It's Halloween celebration period for many countries, even though such celebration isn't observed here in my country, I won't say I don't know and won't like to have a tiny experience it what it is all about. Writing this post feels like it for me, thanks to the organizers of this contest to share movies/series that are Halloween related.
For this entry, I would be sharing my favourite vampire Korean series... Hopefully, will share more entries before deadline because I do have a list of them that I've seen and would like to see again. It's all for the Halloween celebration (through movies haha). I get scared easily of bloody, deadly and scary movies but somehow, these movies didn't get me as much scared as I had thought I'd be.
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"Scholar Who Walks The Night" is one of those vampire films I've seen and it made me understand that there are different species of vampire just like we do have in humans and animals... Or maybe they are all same considering the fact that they wither away when they come in contact with sunlight. This film show all that but then, other displays made it different from the ones I've seen before it.
The film is a South Korean television series aired in 2015 having 20 episodes of interesting scenes and was written and directed by Jang Hyun-joo and Lee Sung-joon. The film has my favourite genre which is Romance, fantasy and drama.
The Plot and Characters of the series
A young girl loses her family and had to disguise as a man to live, she becomes a book seller and meets a man who gave her a task to find a secret memorandum which he didn't let her know what he plans to use it for. Their lives becomes intertwined as they search for the secret.
The secret was a guide to get rid of the decades old vampire who lives among humans and plans to rule forever by controlling the kings. The people were kept in the dark about the existence of a vampire in the kingdom but every night, lives are lost and a bite on their neck was a sign that all wasn't well in the kingdom.
One of the Princes who lived found and created a way to kill the vampire for the kingdom to be at peace again but he was killed before the secret is revealed... And that led to the present day Vampire Guardian who had to work with a young girl who was once bitten by the vampire (she didn't transform) and the present day Prince to get rid of the vampire.
Vampire Gwi, starred by Lee Soo-hyuk is the vampire who walks at night to suck human blood so he could stay alive, he is never seen during the day and can't live without sucking blood. He is so cruel that he kills immediately he senses a distrust among his supposed followers including the Kings who reigned in the kingdom.
He is bent on getting rid of the Vampire Guardian created to kill him but all his tactics failed until he met his match (a human girl who had once bitten but didn't transform).
I must say he played this role so well, the vampire make up on him suit him and he made it feel too real that vampires do look like that and that they exist. How he gets his prey and the different ways he attacks them is so notable in the series. He would laugh and say words sarcastically even in the midst of fear among the humans.
How he was gotten rid of from the kingdom was the highlight of the series for me... You'll have to see the series to find that out but it was a memorable one for me.
Kim Sung Yul, starred by Lee Joon-Gi is the lead role and the Guardian vampire who was bitten by the main Guardian before his death to help get rid of the cruel vampire ruling the kingdom in blood. As a human who got bitten to live as a vampire, Kim Sung had to control his thirst for human blood by drinking animal blood instead.
His contact with the young girl who disguised as a man made him thirst for blood anytime he sees her blood. He was able to control it and fell in love with her which brought more danger to her life. As a guardian, he gets rid of any roaming vampire that was bitten by Gwi, the cruel vampire and he lived for 120 years searching for the secret memorandum that will guide him to kill Gwi.
In attempts to bring peace to the kingdom, Kim Sung had to suck the blood of his love to fight Gwi. That moment was horrifying and emotional at the same time as he regrets taking her blood to kill his enemy.
If she survived the bite or died after, you'll have to find that out yourself too.
Jo Yang Sun, starred by Lee Yoo-Bi grew up with a foster parents after the unjust death of her father. She was made to live in the disguise of a man to be safe as it was found that she was no ordinary human. She is a very cheerful young girl who enjoys selling books and earning for her family.
She meets and fell in love with the scholar who walks the night without the knowledge that he was a vampire. Even after finding out, she began to find ways to help him get rid of the vampire in the Palace. She is caught in a live triangle between the vampire Guardian and the Crown Prince of the kingdom.
She accepted her fate as the only human who could help get rid of the vampire with her blood. The vampire was shaken when he found out that he had once bitten her but she didn't transform. Before his death, he realized that humans were powerful in their weakest form too.
It will still be a puzzle on how the vampire was killed if you don't see the series so I'm recommending it.
Like I had said, it wasn't a scary watch for me because of the plot but it sure did show the different sides of a vampire. One is able to walk during the day with the help of a black robe and the other never sees what the sunlight is like but always hides under a dark cave until night falls.
The setting, the make overs, the fight scenes were well displayed. The characters played their role well enough to make the viewer feel like it is all happening for real. It is one of those movies where I enjoy the scenes of the villain as he was an interesting vampire.
Not all movies with tragedy endings are a heartbreak to the viewer, this one is one of them for me. I won't say it's a perfect ending but I loved it and I'll give the movie a rating of 8/10.
This is my entry to The Halloween contest and you're invited to participate as well.
All images used are screenshots from the movie
