Yeogo goedam II (1999)

Directors:

Tae-Yong Kim
Kyu-Dong Min

Writers:

Tae-Yong Kim (writer)
Kyu-Dong Min (writer)

Release Date:

24 December 1999 (South Korea)

Genre:

Horror | Romance | Drama

Tagline:

A student committed suicide, leaving behind a mysterious diary. Those who dare to read it are bound to die.

Plot:

Min-Ah finds a strange diary, capable of arousing hallucinations, kept by two of her senior fellow-students...

Plot Keywords:

Diary | Love | Lesbian | High School | Friend

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Gyu-ri Kim	...	Min-ah (as Min-sun Kim)
Yeh-jin Park	...	Hyo-shin
Young-jin Lee	...	Shi-eun
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jong-hak Baek	...	Mr. Goh
Min Han
Seung-Yeon Han
Jae-in Kim	...	Yeon-an (as Min-hie Kim)
Hyo-jin Kong	...	Ji-won
Hye-mi Lee
Seong-Eon Lim
Ji-Yeon Park

Directed by
Tae-Yong Kim
Kyu-Dong Min

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Tae-Yong Kim		writer
Kyu-Dong Min		writer

Produced by
Choon-Yeon Lee	....	producer

Original Music by
Sung-woo Jo		(as Sung-woo Cho)

Cinematography by
Yoon-soo Kim

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Yi-kwan Kang	....	assistant director

Distributors

• Ad Vitam Distribution
• Palisades Tartan (2009) (UK) (all media)
• Palisades Tartan (1999) (USA) (all media)
• Subway Cinema (2001) (USA) (subtitled)
• TLA Releasing (2005-????) (USA) (DVD)
• Tartan Video USA
• e-m-s the DVD-Company (2004) (Germany) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Memento Mori" - International (English title)
"Memento Mori: Remember the Dead" - Philippines (English title)
"Whispering Corridors 2" -
"Jokôkaidan - Ni-banme no monogatari" - Japan
"Memento Mori" - France
"Memento Mori - Gedenke des Todes" - Germany (imdb display title)
"Príbeh z dívcí strední" - Czech Republic
"Shôjo-tachi no yuigon" - Japan
"Suttogó folyosók 2." - Hungary (imdb display title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some violence and sexual content

Runtime:

98 min | USA:97 min | 186 min (director's cut)

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

UK:15 | Philippines:R-13 | Germany:16 (DVD rating) | Hong Kong:IIB | South Korea:12 | USA:R

Trivia:

The directors prefer the English title "Memento Mori".

Quotes:

Hyo-shin:There is nothing, / There is anything, / But there isn't, / Perhaps there is, / Perhaps there isn't, / Surely there is, / Said there isn't, / It's not true, / There is truth, / The lie there is, / There is a lie, / The truth there is, / No one knows...

Movie Connections:

References Suspiria (1977)

Best of the three Whispering Corridors movies

I saw this movie after having seen the first and third installments (except for a common setting at an all-girl Korean school, the three have no plot connections). While I found the first film uninspiring and the third yet more uninspiring, this one was actually pretty engaging.

As other reviews have noted, there is not much here in the way of horror or scares. There are some horror elements, but the film is more successful when it focuses instead on character development and on unfurling its back story (largely through flashbacks, which can sometimes confuse the narrative a bit). The acting is good as a whole, and most of the minor characters seem fully-realized, resulting in a film that has a rich setting behind it.

There are some bad sides to Memento Mori. As mentioned, if you come in expecting a Ju-On-ish scare-fest you will be disappointed. Some of the scenes towards the end (in particular, one involving mayhem and panic at the school) dragged on a little long, and began to nag at my suspension of disbelief. I didn't find the ending to be terribly satisfying, either--it wasn't terrible, but I wanted a little bit more.

Overall, though, this is an enjoyable film, one that inhabits its small world completely and doesn't try to be more than what it is.