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Movies / On DVD / A Bloody Aria
A Bloody Aria

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A Bloody Aria (2006)

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42 %
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Reviews Counted: 26

Fresh: 11

Rotten:15

Average Rating: 5.1/10

Consensus: Pulpy, bloody and violent, this Korean shock-fest is blackly comedic but disappointing overall.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Jan 4, 2008 Limited

Synopsis: In this award-winning, bloody shock-fest, a young opera singer runs through the woods in an attempt to flee a lecherous professor, but soon finds herself--and the professor-- held captive by a... In this award-winning, bloody shock-fest, a young opera singer runs through the woods in an attempt to flee a lecherous professor, but soon finds herself--and the professor-- held captive by a group of sadistic thugs. [More]

Starring: Suk-kyu Han, Ye-ryeon Cha, Kyeong-ho Jeong

Starring: Suk-kyu Han, Ye-ryeon Cha, Kyeong-ho Jeong

Director: Shin-yeon Won

Director: Shin-yeon Won

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Feb 26, 2008

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for A Bloody Aria

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Arrange By: Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Won’s critique of the abuse of power in South Korean society lacks trenchancy, but he subverts convention with an incisiveness lacking in much transatlantic horror.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
10/24/08
Patrick Peters
Empire Magazine

Still, Won pulls off a rare trick: to be funny and frightening while continuing to ratch the tension up and up. Performances, too, are top notch.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
10/24/08
Wally Hammond
Time Out

A gripping, disconcerting and thought-provoking exercise that eschews graphic horror in favour of complex, darkly funny psychological drama.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
10/24/08
Daniel Etherington
Channel 4 Film

It’s slow, bloody and pretty much devoid of merit.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
10/24/08
Wendy Ide
Times [UK]

Time should surely now be called on the vogue in Korean cinema for black-comic ultraviolence.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
10/24/08
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]

Director Won Shin-yun infuses the moralisms with a pulpy energy that recalls cheery shockers such as Hostel and Saw, while also indulging in Three Stooges-style bumpkin-knockabout humour.

Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | comment Comment
10/24/08
Sukhdev Sandhu
Daily Telegraph

Despite the title, A Bloody Aria is unlikely to be music to the ears of extreme cinema fans.

Full Review Source: Total Film | comment Comment
10/24/08
Rob Daniel
Total Film

Sore disappointment is in store for anyone expecting Won Shin-yun’s revenge/psycho thriller to emerge as the new Oldboy.

Full Review Source: Total Film | comment Comment
10/24/08
Chris Hicks
Total Film

Won’s critique of the abuse of power in South Korean society lacks trenchancy, but he subverts convention with an incisiveness lacking in much transatlantic horror.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
10/24/08
Patrick Peters
Empire Magazine

A laboured and unpleasant meditation on power and violence.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
10/24/08
Wendy Ide
Times [UK]

It's supposedly an essay on the nature of human brutality and there is a certain amount of narrative deftness at play, but whether in the sequences of dialogue or violence, in both cases extended, the film is not merely unattractive but also uninteresting

Full Review Source: Financial Times | comment Comment
10/24/08
Karl French
Financial Times

I suspect it falls between two stools: not nearly grisly enough for the aficionado of extreme Asian cinema, rather too grisly for everyone else.

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
10/24/08
Robert Hanks
Independent

It all looks like Michael Haneke-lite but, as a comment upon the fact that people tamed by violence tend to promote it when given half a chance, it has its grimly amusing merits.

Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
10/24/08
Derek Malcolm
This is London

Korean filmmaker Won uses a startlingly in-your-face style for this outrageous examination of bullying at all kinds of levels. Both unsettling and entertaining, it also finds real terror and black humour in the least likely places.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
10/24/08
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

although the degeneration of events from bad to worse is made unbearably tense, Won also peppers his film with black humour, without ever abandoning his allegiance to social commentary.

Full Review Source: Eye for Film | comment Comment
09/29/08
Anton Bitel
Eye for Film

It would have been fine but the acting is pretty over the top, making scenes almost laughable.

Full Review Source: Sin Magazine | comment Comment
06/18/08
Austin Kennedy
Sin Magazine

will ultimately confound American audiences who don't appreciate the complexities of the Korean national psyche

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
03/22/08
Don Willmott
Filmcritic.com

A simply unpleasant experience.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
01/24/08
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

For the most part A Bloody Aria has an adept way of muddying these themes for audiences expecting the usual gore-thirsty trip.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
01/17/08
Robert Abele
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It may seem an odd thing to say about a film in which a baseball bat as an instrument of assault and rape is a recurring theme, but what makes A Bloody Aria a darkly delightful surprise is its restraint.

comment Comment
01/11/08
Neil Genzlinger
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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