10 Worthwhile Asian Horror Films Currently Without Remakes

4. Voice

Year: 2005 Country: South Korea Director: Equan Choi

Voice is the fourth in the unconnected Whispering Corridors series of Korean horror films, with a title literally translated as Girl's High School Horror 4: Voice. Like the other films in the franchise, it's set at an all-girls high school and involves some ghostly goings-on but does not follow the story of any other film. This particular installment is about Young-Eon, a dedicated music student who is killed by a ghost in her school. She comes back as one herself, but she is invisible - and only her best friend Seon-Min and the weird loner girl Cho-Ah can hear her. Furthermore, she cannot leave the school building, and her memory is fractured and unreliable. The story predictably moves into an investigation of the ghost who killed her in the first place, but surprisingly that's not the movie's only main focus. At its core, Voice is a film about the grieving process. Seon-Min can only hear Young-Eon's voice because of the strong emotional attachment she still has to her dead friend. Even as the mystery behind the other ghost unfolds, the true main conflict is Seon-Min's internal struggle with her friend's death and her decision on whether to let her go or cling to her last remnants in the mortal world. Although it's sold in America with a hilariously inaccurate DVD cover showing bloody hands clawing their way out of a screaming mouth, Voice is far from a shocking gore-fest. It's not even really scary, and there are only a handful of scenes where it actually tries to be. However, its intriguing mystery elements and surprising emotional depth make it well worth a watch.