Director: Yun Jae-yeon
Year: 2009
Country: South Korea
Alternate Titles: Yoga Class; Yoga Studio
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Trying to get ahead in life, a woman decides to follow a colleague's advice and participate in a special yoga class with several other participants, but when she starts to suspect something is wrong with the series of activities performed tries to uncover the deadly secret behind the facility.
Review:
Overall, there's a lot to like about this one. One of the finer aspects on display is the well-rounded storyline that provides plenty of intriguing aspects. This is mainly due to the way the whole setup is structured around her being forced into the retreat as a result of her working space due to her rivalry with the new co-host. With her outright telling that the company is moving into a new direction with the more youthful co-host, since she provides a more overt and obvious beauty that viewers are noticeably attracted to, the commentary on her age becomes the main focal point. Given that she's not old in the slightest and still incredibly attractive, forced to look at the whole trip to the facility as a way to be competitive in a market that rewards such standards. This feeling carries over into the arrival at the studio and how everyone starts to treat each other once they arrive, as we're given a series of solid introductory pieces showing her and the girls shown around and explaining the rules of everything while they stay, creating a wholly enjoyable starting point with a lot of fine features.
On top of this fine setup, the film scores incredibly well with the series of supernatural antics once the girls begin their training. The atmosphere of the place, given the instructions about not leaving, taking personal items, or addressing others about what's going on, works nicely enough to provide a sense of eeriness to the place. The actual place where the training occurs is dripping with the kind of foreboding theatrics behind it, with the musty air, ornate columns, and thick air of a dark secret behind the walls lurking ominously, setting everything off nicely. As the various scenes with the rest of the girls getting sucked into outlandish punishments for the egregious rule-breaking that takes place, it has some overall chilling concepts at play. With shower curtains coming to life to attack a victim or being manipulated by outside forces to perform increasingly more complex positions during training, the gradual reveal of everything taking place within the studio is a great way to make such a premise work, as these scenes come together to provide plenty of likable qualities.
There are some big issues here. The main drawback is the plodding and dragged-out pace in the middle section, where we see the boyfriend drive around the city putting the pieces of her disappearance together. The concept of the mystery itself is fine, using his skills from putting the documentary feature to look into the series of mysterious circumstances surrounding the yoga facility, but it does end up dragging the film down considerably in the middle section. Focusing on trying to get people associated with the situation to talk or explain what’s going on makes for a dull time getting the seeds of the mystery unraveled as slowly as it does. Moreover, this also takes us away from the facility to get these aspects resolved, yet does nothing with them, so it dramatically lowers the tension during this part when it should be ramping up instead. This also leads to the other issue, where it feels far more ambiguous than anything else, leading to a series of plotpoints with little explanation for anything going on. How she got in charge of the facility or what the spirit is supposed to accomplish are left unexplained, which causes a lacking and confusing atmosphere. These aspects are what bring the film down.
Overview: ***.5/5
Featuring some impressive elements alongside some negative points, this one comes off as a solid time, even with the flaws keeping it down in the middle-range tier of the genre. Hardcore fans of this kind of Asian horror fare or those who are generally curious about the film will have the most to like here, while others turned off by these features might want to heed caution.
This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.
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