Hollywood has been remaking Asian films for a long time now, but over the past decade Korean movies have become the focus of remakers attention. One reason is that hit Korean films are often based on the sort of "high concepts" (easy-to-grasp premises) that fuel Hollywood's own sure-thing projects. They do not, however, always deliver the results their remakers hope for. One recent example: Spike Lee's reworking of Park Chan-wook's controversial 2003 smash "Oldboy" was both savaged by critics and ignored by audiences.
Now Japanese producers are getting into the act with a remake of "Haunters," a hit 2010 psychological thriller by director Kim Min-seok. Titled "Monsterz" and directed by horror maestro Hideo Nakata of "Ring" series fame, the remake follows the outlines of the Korean original: A psychologically warped man (Tatsuya Fujiwara) able to stop people dead in their tracks with his laser-like stare becomes upset when a removalist guy, busy working on his moving van, fails to freeze with the rest.
The mover, Shuichi (Takayuki Yamada), also has an uncanny ability to recover from injuries, as the man with the powerful stare (who must remain anonymous) discovers when Shuichi is miraculously healed after being struck by a speeding car — an injury that would instantly kill any ordinary mortal.