Review of Exhuma / 파묘, directed by Jang Jae-hyun

Full confession time: I had no idea this movie existed until like a day before I saw it. I had headed into New York City for one last work trip before I packed my bags and moved to South Korea and India for a grand total of 14 months, and I was making the most out of my last trip into the city.

I had an AMC subscription at the time, which is a movie theater chain in the states. I was forced to give it up (aka: I was sure as heck not paying for it when I was going to be on the other side of the world for so long) when I learned I was moving to the other side of the world, but at the time I was making the most of the last few months I had it.

So what I did when I arrived in the city was to see what movies were playing where in Manhattan. I try to see movies I can’t get ahold of at home whenever I’m in New York, specifically Asian ones that have a tendency to play over at the Times Square movie theater.

I saw Exhuma on the list, recognized Kim Go-eun and Choi Min-sik, and was sold immediately. I had no idea what it was about, but I booked a ticket for a Sunday night anyways. Interestingly, 75% of the theater were Koreans from Korea, and the rest were foreigners, or waegukin, just like me.

Let’s get into the review!

A group is forced to take down a demon after unsealing the wrong grave.

At the beginning of this movie, a prominent Korean shaman, Hwa-rim, has been offered to come to the United States, specifically Los Angeles, by a Korean American family. She brings her protege Bong-gil with her, and they learn the situation that they are dealing with. The family’s newborn son is cursed by the Grave’s Call, which means a distant ancestor is haunting them.

The family’s patriarch asks the two to find out where the grave is and to relocate it, allowing the ancestor to rest. They agree for the right cost, and Hwa-rim reaches out to two colleagues back in Korea: Kim Sang-deok, who specializes in in Feng shui, and mortician Yong-geun.

Sang-deok doesn’t know what to make of this situation, though, as he meets the patriarch and gets off feelings from all of this from the get-go. The patriarch specifically asked about cremating the grave, which is a big no no to him, and he tries to back out. Hwa-rim coaxes him by saying she can perform a ritual while the grave is being dug.

The patriarch then tells them about a monk who gave the grave location, which is right on a mountain by the North Korean border. The crew arrives with a big team, and the family, to the grave. Hwa-rim and Bong-gil begin their ritual, which is fascinating to see on the screen, and the excavation goes well.

However, right at the end, one of the diggers severs the head of a snake, which had a human head. Hwa-rim feels the bad energy pulse from that, and it begins to rain heavily. Yong-geun drives the hearse with the coffin, and then stores it at a nearby hospital because it’s bad luck to burn it while it’s raining.

But when he steps out for some food, the custodian opens the coffin, releasing the spirit inside and letting it wreak havoc on all of its ancestors. It kills off the patriarch’s family and then the patriarch himself. As he attempts to go and kill the baby in Los Angeles, Sang-deok burns the coffin, sending him to a painful afterlife.

Some time passes, but then Yong-geun tells Sang-deok the digger who severed the snake’s head is deathly ill, bleeding from his eyes and nose. They return to the grave, where they find the human headed snake, and discover there was a double burial here. The coffin below is seven feet tall, and they excavate it.

They head to a temple nearby with it for the night, but Bong-gil wakes up in the night and discovers a massive creature eating the other humans and pigs. He warns Hwa-rim, but they are ambushed by the ghoul, who severely injures and possesses Bong-gil. Hwa-rim survives as the samurai ghoul turns into a ball of fire and departs for the mountain.

The group takes Bong-gil to the hospital, and Hwa-rim begins her research because Bong-gil is now possessed. She learns that the samurai was left there in a battle many centuries ago. Sang-deok goes back to the grave and realizes that the grave robbers he learned about earlier were actually Korean patriots.

They were trying to rediscover the samurai’s conquest in Korea. Everyone regroups with a plan to find the pole that tethers the ghoul here, and they head into the mountain. At midnight, the ghoul comes alive, and Hwa-rim makes a plan to distract him.

When she fails, even with the protection of her grandmother, Sang-deok and Yong-geun dig for the pole, which they cannot find. Sang-deok then realizes that the pole is inside the ghoul’s body, and he uses his knowledge of the elements to take it down.

He’s almost killed, but the others rescue him. The movie ends with them all going to his daughter’s wedding together, with Bong-gil and Sang-deok healed.

Overall Thoughts

Okay, y’all, I actually really enjoyed this movie. Its plot could be a tad confusing at times and others might find it so complicated, but as something so fascinated with Korean culture and mythology, this was so good for me.

For example, when Hwa-rim does the ritual with Bong-gil, I was riveted because it’s like a pansori happening in front of us on the screen. I adore pansori and Korean dance, so I was having a blast.

The girl next to me was a little freaked out by some of the scenes, but I wasn’t really disturbed by the horror elements of this. It felt rather light. The acting was pretty good as well.

All in all, if you’re interested and can find this movie, go ahead and watch it! I think it’s totally worth it.

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