A Korean expedition treks across Antarctica trying to reach the mysterious Pole of Inaccessibility, which is officially the remotest spot on Earth. They find a journal left by
a dead British team 80 years ago that hints of ominous events. Ominous events occur,
and the expedition descends into madness.

This is one of those movies that's going to show my bias. I really dig stuff about Antarctica. It's so bleak and vast and remote, the closest thing an Earthling can experience to visiting another planet. I also like expedition movies, so if you make a movie about an expedition to Antarctica and throw in a little weirdness I'm probably going to like it even if it's not a great film.

This is not a great film, but it's competent. There are awesome (in the real sense of the word) shots of fake Antarctica, which I think is New Zealand in this case, and a few memorable scenes of the continent swallowing up insignificant humans. Sometimes I just need to see a movie about people dying alone in the middle of godforsaken nowhere next to a ten thousand year old frozen mammoth.

So go ahead with the rude gestures and hollering "that ain't horror". And yes I'm usually one of that angry red faced mob slurring incoherent profanity at survival movies who think they can hang out in the horror section. It's true Dracula isn't in the picture, but I personally define horror entirely by vibe, and to me this differs from a survival movie in its surreal and at times ghostly imagery and the ominous feeling that there's something beyond nature pulling them toward their fate at the Pole of Inaccessibility. Call it a Bermuda Triangle type thing if it makes you feel better. Like I said, it doesn't take much for me to buy into anything vaguely resembling a weird tale set in Antarctica, and this is the closest we're likely to get unless del Toro ever gets the money to do At The Mountains Of Madness, which is already my favourite movie of all time.

Like most Korean movies this is a long 'un, but if you're depressed and want to sit in front of something cold and bleak for a couple hours you can trip on this. Just be warned, a lot of horror fans will get too bored and we'll have no choice but to leave them behind. We're not going back! They knew the risks when they signed on. We must reach the Pole of Inaccessibility.

I hope the original Korean title is something more interesting than Antarctic Journal, and the subtitles often border on Engrish. They say things like "fuckin' A!" when someone falls down a crevasse. I guess the Koreans weren't much concerned with releasing an intelligent version for us silly roundeyes.