A dimly lit temple lined with paper lanterns, its walls adorned with red and yellow talismans. A faint, echoing drumbeat can be heard up to the path leading to the misty forest nearby. It’s the dreadful hours of twilight and the shadows seem to move around.
It’s officially the start of the spooky season and if this is the atmosphere you are craving for your nights in, then here are seven South Korean occult horrors that will send a chill down your spine. Celebrate the onset of occultish October with customary jumpscares and onscreen exorcisms.
1. Exhuma
This supernatural thriller features a splendid cast of all our favorites – Kim Go Eun, Lee Do Hyun, Choi Min Shik, and Yoo Hae Jin in eerie quirky roles. ‘Exhuma’ follows a young shaman duo, along with a geomancer and a mortician, who earn their living by resolving people’s otherworldly misfortunes. While working on a case involving grave exhumation, they start encountering a series of unsettling omens that ultimately lead them to come across something eviler hidden beneath the grave. If you want to feel the edge of your seat with tension and unease, this movie might be for you.
2. The Wailing
This mysterious horror sets its premise in a remote, enigmatic village that undergoes a string of bizarre and unnatural deaths. The victims exhibited a similar set of symptoms before their untimely demise, linking their fatalities. While investigating these deaths, an officer’s worst fears are realized when his daughter starts showing the same unsettling signs as the victims. During the investigation, he gets suspicious of an elderly Japanese man who is rumored to be connected to these deaths. As he scrutinizes further, he begins to understand that his daughter may be in greater danger than he ever imagined.
‘The Wailing’ brings a heavy sense of foreboding and dread and is a good mix of genres wrapped in a complex plot. Released in 2016, the cast comprises Kwak Do Won, Hwang Jung Min, Kunimura Jun, and Chun Woo Hee.
3. The Closet
Released in 2020, ‘The Closet’ begins with a cold and uninviting atmosphere as a father and his daughter move into a new house in search of a new beginning, following the death of the wife and mother. The distance between them is palpable, their once-close bond fractured by grief. The new environment seems to work out the kinks in their relationship but their fragile normalcy doesn’t last long as the daughter suddenly disappears. As suspicion falls on the father, with whispers of him being responsible for her vanishing, he embarks on a desperate search for answers. What he uncovers is far more terrifying—within the past decade, 32 other children have disappeared in eerily similar circumstances.
This supernatural mystery cast features Ha Jung Woo as the dad and Heo Yool as the daughter.
4. Svaha
Released in 2019, ‘Svaha’ is a gripping horror thriller starring Lee Jung Jae, Park Jeong Min, Lee Jae In, and Jung Jin Young. The movie weaves together several plotlines, exploring themes of religions, cults, and prophecies. At its core, the story follows a girl born with a deformed leg due to her parasitic twin sister, who is kept hidden. Parallel to this, a mysterious cult believes in an ancient prophecy about a “snake” destined to kill their leader. As a pastor begins investigating the cult’s sinister activities, one of its members is dispatched to eliminate the girl, suspecting her to be the prophesied “snake.”
5. The Divine Fury
This action-horror film revolves around a martial arts champion on the brink of becoming an MMA fighter. After a brutal fight, he unexpectedly develops stigmata, which grants him divine powers despite his deep resentment toward anything divine. He seeks a priest’s help who quickly realizes the potential of these new abilities. Together, the unlikely duo sets out to battle the rising tide of demonic forces and sinister activities sweeping across Korea.
‘The Divine Fury’ brings upon feelings of conflicted awe and vigilance, portrayed by a stellar cast – Park Seo Joon, Ahn Sung Ki, and Woo Do Hwan.
6. The 8th Night
Released in 2021, ‘The 8th Night’ unfolds with a gripping tale of an ancient battle between Buddha and a menacing evil. Buddha tears apart the devilish force, by casting its eyes – one black and one red, on the opposite ends of the world to prevent them from reuniting. Years later, in the present, a professor is set to prove the existence of these fabled Buddhist relics after being called fraudulent. In his attempt, he lets out the red eye that wreaks havoc by possessing people in its quest to find the black eye and assume a form to bring upon the end of the world. As chaos unfolds, a group of strangers is thrust into the heart of the battle to prevent this otherworldly disaster.
The movie boasts an electrifying cast with Lee Sung Min, Park Hae Joon, Kim Yoo Jung, and Nam Da Reum, with a voiceover from our very own Anupam Tripathi.
7. The Priests
This horror thriller film revolves around a duo of a priest and a seminarian who are set to perform an exorcism. A tragic hit-and-run leaves a young girl from the priest’s parish in a deep coma. The duo senses the presence of a sinister force as the reason for her stillness. As they attempt to drive out the demon, they realize their shortcomings – the spirit is not only nameless but is also far more terrifying and dangerous than they ever imagined.
‘The Priests’ spills unsettling tension, with a commendable cast featuring – Kim Yoon Seok and Kang Dong Won. A spinoff of this story, ‘Dark Nuns’, is set to release in early 2025, starring Song Hye Kyo, Jeon Yeo Been, and Lee Jin Wook.
Have you watched any of these movies? If so, do tell us which, down in the comments!
Written by – Raj Nandini
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