The problem of group suicides is serious enough in Korea that Korean lawmakers have recently banned an entire group of keywords centered around suicide on Korean search portals. While, “A Blood Pledge” doesn’t tackle this issue in any series manner, the movie does use this issue as an effective launching point for its suspense filled 90 minute runtime.

In “A Blood Pledge” a group of friends (or are they?) meet late at night in their high school’s chapel. The girls do what most other girls would do in that type of situation: they light candles, pledge to kill themselves later that evening, and even signs a pact with their own blood. Their ominous last words together are “… if any one of us breaks this pledge may she be cursed to death”. A short while later, only one of the four girls plunges to their death.

The next day, the remaining three girls attempt to keep their pact a secret as it would lead to their dismissal from school. Mysterious events soon start to occur causing the weight of their pledge to hang over them like a curse …

As a pure horror film, “A Blood Pledge” isn’t nearly as successful. Standard shticks for the genre like the sudden movement of the camera to show a close up of a pale faced ghost with a corresponding jump in volume from 0 to 11 is all par for the course. What elevates “A Blood Pledge” from its weaker peers are the mystery elements that gradually unfolds after the movie’s auspicious opening sequence. Exactly why did the four girls pledge to kill themselves? Why did only one of the girls end up killing themselves? These answers are slowly revealed with the lifting of the veils behind each of the girls’ personal lives. Their problems are exaggerated at times, but, nevertheless, common enough that viewers can somewhat empathize with their plight. This kind of response is a bit atypical for a horror film and partially why “A Blood Pledge” is appealing. The final one third of the film does go off on the deep end and your appreciation for it depends on largely on how much reality you expect from a teen horror flick.

Also, you can’t talk about the “Whisper Corridors” series without mentioning all the talented actresses that have made their debuts in the series. “Whispering Corridors” has introduced us to such actresses as Jin-hie Park, Min-sun Kim, Hyo-jin Kong, Han-byeol Park, Ye-ryeon Cha, and Ok-bin Kim. If you’re wondering which actress from “A Blood Pledge” will make a similar jump, my pick would go with Min-jeong Song (the student with the abusive father). Min-jeong Song has an awkward beauty, similar to Min-sun Kim & Hyo-jin Kong in “Memento Mori”, and a certain screen presence that commands attention. With a little more acting experience she’ll likely have a lot more people calling out her name.

When you’re looking for a well done horror film you should keep in mind “A Blood Pledge.” The movie turns out to be better than expected and puts “Ghost Voice” and “Wishing Stairs” to shame. In a way you can think of “A Blood Pledge” as the long awaited true sequel to “Memento Mori” – suicides, cliques, jealousy, rumors and the ubiquitous pale faced ghost all rolled into a crazy 90 minutes.