Exhuma

Horror films trouble me. It does not matter how well a story builds tension, the antagonist almost always falls short. Whether it is a ghost, a zombie, a monster or something else, the result often makes me laugh. In Exhuma, the antagonist takes the form of an eight-foot-tall samurai monster, helmet and all. His face glistens with the angry redness of burnt skin. He looks like a giant slab of raw meat. I found it silly.

That said, Exhuma delivers on several fronts. The acting is solid across the board. The story is deeply rooted in ritual and mythology. In one scene, the four protagonists perform a ritual before extracting a coffin from the ground. The dance, the blood and the beating drums coalesce into a hypnotic spectacle. It is beautiful.

Choi Min-sik owns his role. To me, he is the Korean Gary Oldman. If a Korean production ever made Slow Horses, Choi Min-sik would absolutely play Jackson Lamb. Sure, most people know him from Oldboy. I watched that again recently and felt it had not entirely held up. His acting skills, though, certainly have. He is terrific in Exhuma.

Kim Go-eun owns her role too. Apparently she performed a real ritual in the film, and it frightened her enough to think she might awaken some spirit. Still, she went through with it. I suppose that is one sign of commitment.