Georokhan: Demun heonteoseu

Not Ma Dong Seok's best movie but watching him is always fun. Nothing new that hasn't been done before but this time the exorcist isn't a Catholic priest because apparently, they're not allowed to for reasons I forgot. Seohyun is a beautiful priestess with a back story not yet clear, perhaps in the sequel we will find out more.

Honestly not quite sure why Ma Dong Seok made this supernatural movie apart from his usual action which usually does well. Fighting demons with his fists doesn't sound plausible at first but his are supernatural fists this time so I guess it works. The CGI is nothing to write home about. Acting wise, nobody did a bad job but the possessed girl did especially well.

All in all a fun watch if you're not looking for anything serious requiring much logic, and Korean movies usually are free from token characters shoved in just to check a box so it's always a win for me to be able to watch an entire movie without hidden agenda squeezed in. If there is a sequel, will still watch.

Black Mass is an secret organization that is into devil worshipping and have taken over Seoul. There is an increase in the cases of demon possession and a powerful trio called Holy Night comprising of Ba Woo, Sharon and Kim Gun are the ones standing up against this cult. When Eun-son gets possessed by a mysterious demon, her elder sister Jung-won reaches out to the trio for help. How does the Holy Night perform the exorcism and expel the demon possessing the girl, forms rest of the story.

This was an unique film that tries to blend action with horror. Action is forced solely because Don Lee plays Ba Woo and to justify his big fist in action, he is given superhuman strength. Barring him, it is basically another exorcism story. Despite the short runtime, the director stunningly failed to sell this story which simply doesn't work as an action film nor as an horror film. The backstory involving the trio is severely half baked and their loyalty to each other is not firmly established. There was a mention of brotherly rift which isn't explored. Above that, the film remains confused on how it wants to use Don Lee and also make an exorcism film. The final act is all about the six stages of exorcism but watching Don Lee's Ba Woo expel demons with his punches, made me wonder what was the need for the exorcism itself?

If you go into supernatural shenanigans like this, you could either go the serious route if you have the budget for it, obviously some comic relief not entirely excluded or like in this case you try to make up for that budget by going into a ..let's put this politely .. "lighter route", BUT then you better have either some tight action or some hillarious comedic moments, preferably both.

For once it has too little of either and what we get is neither really tight nor hillarious. It has some moments, but those are rather rare.

And the script makes it quite clear early on, that for this to be enjoyed you can not possibly question any of the events in this films or its relations to each other.

Look, i absolutely looooooove Ma Dong-seok, the "south-korean bud spencer". In fact him being in it was sufficient for me to watch this film, but even him can not save everything.

It's quite clear that Ma Dong Seok, known for his commanding screen presence and action-packed roles, was brought into this film to attract viewers. Unfortunately, this particular film doesn't make good use of his strengths. Almost any generic muscle-bound actor could've filled the part with the same result.

The film is essentially a possession story, and not a very original one at that. What makes this attempt especially disappointing is its identity crisis. The movie seems torn between being a horror film and an action thriller. To justify Ma Dong Seok's inclusion, several action scenes are thrown in, but they feel disjointed and out of place. They don't add depth or excitement; instead, they disrupt the pacing and tone, making the film feel uneven and confused about what it wants to be.

It lacks tension, suspense, or the kind of creeping dread that defines a good horror movie. At the same time, it doesn't deliver enough high-stakes action to satisfy fans of that genre either. Instead, it drifts somewhere in the middle - bland, forgettable, and uninspired. Even the visuals and sound design, which are usually reliable tools in horror, do little to elevate the experience. It's a film that plays it too safe on both fronts and ends up leaving no lasting impression.

If you're a fan of Ma Dong Seok, you're better off watching some of his earlier films like Train to Busan, The Outlaws, or The Roundup. Those roles played to his strengths and gave him much more to work with, both in terms of character and action.

Personally, I found it difficult to stay engaged. I actually fell asleep halfway through and only pushed myself to finish it for the sake of closure - and even then, the ending offered little payoff.

In the end, this film is a missed opportunity. It's not scary enough to satisfy horror fans and not exciting enough for action lovers. It tries to straddle both genres and ends up falling flat.

After a series of strange encounters, a team of paranormal experts is brought together to investigate claims of a pact made with a Satanic demon to acquire superhuman strength to carry out their orders on Earth, and must put their skills to the test to stop the deadly forces.

This was a rather fun one-sided genre effort. Most of the fun here stems from the enormously entertaining and over-the-top set pieces in play that try to infuse an action film aesthetic into a supernatural demon possession film. With the setup establishing the use of high-energy exploits to determine the cause of possession affecting the various individuals in their care as the full extent of the cult comes to fruition, the series of encounters that come about here, letting that play out, have a dynamic quality to them. From hard-hitting brawls knocking out nameless cultists, to the actual exorcism tactics that are employed to try releasing the demonic figures holding the victim captive, these scenes work incredibly well at letting the hard-hitting choreography shine in the way it should. As the narrative builds toward its second half, the action reaches a fever pitch. Scenes of Eun-seo unleashing her demonic powers-flipping cars into explosions or launching people across rooms-amp up the stakes. The team's chemistry, developed through earlier missions, is brought into sharp focus during the climactic confrontation. With traditional exorcism tropes, including grotesque makeup and violent transformations, intercut with cultists attempting to sabotage the ritual, the finale becomes a breathless combination of horror and spectacle. The scale of destruction and the special effects used to portray the escalating chaos lend the story a surprisingly grand, even global, scope as the cult's ultimate goals are revealed. When this is mixed together with more traditional genre elements showing the supernatural and inhuman powers of the possessed, trying to prevent their rescue attempts in grand stunt-filled setpieces, there's quite a lot of fun to be had here. Beyond that, the film stumbles somewhat in terms of its story. A lot of this is due to the frantic pacing that renders this with little time necessary to delve into matters more fully, so that there's a greater understanding of what's at stake. The entire purpose of the society and how the team operates, even who most of them are, are just flat-out ignored to the point of getting their names and points of being involved with each other being casually dropped at random intervals if they're not inferred from the interactions they have with the possessed or their minions. That leaves the film to feel as though it's missing a prequel that sets everything in motion, or highlights why the cult is starting the process, but it is so that all goes by so quickly for the sake of a rushed and cramped storyline. That would also explain how the over-the-top finale works with the high-concept demon slaying, body-hopping, and general confusion generated here seems to provide no answers, even though it relies on fervent demonic imagery to carry itself out, which is the main issue to be had with this one.

Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.