Strangers from hell | series review

Hello everyone in the movies community. I was watching this series from the past few days, it's a +19 recommendation. It's available on Amazon prime video and it was recommended by one of my batchmate.

As she recommended me and also had shown me the first episode, so there was a curiosity in my mind that what next is gonna happen. So I decided to watch the whole series.

Source:-[https://www.google.com/search?q=strangers+from+hell&client=ms-android-oppo&prmd=inv&sxsrf=APwXEddkvuMrIQ4guP-pPbVgF1fPWWqzng:1680190397372&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjR7Kj-_IP-AhV2nmMGHf9nAcUQ_AUoAXoECAIQAQ#imgrc=qVyYOEhKXCskBM]

Alternative name: hell is other people

Genre: mystery, thriller, horror, drama

Length: Complete – 10 episodes, 60 minutes each

This series is adapted from a webtoon with the same title by Kim Yong-Ki (published from March 10, 2018 to January 9, 2019), it deals with strange residents of dorm. To focus on this series, we travelled to Seoul. It all starts with a young guy in his 20s moves to Seoul after his college friend, Jae Ho offers him a job. He stumbles upon a cheap dorm while searching for a place to live. To save money, he starts to live in that dorm named as Eden studio, a cheap apartment that shares the kitchen and bathroom with other residents. He is not thrilled about the quality of the place or the other abnormal residents, such as his next-door neighbor Seo Moon Jo, a charismatic dentist. Nevertheless, Jong Woo decides to put up with it for 6 months until he saves enough money to move out. However, mysterious events start occurring in the apartment, causing Jong Woo to begin fearing the apartment's residents.

Source:-[https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0HKH1833MUDY92266XP4SWY18N/ref=atv_sr_def_c_unkc_1_1_1?sr=1-1&pageTypeIdSource=ASIN&pageTypeId=B09H61CPMR&qid=1680190464089]

From the time we meet Jong Woo, there are moments that seem to suggest him harbouring some sort of resentment, even before he starts rubbing shoulders with the studio’s occupants. He is forced to take up a job he doesn’t want to do, in order to support his family and he definitely isn’t proud of his living circumstances which is directly indicative of his monetary situation.There is a poignant scene where when drunk, Jong Woo contemplates how life would have been different if he didn’t stay at the studio, and how he would have actually enjoyed his work, enjoyed his team dinners, and gotten more time to spend with his girlfriend. In his eyes, the boarding studio’s ominous presence and it’s sinister residents, are the cause of all his troubles.

The remaining apartments in the "Eden Residence" were only supposed to be a temporary living space for the tenants and were subject to renovation. 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.

With each episode, we can see that the protagonist slowly lose his sanity and derail into madness,and along with him so do the viewers. The characters Jong-woo and Moon-jo are often seen discussing the book , which is essential to the plot because it shows the transformation of the protagonist’s psyche and physical body.

Source:-[https://www.google.com/search?q=strangers+from+hell&client=ms-android-oppo&prmd=inv&sxsrf=APwXEddkvuMrIQ4guP-pPbVgF1fPWWqzng:1680190397372&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjR7Kj-_IP-AhV2nmMGHf9nAcUQ_AUoAXoECAIQAQ#imgrc=La-8YKa1YQVXfM&lnspr=W10=]

Through the transitions we can see the protagonist’s gradual change in character, as he shows us his violent side, only to bring us back to reality where he is calm and collected. These transitions make us realize that he has a lot of suppressed anger and frustration which is slowly getting out of hand as the other characters keep provoking him.

The story keeps me on edge at literally all times. The pacing is super fast and the tension adds up relentlessly. Is something bad happening to the main guy? How is he going react to the situation? Is he finally getting the villains? Is someone else going to die in this episode?

The twist at the end left me more perplexed than shocked, as I had to rack my brain a bit to understand the choice of it, but in hindsight, it works and is definitely an ending that stays with you even after the show ends.