Anssi Vartiainen A bit less than a year ago a serial killer turned himself in. He had targeted mostly pregnant women and the police had no clue as to his whereabouts. But now he's in custody. The only problem being that a copycat killer has emerged. So detectives Kim (Yum Jung-ah) and Kang (Ji Jin-hee) are put on the case.Korean films don't seem to believe in happy mediums. Either they're full-out acid trips of surrealism, or they're the greyest, most depressing dramafests you've ever seen. H falls into latter category. Granted, the actual killings are horrifically brutal and graphic in a way you just don't see in mainstream Western cinema, but aside from that the film is almost banal.When it's not blatantly ripping off The Silence of the Lambs, that is. I mean, you have psychotic madball killer in prison, who's interrogated to help catch another criminal, while at the same time he's analyzing his interrogators. Subtle this movie is not. Throw in some Se7en as well for the events of the final third and you have yourself an unoriginal movie.Though, it is shot nicely, the characters can be interesting and the gore is sure to be pleasing to those that gravitate towards that kind of thing. Not a complete loss, but not worth recommending either.

kluseba This movie is another very atmospheric film noir from Asia that surprises with a weird main idea and a haunting conclusion while the acting is very emotional and gives a really authentic touch to the characters. Especially the main villain is completely unpredictable and scary by looking so innocent and acting very intelligent.The movie is quite heavy and surely not a pleasure to watch for everyone. The opening scene shows us a dead young woman with her unborn baby brutally ripped out of her body at a garbage incinerator. This is only the beginning of a series of six murders that seem to copy a crazy killer that committed exactly the same crimes a few years ago and went to the police station with his final victim in a big bag to get arrested. Now, a female police officer that has lost her husband that committed suicide as he didn't get over the brutality of the first killer and a young and very emotional police officer with a weird wife suffering amnesia have to solve the case and get drowned into a haunting downward spiral of mystery, brutality and insanity that lead toward a surprising ending.Once again, the Asian cinema creates a unique dark psycho thriller that you won't easily forget and that convinces with an interesting intrigue, very brutal murderers and a brilliant villain. It seems that the Japanese and Koreans never do a bad movie in the whole genre and that we can only distinguish between good and intriguing movies (seven points), very good movies (eight points), excellent and haunting movies (nine points) and masterpieces for the eternity (ten points). This movie is an excellent and haunting trip and comes close to perfection with the only negative point that the main idea is nothing really innovating and new if you know the extreme Asian cinema as much as I do.

svenbremberg The frame is a thriller with victims and chasers. Yet, the content is richer. The description of females vs. males is especially intriguing. The main female characters Detective Kim Mi Yun and Dr. Chu Kyung-sook are both more intelligent than their male counterparts and they both stay cool while the males are either easily aroused or do not understand. It is true that all the victims are females. Yet, the killings are connected with the reproductive capacity of the females that the males do not possess and can not control. A main motive is the pregnant women's ability to kill their (male) foetuses. The most influential male character, Shin Hyun, murderer now in a prison, has a non sexual foetus like aura. The killings are carried out as revenge on the women for this ability, obviously and totally in vain. Thus, the film describes a core dilemma true for all males. However, I am not aware of a comparable open description in European literature of film. Yet, I have seen it in Japanese films (e.g. Shindo's Onibaba). – A most interesting film.

Pedro-37 "H" tells the story of two cops who encounter a series of gruesome murders. The victims were pregnant women - which leads the duo to a young killer who awaits his death penalty. Is another killer copying his crimes? Did the guy order someone to to it?There are many clues that connect the film to "Silence of the Lambs" (imprisoned killer, cops hoping for help from the killer), but as the story progresses, there are more connections to "Seven": It's gritty, it has a serial killer who has some John-Doe-mannerisms. The female cop is the Morgan Freeman character, the impulsive male cop is Brad Pitt. Even the ending (no spoiler!) fits this line of thinking because of what happens to the "Pitt"-cop. This is vague enough so it won't spoil anything for you.Because this ending is not what you might expect. The final reel of the film leaves the path of its American predecessors and follows an Asian film I'll mention below. Before that, I'll conclude that "H" is a suspenseful, gory, gritty, well acted thriller which is strongly directed by newcomer Jong-hyuk Lee. It steals a lot from other movies but better well stolen than badly invented.My rating: 8/10And now some spoiler: The film in the end resembles the Japanese thriller "The Hypnosist" - this also explains that the "H" of the title doesn't stand for heroin or something else you might have expected, but for hypnosis. The end credits even see the "H" move to the left and reveal the "full title". It's a nice twist for a nice film. But again: This ain't new, "The Hypnosist" or Kiyoshi Kurosawas "Cure" come to mind.