The box office success of Jang Jae-hyun’s Exhuma that sold more than 6 million tickets in two weeks has surprised many industry observers given that it was released in the quiet month of February and the fact that the industry has struggled to bounce back to pre-pandemic norms.

Looking back, it’s perhaps not as surprising as it first seems. The film had generated a significant amount of buzz even ahead of its release. Both within and out of the industry the film’s screenplay written by Jang was creating excitement, partly because Jang had a following – The Priests and Svaha: The Sixth Finger, especially the latter, had grown in popularity over the years. But it’s also because of its subject matter of the occult and Jang’s ability to experiment with this subgenre that is very much on display in Exhuma. 

Religious themes for decades have been present in Korean films, perhaps even more so over the last fifteen years with films like Secret Sunshine (2007), Living Death (2009) (aka Possessed), Thirst (2009), The Priests (2015) and The Wailing (2016). Indeed, religion in Korean cinema has manifested in different ways with shamanism, in particular, being incorporated into narratives in films like Memories of Murder (2003) or playing a central role in the story itself that is true of Exhuma.

For international audiences such themes could be perplexing. Korean films can deal with death in vivid and uncompromising ways giving them an intensity, which is reflected in scenes involving shamanistic rituals, a running motif in films about shamanism – the most famous being in Na Hong-jin’s The Wailing or more recently a scene involving Kim Go-eun in Exhuma has attracted much attention. This is not new, as such scenes go much further back seen in Byeon Jang-ho’s Eulwha (1979)

Films centering on shamanism are not all dark, Lee Han-jong’s Daemuga (2022) is more of a comedic film, but such films often feature quite dramatic and intense moments that adapt well to the thriller, horror and mystery genres, which is highlighted in the films we examine this week that focus on shamanism and exorcism.

Ieoh Island

One of the earlier masterpieces to center on shamanistic characters was Kim Ki-young’s Ieoh Island released in 1977.  Based on the 1974 novel of the same name by Lee Cheong-jun, it focuses on a man suspected of murdering a native son of Io Island who ventures there to uncover what really happened to him only to be allured by the island’s mysterious women who run the island.

Kim Ki-young, one of Korea’s most daring and idiosyncratic filmmakers, was renowned for the female characters in his films - evident, of course, in his The Housemaid films. They would have agency, often cunning and seductive making the shamanistic inhabitants in the film ideal subjects for his film. They are hypnotic – just like the film’s unconventional narrative structure, cinematography, and beautiful island scenery. 

Indeed, the film’s main location of an isolated island is also an intriguing one portraying a society disconnected from the mainland. Interestingly many of the films centering on shamanism are located in rural, provincial settings – The Wailing, The Mimic are such examples.   

Underscoring its significance is the fact that it featured in retrospectives at both the Busan International Film Festival in 1997 and the Berlin Film Festival in 1998, which were seen as a rediscovery of his works. 

Eulwha 

Shamanism and Christianity come head-to-head in Byeon Jang-ho’s Eulwha when a powerful shaman played by Kim Ji-mee discovers that her son has become a devout Christian. She had sent him away to be raised by Buddhist monks. 

Based on the novel written by Kim Dong-ri, it is set in the early-to-mid twentieth century when Christianity was being introduced and spreading as a popular religion in Korea. The central conflict in the film could be seen as a wider antagonism between the East and West or Korean traditional culture versus modernity that also is a theme of Im Kwon-taek’s Sopyonje (1993).  

The film features some striking imagery and montages as the crucifixes are seen entering society as Church bells ring while the Shaman continues her rituals. Inevitably this all leads to a dramatic conclusion when both worlds collide in what is yet a shocking climax to the film as the son runs from the Church to save his mother when her home is engulfed in flames. 

Mudang: Reconciliation between the Living and the Dead  

This entertaining documentary directed by Park Ki-bok and narrated by actor Sol Gyung-gu is a richly informative feature that follows several female shaman (Mudang) as they attend ceremonies when someone has passed away and mediate between the land of the living and that of the dead. 

It offers an accessible way into understanding the importance of shamanism in Korea and its relationship to different areas of Korean society, history and culture. Even in film, for example, the influence is palpable with a ceremony called a Gosa held before embarking on a project in order to bring good fortune. 

This is one of several notable documentaries that have shed light on shamanism, this feature released in 2003 is an earlier example. A more recent one is the Jeonju Cinema Project Girl who Dreams About Time (2022) about a young shaman and her grandmother, which shares some similarities to Mudang in its exploration of shamans. 

Manshin: Ten Thousand Spirits  

Another highly accomplished documentary on this subject is Park Chan-kyong’s  Manshin: Ten Thousand Spirits that documents the life of one of Korea’s most celebrated shamans, Kim Keum-hwa. It achieves this through a compelling mix of archive footage, interviews and dramatized reconstructions by actors Moon So-ri, Ryu Hyun-kyung and Kim Sae-ron who play Kim at different stages of her life. 

One of the strengths of Manshin is its accessibility. Remaining engaging and detailed throughout, it offers viewers an insight into not only shamanism and but also provides a comprehensive and fascinating look at Korea’s turbulent history during the 20th century.   

Park, an established artist and younger brother of Park Chan-wook, is artistic in his approach to documentary film blending the tropes of narrative and non-narrative cinema to make a truly distinctive and enlightening film.

The Priests 

Jang Jae-hyun who subsequently helmed Svaha and then Exhuma would give viewers a taste of what was to come with his religious themes of shamanism and exorcism in his feature debut The Priests that sold over 5.4 million tickets in November 2016. Starring Kim Yoon-seok and Gang Dong-won as two priests who work together to free a high school student (Park So-dam) from demonic spirits, it features an enthralling shamanistic ritual (gut) before the pair embark on an exorcism. 

Although brief, lasting just a couple minutes in total, it is a powerful scene with the shaman (played by Jeong Ha-dam) performing part of the ritual with a cow’s head strapped to her back. In contrast to many of the other films profiled here, the setting is a confined attic located in Myeong-dong, the middle of Seoul. 

The film also drew critical praise for its performances, most notably Park So-dam who had demonstrated potential in the independent film Snow Paths (2015) but it was her role in The Priests that would take her career to the next level, later starring in films including Bong Joon-Ho’s Oscar winning Parasite (2019). 

The Wailing 

One of the most critically acclaimed Korean films of the 2010s was Na Hong-jin’s genre-bending The Wailing . Part mystery, horror, thriller, it’s a film that generated a reaction upon its release in Korea and screening at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016 that forced people to take notice even if it wasn’t to everyone’s taste. 

Set in Gokseong (the Korean title of the film that also means “wailing”) located in the mountains towards the South of the peninsula, it begins as a mystery thriller when an illness causes the villagers to kill each other. A policeman (Kwak Do-won) investigates and suspicion grows that it’s connected to a Japanese man living nearby. When the policeman’s daughter is infected, they turn to the expertise of a shaman (Hwang Jung-min). 

At the center of the film are its religious themes, beginning with a verse from the book of Luke in the Bible, and further spiritual references and connections aplenty. Indeed, one of the film’s most powerful and unforgettable scenes is the shamanistic ritual staged by Il-gwang (the male shaman) that is arguably one of the most intense moments in contemporary Korean cinema. 

Beautifully shot by the renowned cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo (Save the Green Planet, Burning, Parasite), his lens captures life, death and the in between.  

The Mimic  

Director Huh Jung rose to prominence following the success of his feature debut Hide and Seek that pulled in 5.6 million people in the summer of 2013. His sophomore feature is similarly very well-crafted as it tells the story of a couple played by Yum Jung-ah and Park Hyuk-kwon still reeling from the disappearance of their son. They move to the mountains with the father’s ailing mother and their daughter but discover that the mountain hosts a mythical creature that can mimic the sounds of humans. 

The film, which is based on the folk tale of the Jangsan Tiger (Jangsan is the name of a mountain located in Busan) includes a shamanistic ritual scene that is integral to the story, which underlines how important shamanism – and wider religion - is to narratives in Korean cinema. Stylistically, as the shaman (Lee Jun-hyeok) performs the gut, the rapid editing, the moving camera, the sound of the traditional music and imagery of the blood from a dead pig adds a further layer of intensity to the film’s already unsettling but captivating tone. 

As a horror film dealing with unresolved trauma like a number of Korean horror features, Huh Jung puts together a well-written script with strong production values, while he also gets terrific performances from his cast, not least Yum Jung-ah who was also magnificent in A Tale of Two Sisters(2003), which is another renowned Korean horror film.