There's a bloodthirsty serial killer on the loose mainly targeting sons and daughters of the rich, doctors, medical students and generally anyone representing the establishment. Dead bodies all cut up and turned into sashimi turn up everywhere. The police are incapable of stopping this monster from striking again. So who is this mad lunatic? His name is Chi Seung-Don (Kim Sang-Joong). He died, went to hell then resurrected himself as a ghost. And the only person truly capable of stopping this devil from practicing his gruesome hobby is a cop named Chang Dae-Hyub (Chang Dong-Gun). Chang's close ally is a play boyish Taoist psychic named Cha Dal-Sik (Kim Min-Jong). With the help of Cha and his psychic powers, Chang sets out to stop the evil super-natural force before it goes too far.
Actor Kim Sang-Joong does an absolutely terrific job playing the evil ghost Chi Seung-Don. Chi Seung-Don's focus of anger and revenge is against the cop Chang Dae-Hyub who unknowingly let Chi Seung-Don's sick sister to die in a fiery car crash. In a carefully planned act, Chi kidnaps, kills Chang's fiancee in revenge, then commits suicide. He comes back as a ghost to resume his final act to destroy Chang. Kim Sang-Joong, who also recently appeared on the series Tomato, reminds me of a slime ball, creepy enough to make your spines shiver. Looking at Kim Sang-Joon's grinning steel face, it feels like a greasy cockroach crawling up your pants. He had that similar effect in Tomato. Now in Ghost, his talent as the devil seems to have been unleashed. Personally, I think Kim should be careful not to be typecasted in future roles as the bad guy because he has that natural grinning evil face that seems to be way too natural.
Another teenaged Gayo recording sensation Park Ji-Yoon ("Steal Away", "Precious Lover") co-star as Lee Joon-Hee, a medical student who gets haunted by the killer and starts killing off fellow medical students. The first thing you will notice right away is how young and fresh Park looks. Amazingly, Park has the energy to record her 3rd album at the same time as her appearance in Ghost. There seems to be inordinate amount of young teenaged actresses that are starting to appear on TV these days. Maybe we are seeing the similar trend that is happening in the pop music scene where the average age of pop stars keeps dropping. Park is not the only highschool student actress to appear on TV, but you will absolutely love her role as the haunted girl. Keep a very close eye on her beatty little eyes and twisted eyebrows as she squints at people whom she's planning to make minced meat out of. In her role, she doesn't say too much, but talk about being effectively creepy1x It's adorable, cute, frightening, and to my warped sense of taste, scintillating. I guess there's nothing more appealing than a girl with a killer smile holding a shiny bloody knife in her hand ready to stab you in the back.
Traditionally the biggest weakness in Korean film and entertainment industry has always been in the special effects area. Lacking in technology and special skills needed to create the illusions to capture the imagination of the audience, this is painfully evident in Ghost. Having grown up and experiencing what best of American blockbuster movies have to offer with their breathtaking and sensational special effects that will take you out for a thrill ride, I can only say one word to describe the special effects in Ghost - cheesy. It certainly is a big let down when you expected more. Except for the few scenes like the cars blowing up, most of the special effects are reminiscent of Star Trek, the original 1960's version. The psychic's (Kim Min-Jong's) ghost sidekick reminds me of the cartoon character Casper the Ghost. To be honest, it's sort of annoying that Korean writers and directors continually insist on mixing in elements of comedy plus cheap gimmicks like the bad special effects where none is really needed or appropriate. This series would have worked well even without any special effects. Hopefully with recent technological advances in Korean filming making industry with such hit productions as "Swiri" and "Yongari", we will soon see the trickle down effect in the drama business.
To sum it up, it's been a highly entertaining series with stellar performances by everyone. The only disappointment is the laughable and forgettable special effects. But once you get past that one annoying defect, Ghost will give you enough chills on a hot summer night for it to be highly recommended.
