Home is such a place that makes a person feel safe and gives him a feeling of peace, right? But what if home itself gives you a vibe of hell? A place called home needs to be the most comfortable place in the world, right? But what if it makes itself the most uncomfortable place in the world that you don’t even come to home? Strangers from Hell is such a drama that will play with your psyche and will give you chills even after you finish this drama. And today, in this article, Strangers from Hell full review, I will tell you almost everything you need to know about this drama because I think even if it will make you uncomfortable but still you should not miss this gem. Trust me you are going to love this horrifying beauty.
Plot Summary
Yoon Jong Woo is an aspiring writer but he couldn’t release any single book of his own. To get a better job he moved to Seoul as one of his friends offered him a job in his own small company. Jong Woo came from a small town and desperately was finding a place to stay at a cheap price. He searched so many places for a cheap apartment and he ended up at Eden Apartment where the rent was so cheap and he needed to share a kitchen and bedroom with the other residents. Sharing bathroom and kitchen is not the actual issue, what bothered Yoon Jong Woo more was the residents themselves. The people there were weird, they did not seem normal. Jong Woo felt even more disturbed with their presence around him. They looked suspicious as they were hiding something from him. He shared his thoughts with his friend and girlfriend but they made him believe that he was feeling uneasy because he was new in the city. In this situation nobody helped him except one police officer, and with her help he got himself out of that apartment. But the creepy fact is those people and that atmosphere completely changed Yoon Jong Woo. He also became quite like them.
The Atmosphere: Eerie and Spine-Chilling
The whole concept of this drama is eerie and uncomfortable which surely will give you chills in your body. But still, the creepy atmosphere is the strongest asset of this drama. It transformed an ordinary theme into a nightmare. Let’s talk about the drama a little more.
The Setting: Eden Apartment as a Character
The Apartment, where Yoon Jong Woo came to live is more like a character than just a place to live. The narrow hallway is kind of suffocating and looks like a maze that will make you feel claustrophobic. Yoon Jong Woo feels trapped in this building so the viewers. The rooms are so tiny that you barely can breathe, the lights are dimmed, the walls are not properly cleaned and the wallpapers are peeling from everywhere. The building symbolizes entrapment. Yoon Jong Woo becomes isolated in every way both physically and mentally. The locked door and the sound behind the walls create a terrifying feeling of being watched by someone.
Cinematography: Visual Storytelling
As the storyline plays with your psyche, the cinematography pushes it to the edge. The theme is way too creepy; the dull, gray and shadow-heavy tones make it even more creepy. The outside of the building is okay but inside the tiny rooms, everything seems dark and dusty. The color palette the makers chose is absolutely muted. To be more honest they played with the darkness. And if I talk about the creative camera angles then the close-up shots of the
characters’ facial expressions will make your blood cold. As you can see the dentist, who has the creepiest smile will definitely make you uncomfortable.
Sound Design: Silence and Disturbance
In the drama, we witness the power of silence. It says if silence is too heavy you can hear the walls breathing. In this building the silence is so deep that it amplifies every minor sound. The sound of water dripping, floors creaking even the whispering sound makes everyone feel disturbed. There is no background music in any intense moment which allows the natural sounds to take center stage.
Character Analysis
The characters of this drama are the center of the story, each character adds a layer of mystery and fear. From the protagonist who is shown as the survivor here to the psycho villain, everyone did a superb job and delivered an unforgettable performance which pushed this drama to be eerie as well as compelling. Let’s see the characters and their natures.
Yoon Jong Woo (Played by Im Si-wan)
Yoon Jong Woo played by Im Si Wan is an ordinary young man. His character is relatable as he is ambitious and frustrated over his financial condition. He wanted to be a writer but moved to Seoul for a better job opportunity. He rents a small apartment at a cheaper price where he meets some weird people whose presents make him uncomfortable. As he stays in the apartment he starts having fear of some unknown horrors. He was a decent man but his surroundings were so horrifying that changed him completely. He waits and wants to calm himself down in every way possible but the question is How much can one endure before breaking? Those strangers in that apartment pushed him so badly that Yoon Jong Woo broke the fragile line between sanity and madness.
The veteran actor Im Si Wan skillfully portrays the character of Yoon Jong Woo capturing that character’s vulnerability, confusion and fear. Im Si Wan delivered such a good performance that compelled the audience to empathize with Yoo Jong Woo’s psychological struggles.
Seo Moon Jo (Played by Lee Dong Wook)
Seo Moon Jo is the one who made the whole building a hell. He simply is the embodiment of fear. When you see him first he appears to be a decent looking man, who talks calmly and is polite. In that building, Yoon Jong Woo finds him the most sensible man but deep down he is a complete psycho and his personality is disturbing. He manipulates Jong Woo in a dual personality, one is of a simple and kind dentist and the other is of a villain. He always calls Jong Woo “Jhagiya (honey)” which makes Jong Woo a little uncomfortable but he lets it go. And Seo Moon Jo slyly pushes him toward madness. Moon Jo is actually the representation of the darkness within humanity. He is always so calm and appears with a smile on his face which makes him even more terrifying.
He is such an antagonist who is less of a physical threat and more of a psychological tormentor.
As an actor, Lee Dong Wook played a role that will shock the audience with mesmerisation and unsettling. The handsome face somehow became terrifying. With his acting, he made this character one of the most remembered and most chilling villains of Korean dramas.
In more mature words we can say the character of Seo Moon Jo is a character that not only harms people but also plays with their minds as long as they don’t break completely.
Supporting Characters (Eden Apartment)
Apart from the main characters Yoon Jong Woo and Seo Moon Jo, there are some other characters who made this drama a successful horror and psychological thriller. The supporting characters have other significance in this drama that they are not just residents of a particular building where Jong Woo came to live but also they are the living nightmares of Jong Woo’s life and they successfully pull Jong Woo deeper into madness. Those characters are:
Landlord Um Bok Soon: The landlord of Eden Apartment seems like a friendly person but her over friendly nature makes Jong Woo uncomfortable. She always forces Jong Woo to have the food she made and asks him to eat eggs that have already gone bad. She is kind of mysterious. Actually, she brought up those psychos of that building and she herself is a psycho too.
Yoo Gi-hyeok: A man who looks so calm and doesn’t usually talk so much, lives in room 302. When Jong Woo went to that building he met that man but soon disappeared. The audience knows what happened to him but Jong Woo has no idea about it.
The Twin Brothers: The two strange brothers live in room number 306 and 307. One of them has autism and the other one is normal yet not normal. Their behavior is so disturbing and creepy. They even make the audience uncomfortable. They are the most unnerving characters in some sense as not only Jong Woo but also the audience can not predict their next steps.
Hong Nam Bok: A man lives in room number 313 who is a porn addict. From the very first day Jong Woo is disgusted by this man. Jong Woo knows this man is trying to kill him and he enters into Jong Woo’s room when he goes to work. But he can not prove it and keeps hatred for this man.
Ahn Hee-joong: This man lives in room number 310 directly opposite Jong Woo. He was a thug and was desperate to leave this building. He warned Jong Woo to leave the apartment but Jong Woo didn’t trust him at first but later understood that it would have been good for him if he heard that man.
Themes and Symbolism
The themes of the drama are isolation, fear and many more. The drama shows a man who is isolated in a crowded city. I am talking about Yoon Jong Woo. When he came to Seoul first he only knew his friend and girlfriend but when he needed them the most they were not with him. He was crying and telling them he was having a tough time and they did not care about it. He was feeling suffocated around the mysterious strangers. The theme of the human psyche and fear is painted in this drama very skillfully. The audience also can feel the tension and the psychological pressure going on in the drama and in the mind of the protagonist.
The apartment itself is a symbol that represents the dark side of society. You can find different kinds of people in society. Some people are honestly kind and polite but some are meaninglessly mean to you and they are not only dangerous but also harmful to society.
Suppose you are in a city where you don’t know anyone and you are living with some cannibals who are thirsty for your flesh. You can see the thirst on their face. Your blood will get cold, right? The drama is not just a psychological thriller rather it metaphorically represents the dark side of human nature. Every man has an evil side in him, it is just up to them whether they will let their evilness come out or not.
The story of Yoon Jong Woo, a descent into paranoia and the chilling presence of Seo Moon Jo leave a lasting impression on the viewers and give us a reminder that the most terrifying evils are one of those people who lives around us and can look like a normal person who can smile and be kind. You never know who is actually good and who is a beast in the mask of humans.
The drama Strangers from Hell can be called a psychological masterpiece of South Korea that not only appears as a drama but it gives you such a hit that you will be compelled to think and doubt your surroundings and will give you chills even when you will think of a situation like Yoon Jong Woo. Watch this masterpiece and just think what would you do if you were in Yoon Jong Woo’s place? Honestly, how would you react if you were there?