Summary
A familiar but slickly told piece that is perfect throwback horror fodder, with an excellent cast run through the genre mill.
It’s been several years since director Huh Jung’s debut Hide and Seek (2013) hit cinemas, impressing audiences and earning the filmmaker Best New Director at the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards. With THE MIMIC (장산범), he draws on some of the classic elements of the so-called ‘K-Horror’ genre, weaving in myth and legend with modern day scares. It’s a solid outing, and an often spooky concept, even if it is also one that leans on the tropes of the category.
In the most classic of set-ups, Hee-yeon (Yum Jung-ah) moves to the countryside with her husband and daughter Jun-hee shortly after the disappearance of their son. A series of events sees a the discovery of a body in the walled-up section of a nearby cave, and a small girl arrives at their house. The little girl claims she is also named Jun-hee, and so begins a bit of mimicry and supernatural shenanigans.
There’s an almost perfect intersection of concepts in THE MIMIC, one that digs deep into tropes new and old. The same could be said of any modern horror film, of course, but here Huh Jung seems to be almost systematically ticking them off an unseen list. The novelty is the presence of the Mt. Jang tiger, the mythological beast that is able to imitate the voices of deceased relatives and lure people to their doom. That said, it is still wrapped up in a package of creepy children and darkened environments, so it’s not exactly breaking the mould either.
Huh Jung capitalises on the excellent cast that fill in the traditional roles. Fresh off her TV work in Mirror of the Witch, Yum Jung-ah plays the consummate mother role to the hilt, one that reacts more often than enacts. Park Hyuk-kwon is probably recognisable to audiences from any number of his supporting roles, including recent highlights The Tunnel and A Taxi Driver. He continues that secondary position in THE MIMIC. In the climactic scenes, he has a few key moments of yelling supportive things at Yum, before returning to the background in the knowledge he was ‘helping.’
These minor quibbles aside, this remains a strong horror entry from an industry that’s carved out an impressive niche in the genre of the last few decades. It’s a film that’s tailor made for broad appeal but comes with some genuine scares, slick photography, and a terrific cast. Now we just await the inevitable franchise and Hollywood remake.
