In “Blood Bell” 30 or so of the brightest students at an unnamed South Korean high school are assembled together on a Saturday afternoon. They’ve come to prep for an upcoming school event, but are about to endure the shock of their lives.

While watching a lesson on an overhead television set, the program suddenly switches over to a live feed of a girl in a water tank. That girl is their fellow classmate. Hye-young (the highest ranked student at their school). A voice then blares out of the P.A. system, instructing the students that they are about to take a new test. Wrong answers will result in their classmates’ deaths. They are also instructed not to leave the campus or they will die as well. The phone lines have been taken out and cellphone reception has been disabled. The first question is now about to be given ….

I’ll admit the premise has some promise, even with its liberal use of “Battle Royale” and “Saw” elements. Unfortunately, once the meat of the story begins the movie nosedives into an abyss no man or woman should want to venture into. About the only positive you can say about “Blood Bell” (post introductory moments) is that the movie does feature a few unnerving camera shots that are as haunting as it is visually stimulating.

While “Battle Royale” and “Saw” has been mentioned as obvious influences for “Blood Bell” another movie should also be mentioned. That would be the 1999 South Koran high school horror film/lesbian romance film “Memento Mori.” Visually, quite a number of scenes from “Blood Bell” recall “Memento Mori” (the two school girls playing around the laundry line / the bloodied body falling onto the auditorium floor). Also, the revenge theme found in “Memento Mori” also appears heavily in “Blood Bell.” Unfortunately, what made Memento Mori a great film — well written characters & top-notch cast — are sorely lacking in “Blood Bell”.

“Blood Bell” does feature well known Korean actor Beom-su Lee appearing in his first ever straight horror film. Beom-su Lee plays the likable Korean teacher and he’s OK in his role. The students are a far more mixed bag. The psycho-boy roaming the halls in his pj was the most annoying performer out of the lot but he had a lot of competition. Also, the movie continually breaks logical faux-pas’ to make the story work. When the students first learned of their situation they collectively made a run for the exits but stopped at the glass door when they saw one of their teachers bloodied and near death just outside the door. In reality, this would probably have caused the students to run even faster through the exit doors, but in this case, the students headed meekly back to their classroom. (Duh). Secondly, the viewer must believe the perpetrator somehow completely knocked out cellphone reception at the high school. (Perhaps he used an invisible force field to repel cellphone tower signals?). The movie also used the “Hey guys, I’m going…but I’ll be right back!” shtick every time a victim is needed.