# White: Melody of Death

White: Melody of Death (Korean: 화이트: 저주의 멜로디; RR: Hwaiteu: Jeojooui Mellodi, lit. White: The Melody of the Curse) is a 2011 South Korean horror film directed by Kim Gok and Kim Sun.
The film was pre-sold in Malaysia and Singapore with the teaser trailer and poster released at the Hong Kong Film Mart. The movie was a commercial success grossing US$5,3 Million and ending up being the highest-grossing horror movie and among Top 30 highest-grossing movies in South Korea in 2011.

## Plot

The girl group Pink Dolls, consisting of Je-ni, A-rang, Shin-ji, and Eun-ju, made their debut on stage but failed to achieve popularity. They and the record company relocated to a renovated studio that had been burned in a fire 15 years prior. Eun-ju's sponsor, Mr. Choi, who funds an idol or group on the condition they receive sexual favors, was credited for making the move, and renovations happen. The other three members bully Eun-ju for her involvement with Mr. Choi as well as her past as a backup dancer and her age, and she considers quitting. Her vocal trainer and best friend, Soon-ye, encourages her to remain in the group as she believes they will find success and gain attention with their new song. While cleaning up in the dance rehearsal room, Eun-ju finds a VHS tape titled "WHITE", containing unfinished music video footage. Later on, Eun-ju plays the video in her dorm room, being discovered by the group's manager, who, after viewing it herself demands that the group be permitted to remake the song as their next single.
The Pink Dolls became overnight sensations with a live performance of "White" (although Soon-ye doubles as a singer for Je-ni's high notes), the song going viral across the country. The manager announces that the group will re-record the song and give it a music video, with one of the girls as the "main" focus. Tensions quickly rise between Je-ni, A-rang, and Shin-ji, who become jealous and hostile against each other as they fight over the "main" spot. Je-ni is initially chosen as "main" but is mysteriously strangled with microphone cords during a vocal session after being forced to overdose on her medication. A-rang is chosen to take her spot only to be attacked by a hostile, white-haired ghost during filming for the music video and poisoned by her cosmetics, causing her to fall and be hospitalized alongside Je-ni. Shin-ji is then chosen over Eun-ju, during filming for a survival reality show, the same apparition attacks her, inciting a riot among the spectators of the show and eventually resulting in Shin-ji being caught in camera equipment and then crushed, joining the others in hospital.
Fearing the song is cursed and that she will be the next victim, Eun-ju accompanies Soon-ye and her record producer, Tae-Yong, to examine hidden images within the video, and from there comes to believe that a trainee named Jang Ye-bin, who died before the studio caught fire, wrote the song. Eun-ju meets up with Mr. Choi and asks about the circumstances surrounding Ye-bin, and he replies that she died by suicide. After returning to the rehearsal room in a fit of depression, Eun-ju is menaced by the white-haired ghost until she collapses in the morning, where she finds a suicide note beside power sockets that may have started the fire. Eun-ju and Soon-ye take a priest to Ye-bin's grave, blessing it and asking her to move on. As they leave, however, they do not notice that the glass on a memorial photo of Ye-bin shatters ominously.
After feeling confident that the curse has been broken, Eun-ju takes credit for the song as her solo performance and plans to reinvent her image by dying her hair, dressing in white, and using the stage name "White". However, she becomes enviously arrogant and haughty, alienates her from Soon-ye and insisting that she is the only one responsible for "White"'s success as Je-ni, A-rang, and Shin-ji watch bitterly from the hospital while still recovering from their injuries. As Eun-ju prepares for her live debut as a solo act (while the other members are relegated to being hosts of a tacky music show), a frustrated Soon-ye starts destroying the documents they had found regarding the song, only to realize that there is something wrong with this video.
She takes the video to Tae-Yong, and the two examine subliminal messages within the song, which deduce that Ye-bin is not an actual singer of the song, and there is another figure in the video they had not noticed. At the same time, they receive a frantic phone call from the television producer of the show that Je-ni, A-rang, and Shin-ji were hosting, screaming that the girls have gone into a trance, mesmerized while muttering about being "hot" before drinking bleach and dying live on air. A frantic Soon-ye calls Eun-ju, who is on her way to a venue to perform "White" to warn her that the curse is not over, but Eun-ju ignores her. Tae-Yong and Soon-ye investigate further and finally discover that the true writer of the song is not Ye-bin, but a backup dancer who had been bullied by Ye-bin, who eventually disfigured the girl with acid, which caused her to commit suicide by drinking bleach and becoming the vengeful ghost who's responsible for attacking the other members. It is also revealed that the ghost's first victim was Ye-bin herself, who was killed by the ghost causing a fire that Ye-bin set to burn evidence out of control and burning down the entire studio.
Soon-ye rushes to the venue to rescue Eun-ju but cannot enter as the doors are locked and the show has begun. During Eun-ju's performance, all of the stage lights go out, and the electricity in the venue begins to malfunction. Eun-ju's manager and Mr. Choi try to get her off the stage, but they are both killed by stage equipment, and the white-haired ghost attempts to attack her. Afterward, the doors all open, and the panicking crowd starts to rush out of the building, Soon-ye enters and she and Eun-ju attempt to reunite, but Eun-ju trips in the crowd and gets trampled to death. The electricity eventually sets the venue on fire. After the incident, now despondent Soon-ye destroys all of the remaining evidence of the song in the studio's karaoke room. As she leaves, however, the karaoke machine announces that the next song is "White," implying the possibility that the curse has not been broken.

## Cast

* Hahm Eun-jung as Eun-ju, a de-facto leader of the Pink Dolls who is a former backup dancer
* Hwang Woo-seul-hye as Soon-ye, a vocal trainer and Eun-Ju's best friend
* Jin Se-yeon as Je-ni, a lead singer who is insecure about hitting high notes
* Choi Ah-Ra as A-rang, a visual/singer who is addicted to plastic surgery
* May Doni Kim as Shin-ji, a rapper/dancer who cannot sing but is talented at dancing
* After School as Pure
* Byun Jung-soo as Talent Agent
* Kim Young-min as Lee Tae-Yong
* Kim Ki-bang as Manager
* Nguyen Viet Anh (Yoo Mo-ri) as Jang Ye-bin
* Kim Soo-Hyun as White
* Lee Jun-ho as Music Fever host
* Seo Hyun-woo

## Soundtrack

The soundtrack contains 3 versions of the song "White," the original (the one featured on the VHS tape), another sung by Pink Dolls (Ham Eun-jeong, May Doni Kim, Choi Ah-ra, and Jin Se-yeon), and a solo version with just Eun-jeong.

## Reception
### Box office

The film grossed US$1,265,702 its opening weekend landing at the fifth position of the box office chart. In total the film grossed US$5,299,831 by the end of its theatrical run. The film received a total of 791,133 admissions nationwide.

### Accolades

| Year | Award | Category | Recipients | Result |
| 2011 | The 30th Vancouver International Film Festival | — | White: The Melody of the Curse | Nominated |
| 2012 | 16th Fantasia International Film Festival | Feature film | White: The Melody of the Curse | Nominated |
| 2013 | The 6th FILM LIVE: KT&G Music Film Festival | — | White: The Melody of the Curse | Nominated |
| 2016 | 14th Florence Korean Film Festival | — | White: The Melody of the Curse | Nominated |

### Listicles

| Publisher | Year | List | Recipient | Rank |
| SlashFilm | 2018 | The Best South Korean Horror Movies You've Never Seen | White: The Melody of the Curse | Placed |
| India Times | 2020 | Best Korean Horror Films | White: The Melody of the Curse | Placed |
| OTAKUKART | 2021 | Top Ten Horror Korean Movies of All Time | White: The Melody of the Curse | 5th |
| Rolling Stone India | 2022 | 15 Creepy Korean Horror Films You Must See | White: The Melody of the Curse | Placed |
| Scoop Whoop | 2022 | 8 Best Korean Horror Films To Watch | White: The Melody of the Curse | 4th |
| WION | 2023 | 15 spine-chilling Korean movies | White: The Melody of the Curse | 15th |
| Creepy Catalog | 2023 | The 30 Best Korean Horror Movies | White: The Melody of the Curse | Placed |
| OTAKUKART | 2023 | 50 Best South Korean Horror Movies of All Time | White: The Melody of the Curse | Placed |

## Release

White was released in Japan as a DVD on March 2, 2012 by NBC Universal. A re-issue was released in the same country on July 21, 2017.