Paranormal experts unleash an evil force when they exhume the grave of a
wealthy family linked to a supernatural curse.
Review by
Benjamin Poole
Directed by: Jang Jae-Hyun
Starring: Choi Min-Sik, Kim Go-Eun, Yoo Hai-Jin, Lee Do-Hyun
Even if we claim not to believe in such superstitious nonsense, I wonder
how many would admit to the extent which ritual and shibboleths do
actually structure our day? Who of us would ever leave new shoes on the
table, purposefully step on a crack or neglect to salute a magpie? We've
all made wishes, touched wood, engaged in sigil magick to curse that
annoying co-worker: this is basic stuff. Is it such a stretch, then, to
accept, as according to the dedicated fringes of social media, that a
shadowed elite manifests an oppressed reality via ritualised semiology
and psyops? The principle is tempting for the cowed, because, just as
with religion, the idea of a guiding hand/fist behind it all suggests
there is meaning to the whole huzzah, a secret method, and not simply
chaos and cruel absurdity.
The concept is central to Jae-hyun Jang's conspiracy horror
Exhuma, in which a semi-official group of shamans and spiritualists deal with
curses, ritual magic and the supernatural creatures which "live in the
dark and look towards bright spaces" - yikes! Except maybe not...
Contracted to deal with a familial curse, each mystic has their own
specific role within the assembled team. For example, there is Sang-deok
(Choi Min-sik), who is one of those geomancers they have these
days. Just like how we might identify a vegan, we know he is a geomancer
because he tells us so: in laborious voiceover with
pretty-but-on-the-nose images of nature visually empathising Sang-deok's
points. "I find soil for the dead and the living," he intones, as the
screen fills with babbling brooks, fungi, insects on bark. Circle of
life, etc. But this sort of extended sequence is typical of supposed
horror/thriller Exhuma's overtly literal, talky presentation. Over a two hour plus running
time, the action often consists of deep exposition of simple plot points
along with swollen character interactions, sidestepping the sort of
genre excitements the audience may be primed for.
"Fuck those non-believers," Sang-deok may argue, and at certain points
across the narrative he has a point. Most of such sequences involve
Hwarim (Kim Go-eun), a shaman whose elaborate ceremonies provide
spectacular visual set pieces, involving dance, tons of extras and,
regrettably, dead pigs (as an almost vegan - I still eat eggs to
maintain my hard won physique - I object to an animal having to die just
because someone wants to make a film #callback). Research reveals
the centrality of Shamanism to Korea, and also that women account for a
majority of their number, a statistic reflected by Hwarim. Perhaps this
cultural context is instructive to Exhuma, with prior understanding granting automatic and vital weight/stakes
to the proceedings. Because watching from a position of open-minded
unfamiliarity, the film is quite the drudge, with a lack of dread you'd
expect for an occult horror, nor the sort of urgent stakes for which
you'd hope in a thriller.
From its largely static mise-en-scene, populous cast and
multi-narrative, Exhuma is a very televisual watch: it
feels a bit like when you enter a room and someone is halfway through
some sort of byzantine telly show on Netflix or similar, an episodic
sensation consolidated by the use of chapters and headings throughout
the film. That said, when the scares do periodically hit, they hit hard.
Within Exhuma there are around a handful of horror
sequences that are so unsettlingly strange, and constructed with such
virtuosity, that I was genuinely scared: like, too scared to go upstairs
on my own scared. Delicious. These scenes creepily work within the
evocative, liminal space between tech and tradition (I'm remembering
undead laughter through a Samsung and getting prickly skin). Within one
we witness the desecration of yet more dead pigs (an animal that has
totemic relevance
to Korea). Problem is that these sequences are a little too few and far
between, leaving Exhuma more sow's ear than silk purse.
Exhuma is in US cinemas from
March 15th. A UK/ROI release has yet to be announced.
