Search - Acacia on DVD

As the Tree Boooms the Family Falls Apart

Bryan A. Pfleeger | Metairie, Louisiana United States | 06/08/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Ki-hyeong Park's Acacia is a movie that tries to do many things but unfortunately does none of them as well as it should. As a family melodrama it is adequate. As a horror film it has its creepy moments. But when it tries to combine the two genres it falls under the weight of its own self importance.

Kim Do-Il (Jin-Guen Kim) and Choi Mi-Sook (Hye-jin Shim) are a modestly well to do couple living in a South Korean suburb. He's a doctor and she's an artist. Their life is complete in many ways except that they don't have a child. The couple decides to adopt a six year old boy Kim Jin Seong (Oh-bin Mun)who would rather draw and spend time with an acacia tree in the couples back yard than spend time with his new family. Time goes on and Mi-Sook becomes pregnant. With the birth of the new baby things go from bad to worse for Jin Seong and the boy eventually disappears. As the family's problems mount the once dead acacia tree in the back yard begins to bloom.

The film is more psychological thriller than horror and Park takes his time developing the plot. The slow pace of the film may well turn off some viewers. The acting is for the most part first rate as well as the production design.

The Tartan video offers a good picture and Dolby DTS sound. There is a subtitled director's commentary and a making of featurette. This one while not great is well worth a rental."

Subpar compared to other K-Horror films

Dancing Ganesha | Bangalore, India | 10/08/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I am an Asian Horror (and Horror) fanatic, so even I am surprised that it took so long to want to watch this film. I think the film struck me as being over-hyped, or else the subject matter (a child and his tree) didn't really intrigue me.

After I finally viewed this film in its entirety, I can say with confidence that this film really is over-hyped. I've read another negative review elsewhere that touted the cinematography alone, but even that didn't save it for me. Still, we should take into account that this is one of the forerunners of K-Horror, even though this probably doesn't count as a "true horror" in the sense of other Korean and Asian Horror films.

There have obviously been many other films made since that surpass this one, for instance, "Wishing Stairs" -- a film with both beautiful cinematography and a great story."