At a recent press conference for his film Exhuma, Korean director Jang Jae-hyun said that his story was based on a childhood experience of watching a shamanistic exhumation. The process, which involves a coffin being exhumed and relocated, led him to wonder about buried trauma and what the process of exhumation might unleash. Exhuma, starring Choi Min-sik, Kim Go-eun, Lee Do-hyun and Yoo Hae-jin, explores such an exhumation and the attempts of the presiding shamans to cope with its horrifying effects.
The story starts with a wealthy Korean American family that seems to be cursed. Family members are tortured by the sounds of crying. Its a curse that haunts even a newborn, who also can’t stop crying. With no logical or scientific explanation, the parents seek help from practitioners of the ancient religious practice of shamanism. The practice is based on the belief that many gods watch over human affairs and that shamans can intercede with the gods using prescribed ritual practices.
Choi plays the veteran geomancer, Sang Deok. By interpreting geographic features he’s skilled at finding an auspicious place for a burial. Kim and Lee play the shamans Hwa-rim and Dong-gil. After consulting with their client they decide to exhume the body of an ancestor that is buried on a mountaintop. This rite is usually done with the assistance of a mortician, played by Yoo.
When Sang Deok arrives at the site he senses they should leave the grave alone, but he’s persuaded to continue—both by sympathy for the cursed newborn and his desire to provide a proper wedding for his daughter. Being a geomancer is not as lucrative as you might imagine. As persuasive as these reasons are, it might have been wiser to trust his initial reaction. The site is not only the repository for unresolved family trauma, but also national trauma from one of Japan’s invasions of Korea. The shamans give it their all with dances, songs, drumming and meticulous rituals, but they are not prepared for the terrifying trauma they exhume.
The film opened in Korea on Feb. 22 and by March 12 had earned over $60 million, making it the highest grossing South Korean film of 2024. The occult film’s appeal owes a lot to the intense performances by Choi, Kim and Lee, who number among Korea’s biggest stars. Their enthusiastic portrayal of shamanistic rituals is fascinating and their terror at what they’ve conjured up is palpable.
Choi is known for such critically acclaimed and popular films such as Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, I Saw The Devil, The Admiral: Roaring Currents and Forbidden Dream, as well as the 2022 drama Big Bet. Kim is best known for her roles in such dramas as Cheese In The Trap, Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, Eternal Monarch, Yumi’s Cells and Little Women. Lee appeared in the dramas Melancholia, Youth of May, The Good Bad Mother, Sweet Home and The Glory. Yoo Hae-jin has been in dozens of films, including A Taxi Driver, The Night Owl, Space Sweepers, The Battle Roar to Victory and both installments of A Confidential Assignment.
Jang is best known for directing the films Svaha: The Sixth Finger and The Priests, in which he also explored themes of shamanism and exorcism. Distributed by Well Go USA, Exhuma opens in Los Angeles on March 15, then becomes more widely available in the U.S. and Canada on March 22.