Dead Friend
title: "Dead Friend" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["2004-films", "2000s-korean-language-films", "2000s-supernatural-horror-films", "2000s-ghost-films", "2000s-high-school-films", "south-korean-supernatural-horror-films", "south-korean-ghost-films", "showbox-films", "2004-south-korean-films", "ouija"] topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Friend" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox film"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Dead Friend |
| image | Dead Friend movie poster.jpg |
| caption | Dead Friend movie poster |
| native_name | |
| writer | Kim Tae-gyeong |
| starring | Kim Ha-neul |
| Nam Sang-mi | |
| Ryu Jin | |
| director | Kim Tae-gyeong |
| producer | Jeong Oh-young |
| editing | Kim Yong-su |
| cinematography | Mun Yong-sik |
| distributor | Showbox |
| released | |
| country | South Korea |
| language | Korean |
| music | Choi Wan-hee |
| Hyeon Gyu-hwan | |
| :: |
| name = Dead Friend | image = Dead Friend movie poster.jpg | caption = Dead Friend movie poster | native_name = | writer = Kim Tae-gyeong | starring = Kim Ha-neul Nam Sang-mi Ryu Jin | director = Kim Tae-gyeong | producer = Jeong Oh-young | editing = Kim Yong-su | cinematography = Mun Yong-sik | distributor = Showbox | released = | runtime = | country = South Korea | language = Korean | music = Choi Wan-hee Hyeon Gyu-hwan | budget = Dead Friend () is a 2004 South Korean horror film. It is one of a number of South Korean horror films set in high school; the trend began with 1998's Whispering Corridors.
Plot
Three high school girls are bored and decide to conduct a séance with a bunshinsaba - a traditional Korean ouija board. As the spirit is called by Eun-jeong (Lee Yoon-ji), her sister, Eun-seo (Jeon Hye-bin), scolds the girls. Eun-jeong jokingly wishes that the ghost had taken Eun-seo away and that if they do not send the ghost away, it will kill them. Eun-seo is then killed by a ghostly water presence.
The amnesiac Min Ji-won (Kim Ha-neul), who is an expert swimmer, begins to have nightmares of a ghost from her forgotten past, which seems to be connected to water. She is confronted by an estranged friend, Yu-jeong, who tells her that because of Ji-won, "Su-in" is coming for them. Yu-jeong is soon found dead.
Ji-won slowly remembers that she used to lead an elitist clique back in high school which consisted of herself, Eun-seo, Yu-jeong, and Mi-gyeong. Before she became part of the clique, Ji-won was friends with Su-in (Nam Sang-mi), but her ego turned her to regard the introverted Su-in as a laughingstock. Ji-won visits her last remaining clique member, Mi-gyeong, who is confined to a mental hospital, but the latter lashes out at her. Ji-won learns from Su-in's mother that the event that led to her amnesia was a trip to a forest with the girls, from which Su-in never came back. Mi-gyeong is drowned by the ghost.
Heading to a spring in the forest, Ji-won finally remembers the event: Ji-won asks Su-in if she can swim, then pushes her into the spring. Su-in comes up and the girls laugh. The three girls then push Ji-won in as a joke, but upon learning that she can't swim, Su-in dived to save her. While Ji-won was saved, Su-in got stuck in the riverbed and drowned. The other girls just watch as this happens. Ji-won alerts the authorities and informs Su-in's grieving mother.
Ji-won returns to her mother, only to realize the horrifying truth: Ji-won and Su-in had swapped bodies during their struggle to get out of the spring. "Ji-won" did not lose her memories because she was never Ji-won in the first place; she is actually Su-in. Ji-won's spirit has been terrorizing her and the clique to gain her body back, and now she inhabits her mother. Her mother vomits water and collapses. Ji-won crawls out but Su-in cuts her wrist so Ji-won can't take her. Ji-won's boyfriend, Jun-ho, comes to save them and they are rushed to the hospital. Su-in is later seen walking through the fish market where her mother, who believes her daughter has died, works. She leaves after hesitating, while her mother looks ominously at her with Ji-won's tell-tale smirk, implying that Ji-won has possessed Su-in's mother.
Cast
- Kim Ha-neul as Min Ji-won
- Nam Sang-mi as Su-in
- Ryu Jin as Park Jun-ho
- Jeon Hye-bin as Eun-seo
- Shin Yi as Mi-gyeong
- Jeon Hee-ju as Yu-jeong
- Lee Yoon-ji as Eun-jeong
- Choi Ran as Su-in's mother
- Gi Ju-bong as Detective
- Kim Hae-sook as Ji-won's mother
- Greena Park as Yu-jeong's friend
- Joo Da-young as young Su-in
References
References
- Soh, Joon. (June 17, 2004). "''Ghost'' Adds Little to High School Horror". [[The Korea Times]] via [[Hancinema]].
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::