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Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

The vengeful spirit of Kyung-ah(Ji-won Ha), a young woman who supposedly leaped from the balcony of a building to her death on top of a car's roof below, murders a group of friends, it seems, for no reason. Hye-jin(Gyu-ri Kim)was an unfortunate eye-witness to Kyung-ah's death from the street and finds that one of her friends, Seon-ae(Jeong-yun Choi)has returned from her stay in America. It's been two years since Kyung-ah's demise and Hye-jin is still burdened by troubling nightmares regarding her friend. Seon-ae claims that Kyung-ah follows her everywhere, tormenting her. Soon, a new friend enters Hye-jin's life, a mysterious young woman named Eun-ju..but is this new relationship real or imagined because Eun-ju eerily resembles Kyung-ah. As her friends are found dead by grisly means, Hye-jin must question whether or not Seon-ae is the culprit or perhaps Kyung-ah herself. A major sub-plot concerns a hot-shot lawyer and his lover, both part of the group being slaughtered one at a time. What Hye-jin doesn't know is that her friends hide a horrifying secret which might explain the gruesome events transpiring.Despite being visually arresting(I thought the camera-work was dazzling and the use of light effective), this film still utilizes the basic "ghostly revenge" supernatural slasher sub-plot. And, the ghostly haunts resemble the Asian horror hits populating the marketplace at the time, such as RINGU & JU-ON:THE GRUDGE. Still, there are enough unpleasant images and some nasty violence to keep one off-guard. There's an overhead shot of a victim lying in her bathtub bleeding as the shower rains upon her and one graphic attack on one male victim in a phone booth after his eye is gouged out. I thought "Nightmare" felt very reminiscent to I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER regarding how a secret kept within a small group leads to their being murdered. Slasher fans might just enjoy this one, but I don't think director Byeong-ki Ahn's film stands out from the pack of Asian horror flicks streaming today. Though, saying that, I do believe his visual eye is beneficial to the horror genre, as is cinematographer Seok-hyeon Lee..they craft a good looking product here, even if the material feels rather deja vu.

We see a body of dead girl in a morgue with the coroner trying to close the eyes of the girl, but whatever he tries they won't stay open. After this we move into the future and we follow a group of former school friends who hide a terrible secret, but suddenly they start getting picked off one by one in many grisly ways. Through flashbacks we learn of this awful suicide of a shy girl who was trying to be one of the group, but she was shut out by them because they dug up her past and found out some weird occurrences. So, is she back from the grave seeking revenge? Oh what a great and always spooky story! Well, that's what I hoping I could say. And 'hoping' was as good as it got. This is an forgettable, so-so supernatural horror flick that I actually watched before, but I went in thinking it was my first viewing. So to my surprise it hit me when I started picking up on certain things, but like I said it's quite a forgettable mix that it felt like a first viewing again. "Nightmare' is just another type of it's field that adds a 'few' changes to the gruel. Oh, please give me something that's a bit more fresh. It doesn't have to be entirely original, but this is one formulaic and at times quite tired J-horror flick. Even though it strings along the usual ghost story involving you guessed right… an evil looking, vengeful chick spirit.But in spite of my negativity of it being the same old, same old story and jolts. This one kind of entertains when its being grisly and popping in some creepy visuals. The deaths are vividly displayed with bite and some originality. While, the gloomy atmosphere alienates the audience with it's murky lighting. The first scene involving the spirit terrorising one of the girls is one blood-curdling experience, but really when it's not trying to shock you. I found it rather coma inducing and I thought about getting some shut-eye. That might be harsh, but it just didn't go anywhere of any interest between those shock moments. You could say that because the supposed mystery is really not much of one, the unsure story is just simply flat and the characters are a self-centred bunch that you don't really care what happens to them. The disjointed story should have focused more on the spirit than that of these bland characters who have one unconvincing group relationship. It just overplayed its cards by becoming overly muddled and taking too long to get going that when it comes to the climax it's just plain ludicrous. The film's haunting ending is a high point, though.The film looks fine, although it could have done without the snazzy, quick fire editing and the music score was a bit overbearing in playing up the mood. The performances tread a fine line, but Gyu-ri Kim is strong in the lead role.It's nothing new and it shamelessly steals ideas, but if you can look past that it delivers some nasty thrills. Although, I found the handling of it rather lethargic, despite the odd effective chills. A standard effort all round I guess, but still it's equally missable.

A small circle of close friends is disrupted by a new presence, a withdrawn and somewhat shy girl named Eun-ju. The kindly Hye-jin takes Eun-ju under her wing and introduces her to everyone, unaware that she has met Eun-ju before...or has she? Eun-ju wins the affections of the handsome baseball player and incurs the wrath of the jealous Sun-ae. At a casual gathering one night, Sun-ae reveals that Eun-ju is actually Kyungh-ah, a little girl from the small village where she and Hye-jin grew up. Kyungh-ah was suspected of being possessed by demons and was said to have caused the death of several people, including Hye-jin's father. Eun-ju commits suicide that night by throwing herself from a roof top...but a few years later, her friends start seeing her dark ghost following them around and staring at them menacingly. Soon, the friends are dying, but is it really the ghost of Eun-ju back for vengeance? Or is it the seriously disturbed Sun-ae who has just "run away" from an American mental institution? Or could it be the young ambitious lawyer who has everything to lose? What secret are the friends hiding about Eun-ju's death?This film is not as slick and sharp as "Phone" but it's not bad either. Fans of the movie "Ghost Story" may appreciate this Asian take on the tale, as "Nightmare" has essentially the same plot. There are some great visuals here, particularly with the ghost of Eun-ju, and the performances are all very good. There's even a little gore here for splatter fans. The movie may move a little slowly for people who prefer their horror fast, bloody and constantly scary, but it has an interesting story to tell and will be appreciated by fans of "Ringu" "Ju-On" and the aforementioned "Phone."

The story premise isn't new: three years after a group of college friends drive a girl with Sadako-like powers to kill herself, they all start dying violent deaths. What's unclear until the final act is whether the spirit of the deceased girl has come back to wreak her revenge, or whether one of the group has cracked up and is committing the murders themselves.Fans of Korean cinema may remember lead actress Gyu-ri Kim as the Jessica Alba lookalike in "Whispering Corridors" (aka Yeogo Goedam) and she turns in another fantastic performance here. All of the cast members do, in fact - with Ji-won Ha as the Sadako-like girl mentioned above particularly impressive in the flashback scenes. Director/Writer Byeong-ki Ahn, who went on to direct "Phone" in 2002, shows a competent hand at direction with a few excellent set pieces and some genuinely spine-tingling suspense. If you manage to avoid jumping at least three times during this film, you're a braver soul than I!NIGHTMARE's shortcomings come in the plot department, with a few plot holes and convoluted story strands making it hard to follow at times. You're also not sure whether it's a slasher pic or a ghost story - but that's intentional, I suppose! Watch out for the final twist at the very end - it completely turns the rest of the film on its head - which, although out of the blue, at least leaves the viewer in no doubt as to what's happened.Had this been a little easier to follow throughout, NIGHTMARE would be getting my highest recommendation of 5 stars. As it is, though, fans of Asian horror shouldn't be disappointed and - although it's no RINGU or THE EYE - there's plenty to keep the average horror fan entertained. ***.5 / *****