Director: Lee Doo-yong
Year: 1980
Country: South Korea
Alternate Titles: Pimak
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Living in a remote village, the family of a possessed son calls over a shaman to exorcise the spirit troubling him, eventually revealing the cause to be a former servant who got one of the other women pregnant before being secretly disposed of and forcing her to a series of desperate measures to save him.
Review:
Overall, this one has quite a lot to like about it. One of the stronger aspects present here is the use of the localized setting that adds a distinct and unique flair to the traditional tale of possession and the resulting exorcism that follows. The setting in Suri Village brings out a lot here, with the immediate revelation of the sons’ possession and the arrival of the priestess who reveals the truth through the ceremonial ritual. This lavish mixture of tribal dancing and ritualized spell-casting that produces a poisonous snake out of nowhere in front of shocked villagers is immediate and highly enjoyable. With her resulting exorcism a similar combination of high-energy ritualistic performances and obscure chanting which eventually degrades into whacking him with a special branch repeatedly while he lets out unearthly wails, the sequence itself is quite fun. That everything happens so quickly in the film is a testament to its frenetic pacing, keeping this energy going through the various incidents that happen around the house while everyone tries to figure out what’s going on.
On top of that, the second half gets a lot to like here with the revelation about the ghost and how it’s affecting the family. This gets the full extent of the lengths the family went through to bury the news about the pregnancy and his death at their hands, from the setup of getting him together with the girl, their blossoming romance, and the reaction towards the pregnancy news by staging accidents resulting in their deaths. Putting all this together with the information gleaned from the first half, the finale features even more enjoyable action with the chaos of the second exorcism ritual. Far flashier and grander with more elaborate rituals and even more chaos afforded to it than the first one due to the actual exorcism of the possessed son, this is a fun and enjoyable setup for the spectacle in the finale which adds a nice flair to things while also ending the film on a positive note.
While there aren’t too many flaws, this one does have a few issues. The main factor with the film is the choppy pacing that keeps the horror scenes quite light in the running length. After initially starting the film by summoning the numerous shaman around the area only for the family to dismiss them in favor of the main one which is a rather curious decision that makes their arrival at the house without doing anything all the more curious. Had they been allowed to perform their own rituals and only hers had proven effective, this disjointed beginning would be more effective. Once we’re done with this, the film slows down slightly with the series of revelations and flashbacks to determine the origin of the hut guard’s ghost which is haunting the family. These are important for deciphering the plot better but also highlight a lot of action at the beginning before dropping it for long stretches of time and then picking it back up at the end with the possession. Also slightly problematic is a series of revelations that come forth in this section that don’t need to be there, disrupting the tempo at the wrong moments. However, this isn’t as bad as the other flaws here.
Overview: ***.5/5
A generally fun Korean supernatural effort, this one has quite a few positives which manage to hold the film up over its minor factors which are thankfully not too damaging or detrimental in the long run. Viewers that appreciate these kinds of genre fare or appreciate the style and approach on display will enjoy this one rather nicely, while those that don’t enjoy those factors should heed caution.
This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully republished with their cooperation.
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