JESSICA MORRISON
STRANGERS FROM HELL
“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer” and “Hell is other people” is written all over this psychological series in red ink. The consistent spine curling aura and atmosphere experienced from watching “Strangers from Hell” really puts other attempts of psychotic K-Dramas to shame.
SPOILERS AHEAD In regards to plot, it is quite simplistic. Revolving around Jong-Woo (played by Im Siwan) an aspiring crime author who becomes an apprentice in Seoul. However, due to low cash, he has to move into a cheap apartment with a shared kitchen and washroom. His living space consists of a suffocating and claustrophobic box room, with just enough space for a small single bed and a desk. If that isn’t bad enough, his neighbours certainly make his life in Seoul less bearable and the paper thin walls separating each ‘prison cell’ even allow each tenant to hear each other’s breathing. However despite this, Jong-Woo made an attempt to make it work. Owned by a cheery landlady with a happy-go-lucky persona (played by Lee Jeong-Un), the remaining apartments in the “Eden Residence” were only supposed to be a temporary living space for the tenants and were subject to renovation. The dire conditions really do explain the low rent and the place seems inhabitable. As a viewer, you can really feel and experience this with the lack of natural light in each room and the
eerie never ending corridor, adding to this sense of danger and fright.
The Tenants:
Jong-Woo really got more than what he bargained for, without a doubt! As if the conditions weren’t bad enough, the strange and certainly psychotic neighbours make the Eden Residence a breeding ground for paranoia. From the very first episode, all the characters seemed like they had the desire to kill, judged by their inhuman characteristics and behaviour.
The Twins:
Byun Deuk-Jeong (played by Park Jeong-Hwan), is one of the first tenants that Jong-Woo is introduced to and his consistent strange laughter and behaviour really reveals to Jong-Woo what sort of people he will be living with. It is soon to be discovered that he has a twin brother Byun Deuk-Soo, who forces his brother to take the bullet for his crimes – one of them being the killing of countless cats. It is typical for murderer’s first victims to be smaller animals before they progress to humans, suggesting to us that there is a definite thirst for blood.
Hong Nam-Bok:
Played by Lee Joong-Ok, Nam-Bok is a convicted sexual offender who wears a tracking anklet. He fits the predator stereotype and collects pictures of women that he prints off or cuts out of inappropriate magazines, sticking them all over his wall. Although he does not have a lot of dialogue, his disturbing personality is projected through
stalking Jong-Woo in the corridors and sneaking into his room while he is at work. Sometimes he stands in the doorway and watches him from afar, wearing the same stained white tank top and never changing from the creepy expression printed on his face. Without a doubt, he is the biggest contributor to the disturbing atmosphere experienced by us as viewers.
Seo Moon-Joo:
From the outside, Moon-Joo (played by Lee Dong-Wook) appears to be an ally, his calm and charismatic appearance gives us reassurance that not all the residents in the Eden residence are odd. However, what strikes as unusual is the fact he is a private dentist but lives in a small room inside the residence. It is certain that Jong-Woo’s greatest mistake was to trust Moon-Joo, as over the course of the ten episodes, MoonJoo encouraged Jong-Woo’s murderous tendencies and desires to surface. In a way, it shows that killers are nurtured and taught and are not born with the desire to kill. From a fan of the series’ perspective, he is hard not to favourite due to his drop dead gorgeous appearance, soothing voice and pretty smile. Although Dong-Wook played the hidden psycho character well, his appearance really diverts you away from the fact he is the villain of the series… Especially since he enjoys collecting the teeth from his victims, even making a charm bracelet with them. Somehow fans excuse this due to his pretty-boy face.
