Digging deep into Roman Catholic theology to deliver a largely accurate depiction of the oft-misunderstood ritual, Jang delivers a tense and frequently edge-of-your-seat gripping portrait of the eternal fight between light and darkness, a theme which he also similarly explored in his award-winning 2014 short '12th Assistant Deacon'.Īs in that short, the key protagonists are a renegade priest Father Kim (Kim Yun-seok) and a priest-in-training Deacon Choi (Gang Dong- won), who team up to save a young girl Young-shin (Park So-dam) that begins to exhibit one of the twelve manifestations of evil tracked by the Rosicrucrianism after a hit-and-run accident. True enough, Jang's film is the first of its kind to dabble in the 'occult', a genre typically associated with Western cinema for both cultural and historical reasons. You wouldn't normally expect to see a full-blown exorcism in a South Korean movie, so consider us intrigued when we first heard of writer/ director Jang Jae-hyun's 'The Priests'.
![the priests (2015) the priests (2015)](https://occ-0-1722-1723.1.nflxso.net/dnm/api/v6/X194eJsgWBDE2aQbaNdmCXGUP-Y/AAAABe3DH4lefU_brCPEGXQ50GRUmV3EARTO6H-iYnGS0vO-SfnTjhTiGrc20rCuNQOpltdDvNzhjwa9JBDccGO7BnQJ-JNj.jpg)
Reviewed by moviexclusive 7 / 10 Gripping with moments of sheer terror, 'The Priests' is notable not just for being the first South Korean 'exorcism' film, but a perfectly worthy addition to the genre There is a Korean option with English subtitles, or just plain English, with the opening monologue still being in Korean with English subtitles. I don't believe this is an "everyone" film due to the dubbing and length, as some may find it difficult to sit through. It was that type of humor that was in much of the feature. In one scene as they prepare for an exorcism and take communion, Father Kim quips to Choi that he could have bought a better wine. The Korean culture comes through as we see a shaman with an ox head strapped to his back attempt an exorcism. The dialogue was good, in spite of the English dubbing. While this is a serious exorcism film, it does have many light moments.
![the priests (2015) the priests (2015)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/gJHW5f5OPUI/maxresdefault.jpg)
There was also been a question of molestation and in addition to assisting Kim, he also must spy on him. Deacon Choi has been asked to be the next one, having a loose list of qualifications, one is being born in the year of the tiger. He has gone through a number of assistants and they are down to candidates from seminary school. Reviewed by nogodnomasters 8 / 10 They won't believe youįather Kim has been conducting exorcisms in Seoul, no pun intended. Well worth seeing and I look forward to more films from Jae-hyun Jang. Additionally, the story works very well and it will keep you on the edge of your seat! Plus, the ending really is awfully intelligent and offers an excellent pay-off. You also have some amazing special effects as well as an ending that is nothing like the more familiar Hollywood version. You'll see shamans, salt used for purification and many other non- Western elements within the film. Because it's an Asian film, it integrates quite a bit of Eastern religion and mysticism as well. Fortunately, it is not some cheap Korean copy or reworking of the Hollywood picture and differs in many, many ways. Can he manage to sum up the internal strength and together they rid the world of this evil? And, once the demon leaves the girl, what exactly are they to do with it?! That is a problem they really forgot to plan for in "The Exorcist"!Īs I just mentioned the film, at times, "The Priests" clearly feels like "The Exorcist". Soon, assistant number 11 is assigned to help. As for his assistants, they all end up leaving the case.unable to cope with the horrible fight against evil. The priest makes it his life's work to rid her of the demon but he is so far unsuccessful. Despite the horrible fall, she is still alive and is in a coma where she remains off and on for years-all the while the demon remains trapped within her. However, soon something expected occurs and the girl dives from her hospital window.
![the priests (2015) the priests (2015)](https://i1.imgiz.com/rshots/8984/the-priests-korean-movie-2015-trailer-hd_8984734-22660_640x360.jpg)
When the film begins, a young Catholic priest in South Korea is trying to exorcise a demon from a young girl.
#The priests (2015) movie#
This combination is an interesting one and the movie by Jae-hyun Jang is well worth your time. Ignore it! Instead, the film is an interesting combination of Western films exorcism films combined with Eastern sensibilities.
![the priests (2015) the priests (2015)](https://i2.wp.com/www.hancinema.net/photos/fullsizephoto641649.jpg)
If you look at the IMDb page for "The Priests", you'll find that the summary really isn't what this film is about at all. Reviewed by MartinHafer 8 / 10 A really nice blend of East and West!