It’s safe to rank South Korean horror fans high atop the list of genre supporters the world over, mainly as the past several decades have produced blockbusters the likes of 2010’s “I Saw the Devil,” 2016’s “The Wailing” and even the work of Bong Joon-ho, Oscar-winning director of “Parasite,” with the widely acclaimed 2006 entry “The Host.” With Korean spirituality long held in high regard and scripture overflowing with stories of forces at work beyond the boundaries of humankind, writer/director Jang Jae-hyun (“The Priests,” “Svaha: The Sixth Finger“) has now brought “Exhuma” to the table, a film taking the kitchen sink approach when it comes to 134 minutes of content and a cast more than willing to try and sift through the murk to help it make sense. You can’t say they didn’t try.
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As the film opens, we’re introduced to Haw-rim (Kim Go-eun), a Shaman with Bong-gil (Lee Do-hyun) as her second-in-command. The job? Help an infant child hospitalized with a medical issue…but why would the family, led by patriarch Park Ji-yong (Kim Jae-cheol), need a Shaman for such an act? Yes, it’s of the supernatural ilk, and in tracing the origin of the baby’s affliction, does it lead them to the dense forests of South Korea, where it isn’t long before they’re digging up an ancestral grave with assistance from geomancer Kim Sang-deok (veteran actor Choi Min-sik, known for starring in “Oldboy” and “I Saw The Devil.”) and mortician Yeong-geun (Yoo Hae-jin) to stop the curse seemingly at its source. Of course, this all isn’t without passionate warning on behalf of Sang-deok. Still, despite the ill-advised vibe, the group presses on nonetheless, and following the textbook path of any excellent supernatural horror arc, things are about to unravel with the opening of a newly exhumed (hence, the name) casket and the release of a pent-up spirit ready to raise Hell literally.
For most of the film’s runtime, the mythology comes on fast and thick, loading “Exhuma” so that the moments between conversations become necessary to consult the scratch paper one might use to decipher much of what’s being tossed around. It seems there’s no end to the amount of the film’s world-building, with several moments early on taking things to unforeseen levels of overstimulation, such as a completely bananas first-act ritual meant to keep the curse at bay while that centerpiece coffin undergoes its dangerous relocation. Speaking of, the film uses chapters to somewhat divide up the onscreen action, but this becomes less like a storytelling assistant and more like an afterthought. Luckily, the film has atmosphere to spare, even at times accomplishing this sensation without feeling as such, and when the halfway point arrives do the disgusting moments become more frequent, never going too far and giving such moments their deserved time in the spotlight. The film’s unique head swivel scene will leave you surprised and intrigued. You can’t beat a good head swivel.
As the chapters progress, possession becomes more rampant, and the jury’s still out on whether the big bad might be one of the genre’s more fascinating monsters or something that could cause audiences to stifle a chuckle or two. At the very least, any shortcoming finds itself more than offset by what may very well be a legitimately excellent cast; Go-eun gives Haw-rim an emotion suppressant in an effort to maintain composure on the job, making those moments when her guard falls all the more impactful, while Do-hyun plays off Go-eun well with plenty of his own scene-stealing such as when he finally encounters that beautifully unusual villain. Jae-cheol and Sang-deok hold their own on opposite sides of the coin, one chasing the dollar and another concerned with everyone’s safety; these four power the film, but even outside of this group, there’s no poor performance to be found.
It’s hard to imagine the countless legends peppering many a South Korean bedtime story for centuries, nor the possibility of whether such a cottage industry as seen between the central quartet of “Exhuma” actually exists. If nothing else, South Korea has more than enough fodder to supply eager filmgoers with cautionary looks at a world best left alone. Even though “Exhuma” may exist as a wellspring threatening to drown in ideas possibly better suited for multiple films, Jang Jae-hyun has still managed to bring to life a compelling story about something that should remain dead. [B]
“Exhuma” has earned a worldwide gross of $97 million U.S., making it the highest-grossing Korean film of 2024 The films comes from Well Go USA Entertainment and is now streaming on Shudder.
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