‘Exhuma’ is a story of ancient curses, colonial ghosts, and the price of disturbing what was never meant to be unearthed.
A wealthy Korean-American family’s newborn son suffers from a mysterious, unexplained illness. Desperate, they summon renowned shaman Hwa-rim (Kim Go-eun) and her protégé Bong-gil (Lee Do-hyun). Her diagnosis is a ‘grave’s call’—a vengeful ancestral spirit haunting its own bloodline.
To save the family, she must relocate the grave. But when she assembles a team including feng shui master Kim Sang-deok (Choi Min-sik) and mortician Yeong-geun (Yoo Hae-jin), they soon discover that some graves are sealed for a reason, and what lies beneath is far older, far darker, and far hungrier than any family curse.
Movie: Exhuma (2024)
Where to Watch: Prime Video
Cast: Choi Min-sik, Kim Go-eun, Yoo Hae-jin, Lee Do-hyun
Director & Writer: Jang Jae-hyun
The Plot
A wealthy Korean-American family hires renowned shaman Hwa-rim and her protégé Bong-gil to identify the mysterious illness plaguing their newborn son. Hwa-rim uncovers it as a ‘Grave’s Call’ — a vengeful ancestral spirit. The family patriarch entrusts them with the relocation of his grandfather’s grave. Hwa-rim enlists feng shui master Kim Sang-deok and mortician Yeong-geun, promising a massive payday.
Sang-deok senses a sinister energy from the grave’s location near the North Korean border and initially backs out, but the payout convinces him to proceed. During excavation, a gravedigger severs the head of a snake-like creature with a human face, seen as a bad omen. Heavy rain follows. The coffin is stored nearby, where a greedy custodian opens it, releasing the vengeful entity: the patriarch’s grandfather, revealed to be a Japanese colonial collaborator. The entity kills members of its own bloodline before Sang-deok cremates the coffin, saving the baby.
Months later, the team discovers a second burial site containing a seven-foot standing coffin guarding an ancient iron spike. It is revealed that during Japan’s occupation of Korea, Japanese shamans placed iron spikes across the land to disrupt its energy flow. The guardian is a samurai oni, a tsukumogami-like spirit created by a powerful Japanese shaman known as ‘The Fox.’ The team must destroy it using water and wood, its elemental weakness. Sang-deok impales the samurai with a wooden pickaxe drenched in his own blood, vanquishing it. Months later, they attend his daughter’s wedding.
The Characters
Kim Sang-deok (played by Choi Min-sik)
A legendary feng shui master and geomancer who reads the energy of the land. He needs money for his daughter’s wedding, but his instincts are razor-sharp. World-weary, wise, and quietly heroic.
Lee Hwa-rim (played by Kim Go-eun)
A renowned, powerful shaman who performs intense rituals. She is bold, intuitive, and carries the weight of knowing exactly what lurks in the dark.
Yeong-geun (played by Yoo Hae-jin)
A mortician who runs a funeral home. Practical, grounded, and provides moments of dark humour amid the horror.
Yoon Bong-gil (played by Lee Do-hyun)
Hwa-rim’s protégé, a younger shaman who is loyal and brave, but unfortunately becomes possessed during the final confrontation.
Reasons to Watch ‘Exhuma’:
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Masterful horror atmosphere: No cheap jump scares. The dread builds slowly through shadows, silence, and the unmistakable feeling that the land itself remembers.
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Rich historical layers: The film weaves Korean shamanism, Japanese colonial history, feng shui, and wartime tragedy into a single cohesive nightmare.
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Stellar cast performances: Choi Min-sik brings weary gravitas, Kim Go-eun is mesmerizing in her ritual scenes, and Lee Do-hyun proves his range beyond romance.
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Unique mythological elements: A samurai oni as a tsukumogami-like entity guarding an iron spike that disrupts a nation’s spiritual energy—fresh and unsettling in concept.
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Highest-grossing Korean film of 2024: It earned over $93 million worldwide, reflecting strong audience reception.
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For mature audiences: Intense horror, ritualistic violence, gore, and disturbing imagery. Not for the faint-hearted.
What Kind of Vibes Does This Movie Give?
If you don’t mind slow-burning occult dread, historical trauma manifesting as literal monsters, ritualistic chanting that raises the hair on your arms, and a samurai oni that moves like fire and hunts like a beast, then you should definitely watch this.
‘Exhuma’ is not just a horror film — it’s a ghost story about colonialism. The iron spikes buried across Korea are linked to folkloric interpretations of geomantic disruption during the Japanese colonial period, and director Jang Jae-hyun turns them into a terrifying metaphor: even the ground beneath your feet can be poisoned by the empire.
The film asks: What happens when you dig up a grave? Sometimes you find bones. Sometimes you find answers. And sometimes, something finds you back.
Written by: Trisha Deka
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