It's wonderfully refreshing to see that not all the Asian horror being imported stateside is of the "creepy little longhaired ghost-girl causing mayhem from beyond the grave" variety. Don't get me wrong: I have a rootin'-tootin' good time with Sadako and her spiritual sisters. However, we Americans have embraced this style of Asian horror so firmly that it has already become cliche within a few films being imported or remade for Westerners. Thus, more and more of these fairly "safe" movies are being imported and given all the fanfare (sometimes when they should be left to rot in the East. Ju-Rei: The Uncanny, I'm looking at you.) while some true gems are being left across the Pacific only to be seen by bootleggers or people adventurous enough to go to overseas distributors. Thankfully, we've got boffo companies like Tartan to help us out by picking up the rights to some great flicks and making sure they keep the presentation quality top-notch.

Memento Mori is an especially interesting beast. A thematic sequel to its predecessor, Whispering Corridors (a.k.a. Yeogo Goedam in its home of South Korea), it still stands tall and proud on its own two legs requiring no prior knowledge of the first film for one to appreciate its cohesive (albeit lucid at times) narrative, inspired direction, and heart-wrenching themes of acceptance, loss, social hierarchy, and love.

Two inseparable friends, Hyo-shin and Shi-eun, are rumored by their catty classmates (it is an all girls' high school, so I shudder to imagine the rumor mill in that place.) to be lesbian lovers. However, the theory simply remains bubbling just beneath the surface, only to be discussed in giggling whispers and revealed in accusatory glares. However, that begins to change when a fellow classmate, Min-ah, finds their journal.

Now, this isn't an ordinary journal. This is a shared journal that they use to convey their feelings to one another with traditional entries and love notes. My parents do something very similar with each other even after almost thirty years of marriage. However, my parents' journal isn't nearly as insane as the journal these girls have created: with its spontaneous ink color changes, drawings, lift-and-see flaps, cutouts, and other creative bursts, it comes across as a teenage girl's version of Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves married to a toddler's pop-up book.

So now the true secret of their love is in the hands of Min-ah, who voraciously devours every detail of the rise and fall of the star-crossed relationship. Every page holds another fix for her addiction, relentlessly pulling her under its spell (much like the film is doing to us), until the unthinkable happens: Hyo-shin has a fatal fall from the roof of the school. Everyone assumes it to be a suicide, committed by a heartbroken girl spurned by her lover. However, a shadow of doubt is cast when Shi-eun has no alibi for her whereabouts when Hyo-shin allegedly took her life. Min-ah then becomes even more obsessed with the journal, trying desperately to find out what happened between Hyo-shin and Shi-eun, pushed along by Hyo-shin's restless spirit.

As much a stinging commentary on South Korea's notoriously dysfunctional school system as it is a horror film, Memento Mori succeeds on just about every level it attempts to work on. Instead of focusing only on the horror aspect, which is an exercise in creepy subtlety that blew me away, it takes a harsh look at the cruelty of teenagers, and believe me these teenagers are cruel. During physical exams, the smaller-chested girls are jeered at by both their classmates and the faculty (!). When Hyo-shin defends herself against the crude accusations of a fellow classmate, the repercussions are quick, dirty, and violent. Teachers lash out at their students with physical and emotional abuse, and the students respond in kind. The school is as much haunted by restless ghosts as it is by the cruelty of the social hierarchy within its walls, with popularity and hatred causing as much grief (if not more) than vengeful spirits. Despite the somewhat sensational (and very nasty) exploration of the school system, the portrayal of the lesbian relationship between Hyo-shin and Shi-eun is remarkably sweet. Their love is very childlike and innocent, much like the relationship between Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures. They cuddle, hold hands, and generally seem to bask in each other's glow without any sort of open sexuality. In fact, they don't even kiss until they "come out" to their classmates, perhaps more so out of expectations then true sexual desire.

Just as subtle as the lesbian relationship is the exploration of the horrific elements. The spirit of Hyo-shin is very rarely apparent to the students or the viewer as an entity (at least until the shit hits the fan in the positively insane final act), and is more perceived as a presence. When she does make herself known, it's either in a sly, barely perceptible way, or she throws subtlety to the wind for an outright haunting, locking the girls in the school, leaving bloody avian presents in the toilets, and manifesting herself as a giant face peering in through the skylight like King Kong. However, these more "obvious" moments are used sparingly, so when they do happen, they are much more effective.

As stated before, Tartan's presentation of Memento Mori can't be beat. Video quality is jaw-droppingly gorgeous, with colors being set-in-stone accurate, except when the director intentionally uses overexposed film for ghostly POV shots. There were no artifacts present in the deepest blacks or the whitest whites, and detail practically leapt off the screen. Audio was available in either Dolby Digital or DTS (both 5.1 mixes), with the latter DTS track being noticeably bolder than the Dolby. Dialogue was clear, and the gorgeous European-flavored soundtrack showed remarkable depth. Even the subtitles seem well-translated, keeping the spirit of the dialogue without being so direct as to show any "engrish." This is how foreign films should be presented, folks. Extras are a bit slim, consisting of a behind-the-scenes featurette, and a slew of trailers for other recent Tartan Asia Extreme releases.

However, don't let the lack of extras turn you off to Memento Mori (which, by the way, means "remember the dead."). It's an emotional, frightening ride from start to finish, equal parts sweet and spooky, tragic and terrifying, and one-hundred percent good.