흡혈형사 나도열 (Vampire Cop Ricky) Press Screening Report

Vampir, blood-sucking vampires. From Lord Byron to Bram Stoker, from Murnau's Nosferatu to The Twins' 千機變 (The Twins Effect), popular culture has always been in love with those creatures of the dark. That of the 僵屍 (hopping corpse) has been a long standing obsession in Hong Kong Cinema, and Japan has often used folklore -- like the 狐 (kitsune, fox) mythology -- with features similar to Western vampires in many films. Yet, vampire mythology and its cinematic counterpart have been rarely making much noise in Korea. Be it because most horror films dealt with the 처녀귀신 (virgin ghost) or 도깨비 (goblin) culture, or because Vampire films never seemed to work well, the genre never took off in Chungmuro. Of course there were a few films in the past, but they mostly stand out for being so strange.

Want an example? Who's the first name coming to mind when you say 'Dracula'? Christopher Lee, of LOTR fame. He starred in gazillions of Dracula films between the 50s and 70s, and someone in Korea thought he could revive his glory days by wrapping an entire film around his most beloved character. Lee Hyung-Pyo's 1982 horror 관속의 드라큐라 (Dracula in a Coffin) was advertised as the return of Mr. Lee in the famous role, bragging that he'd receive a guarantee never seen before in Korean Cinema. Result? Well... the viewers got to see a foreigner playing Dracula, but it was just an American soldier called Ken Guerin, who acted in a few theater plays during high school, and was paid a hefty sum of 1.4 Million Won (about US$ 1,500), while he was on vacation in Korea. The film sold almost 50,000 tickets, so they probably did their job right, although a big controversy aroused later.

Other infamous Korean Dracula films were Shim Hyung-Rae's 1994 kids flick 영구와 흡혈귀 드라큐라 (Young-Gu and Count Dracula), where Shim reprised his famous role of Young-Gu for another dose of crazy, unintentionally funny antics in what's still one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. Even with Chungmuro's newfound prosperity in the last decade, vampires were still lacking. One of the few films to tackle the genre was Nam Gi-Nam's delirious 갈갈이 패밀리와 드라큐라 (Galgari Family and Dracula), a sort of Bizarro world 彊屍先生 (Mr. Vampire) starring the entire Gag Concert (an extremely popular standup comedy show on KBS) crew in a mix of HK inspired action, local comedy you couldn't possibly enjoy if you weren't watching the show, and vampire film tropes.

Yet, something changed in the last few years, and I'd say the biggest catalyst was the cult MBC sitcom 안녕, 프란체스카 (Hello, Francesca). Starring Shim Hye-Jin as a vampire who lands by mistake on Korean soil with her family, the show never hit it big in the ratings, but built a huge fanbase online, which eventually pushed the show on DVD (which are lovely although sadly subtitle-less, and have some of the best package design ever seen on the Korean DVD market... Coffins!). Now on its third (and probably final) season, one of the most interesting aspects of the show is taking the formulae of vampire films and adapting them to a modern setting, with a ton of references to popular culture and cameos from popular stars. Although the most interesting vampire film in the making could be Park Chan-Wook's 박쥐 (Evil Live), with Song Kang-Ho in the leading role, Lee Shi-Myung's 흡혈형사 나도열 (Vampire Cop Ricky) will be the first to hit theaters.

Lee debuted with the 2002 blockbuster 2009 로스트 메모리즈 (2009 Lost Memories), which managed to have some of the best initial 20 Minutes of the year, and some of the worst final 30 Minutes. Starring Jang Dong-Gun and Nakamura Tooru, the film was a pretty good success, attracting over 2 Million viewers, and once again confirming Jang's drawing power. But Lee's second film is a whole different game: Kim Soo-Ro will star in his first ever solo leading role, after over a decade of memorable supporting roles and cameo. Also, although by no means an independent film, the action comedy's budget is peanuts compared to blockbusters like '2009 Lost Memories'. Kim stars as Na Do-Yeol, detective by day, bodyguard by night. He gets bitten by a vicious blood-sucking mosquito, and suddenly discovers strange new powers. All he needs to do to become the most powerful man in the neighborhood is getting aroused, and then everything grows bigger. His strength, flexibility, fighting skills. Hell, even his teeth, and... well, something else.

'Vampire Cop Ricky' had its press screening today at the Seoul Cinema in Jong-Ro. Present at the premiere director Lee and stars Kim Soo-Ro, Jo Yeo-Jung, Cheon Ho-Jin, Oh Gwang-Rok and Son Byung-Ho. Release is set for February 9.

Press Reaction

I had a lot of expectations for this film, but it looks like we'll have to lower our expectations a little, at least if the press' reaction is any indication. Reaction was divided into two camps: those who thought the parodies of Hollywood superhero films mixed with B-Movie tropes were a little lacking in creativity. But also those who thought Kim Soo-Ro carries the film with his explosive ad-lib prowess, and the film is quite funny and with interesting action. Yet, all seem to agree this was pretty much a 'star' vehicle, wrapped around the talented Kim, and that Lee's lack of directing skills hurt the film considerably. When I heard Lee was directing this, I was a little disappointed, but thought the cast was enough to overcome his lack of originality (I mean, Kim Soo-Ro, Son Byung-Ho, Cheon Ho-Jin, and Oh Gwang-Rok? Great actors, BORN for comedies like this), but we'll have to see. If there's anyone who could handle this kind of material with the required panache and still be funny and original, that's Lee Mu-Young. A good friend of Park Chan-Wook (who often ends up writing scripts for Lee's films), his 휴머니스트 (Humanist) is still one of the best black comedies of the last half decade. But on the box office front, things could go a little better. Its absence of toilet humour and excessive slapstick certainly help, especially after the success of 투사부일체 (My Boss, My Teacher), which looks exactly the opposite. But whether Kim can withstand the onslaught of Chungmuro's new sensation 와의 남자 (The King and The Clown), that's up to fate. Certainly wouldn't hurt seeing someone like Kim Soo-Ro making it big, he deserves it.

Comments

DIRECTOR LEE SHI-MYUNG
"It was the kind of film I always wanted to make, and just reading the script, about a detective turning into a vampire, made me interested in this. Thanks to the cast's hard work, I'm satisfied with what we achieved. Even before going into production for this film, we already wrote the outline for Part 2 and Part 3. Just like Kim Soo-Ro said previously on TV, if we do well here, we'll get a chance to make those sequels as well [those would be other 'Superhero' films, not necessarily another vampire film]. If that's the case, we'll cast the same actors in the sequels, too."

KIM SOO-RO
"It doesn't really matter if you're a lead or a supporting character. In my next film, I could play a small role, or get the lead once again. The kind of nervousness and anxiety I felt while shooting 투캅스 (Two Cops) in 1993 hasn't changed one bit. If there's anything which changed, that's just my guarantee. But I also think I changed a little compared to then: I just used to worry about my role and acting, but now I feel much closer to the crew. For a year and a half I practiced Jeet Kune Do and I was anxious to use it, but looking at the film I guess I used it well (laughs). It might be another country's martial art, but I think I was able to make it look pretty good. Because I never really had problems with my eyesight, wearing contact lenses was really hard. Just 5 Minutes after wearing them I'd get weary, so the action scenes were a little harder than usual. But since I always had a good relationship with the crew, it wasn't really that difficult. We had a lot of fun, and I think that will translate in the film."

SON BYUNG-HO

"Since when did people start calling me a 'villain expert' (laughs)? This time I think this villain is a little different, it has that kind of feminine side like Designer Andre Kim, but also like Jack Nicholson's Joker in Batman. The director and I talked a lot about creating this new image, and I think it works well in the film."

JO YEO-JUNG
"About the sex scenes, at first I was really nervous, and was thinking about what to do. But since Kim Soo-Ro was so fun to work with and was probably even more nervous, it was really easy to shoot that after all. And it was just the second day of shooting for me. I really feel good about this film, and it will leave nice memories in the future."

Quick Judgment

Sports Korea's Seo Eun-Jung
Film Quality: AVERAGE
Box Office Potential: GOOD

Screen's Park Ji-Young
Film Quality: AVERAGE
Box Office Potential: GOOD

Movieweek's Lee Joo-Young
Film Quality: GOOD
Box Office Potential: GOOD

Premiere's Shim Soo-Jin
Film Quality: AVERAGE
Box Office Potential: AVERAGE

Herald Economy's Lee Hyung-Seok
Film Quality: AVERAGE
Box Office Potential: AVERAGE

Cinetizen's Kim Geon-Woo
Film Quality: AVERAGE
Box Office Potential: GOOD

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흡혈형사 나도열 (Vampire Cop Ricky)
Director: 이시명 (Lee Shi-Myung)
Cast: 김수로 (Kim Soo-Ro), 손병호 (Son Byung-Ho), 조여정 (Jo Yeo-Jung)
Official Website
Theatrical Trailer (Streaming, 700k, Windows Media)
Teaser Trailer (Streaming, 700k, Windows Media)
Teaser Trailer - English Version (Streaming, 700k, Windows Media)

Poster Shoot (Streaming, 700k, Windows Media)
Music Video (Streaming, 700k, Windows Media) [Dynamic Duo - 파도]
Movie Stills/Posters
Produced By: SM필름 (SM Films), 청어람 (Big Blue Films)
Rating: TBA
RELEASE: February 9

Sources
Star News: 1, 2
Yahoo Korea: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Film2.0: 1
nKino: 1