL GET ME. Which brings me to my next point. Jump scares. The cheap scares. A lot of horror movies use them now because they can't figure out any other way to scare people. In most movies they're extremely predictable and generally not that scary. But not this movie. Not my dear sweet Epitaph. Most of the jump scares you don't see coming. Even when you know it's coming (like the first one), it's still scary. During the scary scenes I was so tense that I would jump at everything. My dog started barking at one point, practically giving me a heart attack. Even when my dang pet turtle sneezed (yes, turtles sneeze) I almost peed my pants. The scares reminded me of a more subtle Fatal Frame scare, if you take away all the crazy old 8mm camera dusty jumpiness effect and slowed everything down.

I don't have many complaints, and I wouldn't even call them complaints. The way Epitaph told its story could be a little confusing at times, though I quickly caught on. That's something I love about Asian horror. Most of the time not everything is explained. The goal is to keep people thinking far after the credits roll. My main complaint has nothing to do with the movie itself, but the fact that I live in America. I hate the American DVD cover. It's all evil and bloody, with the tag line "LOVE IS THE KISS OF DEATH" ...the hell? What are people going to think when they see that DVD cover, expect a crazy bloodfest slasher and end up seeing a slow ghost story. Movies like these are always misrepresented.

Epitaph is a beautifully told tragic ghost story (or stories, to be correct). The atmosphere is wonderful, filling you with suspense and dread. I would not call it a horror movie, more of a drama/tragedy ghost story with horror elements. Although, those "horror elements" I spoke of earlier made me the most scared I have been in a long time. It is very slow, but never boring. Don't go in expecting a fast paced "scary" movie, you'll be disappointed. I hope my raving doesn't get people's expectations too high. I believe if you go in expecting what it is you won't be disappointed.

What I liked: Does everything count? I spent an entire review going on and on about what I liked, go read that. Oh alright, I'll say it again briefly: Atmosphere; actors; score; everything; being genuinely scared.

What I didn't like: The mess I made from peeing my pants so much.

What I've learned: THE CHITTERING GHOST WILL GIVE ME NIGHTMARES FOREVER AND EVER UNTIL THE END OF TIME. OH god, I think I peed a little.

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