Thousand Years Old Fox (Cheonnyeonho) (1969)
 Director : Shin Sang-Okk
Production Company : Shin Films Co., Ltd
Date of Rate : 1969-03-08
Running Time : 89 min.
Opening Theater : Myeong Bo Theater
Genre : horror
Staff :
Screenplay(Adaptation) : Kwak Il-Ro
Producer : Shin Sang-Okk
Director of PhotoGraphy : Choi Seung-Wu
Gaffer : Ham Wan-Seob
Music : Jeon Jeong-Keun
Art Director : Jeong Wu-Taek
Editor : Oh Seong-Hwan
Cast(Actor/Actress) :
Shin Young-Kyun, Kim Ji-Su, Kim Hye-Jeong
Synopsis
During the ancient Three Kingdoms Period, all of Silla is ravaged by the onslaught of bandits. Returning from his victorious campaign against the bandit hordes, Kim Won-rang (Shin Young-kyun) is summoned by Queen Jinseong (Kim Hye-jeong). Bemoaning her lonely life, the queen tries to seduce Won-rang and orders his wife Yeo-hwa (Kim Ji-su) to be driven from the capital. While traveling deep in the mountains, Yeo-hwa is set upon by bandits. She flees and jumps into a lake, but the lake happens to be haunted by the spirit of a thousand-year-old fox. No one who entered the lake has ever emerged with their lives, but Yeo-hwa survives and recuperates at the home of her friend, A-dal (Lee Ye-sung). One night, Yeo-hwa awakens from her sleep and ventures from the house as if possessed by a ghost. The spirit of the thousand-year-old fox enters Yeo-hwa, who harbors a grudge for her baby's death, and the fox implores Yeo-hwa to avenge her wrongs. Every night without knowing it herself, Yeo-hwa steals into Queen Jinseong's quarters and tries to take her life. Realizing that the thousand-year-old fox has possessed his wife, Won-rang seeks out a venerated monk named Baek-un (Ji Bang-yeol) and asks him to rid Yeo-hwa of the intruding spirit. However, the queen recalls Won-rang into the palace and has her men set fire to the temple where Yeo-hwa abides. Won-rang is forced to kill Yeo-hwa, who has again been possessed by the fox's spirit, and is captured as a result. After his release, Won-rang rejects the queen's importunate suit and sits in vigil at his wife's grave, never moving from his place whether in rain or snow. Years later, Baek-un comes in search of Won-rang, but finds that he has become a sitting skeleton in front of his wife's final resting place.
Notes
 "The pinnacle of 1960s cinematic horror, which successfully experiments with the ingenious combination of fantasy, action, and melodrama"
Thousand Year Old Fox goes beyond the typical formula used in previous horror movies, which invariably featured ghosts with a lust for vengeance, and exhibits a remarkable spirit of experimentation in pursuing cinematic horror. The movie adroitly intermingles a variety of genres: action that includes wire work sequences (although they look clumsy from our current point of view), high melodrama based on a tragic love triangle, and fantasy involving a thousand-year-old fox and the sight of the fox's spirit entering and leaving the female protagonist. By locating the action in the Silla period, centuries prior to the Joseon Dynasty, Thousand Year Old Foxshakes off the weighty responsibility of historical accuracy and amplifies its atmosphere of fantasy. In particular, the movie's final scene, which shows Won-rang changed into a skeleton after sitting immovable through rain and snow, conveys the eerie yet tragic sentiment of fantasy with touching poignancy. The scene even recalls the signature special effects sequence from the much later film, The Ginko Bed (Eunhaengnamu chimdae, 1995, Kang Je-kyu). Kim Hye-jeong,who staked out a unique place in Korean cinematic history with her overt sex appeal, is perfectly cast as Queen Jinseong, a femme fatale who wields great power but eventually treads the path to destruction as punishment for her excessive sexuality.
Director Bio: Shin Sang-ok (1926-2006)
Shin Sang-ok, who was an icon of Korean cinema during the 1960s, is one of the most significant producer-directors in Korean film history. After graduating from Gyeongseong Middle School and Tokyo Art School, he worked under director Choi In-kyu as an assistant director and in 1952, made his directorial debut with The Evil Night (Ag-ya). He became recognized as one of the greatest Korean producer-directors of his era with the stunning success of Seong Chun-hyang (Seong Chun-hyang) (1961) and ran Shin Film Studios, once called "Half the Korean Movie Industry." But his close relationship with the political regime which was the basis for the founding and success of Shin Film Studios began to fade, and with the government's cancellation of his license, he lost Shin Film Studios where he produced his movies and which he valued more than his life. In 1978, he was kidnapped to North Korea along with his wife Choi Eun-hui and produced films such as Salt (Sogeum) there. The two dramatically escaped North Korea in 1986 and after residing in the United States, moved to South Korea where director Shin Sang-ok taught students and prepared to undertake Genghis Khan, which he thought would be the pinnacle of his lifetime of film. But he passed away on April 11th, 2006, without being able to bring his plans to fruition. In all, he directed 75 movies and produced 250 movies.
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