Acacia (DVD)

Tree-worshipping Celts are famous for their deeply rooted belief that trees are sacred, but did you know that Greek philosophers  such as Aristotle and Plutarch thought that trees had perceptions, passions and reason? A 3,000 year old fable known as The Egyptian Tale of the Two Brothers tells about how one of the siblings leaves his heart on the white flower of an acacia tree, and falls dead when it is cut. There have been some cinematic tributes to the bark-clad sentinels as well, even in the horror genre — The Green Man, Evil Dead, and The Guardian to name a few.

Now, out of Korea, we have Acacia — a somber, supernatural tale about an upright, unfertile married couple, Do-il (Kim Jin-geun) and Mi-sook (Shim Hye-jin), who decide to adopt a child named Jin-sung (Moon woo-bin). The boy is very quiet and of course, creepy. He seldom speaks. He likes to draw in the Edvard Munch style. His crayons turn into beetles. You know, just a regular kid.

No sooner does the kid unpack his knapsack than the couple winds up getting pregnant with their own child. They’d like to send the other little creep back to the orphanage, but for whatever reason that is not possible. Jin-sung withdraws even further (that is, when he’s not trying to smother the new infant). He starts hanging out with the dead Acacia tree in the backyard, makes friends with the little neighbor girl, and suddenly vanishes into thin air. Then strange things start to happen — things that involve the dead tree sprouting new blossoms, tongue-piercing rice dinners, and ants that go on the warpath and up noses. Is the cause of all this misfortune an evil spirit in the tree? Is it the power of the missing boy’s mind itself? Just really bad luck?

Acacia does have the requisite slow spots that mark the majority of Asian horror films (generally speaking, based upon the dozens that I’ve seen), but the lulls are heavy with menace and the spooky feeling stays strong throughout the story. The moments of shock and gore are mostly subtle, but they deliver in spades. Acacia is a satisfying ghost movie indeed.

The very good cast is aided by a haunting score and good, if not especially stunning, cinematography. Writer/director Ki-Hyung Park does a great job of eking out the mystery little by little, and building up to a thrilling and satisfying climax. The only areas that could really have stood improvement were the editing and the CGI.

There are several making-of featurettes, but they are basically long stretches un-narrated footage of the movie being shot. There is also some over-the-movie commentary from director Ki-Hyung Park and actor Kim Jin-geun, which is in Korean with captions. It’s relatively interesting, but only for hardcore yak-track fans.

Slow to grow, Acacia does eventually blossom into a rewarding ghost story. It’s definitely worth a rent.

Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson