Very well executed

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I recall watching the American movie Willard more than thirty years ago. Roddy McDowell was the star. He befriended a bunch of rats who obeyed him like trained dogs. This time around, a man travelling with his ten year-old son through the Korean countryside, stops at a remote village where the people are hiding from the war. They have a major rat infestation and the stranger agrees to rid them of the rodents for the price of a pig. He uses an ingenious method to extract the vermin. Betrayal follows soon after and that is when the fun begins. Revenge is sweet and I will leave it at that. The film is a bit too long but it is a fun ride nonetheless.

THE PIPER is another dark fairy tale from South Korea, following in the wake of HANSEL & GRETEL. It's a gruesome and queasy horror outing with a rural village setting similar to that of BEDEVILLED. The story is that of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, albeit with plenty of new twists for anyone familiar with that tale. A piper and his ailing kid turn up at a rural village after the end of the Korean War and promise to help out with the local rat infestation. All goes well until the villagers renege on their deal, with disastrous consequences. This is generally an atmospheric and well-made little production, with typically strong photography and performances. It's gruesome without being over the top gory, and the main characters are sympathetic. The use of CGI rats can be a bit distracting but they're hidden in the shadows for the most part. The first half of the film is all set-up and thus a little slow, but it soon builds to a jaw-dropping crescendo at the climax.

A piper and his sick son stay the night at a remote Korean village. They have a rat problem which he cures, but when it's time to pay for his services the villagers turn on him cruelly. This is quite a slow but engaging and nicely filmed movie. It's not until the final quarter that it becomes a horror film, with the piper using the ousted rats to get his bloody revenge but it is well worth the wait.

This supernatural thriller is surely one of the best Korean indies from last year. It's very dark, poetic, yet sometimes funny too, although the humour is mostly limited to the film's first half.There is a relaxed atmosphere to the film's first act, which is bathed in vivid, bright colors and followed by a quality soundtrack that matches the theme and setting. Here and there director Kim Gwang-tae inserts a foreboding scene that serves to build up a sense of dread, and this slow-burning technique can work wonders in a genre film. Such is the case here - even though this is Kim's directorial debut, he proves himself very adept at creating suspense while mostly avoiding the usual melodrama (so often seen in Korean cinema).The second act caught me off guard because it suddenly turns the film upside down and throws you in a very uncomfortable situation along with the film's protagonist. If you know the legend of the Pied Piper, you will probably guess what happens next, but everyone else will likely be shocked and thrilled every minute that follows. There are a couple of gruesome twists thrown in for the viewer's pleasure, and while many scenes will be familiar to the Korean cinema afficionados, they're skilfully executed and beautifully shot. The ending kinda had me thinking at first because it felt strange and somehow logically inconsistent, but it's actually faithful to the legend and is fantastic in it's own right. It's definitely appropriate to the film's overall tone and will stay with you for a long time.The more I think about the movie, the more I like it; there's really so much to praise here and so little to criticize. The acting and characters are mostly fine, the mood is pitch perfect and every dialogue is well written at the very least. OK, maybe some characters could have been more fleshed out, and a few scenes may feel out of place, but you have to be aware of the fact that this is an indie effort probably made on a tiny budget, so these complaints can be easily overlooked.In short, check this out if you love Asian thrillers and/or dark fables for adults. The Piper is an intense, emotional, often dreamlike experience, and it's definitely worthy of your precious time.