Mikes Film Talk

R-Point (2004) offers up Vietnamese style Ghosts and Ghoulies. Set in Vietnam, the film, focuses on a troop of STD sufferers who have been “voluntold” to find a missing squad. This squad went to find other army personnel who went missing.

War Film

This 2004 South Korean horror “war” film was the first horror film I’d seen set during a war. This was the first horror film set during the  Vietnamese war. This highly unpopular war was protested vehemently in the US on university campuses across the country. It had more draft dodgers than all the wars ever fought. Vietnam has not featured a lot in the horror department. Except for the superior 1990 film Jacob’s Ladder.

Of course filmmakers might have been a bit leery about trying to compete with the brilliant Jacob’s Ladder which, to be fair ,was a great film based around the backdrop of the Vietnamese war and not during it. R-Point scared the ever-loving crap out of me when I saw it. I don’t think I was the only person to be totally “creeped out” by the film.

But South Korean writer/director Su-chang Kong rose to the challenge. He came up with a film that had all the creep factor of Jacob’s Ladder. It also had the chills and uneasiness of the unknown. It also had dead people who don’t look or act dead at all.

The story

Set in 1972, R-Point is about a radio message from a patrol that went missing six months ago on a Vietnamese island and the men are all assumed to be dead. The commander of the base decides to send out another patrol to find the missing men.  Lieutenant Choi Tae-in (Woo-seong Kam) is a highly decorated war hero. He is also in a lot of trouble for going to an off-limits part of town. There he visited a prostitute. While he was being entertained the soldier who accompanied him is murdered by a VC insurgent. Choi kills the woman responsible, but the soldier is still dead.

Choi is told that this mission is his chance to redeem himself. He and eight other soldiers go to find the missing soldiers and bring their dog-tags home. The men have been “volunteered.” They are from the local base’s “Clap clinic.” And they are near their rotation date. They are told that if they are successful that they’ll take the jet back home to a heroes welcome.

Picture

When the squad reach the island they take a picture of themselves on the beach.They then begin heading towards the location of the radio signals. The squad go through a forest. The squad are ambushed by an old man and a woman. They take care of the ambushers. The old man is dead. The is woman dying. The men come up to a Chinese message on a stone.

One of the men, who knows Chinese, reads the message. It says “years ago, Chinese troops killed Vietnamese villagers and put their bodies in a lake.” The Vietnamese fill the lake in and build a shrine over the mass grave. It is now a sacred place. As they leave one of the men urinates on the stone revealing the rest of the message. It says that anyone who has blood on their hands will never leave.

The men find what they think is the  “temple” and use that as their base of operations. They meet a squad of American soldiers. The search team learn of a French garrison that was wiped out years ago.

The men search the island and the radio operator starts getting messages from a French radio operator. The radio operator tells him that he and his brother will come over to visit. He tells the Lieutenant. The first thing the lieutenant asks is how the operator knows what the Frenchman is saying. He does not speak French.

Atmospheric

R-Point is atmospheric, scary, and will have you jumping at loud noises. It is a “look behind you” movie. It will seriously “creep” you out and the many plot twists will have you second-guessing throughout the entire film. The film actually starts entering the land of “creepiness” from the moment the squad land at the island. Once the film ended. Meg and I went back to the beginning and found a lot of things that we had missed the first time. This not only showed the film makers cleverness but it  seriously added to the effect  of the film.

All the actors are top-notch and really sell their characters and you can connect with them quickly. The film looks great. R-Point had a shoestring budget. Filming in Cambodia around Bokor Hill Station,an actual French ghost town give this one some gravitas.

I have watched R-Point repeatedly and it never fails to give me goose bumps. I will leave you with one bit of advice. If you watch this film, do not watch it in the dark or watch it alone. It’s that scary. From the first scene where the radio picks up the static ridden signal of the “missing men” to the last frame, it is war horror gold.

The Verdict

R-Point is a full 5 star horror film. . R-Point is scary. It manages to creep up on the viewer. There are a few jump scares but it delivers much more than than. You will have to search for this one. Amazon has it on offer from as low as $10 to purchase. R-Point can be streamed on hoopla and kanopy.

The Trailer