Exhuma (2024)

“The first act’s approach to folkloric horror and cleansing rituals calls to mind South Korean horror movies like The Wailing. But Jae-hyun Jang quickly shift gears, broadening the horror to also include possession, ghost induced scares, and a physical manifestation of past historical trauma in the most gonzo way. The type that will leave you cheering for “sweetfish and melon.” It’s occasionally violent and bloody, always atmospheric, and stunning in cinematography and composition. While its story is so dense that it threatens to run away from the filmmaker at moments, the extremely likable characters and a sense of horror fun ensure it never derails, right up to its thrilling finale.

Jae-hyun Jang combines introspective cultural and historical themes with creepy, gory, and atmospheric horror thrills in an exciting way. It’s fun horror with a lot on its mind. That’s a tricky thing to achieve, and the cast and crew of Exhuma make it look effortless.” – Bloody Disgusting

“Exhuma expertly borrows from East Asian folk horror classics in tone and themes, paying homage to the genre while forging its own path of terror. Echoes of revered predecessors like The Wailing and Incantation reverberate throughout the film, manifesting in its embrace of atmospheric dread and immersing viewers in a world where the line between the supernatural and the mundane blurs with chilling ease. Much like its forebears, Exhuma proves to be a wicked addition to the folk horror canon.

What sets Exhuma apart is its richly detailed cultural symbolism. Where Korean auteur Na Hong-jin scratches the surface as a crash course in Korean folklore, Exhuma keeps digging, and digging some more, uncovering a history of ritualist beliefs and practices, bones and all. Drawing from Korean shamanism, Buddhism, Christianity, and neighbouring traditions including feng shui, cremation rituals and myriad foreboding omens; the film benefits from a basic nuanced grasp of Korean spirituality. However, the script excels at elucidating its rules, ensuring easy comprehension and heightened terror that will leave you eager to dig even deeper.” – The Hindu

“Cultural specificity yields a surfeit of striking horror imagery, whether that be Nure-onna slithering in remote graves or Onibi, Japanese ghost lights, smoldering through the night sky. Scares become sparser as the movie exhumes the fragments of a much bigger story, but the scaffolding of weirdness is refreshing in a sea of genre content that doles out the same big bad time and time again.

Exhuma is thrilling, bold, and ceaselessly surprising in its excess. A strong central cast unearths comedy, tragedy, and carnage in equal measure. Its more commercial and genre elements might hamstring the broader implications of its scares, but Exhuma is the most fun you’ll have playing with dead things all summer.” Dread Central