Quatermass and the Pit

Title - Quatermass and the pit  (five million years to earth)
Language - English
Genre - Horror, Sci-Fi

Quatermass and the pit is the third Quatermass film, the first in colour and the last one by Hammer horror.

The film starts with a team of workers digging to extend the ‘Hobb’s end’ tube station in the London underground when they discover a number of skulls and skeletons.  The site is then handed over to Dr Mathew Roney who believes that the skulls belong to an ancestor of man who roamed the earth five million years ago.  The excavation is halted when the team discover a strange item that is believed to be a bomb of some type.

At the same time Professor Quatermass has been called in to a meeting with Colonel Breen who tells him that his rocket/moon project is now being controlled by the military, Quatermass is not happy about this.  The meeting is interrupted by a message to Colonel Breen asking for him to go to the Hobbs end site with bomb disposal to examine the object they have found.

The object is said to be safe so it is fully uncovered.  The team find an entrance and, once inside they find a room full of what appears to be giant insects.  Breen believes that is an old experimental German V weapon and the creatures are fake, put there to scare British during the war but Quatermass and the archaeological team believe it is something else and that is is tied to all the tales of haunting that have been reported around Hobbs end all through history.

Out of the four films Quatermass and the Pit the most different, the other three concern themselves with an alien threat that has come from beyond the stars and, even though the first two take some influence from horror as well as sci-fi Quatermass and the pit is, at it’s core a horror film with leanings towards Sci-Fi.

There seems to be an anti military message in Quatermass and the pit.  this is first evident when Quatermass finds out that his project is going to be taken over by the military, he is outraged as he sees the colonization of other planets as a way of leaving our old warlike  behind.  The theme is carried on by the way the army is portrayed.  Both  Quatermass & Breen  refuse to believe that any of the supernatural events are connected to the find at hobbs end, in fact both refuse to believe in the supernatural at all, but as the film goes on  Quatermass begins to accept that there is something odd happening and that it is connected to the aliens whereas Breen just becomes more and more stubborn and un-receptive to anything other than his own theory.  There is also a hint of an army with the aliens/ possessed human as they go ahead with the racial cull.

The Aliens in this film seem to be better developed that in the previous two films, they have a better back story and more of a reason to want to conquer us although this does cause a problem with the effects.  This is overcome well though, the scenes on Mars are always seen through grainy footage and the alien corps’ are meant to be degrading so they are not seen for long.

The intertwining of Sci-Fi and horror is also handled well, the way the memories of the aliens have become change over time to become our devils is used well and the explanation that phenomenon such as ghosts and poltergeists are actually caused by latent psychic power inherited from the Martians is interesting.  It is interesting to note that there a similar theories about poltergeists in the real word, minus the aliens of course.

I feel that Quatermass and the pit is best of the four films, it has a strong story and a good mix of horror and Sci-Fi and is definitely well worth a watch.

Quatermass 2

Title - Quatermass 2, (the  enemy from space)
Language - English
Genre - Sci-Fi

Set a few years after the <Quatermass Xperiment> we find professor Quatermass  working on a project to set up a base on the moon.  He has a new rocket which has been fitted with an atomic engine which is unstable and the ministry he is working for has just pulled the funding for his work.  Whilst returning from a meeting Quatermass nearly crashes into another driver who is trying to get her boyfriend to hospital  after he had been burned whilst looking at something that had fallen out of the sky.  At the same time Quatermass’ assistants are tracking a number of objects that are falling from the sky.  Finding that the object that had hit  the man in the car was hollow Quatermass hands it to his lab for further testing and goes to investigate where the others fell.  Finding the village of Winnerden Flats destroyed and replaced with a facility that looks alot like his own moon base Quatermass begins to investigate what is going on and what the connection is with the meteor showers.

Like the Quatermass xperiment, Quatermass 2 lets the sense of threat build.  We have the two mysteries; what is the facility at Winnerden Flats and what are the meteors.  The two are linked quite quickly when Quatermass finds the ground around Winnerden Flats littered with broken meteors but it is a while before we find out how dangerous each is.

The size of the threat of the Winnerden Flats site is not known until the end of the film, partly because the site is believed to be manufacturing a synthetic food and what the meteors contain is thought  to be some kind of an infection.

Quatermass 2 seems to be about conspiracy.  At first Quatermass believes that the Winnerden Flats site is a rival project  and probably why his  funding was cut.  As the film progresses the function of the site is covered up  adding to the mystery so that when it is revealed to be a plant for making synthetic food people don't believe them causing Quatermass to investigate further.  Quatermass’ own theory about the site, that is an alien invasion is also treated with some doubt.  Other characters think that his theories are wild and he is only spreading tales because it does look like someone else has a more advanced version of his moon base project.  The conspiracy is heightened by the meteors, as soon as they land the plant guards are out looking for them, they are dressed in protective suits complete with gas masks and they won’t speak to anyone.  Anyone who handles one of the meteors when they first fall is take ill and then take away by the guards, by force if necessary and it is these actions that help convince people the plant and it’s guards are more of a threat then first seen.

In my review of the first Quatermass film (<the quatermass Xperiment>) I compared the film to Frankenstein and, in the same way Quatermass 2 has elements of the early Zombie films.  The Pre ‘night of the living dead’ zombie films i have seen have the zombies more as servants than a brain eating hoard and that can be said of the people who are infected by the meteors, the guards appear to be mindless shells who only protect the plant and look for the other meteors, this may explain why they open a gate to let their vehicles through even though there is a mob of angry villagers already there, trying to get in.  Those possessed by the meteor aliens also have a mark, a v shaped cut on them which seems unnecessary, if the alien is a kind of infection then it would enter via the mouth or nose, the injuries could be seen as a throwback to zombie movies.  Of course these similarities can be drawn to most of the ‘body snatcher’  genre of film.

One of the main things that make the move is the Winnerden Flats plant, the whole thing seems unearthly but has a very real feel to it. this is down to the fact that is it filmed  at a Shell Oil refinery which is a huge industrial site with odd shaped buildings and piping everywhere.  It looks other worldly now so it must have been even more effect back in 1957 when this was made.

I don’t think that Quatermass 2 is the best of the series but it doesn't suffer in the same way as a lot of other number 2 films do I believe that this is due to the stories being relatively unconnected, they are both sci-fi and have alien invasion but it’s different aliens and a different plan.  The creature effect are not quite as good as the creature from the first film  but it doesn't detract from the film 

The Quatermass Xperiment

Title - The Quatermass Xperiment (The creeping unknown )
Language - English
Genre - Horror, Sci-Fi

The Quatermass Xperiment is the first  of four films following the adventures of the British scientist Professor Quatermass.  The film started life as a BBC series but most of the episodes have been lost.  It was later made into a film by Hammer Horror as one of their first films.

The film starts with a rocket crash landing on a farm.  The rocket was part of a government experiment for the first manned flight into space.  The project was headed by Professor Quatermass who is in trouble for launching the rocket early.  The rocket had a crew of three but when it is opened there is only one person aboard, Victor Carroon.  The space suit's of the other astronauts are still intact and the door has not been opened.  As the rocket has been in space there is no where the other astronauts could have gone.

Victor is very ill and is kept at Quatermass' lab.  At the same time Scotland Yard begin an investigator to find out what has happened to the other men, this is led by Inspector Lomax. Quatermass thinks the investigation is a waste of time as no one at Scotland Yard is qualified to investigate anything that happens in space.

Victor is moved to a hospital when it is decided that there is not enough medical equipment in Quatermass' lab.  Victor's wife, Judith tries  to break him out of the hospital but, in the few minuets he is left alone Victor pushes his hand into a cactus and he kills the man who was helping  her.  As Victor goes on a killing spree he slowly changes into something else and Quatermass and Lomax realise they are dealing with an alien invasion.

The Quatermass Xperiment was released in 1955 and, in my opinion it still holds up now. Admittedly  some of the technology is a bit dated but, as Quatermass' lab is mentioned to be quite hi tec it's not that bad.  The film does not rely to heavily on special effects and the creature at the end is not seem much so this does not go against it.  It has a good story and characters.

Quatermass starts wanting to be in control of everything and he finds the involvement of Scotland Yard nothing but an annoyance.  As the film progresses he begins to realise that, even though he has the most knowledge on the rocket and space side he is not equipped to deal with the situation.  He begins to release some control of the situation when he is convinced to let Victor go to a hospital and, once Victor is on the loose he knows that he needs the police to help track him down.  It does seem to annoy Quatermass that he is equipped to deal with everything and this is evident at the end of the film when he takes control of the situation ignoring every done else to stop the creature.

Inspector Lomax is almost the other side of the coin to Quatermass.   He realises from the beginning that he is ill equipped to deal with the situation but he knows that he has a job to do.  There are a couple of scenes at the start of the film where Lomax could have become the comic relief as a bumbling detective who is out of his depth but this is cut short when he goes to Quatermass offering to help him in stead of trying to handle everything himself.

Victor, as the monster is handled well.  As I have said the film is not effects heavy.  For most of the time we see Victor as a normal man although his features are drawn out .  Most of the transformation is kept to his arm which he keeps hidden for a lot of the film.  Victor is portrayed as scared and in pain for most of the film, needing to feed but fighting for his humanity.  This is most apparent in a scene where he meets a little girl by a river.  The scene has a striking similarity’s it to a scene in Frankenstein.  In both tales the monster meets a little girl by a river but in Frankenstein the monster kills the girl by accident and this helps the creature realise what he is and that he does not want to live, making him more human.  In the Quatermass Xperiment Victor does not kill the girl and goes on to become  ore monstrous, loosing his humanity.   In a way the character of Victor is almost a reverse of Frankenstein monster, the monster starts as a none human creation and becomes more human where as Victor starts out human and becomes more monstrous. The similarity are only heighten by the creature in the Quatermass Xperiment bearing the name of the man who d created the monster in Frankenstein.

The monster at the end of the film is not shown much.  When we do see it we get the feeling that it is some kind of plant jellyfish,  it is resting so not moving much which is good because if they had put to much movement into it I think it would have looked dated now.

By the standards of today's films the Quatermass Xperiment is not too scary.  When it was first released in the UK it was given an X rating (an 18 in today's ratings) but modern releases have been dropped to a pig (children can watch with there parents).  There are some creepy parts to the film but it does rely on its story and characters.

Well worth a watch in my opinion but if you don't fancy it in black and white the series was remade in 2002 and this is also worth a watch.

H K the forbidden super-hero

Title - H K the forbidden super-hero
Language - Japaneses
Genre - Super-Hero, comedy 

















 The H K stands for Hentei Kamen meaing Pervert Mask.  

Hentai means pervert and used to describe pornographic animation and comics in the west.

Kamen means mask and is associated with Japanese superheroes such as Kamen (masked) rider and the power rangers.   

Kyosuke Shikijo’s father was a good police man and his mother was a dominatrix.  His father died threes after meeting his mother and Kyosuke spends a lot of his time alone.  when he does see his mother she is normally on at him for not having a girl friend.  when a cute new girl, Aiko starts in his class and becomes the manager of the schools martial arts club Kyosuke becomes besotted with her but he doesn't know how to ask her out.  Whilst he is walking home he passes a bank that is being robbed and notices that Aiko is one of the hostages.  Deciding he has to do something to help Kyosuke breaks into the bank to try to help Aiko.  He defeats one of the robbers and decided to disguise himself as the robber so he can get close enough to help Aiko.  Distracted by this thoughts of Aiko he picks up a pair of women’s pants instead of a mask and doesn’t notice until he has them on his head.  He’s about to take them off when he realises how well they fit and how much he likes it.  Disgusted by this he feels guilty and this triggers the perverted dna he inherited from his  mother and this causes him to transform in the Hentai Kamen.  Kyosuke stops the bank robbers but Aiko is torn she likes Hentai Kamen but she also sees him as a pervert.  This upsets Kyosuke as Aiko is still not interested in him.

As Hentei Kamen, Kyosuke starts to clean up the streets but a new menace enters, Tamao the leader of the local Karate team is intent on taking over the school because he believes that there is treasure buried somewhere under it.  Foiled by Hentei Kamen, Tamao hires a number of assassins but they all fail, until a fake Hentai Kamen appears and takes Aiko.,

H K The forbidden Hero is a parody of modern superhero movies it opens with pages of a manga flickering just like the Marvel comic movies.  The character of Kyosuke is similar to that of Peter Parker (Spider-man) in his everyday life or Dave Lizewski (Kick-Ass) in the way he wants to help and protect people.  Like both characters Kyosuke is a bit of a loser, he can’t get the girl and he’s not strong  enough to help when he sees people in trouble.  The parallels with other superheros is quite apparent especially with  spider-man there is even a scene where Hentai Kamen is swinging around the town like spider-man, the only difference is that he uses bondage ropes instead of webbing.

Part way through the film Kyosuke has a crisis of faith about his alter ego, this is a theme that is popular in other modern superhero stories, both spider-man and kick ass think about giving up.  Only in Hentai Kamen’s case it’s because he’s worried he is becoming a pervert.  This brings up a point, Kyosuke is concerned that he’s becoming a pervert, Aiko is torn because she is falling for Hentai Kamen but she is disturbed by his behavior and the fake Hentai Kamen revels in the guilt he feels.  Kyosuke has to decide whether there is anything wrong with what he is doing.  Is there really anything wrong with being a pervert.

You can not take Hentai Kamen seriously, which is a good thing.  The acting is over the top (especially Kyosuke’s mother), the action good and the costumes are great.  I have to admit i laughed a lot but i think you do need a certain sense of humor.

Ghost School / Whispering Corridor's overview

I have recently watched and review the 5 films that make up the Whispering Corridors/ghost School series of films  and thought that i might also look at the series as a whole.

The series consists of 5 films (at the time or writing), these are:

1 Whispering Corridors

2 memento Mori

3 Wishing Stairs

4 Voice

5 A Blood Pledge

The 5 films come from Korea are separate stories with different characters and can be watched in any order but, they are connected by certain themes and plots;

All the films are are set in an all girls school, it is never said whether it is meant to be the same school but it does look like the same buildings are used in some of the films.  The girls in Whispering Corridors walk past the steps that are used in Wishing Stairs.

There is always at least one ghost but the reason for the hauntings and how the ghost appears differs.

The main protagonist are a group of two or three girls normally with one other who wants to join the group or be friends with one of the other girls.

The narrative of the films focus more on the relationships of the living girls than the ghost.  Even ‘Voice’ which starts by having one of the main characters killed off and trying to work with her friend to find out what happened ends up focusing on the living lead and a new friend.  As part of the focus on the character's relationships  we see that there is always two of the girls who have a close relationship some of whom can been seen to lovers.  These relationships often play a  big part in the focus of the narrative and, even though i can’t think of a part in any of the films where it is shown/stated that any of girls are lovers there are often rumours going around the classes and it is often these rumours that act as a catalyst in the films.  Most of the time the effects of the rumours are bad, they either drive a wedge between the girls or lead to one of them being ostracised from the class or group.  In ‘A Blood Pact’ the rumour is spread about one of the girls being pregnant and even though the rumour turns out not to be true (or at least about the wrong girl) it is still shown to cause grief and problems for the girl.

One thing that stood out to me about the handling of the relationships is that they were done well.  Some of the girls have very close relationships and it would have been very easy to show this with some kind of physical device like kissing or even sex.  Unlike some movie's I don’t think the inclusion of a sex scene would have done these films any damage but the fact that the relationships are shown to be so strong with one is a good thing and even when a relationship does get physical it is always as part of the story and, again nothing is ever shown and only referenced when needed.

The films don’t shy away from things like bullying and abuse and the different films it can take and the feel of these seems to change as the films go one.  In the first two films there are abusive male teachers one of whom has a relationship with one of the girls but the later films have less of this.  I’m not sure if this was something that used to happen and has been phased out as attitudes changed in the real world but it does seem to be something that may have influenced the earlier films.   The abuse of the girls is not solely down to the male teachers.  In ‘A Blood Pledge’ we have one of the girls beaten by her dad because he thinks she is worthless. In ‘Wishing stairs’ one of the things shown is a mother pushing her daughter into something she doesn’t want to do (Ballet) because she never had the chance to do it when she was younger and in ‘Memento Mori’ a friendship is broken up by a teacher because one girl could do better but is being held back because her friend is different.

The films also show bullying, normally caused by the main characters classmates when they see that one of the main cast is different.  normally because of how close two of the girls are but also if one of the girls is seen to be different like in Memento Mori.  In ‘A Blood Pledge’ we also see one girl picking on the others in the group because she is weaker and how the whole pledge is set up just to get rid of one rival.

The ghosts are more than just a your normal horror villains.  They are rounded characters who, in some cases were members of the main group when they were alive.  They differ from ghosts in other movies because they are not just revenge driven.  It’s true that some of them are out for revenge but there are other motivations as well.  The films do not necessarily go for the big scares although the ghosts can be scarey.  The films play on some of the tropes for instance there is a scene in ‘Wishing Stair’ where one of the girls climbs through a window, she is on all fours with her hair over her face, the scene is reminiscent of Sadako coming through the T.V. in ‘The Ring’.  The ghosts intentions are not always evil but their presents causes problems and their methods are not always the normal way.  Some of the behavior of ghosts is explained in ‘Voice’.

The interesting thing about the ghost, especially in the first 3 films is that they are not always necessary as a lot of the ghosts  action  is phycological.  I did read (but not verified) that the ghost in ‘Memento Mori) was never meant to be seen and was only put in because it was felt that people would not like a ghost film with no ghost in it.

The Ghost School films are good but I did have a problem with them and that is that they are not linea.  This is especially true of Memento Mori and Voice.  Memento mori is told via a lot of flashbacks but i found that it was hard to tell when the flashbacks were happening.  The voice is split into 4 days but the days are not shown in order and are also separated by the credits running.

The Whispering Corridor / Ghost school films are a good set of films that tell emotional tales and also feature ghosts.  The stories are well thought out even if a couple of them seem to come across a bit jumbled due to their non linear nature.  The are not played just for scares but, in the context of the film it’s not necessary.  The films don’t go over the top on the gore but again this is not necessary, if there is a need for blood than there is blood.  For the most part the ghost are not monsters they are like a lot of J & K-horror ghost that people (in the west) will have seen, that is pale people with black eyes  like Sadako.

If you are looking for gory, slasher films then the whispering corridor / Ghost school films probably aren't for you although it may be worth giving ‘A Blood Pledge’ a watch. If you are looking for something different with a good story then give them a watch.

A Blood Pledge

Title - A Blood Pledge (whispering Corridor 5, Ghost school 5)
Language - Korean 
Genre - Horror, Ghost
















 A Blood Pledge is the 5th film in the Whispering corridor’s / Ghost school series.

This time the film is set in a catholic girls school and follows 4 main protagonists:

Eun-Young

Soy

Unjoo

Lee - Eugene

and a fifth character, Jung-Un who is Unjoo’s sister.  These are the names of the characters as they appeared on the subtitles on the version i was watching but when i have looked on IMDB and Wikipedia some of the names are different, in fact the names are different on Wikki to IMDB so I’ll keep using the names from the DVD.

The film starts with Eun-Young, Soy & Eugene making a suicide blood pact saying they will all kill themselves and, if one doesn’t go through with it then they will be cursed with death.  The ceremony is interrupted by a knock on the door and we later find out this is Unjoo who joins the pact.  Unjoo is the only one of the girls who goes through with the suicide.  Unjoo’s sister is waiting for her and is the only witness to  Unjoo’s death.

Rumours start going around the school about Unjoo jumping because she was pregnant (which it turns out she wasn’t) and the other girls were present when she jumped.  Eugene, who is the leader of the girls first denies any of their presents but eventually tells people that Soy was there.  People start to believe that soy had more to do with the suicide, a point which seem to made more true by Eun-Young’s increasingly strange behaviour.

As the film progresses we learn that Soy & Unjoo used to be inseparable friends but Unjoo became friends with Eugene and was accepted into her friendship group.  Eugene only let Unjoo join them because she was trying to get her away from Eun-Young because soy was now dating Ki-Ho who was Eugene’s ex.  To make matters worst Soy was the one who was pregnant with Ki-Ho’s baby.  as the film continues Unjoo’s ghost stalks the corridors making the blood pact come true.

Out of the 5 films I found that ‘A Blood Pact’ was one of the easiest to watch.  The story was told in a mostly linear fashion with any flashbacks made more obvious.  I think that the setting of a Catholic school also helped as some of the symbolism and references are present in western culture.

A Blood Pact has some of the themes that run through all of the Ghost school films but, instead of focusing on the relationship between to of the pupils it took a small group and looked at how one incident (Soy’s relationship with Ki-Ho) could change the dynamics of it.  The group is also used to power, Eugene tries to use the suicide pact to get revenge on Soy, planning with Eun-Young that they don’t jump.  Even when the plan goes wrong and Unjoo dies Eugene tries to take control of the situation by firstly letting the class know that Soy was on the roof with Unjoo and then later by trying to fake Soy’s suicide.

A Blood Pledge is more like a modern ghost story than the other films, it still has the same feel as the other films but the ghost effects are are more gory but, like the others it does not go for the horror as much as the story

A Blood Pledge is a strong film with good characters and a strong story and well worth a watch.  

Voice

Title - the Voice (Ghost School 4, the whispering corridor 4)
Language - Korean
Genre - Horror, Ghost

The voice is number four in the Ghost school/Whispering Corridors film series and this time around we follow students in a music class and school radio.  As with the previous films we primarily follow two friends This time they do appear to be just friends and not lovers.  The two primary characters are:

Sun-Min who is the lead anchor for the school radio station

Young-Eon - the top singer at the school

there are also three other secondary characters of the music teacher, Hyo-Jung and Cho-Ah

The Voice is split over four days and a few flashbacks but is shot in a nonlinear fashion in a similar vein as the second film Memento Mori although I did find that it is easier to follow.

The film starts with Young-Eon singing and Sun-Min recording her.  The pair are supposed to be going out with some friends but Young-Eon stays behind to practice some more.  After Sun-Min leaves someone else enters the music room, Young- Eon can not see her but she is chased out of the room towards the elevator.  She turns to try to see who her attacker is but is hit in the throat by a page of sheet music.  Young-Eon then wakes up in the music room.  Thinking it was all a dream Young-Eon heads through the school but she soon realizes that no one seems to see her.  She finally realizes what has happened when she stands under a leak in the roof, the dips just pass through her.  Young-Eon tries to go for help but finds that she can not leave the school, whenever she attempts to go through the exit she is turned around and finds herself back in the lobby

Whilst this is going on the school day has started, Sun-Min is annoyed that young-eon has not replied to any of her calls but she becomes concerned that Young-Eon has not turned up for any of her classes.  Sum-Min goes to the reception to see if Young-Eon has contacted them about not being in and she is told that it is the anniversary of Young-Eon’s mothers death.  The faculty have assumed that Young-Eon is paying her respects.

Whilst trying to find out what is happening Young-Eon is approached by another ghost, Hyo-Jung who starts telling her that it was Young-Eon who pushed her mother off the hospital roof and that she had also killed the previous music teacher.  Young-Eon doesn't believe this and runs of.  She finds Sun-Min and discovers that she can hear her, Young-Min manages to convince Sun-Min that she is real and asks for her help.

Sun-Min meets another student, Cho-Ah who can hear not just Young-Eon but other ghosts that are in the school but, instead of helping helping Sum-Min she advises her to not to pay attention to Young-Eon.  At first  Sun-Min ignores this advice and tries to help Young-Eon to find out who Hyo-Jung was and why she is tormenting Young-Eon.  Things start to get strange and Sun-Min goes back to Cho-Ah for help.

One of the main themes of the Voice is coping with the death of a friend and letting of of them.  Cho-Ah tells Sun-Min that she is the one holding Young-Eon back and stopping her from going to the afterlife.  She also tells her that a ghost will be able to communicate with someone they has a strong bond with in life but, if that person stops listening to them then they will lose this link.  as the film progresses Sun-Min goes from the comfort that Young-Eon’s ghost givers her to realizing that she is better off without her.

A second theme seems to be individualism or personality.  We have Sun-Min not only growing as she copes with the loss of Young-Eon but making new friends.  We also have  Young-Eon’s struggle as she tries to discover the truth in what Hyo-Jung tells her.  we are told that a ghost only remembers what it wants even if it’s not true so we are never sure if Young-Eon did kill the people we're told she did. The distress that the wrong memories cause, in the living and the ghost’s is shown by Young-Eon talking about the times when Sun-Min went to her house, this never happened and it does make Sun-Min doubt if the ghost is Young-Eon

The voice is different than the previous 3 films in that we know who the (main) with in ths in the first 10 minutes if the film but as the film goes on the ghost gets less and less of a problem.  the other 3 films do not introduce the ghost to us properly until the second half of the film with their threat growing until the point where it needs to be stopped.

As i said earlier The Voice is not linear which can make it sometimes hard to follow.  Although it did seem to flow easier than Memento Mori the story was broken up by the credits which started to roll on a couple of occasions. I think this was meant to help separate out the days but it did lead to some confusion.  

There seemed to be a few unanswered plot points in the film and for the most i think it was done deliberately as they really didn't matter to Sun-Min in the end.  The topic of the voice seemed unresolved.  Sun-Min discovered that Young-Eon & Hyo-Jung both had the same singing voice, it was even mentioned that Young-Eon sounded differently when she sang before she was killed, at the end of the film we see Young-Eon pleading with Sun-Min to help her find out what it means but by this point Sun-Min had already started to ignore her and left her in the corridor leaving a plot point that was referred to quit a bit just left open.  This does push home how much Sun-Min has change and how the problems of the ghost have nothing to do with her.

We also can’t really know who killed the music teacher or Young-Eons mother.  Even at the end when we see Young-Eon and Sun-Min discover the teacher we have already been told that it it a case of the time of Wolves and dogs, in this context meaning that you still can’t tell the truth from the lies (of fake memories). The only things that seem certain is that Hyo-Jung was jealous of Young-Eon’s relationship with the music teacher and there is no evidence that Young-Eon was any way in love with her.  All these false memories and lie’s  may just be a way to get Sun-min to keep talking to Young-Eon.  In the beginning Sun-Min is talking to Young-Eon to help get over her disappearance, at one point she even says that she doesn't believe that Young-eon is dead because there is no body but, as time goes on and especially after the body is found Sun-Min starts to go back to normal life so Young-Eon tries to pull her into the mysteries (and danger) to keep her with her.

The dangers that Young-Eon leads Sun-min to are also symbolic.  The longer Sum-Min is talking to Young-Eon the more impact it has on her real life, this is show by the reaction she gets when she is talking to Young-Eon.  Most of the time Hyo-Jung interacts with Sun-Min also seem to be an attempt to stop her from talking to Young-Eon and push her away from the ghosts.

The voice is a good watch, the fact it brakes down the days  helps with the non linear nature  of the film and the fact that half the things that happen don’t really lead anywhere means that you don’t miss much.  I think a second  viewing may uncover more things but the film is enjoyable any way.