For some reason, I went into the movie thinking that it would be a serious horror movie but it turned out to be a really enjoyable campy horror movie, which was a refreshing change because I had spent the week watching horror movie after horror movie after horror movie.

Ji-yeon (played by Kim Do Yeon) is a high school senior who dreams of becoming a film director but her future career is at risk because of her low grades. One night, she chances upon a video tape from 1998 which shows a group of her senior schoolmates who had played hide and seek with a ghost in the school on the night of the school’s founding anniversary, and they all ended up scoring perfect marks on their college entrance exams. 

What’s the catch? At least one person who’s playing needs to not get caught by the ghost before dawn breaks in order to win but if everyone gets caught, they will all be erased from everyone’s memories… It’s a risk worth taking (especially since the ghost will keep haunting them until they play) and so she and her friends decide to play hide and seek with the ghost themselves and get that perfect score on the exams!

The movie was only 90 minutes long but they really made each minute of the movie count. I also really appreciated that each character had their own quirks and charms. Also, as far as horror comedies go, this was such a good balance of supernatural entities, jump scares, and comedic elements. The timing for each element was so perfect that you’d feel the tension rising for a horror scene only to be broken by a silly line that pokes fun at typical horror tropes and cliches. And the audience definitely enjoyed themselves, based on all the laughter throughout the movie.

This movie was highly anticipated as it had won the BIFAN 2023 NAFF Korean Award, which meant that grabbing a ticket for this was almost impossible, so it was lucky that I got a media ticket! The main cast for the movie, as well as the director, came for a Q&A session after the screening where they shared behind the scenes stories. 

I’m already looking forward to the sequel “Idiot Girls and School Ghost 2: Teaching Practice” which won the NAFF Korean Award at this year’s Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival so I hope they’ll be screening it at next year’s festival!

This film was screened at BIFAN 2024.

Thank you to the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival for the opportunity to cover this year’s festival!