Don't be misled by the cover art for Cello. In spite of the blood on the box, it's a movie that is more likely to leave you disquieted than disgusted. (Although you blood fiends needn't worry - there's plenty of the red stuff, it just isn't the central focus of the film.) That's because despite the almost superfluous supernatural element, the real horrors here are human in nature. With a cast of emotionally, physically and psychologically damaged characters Cello's story is a gut-wrenching tale of a family forced to deal with a dark secret from the past.

Unfortunately, although the core story is affecting, the delivery is too inconsistent and ham-fisted to call Cello a success. Determined to keep the audience guessing, the movie is overfull of possible explanations for who or what is perpetrating the unusual goings on in the protagonist's life (is it the disgruntled student? The unnerving hired help? Mental instability? A vengeful ghost? A haunted object? Trauma?). It becomes so crowded, in fact, even it loses track, and ends up losing an internal consistency to its own mythos, which makes the ending considerably less clever than it thinks it is. I'm willing to suspend nearly all of my disbelief for a movie, but I do require it follows its own logic.

Cello spends approximately the first 2/3 of the film on the sloooow set-up, and fails to build any tension in the process, relying instead on the cinematic equivalent of jumping out from behind a corner and yelling "Boo!" at the audience every so often to remind them that they're watching a horror film. Regrettably, due to the lack of build-up, these cheap scares provide neither racing hearts nor tension release. At best, they're irritating; at worst, they're down right cheesy. And either way, they're insulting. (Really, if any of these moments make you shiver or jump out of your seat, you've no business watching horror films to begin with. Maybe try a nice RomCom.)

However, at the one hour mark the film takes a sudden turn from half-made attempts at horror to out-and-out horrifying. The story shift here is sudden and a little disorienting, but it is also where the film, at long last, becomes interesting. There was even a moment where I found myself begging a character out loud not to go into a room. And my reaction was much less about what was going to happen to him and much more about what was going to happen to me watching what was going to happen to him. Sometimes there are worse things than monsters lurking behind closed doors. Naturally, he didn't listen, and what followed was about 20-minutes of cringe worthy cinema, which was then book-ended by an additional 15 minutes or so of out-and-out ridiculouness.

If Cello were pared down of its genre clichés, (creepy, long-haired girl child, anyone?) Less laden with melodrama (it may be a side-effect of having a soundtrack score heavy with string instrumentals, but some scenes slip from moving to downright maudlin), and ended about fifteen minutes earlier than the current version, it could easily be a top-notch character drama. (And while I'm rei-magining Cello, a stronger actress in the lead role would be essential. The central role of the much-afflicted Mi-ju, requires more depth and range than Hyeon-a Seong was able to imbue. Her performance was downright hammy at times). The choice to frame this story as a mainstream horror tale leaves it bloated with unnecessary fright filler, resulting in a mediocre scary movie.

The DVD quality was very good, offering both excellent color and sound. The extras are of the standard variety : the original theatrical trailer, director's commentary, and a behind-the-scenes cast and crew, featurette (which is a bit on the bland side, and inexplicably obsessed with footage of cast members enduring the application of stage blood. One would think that the fact that make-up application was the most compelling thing they could come up with to put in the making of might have raised a red flag about the film's quality), and the ever-present trailers for the upcoming titles in Tartan's catalog.