Doll Master
| Doll Master | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Jeong Yong-ki |
| Produced by | Han Man-taek |
| Written by | Jeong Yong-gi |
| Starring |
Kim Yoo-mi Lim Eun-kyung Shim Hyung-tak Ok Ji-young Lim Hyeong-jun Lee Ka-yeong |
| Cinematography | Jo Cheol-ho |
| Edited by | Nam Na-yeong |
| Distributed by |
Lotte Cinema Cineclick Asia |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | South Korea |
| Language | Korean |
The Doll Master (Hangul: 인형사; RR: Inhyeongsa) is a 2004 South Korean horror film directed by Jeong Yong-ki.
Plot
60 years ago, a doll maker falls in love with a woman in a red kimono during the Japanese occupation in a countryside in Korea. After making a doll (in the red kimono woman's image) as a gesture of his love, she falls in love with him as well. Later, when the red kimono woman is found murdered, the blame is put on the doll maker. He was eventually arrested and killed by vigilantes in the woods. The doll, not content to be without her maker, sits by his grave for all eternity.
In the present day, Hae-mi, the sculptor, Tae-seong, the "model" who is looking for work, Young-ha, the woman who claims she can talk to her Demian doll, Jeong-gi, the photographer and Sun-young, the ditzy high school student, arrived at an isolated museum in the middle of nowhere with the promise of dolls to be made in their image. They are greeted by the museum’s curator, who also introduces them to the museum’s dolls, as well as the paraplegic doll maker, Im.
However, when Yeong-ha's doll has its head separated from its body, the doll (who was the spitting image of the red kimono woman) kills the guests one by one. Im later admits that she is using the red kimono doll to kill the descendants of the vigilants who assassinated the maker of the doll; Im also reveals that the guests whom she invited are the descendants. At the same time, the clues point to a mysterious, young woman named Mi-na, the soul of the doll Hae-Mi once owned as a child.
Being the only victim left, Hae-mi tries to avoid the attempted assassination of Mi-na. She stops her attempt when she remembers a time Hae-mi protected her from being broken, which the scar on her arm is from. Mi-na then asks Hae-mi, why she abandoned her all those years after promising to protect her always. However, a displeased Im shows up and destroys Mi-na's soul by poking her eyes and beheading her for her failure. She then tries to kill Hae-mi, but she successfully kills Im.
When Im and the museum’s curator were killed, Im's husband tells her that they shouldn't have brought the red kimono doll in the doll museum after all the trouble it caused.
While burning all the corpses (including the doll) in a camp fire, Hae-mi questions herself whether the fault lies on the dolls or humans. As she throws Mi-na's head into the fire, a young Hae-mi throws Mi-na out the window in the flashback.
Dolls
Although the story states that the dolls are decades old, many of them featured in the film are modern ball-jointed dolls. Some of the dolls such as Mi-na and Demian are a part of the "Event" series of "The AI" dolls from a Korean doll company called Custom House.[1]
References
- ↑ http://www.customhouse.co.kr/en/about/index.asp "July : Movie [Doll Master] Main character Mina doll released"