{{Other uses}} {{Infobox film | name = Dead Friend | image = Dead Friend movie poster.jpg | caption = ''Dead Friend'' movie poster | native_name = {{Infobox Korean film name/auto|hangul=^령|lk=Ghost}} | writer = Kim Tae-gyeong | starring = Kim Ha-neul<br />Nam Sang-mi<br />Ryu Jin | director = Kim Tae-gyeong | producer = Jeong Oh-young | editing = Kim Yong-su | cinematography = Mun Yong-sik | distributor = Showbox | released = {{Film date|2004|06|18}} | runtime = | country = South Korea | language = Korean | music = Choi Wan-hee<br />Hyeon Gyu-hwan | budget = }} '''''Dead Friend''''' ({{korean|령|lit=Ghost}}) 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''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Soh|first=Joon|title=''Ghost'' Adds Little to High School Horror|url=https://www.hancinema.net/%60ghost-adds-little-to-high-school-horror-1165.html|work=The Korea Times via Hancinema|date=June 17, 2004|access-date=2013-07-28|archive-date=2020-04-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200415040353/https://www.hancinema.net/%60ghost-adds-little-to-high-school-horror-1165.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==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== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb title|0410537|Ryeong}} * {{Rotten Tomatoes|ghost|The Ghost}}

Category:2004 films Category:2004 Korean-language films Category:2000s supernatural horror films Category:2000s ghost films Category:2000s high school films Category:South Korean supernatural horror films Category:South Korean ghost films Category:Showbox films Category:2004 South Korean films Category:Ouija