7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
When a renowned shaman and her protégé are hired by a wealthy, enigmatic family, they begin investigating the cause of a disturbing supernatural illness that affects only the first-born children of each generation. With the help of a knowledgeable mortician and the country's most revered geomancer, they soon trace the affliction's origin to a long-hidden family grave located on sacred ground. Sensing an ominous aura surrounding the burial site, the team opts to exhume and relocate the ancestral remains immediately. But as something much darker emerges, they soon discover what befalls those who dare to mess with the wrong grave.
Starring: Choi Min-sik, Kim Go-eun, Yoo Hae-jin, Park Jeong-ja, Baek Seung-chulForeign | 100% |
Horror | 71% |
Mystery | 29% |
Thriller | 27% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Korean: Dolby Atmos
Korean: Dolby TrueHD 7.1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English, French
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
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.
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 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.
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.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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