"Spellbound" ("O-ssak-han Yeon-ae") aka "My Girlfriend Can See Ghosts" is another one of those sure win Korean movies. There is just something fantastic about so many of the movies that come from Korean cinema, and "Spellbound" is well worthy addition to the collection if you enjoy Asian movies.
The movie is about Kang Yeo-Ri (played by Ye-jin Son) who is a gloomy and mysterious woman who, by sheer luck and chance, ends up working with Ma Jo-Goo (played by Min-ki Lee) in his Horror Illusion magic show. Ma Jo-Goo soon finds out that perhaps he gotten a bit more than he bargained for when he starts to find out the haunting secrets that surrounds the enigmatic Kang Yeo-Ri.
"Spellbound" combines three genres of movies quite nicely; being romance, comedy and horror. And the end result is a very enjoyable movie with a story that sinks into you and sticks with you. Especially because the director, In-ho Hwang, did a really good job with this movie and delivered right on the money.
The characters in the movie are well-detailed and stand out as very believable characters, and this is, of course, helped quite well along the way by the talents of the people on the cast list, who all contributed quite nicely to the movie, especially the two leads who really had great on-screen chemistry, but also great charisma on their own.
The effects are quite nice in the movie, although this is not a movie that rides high on special effects. But those put to use are really spectacular and serves their purpose quite well; be it the magic tricks, the make-up, or the ghost.
The odd mixture of romance, comedy and horror does make for a very peculiar mixture, but it worked out quite nicely, and I am very happy that I sat down to see this movie, and can strongly recommend it to any fans of Asian or Korean cinema in particular.
"Spellbound" gets a definite 8 out of 10 stars from me. Thumbs up for this movie, way, way up...
