Exhuma – Unearths Ghostly Thrills

Exhuma is the latest horror sensation out of South Korea, having quickly become the highest grossing film of 2024 in the country. Korean for exhumation, exhuma refers to the digging up of buried corpses, a practice normally done when graveyards relocate or when a family wishes to move a deceased loved one, or in the case of this film, when one needs to appease an ancestor’s angry spirit haunting their bloodline.

When a wealthy Korean family from Los Angeles fears a generational curse plaguing their newborn infant, they hire a pair of young shamans to hopefully exorcise/quell any bad omens. The shamans, Hwa-rim (a scene-stealing Kim Go-eun) and Bong-gil (Lee Do-hyun) detect a type of spirit they refer to as “Grave’s Calling,” an ancestor spirit that is angry and requires its resting place to be relocated and blessed to be appeased. Back in Korea, Hwa-rim and Bong-gil bring in their friends and partners Kim Sang-deok (Choi Min-sik), a geomancer in touch with the natural elements and spirit world which allows him to locate acceptable grave sites, and Yeong-geun (Yoo Hae-jin), an undertaker at a funeral home who arranges the exhumations. With a grave site located in a bizarre and sinister location, the exhumation does not go as planned once evil forces escape and threaten everyone’s lives. Ancient family mysteries are uncovered, historical horrors unearthed and vengeful spirits unlike anything our team has ever encountered, Exhuma is a consistently mysterious and scary thrill ride that’ll constantly keep you on your toes.

The atmosphere, the depiction of rituals and spirits being so unlike the “ghost” films most are used to, the filmmaking, makes Exhuma an incredible enthralling watch, however, what truly ties this film together is its core quartet. All four are tied by death, some in the literal sense and others spiritual. The relationship between the younger shamans with the older, more experienced geomancer and undertaker add a layer of interpersonal drama to the higher stakes horror taking place, with Choi Min-sik as the main lead and almost father figure to the group. The shared history between the four is mostly unspoken of but deeply felt as all four are very likeable and their journey through this mystery was that much more engaging.

Aiding the narrative is the film’s technical merits with director Jang Jae-hyun utilizing plenty of visual tricks and techniques to unnerve audiences. One particular moment utilizes the sloppy sound of eating (great surround sound implementation) and the reflection of a moonlit window will truly get under one’s skin. For the first half, the scares are handled incredibly low-key, using sound effects that bounce around rooms and play with characters’ minds and lots of reflective surfaces to bounce distorted images across. Less is more and when one’s mind has to fill in the blanks, their imagination is far scarier than any visual a director can concoct. The only major issue with this approach is once the film arrives to its second half, the more that is unraveled and the more questions are answered, the less scary the film becomes. Without giving anything away, the scares evolve from low-key to more omnipresent and larger in scale, which aren’t particularly scary but are executed well. While the horror could’ve sustained itself through to the end, the engaging mystery and likeable characters were engaging nonetheless.

At the end of the day, Exhuma is a great horror film and one of the better releases of 2024 so far. Offering a unique approach (at least for a western audience) to the haunting ghost stories they have seen time and time again, with a look inside Korea’s history along with plenty of creative visuals and scares. It delivers a twisty and engaging mystery anchored by a strong cast of characters to follow from start to finish. Exhuma expands into more theatres across the United States and Canada this weekend and it is definitely worth the watch if available in your area.

still courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment

If you liked this, please read our other reviews here and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Instagram or like us on Facebook.

Alex Josevski

letterboxd.com/groovyalex391/