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Lively and outgoing high school student Su-na becomes a recluse after the sudden suicide of her best friend. Deep in despair, Su-na then discovers a shocking secret about her family which triggers a series of terrifying events that will change her life forever.With a premise based on an important and often unspoken about social phenomena (hikikomori), 'Loner' had the potential to be an interesting horror mystery and/or provide some meaningful commentary on the effects of this sometimes tragic disorder. Unfortunately, it simply tries too hard to be clever and makes very little use of the potential story-telling aspects of hikikomori.The main problem with 'Loner' is the multiple story strands and red herrings which are introduced and emphasised at various points during the film. Whilst this isn't a new phenomena in modern Korean horror, it is handled very clumsily here and causes the narrative to jar throughout. In addition, several overly melodramatic performances take the sting out of any impact the screenplay may have had.Technically, the film looks and sounds fine but there is nothing here we haven't seen before. The horror set pieces are neither particularly special or memorable either.If you're a K-Horror fan this is one you can safely pass on. If you are looking to get into the genre there are much better places to start (eg 'A Tale of Two Sisters', 'Memento Mori', 'Possessed', 'The Red Shoes', 'Someone Behind You', 'Epitaph').
