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''The Guard Post'' (''GP 506'' in
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
) is a 2008 Korean horror film written and directed by
Kong Su-chang Kong Su-chang (born 1961) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. Kong started as a screenwriter and is behind hits such as ''White Badge'' (1992), ''The Ring Virus'' (1999) and '' Tell Me Something'' (1999). He debuted with the milita ...
.


Plot

Sergeant Major Seong-gyu Noh, along with a friend in the army, are paying their last respects to Noh's wife. Later, in their car, Noh’s friend informs him of an assignment that the military has ordered him to do: head to Guard Post 506 in the Korean
DMZ A demilitarized zone (DMZ or DZ) is an area in which treaties or agreements between nations, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities, or personnel. A DZ often lies along an established frontier or bounda ...
to investigate a strange incident there. At 21:07, Noh arrives at GP 506 about an hour later. On the way to the office, he passes a boiler room that has words written in blood on the wall, which says: “Kill all of them.” He is brought to the recreation room where the bodies were found, and watches in shock at the amount of blood splattered around the room. In the present, Noh checks the guard post’s records and notices that someone has been controlling the weapons lately. All personal weapons were kept in the armory and not in the barracks, which was unusual. One of the soldiers reports to Noh, informing him that they have found another survivor, inside the generator room. This survivor portrays himself as Yoo. Noh reports to his superior on the phone, who wants him to bring Yoo back, despite his objections as the investigation has not been completed yet and will be forced to end once the clean up crew arrives in the morning. Noh refuses to listen anymore to his superior and ends the call. He then goes off to look for Yoo at the canteen, only to find he’s not there. Noh reads Kang’s personal records that he was a troublemaker, but he thinks that Kang doesn’t look like one who would go insane and embark on a killing spree. He pores over Yoo’s journal. In the present, Doc returns with the bodies and Cpl. Kang lapses into critical condition. Despite Doc’s attempts such as defibrillation to resuscitate him, Kang dies. As they talk, Kim supposedly saw the dark silhouette of what he thinks is Sergeant Ma walking towards the medic room where they were. He went hysterical and pointed the shadow out to Yoo. Yoo passes out and on waking, finds Kim dead. He then confiscates all ammunition and live ordinance. In the present, Doc is unable to find any cold medicine in the post first aid room which supposedly should have sufficient amounts of it. Meanwhile, Cpl. Kwak and his buddy are sent for sentry duty. Men start to notice a red rash appearing on their bodies. In a matter of hours, the disease that inflicted the men of 506 will be present in the new men as well. Doc surmises that a rabic-like virus infects the men, making them turn violent and kill each other, but he does not know how the infection spreads. Moreover, it has remission period, that all the rashes are disappeared and the consciousness is back to normal, like perfectly normal healthy man, but ironically that period is most dangerous. After elapsing multiple remission periods, the rashes appear all around the body and even pours out abscess, thus becoming very violent. As Noh goes through some clues in the diary, he suddenly discovers that the soldier they’ve interviewed is actually a medic, not Lieutenant Yoo. In another flashback where the medic sneaked into the ambulance to see the deceased Kang, it is finally revealed that the medic was lying about everything. Kim was actually killed by Lieutanent Yoo and Yoo was the one who gone out to the forest with the others, not Sergeant Ma. However, Lt. Yoo made the medic to rewrite his report to mislead the higher officials for his wrongdoing. As Kwon leaves the ambulance, he is suddenly spotted by a soldier and kills him after noticing the soldier turned into a zombie type monster. Kwon tries to escape the post, but crashes into the barriers after Noh started shooting at the ambulance Kwon was driving. Kwon gets arrested again after Noh discovers his true identity. However, the deceased soldier on the ground starts attacking one of the soldiers, despite being ripped in half. Noh shoots at the deceased soldier multiple times, but only kills him with a headshot. Kwon gets tied up and thinks back to the time where the real Yoo was blamed for infecting the entire platoon with the mysterious virus. Noh, Doc, 1st Lt. Bang and the sergeants gather the remaining men for an inspection due to the disease. Doc divides up the men according to whether they have the rashes on their bodies. However, when Noh orders the infected to strip their weapons and hand them over, they refuse and the soldiers present have a standoff. Meanwhile, Kwon, tied up in the generator room, struggles with his bonds and knocks out the electric supply temporarily, blacking out the bunker. Noh, upon learning the truth from Kwon, beats him up in anger, due to him withholding the truth and his own selfish reasons of wanting to live, have caused his own men and Noh's group to die. Kwon retorts back, saying that HQ did not care about them when they were dying like mad dogs here. Later, while staring at the rain outside, Noh touches his family photo and comes to a terrible resolution: He decided to kill everyone alive including himself to stop the virus. However, Doc stands against Noh saying it is genocide, but Noh rolls up his sleeves and discovers Doc is infected, and Noh is infected as well. He goes into the office and finds the keys to the bunker. When leaving, he hears sobbing sounds from a corner, to find Sergeant Yoon. He discovers Yoon is infected and shoots him. Later, he also heads to Kwon, eventually killing him at 05:56. Lee orders the men to look for Noh, who is busy spilling kerosene all around the rooms, passageways and corridors of the bunker. At 06:25, Noh spills all the remaining kerosene around the shower room. Shortly after, Lee and the soldiers manage to corner Noh in the shower room. Unable to kill Noh, Lee wants him to join them and deny that the disease ever happened. As Doc interferes the standoff, Noh and Doc manages to kill 3 of the men, with Noh injured. Doc runs out of ammo in the end and is shot to death by Lee. Eventually, only one Private is survived and as he opens the door to escape GP 506, his act triggered the booby trap installed by Noh, killing him and ravaging the area with explosion and fire. At 06:57, The soldiers approaching the bunker instantly drop to the ground for safety, while GP 506 has turned into a smoking ruin. The movie then focuses with the last recording made by Corporal Kang explaining about the virus and the disease, as well as the way to solve the disaster: killing everyone alive in the 506. It ends with the scene in which he brings the cake topped with burning candles to the barrack, and soon after shooting with his gun to kill everyone.


Cast

*
Chun Ho-jin Chun Ho-jin (born September 9, 1960) is a South Korean actor. Early life Chun studied chemistry at Inha University but dropped out to pursue acting. His father Chun Gyu-deok was among the first generation of professional wrestlers in the countr ...
as Sergeant Major Noh Seong-gyu * Lee Yeong-hoon as Corporal Kang Jin-won * Lee Jeong-heon as Doctor (Surgeon) *
Jo Hyun-jae Jo Hyun-jae (born May 9, 1980) is a South Korean actor. Jo made his entertainment debut as a singer in the four-member boy band Guardian, which disbanded after releasing their self-titled album in 1998. In 2000, after he drew popularity when he ...
as 1st Lieutenant Yoo Jeong-wu / Corporal Kwon Jeong-min


Reception

A review from Twitch said that ''The Guard Post'' is not as strong as Kong's first
Korean horror Korean horror films have been around since the early years of Korean cinema, however, it was not until the late 1990s that the genre began to experience a renewal. Many of the Korean horror films tend to focus on the suffering and the anguish of c ...
film ''
R-Point ''R-Point'' () is a 2004 South Korean psychological horror wartime film written and directed by Kong Su-chang. Set in Vietnam in 1972, during the Vietnam War, it stars Kam Woo-sung and Son Byong-ho as members of the South Korean Army in Vietnam. ...
'' as the depiction of flashbacks and the present was confusing, though the story was interesting. Screen Daily notes that ''The Guard Post'' is similar to
Park Chan-wook Park Chan-wook ( ; born 23 August 1963) is a South Korean film director, screenwriter, producer, and former film critic. He is considered as one of the most prominent filmmakers of South Korean cinema as well as world cinema in 21st century. H ...
's film ''
Joint Security Area The Joint Security Area (JSA, often referred to as the Truce Village or Panmunjom) is the only portion of the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) where North Korea, North and South Korean forces stand face-to-face. The JSA is used by the two Ko ...
'' but with an emphasis on horror rather than
geopolitics Geopolitics (from Greek γῆ ''gê'' "earth, land" and πολιτική ''politikḗ'' "politics") is the study of the effects of Earth's geography (human and physical) on politics and international relations. While geopolitics usually refers to ...
. However, it is recommended for its well-defined plot which is rare to zombie films and its well-rounded characters and slick production values. The film had box-office admissions of 945,185 playing on 355 screens worldwide.


Awards and nominations

;
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
Buil Film Awards The Buil Film Awards () is a South Korean film awards ceremony hosted by the ''Busan Ilbo'' newspaper. It began in 1958 as one of the earliest film awards in the country. During the 1950s and 1960s, it was the biggest film awards event in the B ...
* Nomination – Best Editing – Shin Min-kyung * Nomination – Best Lighting – Yoon Dong-woo * Nomination – Technical Award – Kim Dong-won (Special Effects) ;
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
Grand Bell Awards The Grand Bell Awards (), also known as the Daejong Film Awards, is an awards ceremony presented annually by The Motion Pictures Association of Korea for excellence in film in South Korea. The Grand Bell Awards retains prestige as the oldest co ...
Cinemasie.com
/ref> * Nomination – Best Visual Effects – Kim Dong-won ;
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
Blue Dragon Film Awards The Blue Dragon Film Awards () is an annual awards ceremony that is presented by ''Sports Chosun'' (a sister brand of the ''Chosun Ilbo'') for excellence in film in South Korea. The Blue Dragon Film Awards considers only blockbusters and popula ...
* Nomination – Best New Actor – Lee Yeong-hoon * Nomination – Technical Award – Lee Chang-man (Special Make-up) ;2008
Korean Film Awards The Korean Film Awards was a South Korean film awards ceremony hosted by the broadcasting network MBC from 2002 to 2010. History Originally named the MBC Film Awards, the ceremony was first established in 2002. It was renamed the Korean Film Aw ...
* Nomination – Best Art Direction – Jang Chun-seob * Nomination – Best New Actor – Lee Yeong-hoon


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Guard Post, The 2008 horror films 2008 films 2000s Korean-language films South Korean horror films 2000s South Korean films Films set in bunkers