Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55337 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-12-05
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 94 minutes

Synopsis
A young girl discovers a diary containing the details of a secret relationship which is being conducted by two classmates. In public the classmates in question appear to be just friends. When one of these girls is found dead rumours begin... Korean dialogue with subtitles.

Customer Reviews

More ghostly than horror
If you're expecting something alongs the lines of the 'Ring', 'The Grudge' or other more mainstream films of this genre, you'll need to watch the film with an open mind. 'Memento Mori' is a more sensitive and emotionally complex film than the former titles, although that's not to say it is lacking in some genuinely shocking moments.

'Memento Mori' takes some commitment to watch as it is slow to start, but stick with it and once it's over, you'll be left with the same thought-provoking feeling that these films bring out so well.

Not horror at all -- it's a film about schoolgirls in love
This movie didn't grab me at all. I found it dull, lacking a strong plot, interesting characters, or suspense. Everything is off-putting: the documentary style, with hand-held cameras and fragmentary, naturalistic dialogue (as opposed to normal "scripted" dialogue that tells you what's happening), the way the movie jumps constantly back and forward in time, seemingly every 30 seconds, so you're never sure what's going on, and the cast composed almost entirely of school girls (at a guess, 15 year olds?) who spend most of the time picking on each other and have almost no character. Indeed, it's hard to feel affinity with or sympathy for any of them. Meanwhile, while the girls are having casual sex and working as prostitutes, the male teachers seem to find it okay to physically abuse them and sleep with them.

None of this is particularly unusual, especially in Asian cinema. You've seen much worse in "All About Lily Chou-Chou". Compared to that, "Memento Mori" is quite benign. As far as plot is concerned, it is a very simple ghost story, one of the series of "haunted school" movies that got a huge audience in Korea. It's hard to see why. There are almost no thrills, practically nothing happens, and there's no sense of creeping horror. If you compare it to the great horror cinema South Korean is capable of -- "A Tale Of Two Sisters" particularly -- this is a very minor work. For those looking for another creepy Asian horror movie, it's best avoided.

What makes "Memento Mori" unusual, at least in Korea, is its theme: it's a story about lesbianism. In Korea, that is a very strong taboo, and caused a stir at the time of release. But this shouldn't attract you to the movie in the hope of titillation. There is no sex, no nudity, nothing prurient whatsoever. The two girls hold hands, cuddle and kiss at one point (shockingly, in front of the whole class!) but, refreshingly, that's all. That was shocking enough for a Korean audience. (Apparently more explicit scenes were filmed but they were either removed (sensibly) by the directors, or hacked out by the Korean censor. If they exist, they're not restored here. The package uses at its evidence for their existence a snippet of a scene which appears in the original trailer -- which shows lots of scenes not in the finished movie -- in which the two girls are glimpsed sharing a bath.) Let's be honest, some people might buy this movie for its subject matter, but it's not going to satisfy you, whatever you think you'll get out of it.

There are better films about teenage love. There are better films about obsession. There are certainly better films about teenagers in peril. This movie isn't much of anything, and I advise you not to put it high on your list of things to see.