**“I wanted to make a horror film that can help someone forget about their pain.”**


A phenomenal film, Warning: Do Not Play shares more than a passing similarity with _The Shining_ (1980) and Kiyoshi Kurosawa's _Loft_ (2005). In all three films, the stress of having to produce and the strain on one’s mental health transforms into a supernatural circumstance. In Warning, there is a particular kind of dreamlike logic, initiated precisely by Mi-Jung’s initial waking from a dream in the film’s first scene.

But this film follows a different path than either Kubrick or Kurosawa's film with similar premises (to a lesser extent, this film also shares a bit with _Sinister_ [2012] and _Hush_ [2016]). First, this is a work of urban horror as opposed to the provincial isolation of _The Shining_ or _Loft_. More importantly, Warning is a film about horror film, maintaining a brilliant streak of self-awareness that puts it in conversation with _Behind the Mask_ (2006) and In the _Mouth of Madness_ (1994).

There's also an unexpected found footage element to the film.

What Jin-won Kim accomplishes here, directing the awesome Seo Yi-Jin as Mi-Jung, is to capture the essence of what appeals about horror film and the challenge true auteurs face when trying to bring to life a vision that has yet to be imagined by any filmmaker before. In his efforts, director Jin-won manages just that.