Films ☆ 초능력자 / Haunters (2010)

Another Korean film that captured my interest during my two-month blogging hiatus was the 2010 film 초능력자 or Haunters/Psychic, an action-drama thriller which tells the story of a man who can control people’s minds and actions with his eyes and his unexpected meeting with a man whose mind he cannot penetrate however hard he tried.

Haunters stars two of the hottest, most talented Korean actors I’ve ever come across, and what a heavenly pair they make. Kang Dongwon plays Cho In, a vengeful young man blessed (or cursed) with the ability to control people’s minds just by looking at them, taking advantage of this skill for his personal gain. Meanwhile, there’s kind-hearted Im Kyunam living a very simple life, played by Go Soo. When Cho In crosses paths with Kyunam, the unexpected happens, as the former discovers that there exists someone who he can never control.

Both actors play against each other very well, and this is another one of those cases wherein I could never have imagined another actor playing any of their characters as well as they did. (Let’s face it, sometimes we wish someone played a certain role in a drama/movie because we feel like they’d do a better job at it.) I have seen more of Kang Dongwon’s work than Go Soo’s, but this is the first time I’ve seen him take on a sinister antagonist role and he’s just so impressive as Cho In that this film brought back my love for him. Yes, I’m saying this even as I wanted to punch his face throughout the movie. He was a brilliant antagonist, and without him, Go Soo’s character wouldn’t have performed as excellently, too.

Again, no spoilers here for those who haven’t seen the film yet, but I do have some behind-the-scenes goodies!

Interview and Behind-the-Scenes Cuts (subbed)

Interview, Poster Shoot and Behind-the-Scenes Cuts (unsubbed)

In an interview, Go Soo mentioned that he and Dongwon developed a good, brotherly and friendly bond while filming this movie, and you can see hints of that in the above clips. I still keep giggling whenever I see that clip of Dongwon holding an umbrella over their heads to keep them from getting drenched with the fake rain (1:00 on the second, unsubbed clip). It’s just adorable. And their faces. Come on, they’re precious.

Also, I love that bit when Go Soo is teasing Dongwon with fake dialogue (I’m not sure if this is correct, but I think Go Soo was saying ‘underwear’ instead of his actual lines), sending him on the floor, laughing. So cute.

As an additional note: Dongwon’s limbs are so freakin’ LONG. He seems to not know what to do with them, sitting on a very small chair like that. /dying

More Behind-the-Scenes Clips

In this clip, you see more of the director Kim Minsuk, who co-wrote the 2008 film The Good, The Bad, The Weird (another wonderful piece, maybe I’ll write about it later), and his hands-on work with the actors and staff while filming the movie. He looks so young, don’t you think? I’m expecting more, wonderful films from him in the near future. We also see glimpses of our dear twosome working hard. I quite like the cute and smiling Go Soo, even if he looks a bit old-fashioned in those clothes. ^^

Featurettes on Kang Dongwon and Go Soo

There. I hope I didn’t flood you too much with videos. 😛 They’re all quite interesting to watch, especially if you want a glimpse on how hard these actors work. It’s also very nice to see Dongwon and Go Soo being playful (you see abit of that on the third clip). Adorable.

Anyway, I also made gifs for this film, and I’m sharing them here as well: