South Korea’s 2024 box office champion and this year’s most popular horror movie is finally here!
I believe many people have guessed that this movie is "The Tomb".
The film has broken many box office records since it was released in South Korea in February this year. The
lineup includes powerful Korean movie stars like Choi Min-sik, plus popular top actors such as Kim Go-eun and Lee Dae-hyun.
So far, the number of moviegoers in South Korea has exceeded 11780,000, breaking the box office record of " Train to Busan" and becoming the most popular horror thriller movie in Korean film history.
The film not only has a rapid box office success, but also has a very good reputation. The film was shortlisted for the Berlin Film Festival and won unanimous praise from critics. When it was recently screened at the Beijing Film Festival in China, it even reached the point of "hard to get a ticket". degree.
Just like the 2015 movie "Train to Busan", "The Tomb" can only be released "around the mainland" due to subject matter restrictions.
After the film was introduced to the public in Hong Kong and Taiwan, it has also been very popular. Its high reputation and topicality have made the film highly anticipated by mainland fans. It has even been searched several times on domestic social media. It can be seen that this film The heat is so high.
Now this movie has finally been released on the Internet. In this issue of " new movie detoxification ", let's talk about this movie -
"Broken Tomb"
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This film is a supernatural thriller, but its popularity among mainland movie fans is not accidental.
's film involves oriental folk culture such as Feng Shui and tombs, as well as a thriller-style plot design, which can easily make Chinese horror lovers feel familiar.
However, due to well-known force majeure factors, this kind of horror movies can basically not be filmed in the mainland. There are only some low-cost online movies that are interested in producing such folklore and ghost movies.
's production quality and level of scares were greatly reduced. As a result--
, it was the Koreans' turn to film Feng Shui and supernatural themes first, and it became popular throughout East Asia!
The film's director Jang Jae-hyun is a relatively well-known horror film director in the Korean film industry in recent years. His previous two films "Black Priests" and "Sabha" are quite recognized by horror film fans, especially the latter one. A very bold religious horror film.
The creators tried to integrate religious murder + surreal thriller + suspenseful crime and other elements, but it was adapted locally by a Korean director. The religious elements are influenced by Western exorcism themes, but also have the core of Eastern religion. , quite a bit of a combination of earth and foreign.
This type of mash-up has actually always been the most enthusiastic attempt by Korean genre film directors, and "Broken Tomb" is no exception. Some commentators believe:
The film is actually a film that "uses a horror curse as a package, emphasizing patriotism and nationality." A spiritually transformed spy film.”
Looking at it purely as a horror movie, the story of the movie can obviously be divided into two parts, the first and the last.
The first half is closer to a conventional horror film. The story tells the story of wizards Kim Go-eun and Lee Dae-hyun who received a huge commission and met a wealthy family. The eldest grandson of the family inherited a strange family disease. The strange thing is that this wealthy family has been possessed by evil spirits from the grandfather to the newborn baby. They traced the source and found out that it was related to the ancestral grave.
In order to find out the truth, Kim Go-eun and Lee Dae-hyun asked for the help of senior Feng Shui master Choi Min-sik and etiquette master Liu Hae-jin. Feng Shui master Sangde (played by Choi Min-sik) and embalmer Rong Geun (played by Yoo Hae-jin). Everyone suddenly discovered that this was not a geomantic treasure at all. Rather, it was an extremely sinister place. Apart from placing the tomb in an unknown deep mountain, it was also an extremely gloomy place, not suitable for burial at all.
The wizards and Feng Shui masters decided to perform blood sacrifices and reburials, and held cremations without opening the coffin, but as expected, an accident occurred.Local legend has it that there is treasure in the tomb buried on the top of the mountain, which attracts greedy people to steal the coffin, which leads to the release of some evil things...
Most Asian countries have similar folklores, so it is easy to let them know. People resonate. The director uses the haunting ghosts as the main plot, and brings a certain degree of attraction through realistic Feng Shui concepts and religious rituals. During the development of the plot, he also lays a lot of foreshadowing, making people curious about what lies behind. What is the truth?
The film uses a lot of mirror images and reflections, so you can vaguely see something coming out to not only harass or even harm others, but also involves the past secrets of the family, including the deceased, which is commonly known as "disaster for descendants". "The filming of several thrilling scenes in the film was quite tense. I thought the matter was resolved, but unexpectedly, another disaster began.
In the second half, "Broken Tomb" uses the "Legend of the Iron Stake " passed down from Korea during the Japanese occupation as inspiration to get to the real theme. From the changes of a family to the history of a nation, the entire structure and level have also improved.
With the tragic death of the client Park Zhiyong, the truth was revealed bit by bit. Feng shui master Cui Minzhi listened to the words his client kept mumbling before his death, and the worker who had assisted in the relocation and burial had been sick since the day of the ceremony. He went to the mountain alone again.
As a result, it was shockingly discovered that there was another, larger coffin under the coffin of the Pu family ancestor. He collaborated with the heroine and others to start the investigation again, starting with the monk named "Hu Li" who buried the Pu family ancestor. From then on, I learned that this person was a powerful fox onmyoji from Japan, and what was involved behind him was the chaos during the Japanese colonial period in Korea long ago.
The protagonists who took the second coffin away immediately encountered bad luck. Unexpectedly, the evil spirit released from the tomb turned out to be a Japanese general. After being shocked, the whole film also ushered in the most bloody and violent part. Kim Go-eun, the heroine of The Witcher, told that this was not a ghost but a "spirit", a monster that evolved from the soul of a person or animal combined with an object. The purpose of the so-called "Hu Li" Feng Shui master and tomb robber was gradually revealed.
The plot of this part has a sense of deja vu of " conspiracy theory ". It integrates the history of the Korean Peninsula being colonized by Japan into the supernatural horror genre. It is somewhat similar to the setting of the popular Korean drama "Ghost Guest" a few years ago, but The plot design of "Broken Tomb" is even more imaginative due to the addition of Feng Shui elements.
It turns out that during the Japanese invasion of South Korea, the Japanese laid iron piles all over Korea. The iron piles driven here happened to hit the " tiger's waist" ( is similar to the dragon vein that can determine the fate of a nation) ), there is a sense of being king and cursed, and the tomb robbers called the "Iron Blood Group" are actually patriotic tomb robbers with the mission of resisting Japan and saving the country to break the Japanese Feng Shui curse, but their strength is just like what is said in the film Just like defusing landmines with their bare hands, only death awaits them.
The coffin buried so deeply by the Japanese fox master is said to be waiting for an "opportunity", so it is said that the design of the coffin seems to be open, but the war period has long ended, which is an unthinkable disaster for modern people. , and finally told the audience that the real iron stake is actually the general himself, the "spirit" mentioned by the heroine, who needs to use the Five Elements Theory to defeat him -
The fusion of the general's soul and iron, so the combination of iron and fire Only then can he be defeated by Mujia Shui.
As for the theme part, as mentioned before, it has a high degree of patriotism and national spirit elements. Director Jang Jae-hyun cleverly included the long-standing urban legend "The Legend of the Iron Stake" in the second half of the film. passed this paragraph on The legend that Japan used to place iron piles all over Korea to cut off the Feng Shui veins was used as a scheme by Japanese onmyojis. Then the Japanese ghosts that merged with the land and iron piles became ghosts, which symbolized Japan's penetration into the earth and Korea. Difficult to eradicate the effects of .
Various carefully thought-out details and arrangement bonuses make "Broken Tomb" more watchable. Even in South Korea, some historians have analyzed that the names of the four protagonists in the film, Choi Min-sik, Kim Go-eun, Yoo Hae-jin, and Lee Dae-hyun, are actually the same as those of four well-known Korean independence activists during the Japanese colonial period. The similarities are very similar, allowing the film to reveal a more secret connection between fictional interpretation and historical reality.
Judging from the plot structure of the entire story, "The Tomb" is not a pure horror film. The director has great ambitions, the genre is very mixed, the plot has twists and turns, and the details span folk customs, religions, generations, history, and countries. Between is a horror film about a war-era legacy that has become a curse in modern times.
Audiences familiar with Korean movies may think of this film as "The Cry" by famous director Luo Hongzhen, which is also a religious horror film with historical metaphors. But unlike "The Cry", which is obscure and focuses more on the design of a thriller atmosphere, the style of "Broken Tomb" is more commercial and focuses more on , a commercial horror film that is full of entertainment. .
Although the whole movie lasts more than two hours, there is no dull moment. Director Jang Jae-hyun improved the shortcomings of "Sabha"'s procrastination and lengthy story at the story level. The history of the nation is successfully combined, and the process of the protagonist's tomb-breaking battle is also the process of unraveling the truth and conspiracy . From the weirdness in the first half to the revelation of the truth later, it is quite exciting. The biggest attraction of
's movie is undoubtedly the detailed portrayal of religious and folklore elements. Many scenes are very sincere in creating atmosphere, especially the display of witchcraft fighting is quite impressive.
What must be mentioned is the heroine's dance ceremony. Kim Go-eun's dance is coupled with Lee Dae-hyun's chanting. The camera switches back and forth between the people, the cemetery and the sacrifices. The heartbeat becomes heavier and heavier with the drumbeat. Faster , this scene is undoubtedly the best scene in the movie, and is reminiscent of the plot of Japanese director Tetsuya Nakajima's film "Here Comes."
Afterwards, Jin Go-eun performed the soul-inducing ritual in the morgue. This time she sang it, and Lee Dae-hyun was the body possessed by evil spirits, which successfully created a sense of weirdness and horror. Then in the hospital, Jin Goyin invited her fellow apprentices Duan and the three of them to ask the guardian spirits to work together to deal with Li Daohan, who was attacked, injured and possessed. They were also very courageous.
In the final battle, Feng Shui master Cui Minzhi used the principle of the five elements to defeat the Japanese monster Nail General. Not only did he have the momentum to match the various rituals, but it also allowed this movie that started with Feng Shui to end with Feng Shui.
Overall, "The Tomb" is a work that can surprise horror film fans. It can be said to be another impressive Korean horror film after "The Cry", although some plot designs are slightly It's sloppy, but despite its flaws, it's still a work worth watching.
It’s a pity that such a work is destined not to be seen in domestic theaters, but can only be seen on online disks!
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