Movie Review: WHITE Melody of Death

Last month, T-ara member Eunjung’s first film in which she plays the leading role, ‘WHITE: Melody of Death‘, premiered in Korea. On July 8th, ‘WHITE: Melody of Death’ opened at the CGV Cinemas in Los Angeles and now I bring you a review of this summer’s first Korean thriller to come to the States.

‘WHITE: Melody of Death’ is about a rookie girl group, Pink Dolls, that is struggling to find fame amidst the fierce competition in the idol music industry. Pink Dolls consists of 4 members: Eunjoo, Shinji,Arang, and Jenny. Pink Dolls’ leader Eunjoo (Eunjung) is a former backdancer and is the oldest member of the group. Shinji (Maydoni) is the group’s rapper and dancer who has been a trainee for 8 years. Maknae Arang (Choi Ara) is the “face” of the group and is obsessed with her appearance, to the point in which she gets plastic surgery during the group’s promotions. Lastly, Jenny (Jin Se Yeon) is the main vocalist of the group who is afraid to sing high.

When the girls move into their new studio, Eunjoo finds an old video of a never-before-seen music video of a song titled “White“. Upon hearing the song, their producer decides to remake this unknown song as the group’s next single. After a successful first performance of “White” at a showcase, their agency decides to prepare for full-fledged promotions starting by choosing one member to be the main member of the group. As the title of the movie and the movie posters suggest, as each member fights for the spotlight, the curse of the song comes upon them. Eunjoo and her friend Soonye (Hwang Woo Seul Hye) try to pinpoint the cause of the terror by unraveling the mystery behind the song.

Unfortunately, the movie itself didn’t really meet up to my expectations. I admit that many scenes caused chills to run down my spine and engraved horrific images into my mind, but as a thriller, this movie was much too predictable. The movie’s concept was interesting as it was an exaggerated portrayal of the Korean idol music industry. The characters were realistic and seemed to have been inspired by real life people in the idol world. The acting was quite convincing as well. Sadly, the movie as a whole did not impress.

On a side note, members of After School make cameo appearances as Pink Dolls’ rival group, Pure.2PM’s Junho also stars as a show MC. Both After School and Junho were able to portray their characters naturally since they took on roles similar to their own real-life identities.

Unless you are just looking for a mediocre thriller to give you a few chills to cool you down this summer, I suggest you sit this one out. ‘WHITE: Melody of Death’ is currently playing at the the CGV Cinemas in Los Angeles with English subtitles.

Check out the movie posters, movie stills, and trailer below!

Official Movie Trailer

Note: This article does not reflect the opinions of allkpop, only of the author.