Nothing is that original these days, right? We have Asian shows taking inspiration from American shows and American shows adapting Eastern shows. In my case, I kinda prefer Asian shows inspired by American shows (such as Toei heroes that blatantly copy from American superheroes) over the American licensed adaptation of Japanese shows (ex. Power Rangers though I was a fan of Saban's Super Mario Bros. Super Show). Bulgasal would be copying elements from stuff like Twilight and the late Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. The Bulgasal is the Korean take on the vampire.
The one I'm most familiar with is Kwon Nara. I'd say that it's good that Hello Venus disbanded due to Nara's more professional image. Imagine her as a vampiric version of Misa from the Death Note movies. Her resemblance to Erika Toda-Matsuzaka makes me wish she held the titular object from the Japanese film. Nara plays two characters namely Min Sang Woon and Kim Hwa Yeon. Sang Woon is the Bulgasal self. Meanwhile, Hwa Yeon is the human reincarnation of Sang Woon 600 years later. yet, memories of her past lives continue to haunt her without end.
Lee Jin Wook plays the titular protagonist Dan Hwal. Hwal used to be a human but became a Bulgasal. At this point, can anybody think of Louis from The Vampire Chronicles and the protagonist of Interview with the Vampire? All except there's no "This is the story of my life..." and we don't get a Korean version of Daniel Molloy. Hwal himself has his love story with Hwa Yeon due to her past life as Sang Woon. The tragedy of his character would've made a good interviewee. Heck, I really wished I could interview him and maybe he'd tell me, "Have you not learned anything?" I'd probably make the foolish mistake of wishing for the power of Bulgasal too!
Lee Joon plays the main antagonist Ok Euk-Tae. The guy sort of becomes Lestat from Interview with the Vampire due to how these words came from a Soompi forum:
One thing that I find really good is the aesthetics of the four leads. First, the bad bulgasal is clearly inspired (at least to me) by vampire’s movies. First, I thought that there was a big influence of Dracula portraited fantastically by Gary Oldman in “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”, full of sensuality and eroticism, very eros and Thanatos. But then I remembered “Interview with the Vampire” and the character of Lestat (Tom Cruise) and I think now that this movie is more influential here than Dracula, in especial with its French renaissance figurine.
Sure, it can be easy to say that a vampire story can be too scary. In this case, Bulgasal tries to balance the horror with the action and the story. Sure, I can go and get squeamish when it comes to extremely gory horror films like Friday the 13th (which is also today) and Chainsaw Massacre. I can't stand prolonged torture scenes or get nauseous at more realistic violence. Maybe, the only reason why I was able to survive watching Conan the Barbarian was due to the special effects failure such as the cannibal kitchen scene lacked the extreme realism of movies like Chainsaw Massacre. Sure, there's blood but the lack of prolonged torture scenes like in the movie Killers might make it tolerable.
I am even wondering if there was any planned nudity, to begin with. Han So Hee did have a sex scene with Ahn Bo Hyun. I even assumed that So Hee had stripped fully naked for the camera more than once. I even feel her early-on shower scene was supposed to show off her naked body. In Mask Girl, Nana did strip naked but only her backward nudity can be seen. It's possible Nana was wearing pasties to cover her privates at that time. Chances are Nana had underwear back on after the strip scene. Rhian Ramos Howell did wear pasties during the filming of My Valentine Girls in the Philippines. I think Nara may have been drafted to go naked but was probably not too comfortable with the idea. It's possible Nara was supposed to have a sex scene with Jin Wook. I think doing so would just be a distraction from the plot.
If there's a reason why it can keep me awake - it's the good plot. Sure, I watched it for Nara but it's a good story that keeps it moving. Shin Hye Sun isn't pretty (and some Netizens say he's ugly) but her good acting always makes up for it. There are extreme suspense moments. It's hard not to talk WITHOUT spoiling the whole story. It's best to watch it. Be careful though it can keep one awake not because of how scary it is but because of how engaging the plot is.
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