Exhuma review.
Dangers are unearthed as Shudder keeps its hot streak going.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Exhuma
Directed by Jang Jae-hyun
Screenplay by Jang Jae-hyun
Starring Kim Go-eun, Choi Min-sik, Lee Do-hyun, Jung Yun-Ha, Yoo Hae-jin, Hong Seo-jun, Jeon Jin-Ki and Kim Jae-cheol
Exhuma Review
An odd thing happens halfway through Exhuma. To that point the story has centered on the plight of Mr. Park and his family. That story reaches a proper conclusion roughly an hour into Exhuma. It creates a unique feeling…wondering what the second half of this story is going to be about. There is an entire second story to come. Buried deep beneath the one we are first given. Exhuma keeps digging and finds something bigger, more dangerous, and even more exciting.
Park Ji-yong (Kim Jae-cheol) reaches out for supernatural help when his infant son is besieged by an unexplained illness. Shaman Lee Hwa-rim (Kim Go-eun) enlists geomancer Kim Sang-duk (Choi Min-sik) after diagnosing the issue as “Grave’s Calling”. The restless spirit of a long passed relative is haunting the firstborns of the Park family.
The solution involves exhuming Park’s grandfather. Park requests the remains be cremated along with the casket. This defies tradition and custom…and raises alarm bells with Kim Sang-duk. As does the grave’s strange placement atop a mountain. Kim Sang-duk initially turns down the job. Park’s ailing child brings him back into the fold. A “Passing of Misfortune” ritual is performed to transfer any “vile energy” from the coffin to pig carcasses. The ritual is an elaborate one. A wild scene full of music, dance, and the slashing of dead pigs.
Unfortunately, rain delays the cremation process. The soul can’t reach a good afterlife if cremated on a rainy day. Exhuma is full of customs, rituals and superstitions. It’s a fascinating application of foreign traditions. The rain delay gives Kim Sang-duk time to investigate the backstory of the grandfather’s burial. A strange monk, a casket with no name, legends of treasures inside the coffin…the story becomes stranger with each new revelation.
Then all hell breaks loose. The coffin is opened…and something is released. We only catch glimpses of the spirit in reflections…but it is targeting the Park family. The first hour of Exhuma deals with this story. From the hiring of Lee Hwa-rim through the resolution of the Park story. Halfway through Exhuma…it feels like everything has been wrapped up. Kim Sang-duk isn’t satisfied. He keeps digging. This time, literally. He unearths an entirely new story buried beneath the Park family patriarch’s tomb.
A giant coffin bound by chains. It is, foolishly, pulled from the earth. If you thought opening the Park’s casket was a mistake…things are about to get a whole lot worse. Kim Sang-duk, Lee Hwa-rim and their assistants remain with us in the second half of Exhuma. The Park story finished…it begins to pull on threads Kim Sang-duk discovered that didn’t add up. Who was this monk who chose the grave’s location a century ago? What were these legends of hidden treasure? How did the eldest Park earn such a strange burial in the first place?
The back half of Exhuma answers these questions. It also lets something new out of the box. The answers are less grounded than the already supernatural Park story. There is even more to this burial site than meets the eye. Something surprising…and dangerous.
Exhuma isn’t scary so much as it is fascinating. An expertly crafted story that shifts purpose wholeheartedly. An excellent cast walks us through vibrant rituals and much quieter moments of reflection. While the first half of Exhuma feels like a supernatural procedural (and a very good one) …the second half changes the rules and flips the script. The first half is tighter…but the second half is far more unpredictable. Together they add up to a unique, original film that adds another feather to Shudder’s already impressive cap.
I’m not sure we’ve ever seen a story so fully completed like Exhuma presents at the halfway point of its story. Time stands still for a moment. Where could this be going? What is left to do? Exhuma gives us something new with the lore built in the background of an already engaging story. Both are worth watching. It’s like getting two episodes of a great tv series. One that you would really like to see continue.
Scare Value
Exhuma, fittingly, has a secret story buried beneath the one you’re watching. It feels like a two-part mini-series…in a good way. Some character arcs finish at the halfway mark. Others continue on to an even bigger tale. It’s a structure we’ve never quite seen before and makes for an exciting reset an hour in. Not scary…but always interesting.
3.5/5
Exhuma Links
Streaming on Shudder
Rent/Buy on VOD from Fandango at Home and Amazon
