White: Melody of Death

White: Melody of Death (Korean: 화이트: 저주의 멜로디; RR: Hwaiteu: Jeojooui Mellodi, lit. White: The Melody of the Curse) is a 2011 South Korean horror film by Kim Gok and Kim Sun.

White: The Melody Of The Curse
Film poster
Hangul화이트: 저주의 멜로디
Revised RomanizationHwaiteu: jeojooui mellodi
McCune–ReischauerHwait‘ŭ: chŏjuŭi melrodi
Directed byKim Gok
Kim Sun
Written byKim Gok
Kim Sun
StarringHam Eun-jeong
Hwang Woo-seul-hye
May Doni Kim
Choi Ah-ra
Jin Se-yeon
Production
company
DOO Entertainment
Distributed byCJ Entertainment
Release date
  • June 7, 2011 (2011-06-07)
Running time
106 minutes
CountrySouth Korea
LanguageKorean
Box officeUS$5,299,831[1]

Plot

The girl group Pink Dolls, who consists of A-rang (visual/maknae), Je-ni (lead vocalist), Shin-ji (main dancer) and Eun-ju (leader), make their debut on-stage with their song "My Boy" during a competitive music showcase. They lose to another girl group, Pure, and fail to achieve popularity. Pink Dolls and their record company move to a renovated studio that was burned down fifteen years ago, and Eun-ju's sponsor (someone who funds an idol or group on the condition they receive sexual favors) was credited for making the move and renovations happen. Eun-ju is repeatedly bullied by the other three members for her involvement with the sponsor, and that she was only a backup dancer prior to joining Pink Dolls. Eun-ju considers quitting, but her vocal trainer and friend, Soon-ye, encourages her to remain in the group as she believes they will find success and get more attention with their new song. While cleaning up in the dance rehearsal room, Eun-ju finds a VHS tape titled "WHITE" and plays it in her dorm room. The footage is of an old, unreleased music video accompanied by an unknown pop song. When the group's manager finds her watching the tape, she decides to have it remade as Pink Doll's next single. The manager claims this is okay because the original song composer never claimed it and they were the ones to rediscover it.

When Pink Dolls becomes popular with their debut of the song "White", the manager seeks to re-record the song but with a main vocalist overtaking the song. This main vocalist would act as the "center" or main member of the group. Je-ni says that the best vocalist should be the main, while A-rang says the prettiest girl should be in the center. This decision contributes to the hostility between Je-ni, A-rang, and Shin-ji as they fight over who deserves the spot. At this point, we learn that Je-ni suffers from ephidrosis, which she treats with medicine packets. During a group shoot, the manager begins discussing who will be in the center and act as the main. She starts with A-rang since she "fits the style", but after a few photos the manager decides to put Je-ni in the middle instead since the concept should be more "sexy" and A-rang is too "cute". It's also noted that the song is difficult to sing, and with Je-ni being the lead vocalist in the group, she was officially assigned as the main.

During her solo shoot, Je-ni begins to get nervous because of the very high notes in the song. While recording the new version of the song, we see Je-ni is visibly distressed as she drinks another medicine packet. She drops the empty packet onto the ground, where we see several other empty packets surrounding her. She shakily asks if anyone is doubling over her recording, as if she can hear another voice alongside hers, however she is the only one recording. While the manager and producer bicker over the main vocals overtaking the other girls' parts, Je-ni quietly calls out to Eun-ju, saying that she's sorry for being mean to her. Je-ni then says "It's a little hot in here, don't you think?". This catches Eun-ju's attention, but she doesn't say anything. During the last take, we see ghostly, pale hands appear out of nowhere and wrap around Je-ni's neck. She sings but her high note progresses from a vocal pitch to an agonizing scream. In the next scene, Shin-ji, A-rang, and Eun-ju return to the studio after an outing and Eun-ju asks where Je-ni is. A staff member suggests that she's probably still in the studio practicing since the manager is working her hard. Eun-ju goes to the recording room to look for her, and finds her hanging from the ceiling with microphone cords wrapped around her neck. Eun-ju attempts to save her, but the door to the booth is locked and Je-ni vomits up a red liquid before screaming again. It's later stated that they believe she hallucinated from drinking too many of her medicine packets at once.

Eun-ju, A-rang, and Shin-ji go on to participate in promotions and fan signings without Je-ni. Later in the dorm, A-rang confronts Eun-ju with the possibility that Je-ni's medicine packets were tampered with since they only started to affect her after she became the main. Eun-ju tells A-rang to go to bed since they have rehearsal the next day. A-rang states that Eun-ju couldn't have tampered with the packets since she's "weak hearted". On her way back to her own room, Eun-ju goes back to the recording room which hasn't been touched since Je-ni's incident. Eun-ju accidentally hit's play on the computer which plays back a recording of Je-ni screaming. Eun-ju turns off the recording but notices a window up with the Pink Dolls fan site. She sees a new post titled "Bad video of Je-ni" which is a short and extremely distorted fan-cam style clip of her from Pink Doll's live performance of "White". Eun-ju shows this clip to Soon-ye, thinking it may be related to what happened to Je-ni. Soon-ye chalks it up to the stress and pressure she was under while being the main.

During a group rehearsal for the "White" music video, A-rang has an outburst after the choreographer suggests Shin-ji should be the new main due to her incredible dancing skills. A-rang interjects and suggests she herself should be the main, but the choreographer quickly shuts her down saying that she can't sing or dance. We see that A-rang's eyes are noticeably red and irritated, and it's obvious she's in pain. Later on, Shin-ji finds an old photo of herself online where an anonymous user (later confirmed as A-rang) exposes Shin-ji for working with Pure. Shin-ji confronts A-rang about the photo, but A-rang insists it wasn't her. This escalates into a physical altercation between the two girls which Eun-ju overhears and breaks them up. A-rang then attempts to defend her actions by claiming that Shin-ji poisoned her cosmetics to make her eyes swollen in an attempt to sabotage her chances of being the main.

After Eun-ju leaves, A-rang puts on the long white wig that is used by the main. She takes off the bandages on her eyes and we see that they're extremely infected and bloody. As she begins to put cosmetics on her face, a shadowy figure passes behind one of the dressing room dividers. A-rang calls out to it, thinking it's Eun-ju, and the figure responds "Yes, it's me". A-rang asks "Eun-ju" to not tell the manager about her spreading photos of Shin-ji and that she (A-rang) would have been made the main vocalist anyway so it doesn't matter. "Eun-ju" responds that A-rang can't be the main since it's not her song. This angers A-rang and she looks back behind the divider only to see that no one is there. Suddenly, she begins to hallucinate that the cosmetics she's using are all filled with blood and her vanity starts to shake violently. The hallucination ends and A-rang attempts to crawl away, but instead she runs into an unknown figure that we cannot see. The white wig is lifted off of A-rang's head and she screams as she looks up.

The next day, they begin shooting the music video for "White", this time with A-rang as the main. Due to last nights events, A-rang is not her usual self, Eun-ju takes note of this and suggests that they postpone the shoot, A-rang disagrees and says they should do it while they're on a roll. The production crew attatch a camera to A-rang via a harness that points at her face, the intention is that A-rang will spin around while dancing to get a "motion effect". Before A-rang goes onto the set, she turns to Eun-ju and says "it's hot in here, don't you think?", exactly as Je-ni had done. While spinning for the shoot, A-rang becomes blind and begins to panic. A pair of ghostly hands come out seemingly from the white wig A-rang is wearing. This entity attacks her face, causing her to fall off of the stage and injure herself badly. A-rang ends up in the hospital with Je-ni.

With only Shin-ji and Eun-ju left, tensions rise since they're both known for their dancing. The two have a dance-off in the studio surrounded by the backup dancers and choreographer. Afterwards, Eun-ju finds another video post on the fan site, this time of A-rang that is almost identical to the one of Je-ni. She puts together the lyrics from each video which spell out "it's so hot". Again, Eun-ju shows this to Soon-ye who brushes it off as a coincidence. Eun-ju theorizes that the fire from fifteen years ago may have something to do with the recent incidents and asks Soon-ye to look into it to see if anyone died in the fire. Eun-ju runs into Shin-ji who declares that she will be the main. Eun-ju attempts to persuade her from becoming the main and explains that she has a bad feeling about "White" in general. Shin-ji accuses her of wanting to claim the main position for herself and that she can't lose to a backup dancer like Eun-ju. Feeling hurt, Eun-ju sarcastically tells Shin-ji to be careful or she might dislocate her neck while dancing. They part ways and Shin-ji goes to the dance studio to practice.

It's late at night so no one else is in the studio besides Shin-ji. She begins to practice several different movements using a metronome to keep the rhythm. As she dances, we see one of her many reflections in the mirrors begin to move on it's own and dance out of sync with the rest of her reflections. Shin-ji senses something is wrong and stops to investigate, but the lights go out. Still, Shin-ji walks up to the mirror and makes several movements, checking to see if there's anything amiss. After testing her reflection she looks down to see blood on the floor, confused she looks back up and is met with a bloodied version of herself in the mirror. Her reflection states that she will be the main and then attempts to jump through the mirror, cracking it in the process. Shin-ji tries to escape, but the door is locked. As she is fighting to get the door open, all of her reflections in all the mirrors turn on her. The last reflection is a ghostly figure with long white hair. The mirrors begin to close rapidly which brings the ghost's reflection closer and closer to Shin-ji. The last mirror stops just short of her as she collapses on the ground. When she feels as though it has ended, the ghost jumps at her from the mirror. She realizes that this was all a hallucination.

Soon-ye returns to the studio with information about the fire. Eun-ju learns that a young trainee, Jang Ye-bin, died in the fire. Just before the fire, Ye-bin had been named the main in the original version of "White", however the first shoot (which is on the VHS recording) was cancelled mid-way through due to an "NG". The day of the re-shoot is when the fire occurred. Eun-ju suggests that the fire wasn't an accident and that someone had done it on purpose. Thinking Ye-bin had created "White", since she was in the video and sang the original song recording, Eun-ju realizes that the song is cursed and that Ye-bin's ghost must be the entity that is terrorizing the group.

Shin-ji is now next in line for the main and is subsequently in danger. Still dealing with last night's incident in the dance studio, Shin-ji gets ready to star on an episode of "Survival Challenge" where she is tasked with escaping the studio building and evading anyone who chases her. She runs into a stairwell and the door shuts behind her locking the camera out, and trapping her in the stairwell. She notices the same ghost from the studio is following her and is not far behind. Shin-ji finally makes it outside where she is supposed to reach a goal point to complete the challenge. However, outside there are sleeping fans who have been camping outside of the studio. One fan wakes up and alerts the others to Shin-ji's presence. Fans quickly mob her and during the commotion, the camera equipment above the crowd malfunctions and lowers down, catching Shin-ji by the hair in the process. She is lifted up in the air and thrown around. She looks up to see the ghost peering down from the top of the equipment. As the ghost attacks, the weights that offset the equipment fall off and drop Shin-ji to the ground, crushing her in the process.

Fearing that she is next, Eun-ju, along with Soon-ye and the producer, dissect the original "White" tape and song in order to figure out how to stop the curse. After combining the three distorted fan site clips of Je-ni, A-rang, and Shin-ji, they pull the phrase "It's so hot in here" and the phrase "there's no face" from the original video. They theorize that Ye-bin was terrorized by other trainees for being the main and that the first shoot was cancelled because her face was damaged. Eun-ju goes on a mission to find out who really killed Ye-bin, and goes to see the sponsor who's father was the original owner of the studio before it burned down. Meeting him in a VIP room at a club, Eun-ju asks the sponsor about the trainee with white hair his father fooled around with. He says he didn't know her name, but recalls that she was very talented. She wrote songs for the agency and choreographed the dances, but she damaged her face and lost the main spot. He then says that she killed herself afterwards. Eun-ju believes that the trainee the sponsor spoke about was Jang Ye-bin and that she likely killed herself due to the abuse she received for being the main, and that she caused the fire.

After returning to the studio, Eun-ju breaks down in the dance room, during this she has a vision where she sees the white haired trainee crying in the studio. She then sees how she worked on "White" and went to see the sponsor in order to have her song produced and her be the main, and then see how she was bullied while her face was disfigured by the other girls in the agency and finally, she wrote a suicide note before setting fire to the building. After seeing the vision, Eun-ju looks down to see a small hatch on the floor, which she opens to find several electrical sockets. She breaks off a broom handle and begins breaking the sockets believing that something is hidden under them. She is found in the morning, and while emergency personnel are handling the broken electrical panel, they find part of a suicide note that has been mostly burned. The note reads "My dance and song were taken, and my face was ruined. I have decided on suicide as a last resort. It's so hot in here..." Thinking that she had confirmed Ye-bin's suicide, she visits Ye-bin's grave and offers her the original tape of "White" in order to appease her spirit.

Confident that the curse has been broken, Eun-ju reinvents "White" with a new image, including dressing and dying her hair white, and using the stage name "White"; but she takes credit for the song as her own solo performance. As a solo artist, she rises in popularity with her new version of "White" and is nominated for the Fever Music Awards alongside Pure. During this time, Je-ni, A-rang, and Shin-ji all wake up from their comas to find that Eun-ji had moved on without them, much to the girls jealousy. Now that Pink Dolls has disbanded, Je-ni, A-rang, and Shin-ji become hosts for a televised music show, although they give a lackluster performance. During the show's rehearsal, Eun-ju comes to visit the girls to explain her findings about Jang Ye-bin and the curse of the original "White" song. The girls don't believe her and insinuate that it was Eun-ju that intentionally hurt them to have the main spot, using her meeting with the sponsor as proof. They get into an argument and Eun-ju says to call her if they run out of gigs. Shin-ji stops her and says that they may never see each other again, and with that Eun-ju leaves. In the car with Soon-ye, Eun-ju expresses her anger and the two get into an argument.

After Soon-ye is dropped off, she goes to delete all of her files from their investigation into "White". However, she listens to the original one more time and realizes there's something off. She goes back to the producer's studio and they discover that the original video doesn't match up with the song, and that it was recorded after the song was made. They determine that Jang Ye-bin's voice wasn't the one singing, but instead someone else's. As they're looking through the video, the music show studio calls and informs them that Je-ni, A-rang, and Shin-ji all drank bleach to commit suicide. The producer pulls up the live stream in time to see Je-ni and A-rang convulsing on the ground while Shin-ji drinks the rest of the bleach and collapses. Soon-ye calls Eun-ju while she is on her way to the Fever Music Awards and warns her that the curse hasn't been broken. Eun-ju angrily refuses and insists that she broke the curse by giving Ye-bin her tape back.

The producer then discovers that Ye-bin's face wasn't damaged in the video, but it was emulsion grains that made it look like she was hurt. After putting together the distorted fan site clips of all four girls, they hear the phrase "it's so hot in here, inside my heart". Soon-ye is still trying to connect this to the fire, but then realizes that the lyrics weren't alluding to the fire, but instead the feeling of ingesting bleach. In the newspaper article about the fire, Soon-ye reads a mention of a backup dancer who poisoned herself before the fire by drinking bleach, and it's understood that "White" did not belong to Ye-bin, but this backup dancer. Soon-ye breaks down, knowing that it was impossible to find out the identity of the backup dancer to break the curse in time, and tells the producer to stop looking. The producer refuses and notices that Eun-ju's part lines up perfectly with a part of the original chorus. Soon-ye attempts to stop him, but he successfully pulls the recording and reverses it. In this audio clip, the phrase "here, behind you" is barely heard. Soon-ye then realizes that there is an extra figure behind Ye-bin in the original music video, the ghost of the original "White". With this new information, Soon-ye attempts to rush to the tv studio to stop Eun-ju from performing.

At the Fever Music Awards, Eun-ju is getting increasingly nervous backstage. Her makeup artist makes a comment about her sweating so much, Eun-ju responds "well it's a bit hot in here don't you think?". She immediately has a flashback to when A-rang said the same thing to her before falling off the stage. Shortly before Eun-ju goes on, she checks the fan site and attempts to delete the distorted clip of herself. In doing so, it causes her computer to glitch and open thousands of tabs of the same video which distorts her face even more. She then goes on stage with Pure to await the announcement of the first place winner. During this, Soon-ye is trying to find a way into the studio, but all of the doors are locked.

Eun-ju as "White" is announced as the first place winner of the music awards, and gets ready to perform her version of "White" directly afterwards. She nervously looks around as her backup dancers enter, possibly looking for the entity. She is extremley distressed, but attempts to perform anyway. She begins the song and it starts off well, but during the performance she begins to see the ghost figure again and again and even get's choked by the entity's hands, much like Je-ni did. Eun-ju falls over and shortly afterwards the power cuts off. The lights and electrical wires above begin to spark and the crowd panics. Attendees flood to the doors in an attempt to flee, including Eun-ju's sponsor who ends up being crushed by a falling stage light. The manager attempts to go on the stage to rescue Eun-ju, but gets caught in the pyrotechnics and suffers severe burns. Before passing out, the manager points behind Eun-ju, and she turns around to find the ghost standing before her. Just then the doors open up, and Soon-ye is able to get inside, but cannot get past the crowd that is rushing to get out. Eun-ju get's off of the stage in an attempt to reach Soon-ye, but trips and gets trampled to death by the stampede of people. Distraught, Soon-ye looks up to the stage to see the ghost standing alone as the venue begins to catch on fire. Soon-ye is forcibly pulled from the burning studio as the ghost disappears into the flames.

Following a news report on the fire, a flashback occurs revealing the true story of the original "White". After writing "White", the trainee is bullied by Ye-bin and a group of girls, mutilated her face with acid, and forced her to commit suicide by drinking bleach out of jealousy. After White's death, Ye-bin was made to be the main, but was being haunted by the ghost of White. In an attempt to conceal her crimes and rid herself of the entity, Ye-bin tried to burn the suicide letter in the dance studio, but when White's ghost appeared she was startled and accidentally set the entire building on fire.

In the end, Soon-ye rush to the studio's karaoke room, a usual hangout spot for her and Eun-ju. She puts a trash can on the table and throws the original "WHITE" VHS tape, a copy of the burned suicide note, and Eun-ju's "White" CD into it. She douses everything in lighter fluid, and after taking one last look at Eun-ju on the CD cover, she lights the items on fire, burning what remains of "White". As these are burning, the karaoke screen shows that "White" is playing next, alluding to the possibility that the curse has not been broken.

Cast

Soundtrack

The soundtrack contains 3 versions of the song "White," the original (the one featured on the VHS tape), another sung by PinkDolls (Ham Eun-jeong, May Doni Kim, Choi Ah-ra and Jin Se-yeon), and a solo version with just Eun-jeong.

Reception

The film grossed US$1,265,702 its opening weekend landing at the fifth position of the box office chart.[2] In total the film grossed US$5,299,831 by the end of its theatrical run.[1] The film received a total of 791,133 admissions nationwide.[3]

References

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