Having helmed several romantic dramas already, director Lee Moon-young decided to turn to the Horror/Thriller genre for his next narrative feature, a backwoods thriller laced with so-called ‘Torture-Porn' aesthetics known as “The Human Trap.” Originally called “The Trap” upon its release back in Korean cinemas in 2021, the film finds new life with its domestic VOD release on January 12 through Cinephobia Releasing.
Attempting to take a trip into the woods, Ji-ae (Kang Byeol), Chae-rim (Kang Seung-hyun), Jung-ho (Park Yeon-woo), and Ki-young (Kim Dong-ho) head out on a camping trip where they're told not to wander too far away due to the animal traps set up in the nearby forests. As they set about trying to enjoy their experience, a series of events involving a homeless man living in the woods force them to consider their options for leaving. However, when they try to escape, all forms of communication or other means of leaving are cut off which makes them realize they're stranded in the woods. As time goes on, the group finds themselves realizing that the whole experience was a ruse to bring them into an organ-harvesting ring and must try to stop the ruthless leader in order to escape alive.
Overall, “The Human Trap” has a lot going for it. A rather intriguing story from writer/director Moon-young that sets everything in motion starts nicely enough. Setting up the group camping trip into the woods, the interactions that take place signaling burgeoning romances, and the threat of the locals filled with traps to keep the animals at bay but also acting as a looming threat about wandering too far from the camp is all fine enough. The series of continuing storylines from this simple setup, with the discovery of the homeless man living in the woods, the realization that they've become involved in an organ-harvesting ring, and how these connections come together makes for a great time as the twisting narrative comes about finely.
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This setup provides the chance for “The Human Trap” to initiate the more gruesome aspects of its story quite nicely. Having gotten some unnerving aspects already with the encounter with the homeless man and realizing that they've become stranded in the woods, the sequence where the henchmen emerge with their true purpose abducting and kidnapping the group is quite chilling. As it slowly becomes clear what's going on and how the twist about the deviant member among them has put the whole plan in motion, this brings about some rather gruesome and brutal outcomes which generate several impressive deaths here. Whether it's the graphic surgery scenes removing organs or the hard-hitting means showing the desperation to get away alive, these are quite brutal and bloody enough.
There are some issues present in “The Human Trap” that do bring it down. The main drawback within the film is the incredibly scattered final half where Moon-young's storyline presents way too much going on for its own good. There are way too many elements at play going on here, from the backstory of the homeless man, the connection between the deviant group member and the organ-harvesting ring, and who they're all working for. This makes for a whirlwind time trying to make sense of everything, with the need for streamlining these factors being somewhat important as having everything get spelled out at this point in the running time creates a lot of information to take in at a time where it should be wrapping up the storylines. Furthermore, this point instead distracts from the action taking place around the laboratory and surrounding woods.
This factor also ties into the other issue here where the ending resolution to everything goes on way too long, to the point it's not as interesting as it should've been. With the battle to overcome the leader of the organ-harvesting ring and how that plays out, there's a cathartic ending point established, defeating everyone involved. However, instead of ending there, “Human Trap” continues on several minutes longer trying to deal with an extra point that doesn't need to happen. Since there's a few too many storylines present that don't need to be included, this causes the ending to run on a bit too long.
A rather fun if slightly flawed genre effort, “The Human Trap” comes off rather nicely even though there are some factors in its presentation to bring it down in the end. Fans of this particular kind of Asian horror feature or just general fans of the thriller featured here will have a lot to like.
