Wall to Wall Review

Director: Kim Tae-joon
Date Created: 2025-07-18 14:20
3.5
Wall to Wall Review: Netflix’s new Korean psychological thriller may be the most unsettling movie of the year. Directed and written by Kim Tae-joon, the movie features Kang Ha-neul as No Woo-sung, a man who hopes to own his apartment but is caught in a web of suspicion and paranoia. He is well supported by Yeom Hye-ran, playing Jeon Eun-hwa with a chilling performance, and Seo Hyeon-woo contributing to the multi-layered tension. The movie runs for nearly two hours, plunging into aspects of mental stress, loneliness, and economic hardship, all within the confines of an apartment.
Having been a Kang Ha-neul fan since Forgotten, I was looking forward to seeing him appear again in a role that plays with the psychological. He’s more recently shown up in other series like Squid Game Season 2 and 3, and Testfully Yours, but Wall To Wall is finally putting him back into darker territory, and he truly shines.
Wall to Wall Review
Netflix movie Wall To Wall begins with the humble, even quotidian premise. No Woo-sung, like all the people in his 30s, works hard, saves, and eventually buys his own 84-square-meter apartment — roughly 904 square feet. It’s his fresh start. But the dream becomes an implicit horror as odd noises begin echoing through the walls, neighbours turn chilly and distant, and multicoloured sticky notes blaming him as a nuisance begin piling up on his door.
I pitied him at first — just a bloke struggling to make ends meet. But the more you see the Wall To Wall Korean movie, the more you wish you didn’t know anything, like him. Is it all in his mind? Or is someone trying to wind him up?

The one thing I adored most about 84ì œê³±ë¯¸í„° was the way Kang Ha-neul brings Woo-sung to life. He’s tired, impoverished, and emotionally stuck. He doesn’t turn on the electricity, saves his air conditioning, and lurches about like a man hanging on by a thread. His expression tells you everything, even when the script doesn’t.
His acting does not attempt to shout for sympathy. Rather, he acts the part with such understated feeling that you sense the heat of the apartment, the claustrophobia, the psychological fatigue. In a movie such as this, in which mood is paramount, Kang is the ideal anchor.

One of the standouts of Wall To Wall on Netflix is the performance by Yeom Hye-ran as Eun-hwa, the chairwoman of the apartment committee, who is as sweet as pie on the outside but entirely manipulative on the inside. She talks honeyed words, but you get the impression there’s something sinister going on. Watching her manipulate Woo-sung under the guise of offering to help him is maddening in the best way , you just want someone to give her a piece of your mind. She’s not the kind of bad guy you’d imagine, and that makes her all the more frightening. You’ve probably met someone just like her — pleasant, educated, but quietly nefarious.
The Korean film Wall To Wall gets off to a fine start. The suspense is slowly and steadily built up in the first half. It’s realistic, who would go crazy over odd sounds in your apartment, especially when no one will listen to you? The cinematography makes you stuck in that apartment with Woo-sung, and the film’s pace makes you experience all his anxiety.
Also Read: S Line Episode 1-2 Review: Provocative, Bold Premise, Strong Execution, and a Truly Gripping Start

But the second half gets sloppy. It attempts to glue together some sci-fi, social hierarchy, and conspiracy plot twists. All of these ideas are fine on their own, but they feel forced when assembled too tightly. The movie didn’t know when to stop.
Personally, I believe 84 Jegopmiteo would have been improved if it were a far more simplified, less complicated tale. The tonal changeover, from psychological thriller to high-concept conspiracy, makes it lose some of the effect it has so diligently built up in the first half.

Despite its choppy rhythm, 84 Jegopmiteo would not be the same without delving into the themes of the film. In real life, it’s survival in a system that’s breaking down. It touches on concepts such as housing inequality, debt, the need to have to be “successful,” and the loneliness of city life.
All of these are good points, especially in our contemporary era when a house of one’s own is so beyond the reach of anyone but a select few. The problem is that they do all of them simultaneously without taking proper time to think about each one individually. You know what it’s attempting to do, but you wish it had done it better.
Korean Movie Wall to Wall Review: Summing Up
So, will I recommend people to watch Wall to Wall? Absolutely yes. Go in expecting to see a plodding thriller with flashes of genius, reasonable acting, and loads of atmosphere. Don’t expect to see tightly wound action all the way through. The second half is perhaps overstuffed, but the atmosphere, acting, and tension building in the film are worth watching.
Also Read: Low Life Review: Raw, Gritty Yet Promising Treasure Hunt That Slowly Grows on You