Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Exhuma Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 3, 2024

Exhuma has one of "those" immediately striking titles, some unabashedly cool key art (as evidenced by this disc's cover), and a rather interesting if probably over convoluted premise, but for fans of so-called K Horror, there may not be enough actual scares to completely satisfy (and/or unsettle). Is the film moody? Undeniably. Are there some startle effects that will probably send a chill or two racing up the spine? Yep. But this is still a somewhat curiously listless enterprise, especially in a build up that takes a good, long while to unfold before any "weird" stuff really starts happening, with a somewhat disjunctive conceit that sees some of the focal characters pretty much introducing themselves (in first person) to the viewing audience, something that in and of itself seems to create a "distancing" effect (couldn't these "introductions" have been handled more artfully with something "innovative" like, you know, dialogue?). The film may simply be a bit too ambitious for its own good, as might be indicated by a plot that includes not just more than liberal dashes of folklore (or at least folkloristic material), but also by what turns out to be an allusive history lesson about the fractious relationships between Japan and Korea through the years. Exhuma offers a really interesting basic storyline that may get obstructed by unnecessary complications, and as just one example, I'll offer this simple (?) word: geomancer.

Some of the brief supplements Well Go USA has included on this disc mention how aspects of "the occult" inform this film's story, and for anyone who has been interested in supposedly hidden nooks and crannies of "underground" beliefs (is anything still "underground" in this day and age?), perhaps geomancer and/or geomancy will be well known terms of art, but my hunch is those watching this film will either be momentarily scratching their heads or pushing the veritable pause button to check an online dictionary. If the supposed focal characters of Exhuma are Lee Hwa- rim (Kim Go-eun), an apparently famous shaman (or shawoman, as the case may be), and her underling Yoon Bong-gil (Lee Do-hyun), both of whom might be thought of as, well, Ghostbusters, there are a couple of other characters along for this specter slaying ride as well, and that's where the geomancy comes into play.

In what almost seems like an effort to inject a bit of comedy relief into the proceedings, though ostensibly in order to help a family dealing with an apparently multigenerational curse fostered by a dead ancestor, Hwa-rim and Bong-gil enlist the aid of two other characters, an undertaker / mortician named Yeong-geun (Yoo Hae-jin) and, yep, a geomancer named Kim Sang-deok (Choi Min-sik), both of whom seem to have had a history together, and whose bantering about the "suitability" of gravesites is at least occasionally on the slightly comedic side. For those still confused about geomancy, in essence Sang-deok is a feng shui master tasked with assessing the topography (the geo part of that aforementioned term) of various locations in order to determine whether it's a good place to (no Korean name pun intended) "park" a corpse. It may seem that Sang-deok and Yeong-geun have a bit of a "wheeler and dealer" background which might suggest they have their eyes more securely on personal profits than any actual aid they may offer any given family, even if that particular element is really not developed very well.

One way or the other, after a probably needlessly confusing set of opening vignettes which intersperses another multigenerational curse (fostered by a corpse being buried without her dentures, believe it or not), the "main" story finally gets underway, with this quartet attempting to help a Korean family who has been experiencing signs of being cursed for at least three generations. The film purportedly ping pongs between American and Korean locations, but the chief geomancing (is that a word?) and/or ghostbusting takes place in Korea, where this family's ancestor is evidently "reaching out and touching" first born sons from the grave. But why?

While that question is ultimately answered, and rather interestingly so, again the film takes a good, long while to "get there", and I'm not sure the over two hour running time of this feature really redounds to the benefit of actual momentum. It seems obvious this is a "franchise" in the making, with a quartet of, yes, ghostbusters out to remove that "s" in "curse" to provide a "cure", and my personal advice for anyone involved in continuing a would be series is to trim the excess fat, remove the artifices (like dividing the film into needless "chapters"), and especially keep the story focused, without potentially confusing ping ponging (as in this film's opening scenes) and especially without trying to stuff everything but the veritable kitchen sink into the proceedings. Still, this is an often quite evocative presentation that despite some stumbles has some distinctive content to offer.

Exhuma Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Exhuma is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Captured with Arri Alexa Mini cameras and finished with a 2K DI (both data points courtesy of the IMDb), this is a nicely detailed and rather evocatively hued outing that provides generally great looking detail levels and a really lustrous accounting of an often quite interesting palette. There are a number of scenes that look like they were actually lit (as opposed to graded) toward rather deeply suffused red and/or blue tones, and those moments pop really well, without any appreciable loss of fine detail. A lot of the gorgeously orange and auburn tones in some forest scenes in particular also resonate extremely well. The film does tend to get darker, both literally and figuratively, as it progresses, and there is therefore a probably unavoidable increase in murkiness and loss of shadow detail in some of the least well lit moments, but overall, detail levels remain remarkably intact despite the stylistic conceits. Some of the CGI effects, notably some fire effects, may strike some as a bit hokey and artificial looking.

Exhuma Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Exhuma features a nicely immersive Dolby Atmos track in the original Korean. A decent English dub in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is also featured, but my advice is to stick with the original language. The Atmos speakers are typically utilized for some swirling "ghostly" effects, along with some scoring choices that almost blend into the overall soundscape at times. The fireball scene mentioned above also provides a good use of Atmos capabilities. A lot of the ritual content shown in the film takes place outside, and that provides ample opportunity for clear engagement of the surround channels for nicely done ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English and French subtitles are available.

Exhuma Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Making Of (HD; 3:38)


• Trailer (HD; 1:48)

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the disc has been authored so that supplements follow one another automatically, so that clicking on Making Of is essentially a Play All button. The disc is also authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases after the Trailer for this film plays. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Packaging features a slipcover.

Exhuma Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Maybe because I had heard what a sensation Exhuma had been in South Korea, and also probably because I'm not immune to the "coolness" factor of the film's very title, I may have been expecting a more viscerally frightening experience. There's quite a bit of interesting content here, but I couldn't help but feel the film tended to fritter away momentum on both needless detours as well as a number of stylistic choices that added little to the proceedings. Lovers of ghost stories may find this a suitable if ultimately not all that scary Hallowe'en time viewing option, and mark my words, there are going to be follow ups to this outing, I am virtually certain. Technical merits are solid. With caveats noted, Recommended.