Thursday, September 15, 2016

Nightmare Teacher(악몽선생) Korean Drama Thoughts

   I'm trying to increase the number of posts I have talking about Korean drama but I don't watch that many. Let me tell you a little bit about my background with Korean dramas. I don't normally watch them online unless there is absolutely no way for me to buy what I want to see. I've been buying my Korean dramas since the early 2000s and I must say the production and scripts for Kdrama has greatly declined in quality over the last decade. Many great Kdrama still exist out there but you have to dig through the bad in order to get to the good. I know some people wont agree with me and i'm ok with that. everyone has their own taste when viewing Kdrama, Its just that having a good looking guy in a drama is not good enough to over look the more than mediocre storyline or the bad acting that some of the super popular dramas tend to showcase. We thankfully still have the good dramas like Nightmare Teacher who isn't afraid to take the lead and bring a who new take on the Korean drama genre. (CAN I GET AN AMEN???) 


   Nightmare Teacher's lead cast includes Eom Gi-koon, Kim So-Hyeon, and Lee Min-Hyeok of Kpop Idol group BtoB. All the other cast that was featured in the drama also helped to make the show exciting as well but I'm not going to list all their names here. I saw your hard work though guys and girls. 

  The plot tells the viewers about a class full of students who want for selfish desires. They each one by one go to visit their home room teacher's office to make their desires come true. The teacher will answer their requests but at a price that each student will never see coming. 


  I fell in love with the plot line when I read it the first time and the promotional poster is so different for a regular Korean drama that I had to watch this one! My first grand surprise was how short the episodes for each episode was.( About 14 minutes and some seconds.) Everyone and their mother knows that Korean drama episodes are normally long as hell. I was prepping myself to be ready for sitting in front of the laptop screen for X amount of hours wondering where those hours of my live really should have gone. Especially if the drama turns out to be a totally flop in the end. Nightmare Teacher does not play games with it's audience as the drama has only 12 episodes to show us the crazy and then resolve all the lose ends. It takes about two episodes to resolve each case but you are given a foreshadow of where each student ends up after meeting with their "teacher". From episode one you don't feel any build up to the main conflict. the viewer is automatically thrown in the fray and left to figure out what was going on. The show will make you feel like you've been watching forever but you just started watching. There is not dragging out the story, only good old plain directness in the flow of the plot. Each student's problem teaches the viewer a valuable lesson as to what is really important in life and asks the question would you sacrifice something dear just to get what you want? Then when you get what you want, are you truly happy? None is without problems in this world. I don't care how smart, good looking, or popular you are. All of that comes with its own share of hardships. Instead of trying to look good in everyone else eyes, learn to find your own self love. Self love will be that barrier against the pressure of trying to put up a front to please others. How many of these other people are actually going to be there for you at the end of the day anyway. None of them. Exactly.  Nightmare Teacher constantly drives at this point in the mist of the drama' s eerie antics. 


   The drama is shot like so many other school inspired dramas with shots that show the classrooms and hallways in their full glory. Nightmare Teacher doesn't really take you to see any other places except for the school grounds and other areas in the school. No other locations are needed because you are too busy focusing on the student's lives in school. Their lives outside of school are not important to progress the story. You won't care either... believe me. A creepy feel is what sets this drama apart in how the camera films scenes. Even when the camera is focusing on the students, it always feels like someone or something is going to jump out and grab them. Nightmare Teacher isn't this kind of drama either but that teacher will give you the creeps. The camera makes sure to catch him in all his creepiness as he seems to be always a step ahead of those poor unaware students. Shots filmed in his office make the whole room look like an unworldly place that none should be in. In fact at certain times the whole school look this way even in the daytime. A camera shot at specific angle can make a roof ledge look super high so much so that the scenes done on the roof made me feel uncomfortable for the characters. Someone seems to always be too close to the edge including the camera man filming. 





  Actor Eom Gi-Koon is our teacher who is surrounded in mystery. He has a very happy relaxed personality and always appears to students who are suffering with problems of their own. He's a little too perfect. What creeps me out is that he's always smiling. He also seems to make his entrance with anyone sensing that he's coming. I enjoy watching him act with the students as that driving force that sells a good bargain only to pull the rug from under the buyer in the end. The most he does his sit back about watch what he causes unfold until he has to pick the pieces latter. Eom knows how to lull the students and the viewers into his trap. Too bad the viewers see he's not too nice before the students do. The students who came in contact with Eom's character in his office had the best performances. Each actor and actress came into their character with so much depth full with emotion that the drama would not be as half as good as it was if it wasn't for them. Kim So-Hyeon and Lee Min-Hyeok also kinda got overshadowed because while they had their own stories, the drama only gives you enough about them to know that they are friends on the verge of dating. Hyeok's character makes it crystal clear that he likes So-Hyeon's character as he stays by her side for most of the whole drama.( There your romance people...) His character is designed mostly just for this fact. Hyeok does try to bring a fun loving youthful side to his character by making him a little loud and outgoing as he takes pictures of every interesting thing that happens inside the school. Both actor and actress have a good enough chemistry that I could see them as friends but Hyeon is more withdrawn in expressing her emotions. she shows just enough to get her point across then again other times it seems like she forcing herself. Nightmare Teacher is another drama where the performances make the drama shine and I'm loving it.




  I'm writing this post before I watch the 12th and final episode because the show is so good that I don't think the ending will ruin the drama for me.... lets hope not anyways.... fingers crossed. I think I'm in for a shocker!!! If the ending is bad then I will edit this post but if you don't  see any mention of the ending then I liked the result.  Don't worry about this drama being a horror because its not. It has super natural elements but the scariness is mild compared to full production Korean horror films. Nightmare Teacher is more of a thriller mixed with a super natural edge and romance. People who like to beige watch will finish this drama in a day or so. This drama is a short bittersweet ride into the dark corners of the human mind. 


  

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