In “Exhuma” an evil spirit within has been cursing the descendants for generations, and the family members have paid a lot of money to hire professional shamans for help. The shamans dig up the grandfather’s body, who was a traitor to the Japanese army.
For the ceremony, Hwalim (Kim Go-Eun), a popular shaman known for successfully exercising spirits, wields a pair of knives and performs a ritual dance, throwing them on the ground near the grave. Bongil (Lee Do-hyun) drums persistently and chants in the background as if possessed. The grandson, his descendant, breaks ground to begin digging up the grave before everyone else joins in to shovel. As the shovels crunch into the ground, Exhuma’s story of ghosts, colonialism, curses, and the legacy of war slowly unveils itself.
“Exhuma,” directed by Jang Jae-Hyun, was a recent box-office success in South Korea, with over one billion audience members attending it since its March 2024 premiere. Its release was celebrated by people who had been waiting for an enticing movie ever since COVID-19 slowed the entertainment industry.
This movie may be scary to some due to its suspense, creating tension in multiple scenes when ghosts appear unexpectedly. Throughout the movie, I constantly hid and peeked between my fingers to see if any ghosts had suddenly appeared; however, I was intrigued by how the horror scenes were balanced out by strong, unfolding plot and characters. Even though the terror “horror movies” can be frightening, “Exhuma” is a worthwhile and vivid film with a strong plot and character relationships.
Many praised Go-Eun Kim’s acting, in which she performed a ritual even though she is not a professional shaman in real life. This was especially true when she put her hands inside a burning fire and swiped her fingers across her face with the black ash, which impressed professional shamans. Given her constant focused training with real shamans, as if her role was to be both an actress and genuine shaman, this was a very powerful scene.
After the first scene when the shamans visit the grandfather’s grave, one is overwhelmed by a feeling of cold dread. This makes the shamans hesitant to accept the family’s money and offer because they feel this case might put their lives at risk as well. They are forced to take on the case as the wealthy family is pleading with them nonstop. Nobody is aware that this is the beginning of the calamity of the film.
Ultimately, the workers and shamans exhume the coffin. However, when cleaning up the site, one of the workers notices a snake on the ground, however, one with the head of a woman. He cuts the snake and a strong wind blew in the mountain, accompanied by overcast weather and sudden rain—all of which seemed strange and uncanny.
Due to the rain, the workers decided to relocate to a nearby mortuary.
Believing a rumor that there were treasures inside the coffin, one of the officials opened it, and the spirit of the ancestor came out. In this scene, the ancestor’s spirit wandered around the descendants and attempted to take their lives one by one. Before he reached the baby grandson, Sangdeok suggested the family cremate the body as soon as possible. The tragedy in his family was ultimately resolved by this cremation.
However, later, the worker who had cut the snake’s head began to bleed and feel unwell and reached out to the shamans. Shamans and feng shui experts re-visited the grave to burn the snake ghost’s head. During this process, they found out there was another coffin hiding under the Grandfather’s that was locked with many iron chains. Due to its large size, that coffin did not seem to be for a human body. The contents of this second coffin fuel the mystery for the rest of the movie, leading to a shocking twist.
Beyond the tales of the ghosts, “Exhuma” focuses on conveying the long history of colonialism between Japan and Korea. It is revealed that the grandfather betrayed Korea by fighting for Japan, but the Japanese ultimately punished and cursed him for this betrayal. Audiences were divided on how much the movie focused on the Korean and Japanese wars, especially since many older audience members are very aware of its legacy.
In Korea, media condemning Japan’s past actions are already prevalent and ubiquitous, meaning that many people are too tired to blame Japan anymore. Most Koreans are aware of how brutally the Japanese treated Koreans in the past and how humans were used as an “experiment” for researching better weapons and poisons.
Since Korean citizens were excruciatingly abused during colonialism, we celebrate the day of independence from Japan. We highly venerate those who were devoted to Korea’s independence, like Doctor An Jung Geun and Yun Bong Gil. To this day, we are also sensitive about dealing with Japanese relations politically or on social media, criticizing Japan for their past demeanors and what they did.
People of generations before have already heard the famous story, that Japan planted iron stakes all over Korea to sever the country’s national spirit. However, for new generations like me, hearing about these stories is new and fresh. I was impressed by their unexpected use throughout the film and enjoyed it. I was subdued throughout the entirety of the film as the many cinematic plot points made the movie complex.
Overall, I recommend this movie to those who enjoy horror genres and historical fiction. Even more so, for those who want to learn more about Korea’s shamanic rituals and traditions. The blend of strong acting, writing, and directing created a compelling and suspenseful story.
Even though some audience members are well-versed in Korean and Japanese history, it is nevertheless a worthwhile story to see in order to learn more about these subjects.
