A True Horror Film?

One would argue that the film "Barking Dogs don't Bite" is a comedy film rather than a horror film. I would like to say that the film has little hints of both elements. The film doesn't have as much humor as "The Hangover", nor does it has as much horror as "The Grudge", but it definitely found a niche somewhere in between. In the beginning, I had expectations that the film was a horror film, with ghostly images, carnivorous hounds, spooky and dark music, along with creepy images popping up on the screen. Instead, I was greeted with soft but yet dark humor. Freud's theory of horror would apply in this film, it clearly states "a manifestation of the "uncanny," reoccurring thoughts and feelings that have been repressed by the ego but which seem vaguely familiar to the individual." The uncanny refers to the absurd and the unorthodox, for example, in the film where the protagonist, Yun-Ju throws a dog off the roof of a 20+ floor building. My initial reactions were among the lines of "There is no way that they're going to show a scene where a dog gets dropped off a building", and I was right. The protagonist hesitated, turned around, and walked back, but then in a split second impulse decision, he throws the dog off the building. After seeing that, I was laughing deliriously because it was just ridiculous. There's a big difference between being dropped off a building than being thrown off the building, and the fact that it was replayed over in slow motion adds to the dark humor of the film.

I was born in United States, raised in its western culture and lifestyle. I'm used to seeing dogs being treated with care and love, and this film is definitely a new eye opener for me. I was surprised to see dogs being thrown from roofs and cooked caveman style by a homeless with mental problems, and it was even more of a shock to me to hear that it is not uncommon to have dogs for dinner in Korean. I thought situations like that would only exist in movies, but it's real.

I do not think it was a great film at all, the acting, the characters itself, the plot, the action, everything could've been improved, but honestly, I wouldn't expect much from a film from the 2000s. I would imagine that many people would be offended by this movie, especially animal lovers. I personally think I have a huge sense of humor, and as a result, the majority of the film was completely hilarious to me. A dog being thrown off the roof in such a unorthodox style, the scene where the homeless stole the janitor's food, the female protagonist confronts the homeless man with numerous fans cheering in the background, I could go on and on. One scene that I didn't like was when Yun-Ju tricked the old lady with mangos/oranges so he could kidnap her "Baby" and throws it off the roof later, I thought that scene was extremely disrespectful. Throwing dogs off a building? Fine. A drunk professor being hit by a train? Fine. Barbecuing dogs? Fine. Stealing the only friend away from an innocent elderly person is beyond immorality. I just can't fathom what he could've been possibly thinking when he did that, and to make matters worse, she died soon after finding the corpse of her "Baby". The film violates all the principles and morals that society had set for us, and that's what makes this film a true horror film.