Handsome Guys

Story: Jae-pil (Lee Sung-min) and his brother Sang-goo (Lee Hee-jun) look like typical hillbillies, so much so that the local policeman keeps a close eye on them because he thinks they have to be gangsters. With their savings the two have just bought a run-down house in a forest, and the renovation work turns out to be an enormous undertaking. Originally, a priest inhabited the house. What the two brothers don't know is that some unfortunate events initiate the summoning of Baphomet from hell. The cause is that some teenagers around the professional golfer and celebrity Seong-bin (Jang Dong-joo) run over a black goat exactly 66 years and six days after Baphomet was last expelled. The teenagers want to have a good time, but Mi-na (Gong Seung-yeon) finds out that Seong-bin doesn't really like her and only wants to take advantage of her. So, she runs away and bumps into Jae-pil and Sang-goo. Because of their intimidating looks, she panics and runs into a lake. Jae-pil rescues her and the two brothers bring the unconscious girl to their house. The other teenagers happen to witness this, but for them it looks like the two hillbillies are kidnapping the girl. They want to save Mi-na, although they are actually interested in Seong-bin's cell phone in her jacket pocket, which contains some unfortunate videos. However, they proceed in a rather clumsy way, so that there are soon some dead bodies ...

Review: There are movies that stay under the radar simply because the title and/or poster are unflattering. And that's exactly the case with "Handsome Guys". But after I read that the flick is a remake of the Canadian horror comedy "Tucker and Dale vs Evil", my interest was piqued. And in fact, the movie works pretty well as a remake, not only because it was embedded in the context of Korean culture, but specifically because the two characters work even better than in the original. It also doesn't hurt that, even though there is indeed some blood and violence, the tone is a bit more comical, so that the humor creates a successful foundation for an otherwise rather wild mix of genres. In general, the movie doesn't take itself too seriously (and it shouldn't), which starts with the fact that the introduction is quite unusual in terms of camera work and even seems a bit amateurish. But that changes very quickly, even though there are scenes every now and then that were clearly inspired by "Evil Dead". "Handsome Guys" has its peculiarities and also seems a bit unpolished, but that's exactly what makes it so interesting and entertaining.

First, you have to get past the bumpy start, but that is soon done, and when the two brothers meet the policemen for the first time, who of course play a bigger role later on, we already get some scenes that at least make you smirk. The hook for most of the laughs are the faces our heroes make. First of all, they are not supposed to be the prettiest ones, but their grimacing is also always caused by external circumstances, which other people don't know about, though, so that they just look like lunatics. Same goes for those situations that often make the teenagers think they are dealing with two killers from a slasher flick. What else are you supposed to think when someone runs towards you whirling around a chainsaw? Certainly not that he is just trying to escape a swarm of wasps. So, the remake uses the same kind of humor as the original, and it clearly works. But it adds some sort of absurd occultism, which is reminiscent of "Evil Dead". This leads to a talking goat and other wacky nonsense, which the finale then takes to extremes. Here, the quality level fluctuates, but mostly, this plot choice can be seen as a successful deviation from the original.

More importantly, though, the performances in particular offer a lot. Actually, the movie only works so well thanks to the two leads, and it's also only because of them that we accept the level of absurdity, so much so that it even becomes the flick's strength. Lee Sung-min and Lee Hee-jun do a fantastic job, and what makes their two roles even more ridiculous is the fact that they already appeared together in front of the camera in the very serious "The Man Standing Next" as President Park Chung-hee and the head of his security service. They have great chemistry, and seeing Lee Sung-min in a completely different role is just fantastic. The two experienced actors even manage to make the stupidest scenes work, so that the slapstick never gets too much but actually stays funny. Gong Seung-yeon ("Aloners") is not just an accessory either, as she manages to get the best out of her role, even though she could have been written a little better. Unfortunately, when it comes to the teenagers, it becomes clear that none of them can keep up with the "depth" of the protagonists. However, things are different with the policemen, who at least have a few good scenes, even though one of them is pretty much a moron and therefore mostly responsible for the laughs.

"Handsome Guys" mostly takes place in the run-down house of the two brothers and in the forest surrounding it. Here, the movie scores points with its nice atmosphere. Especially the house with its basement, in which a ritual circle is discovered, is much more atmospheric than the cabin in the original. Apart from that, there are also a few Korean peculiarities that give the movie a special touch for the target audience. There is Christianity in form of a missionary who casts out the devil, and which stands in contrast to the shamanism, which includes a talisman that can easily cost 10,000 dollars ... In addition, the inability of (the older generation of) Koreans to speak English is made fun of. The occult elements also give the movie a touch of horror, although the humor is clearly the focus until the end. This also allows the story to go completely mad at the end, but at the same time it somehow still manages to keep its grip on reality. In this respect, director Nam Dong-hyub, who previously worked as an assistant director for "Bestseller" for example, definitely deserves praise for his debut work. And for the way suspense is built up here too. Because the flick gradually becomes more and more interesting and funny.

Unfortunately, though, from the second third onwards the movie also runs out of steam a little bit, so that the finale almost seems a bit disappointing. Luckily, the movie gets its act together again and you are released into the credits with a nice feeling. Yes, there are a few problems with "Handsome Guys": Not every gag works, the special effects aren't at a high level, and some scenes seem a bit too staged trying to make sure that there is definitely a misunderstanding. But it's all presented with some kind of self-irony and therefore it doesn't have that much of a negative impact. Rather than picking at how illogical it is for teenagers to split up, or to run up the stairs instead of running out of the house - as is often the case in horror movies -, "Handsome Guys" wants to make you facepalm at the misunderstandings it creates, and therefore chooses to criticize the horror genre in that way. In addition, as was the case with the original the remake can also be understood as a metaphor for cultural misunderstandings. "Handsome Guys" is not perfect and does not want to be. It's simply the kind of movie that dares to do something different - even though it's actually just a remake! The horror comedy relies fully on its absurdity and also develops the plot with this in mind. In the end, you get a genre mix with personality, which is not as polished as most other movies nowadays, but is a lot of fun.

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