Movie 'EXHUMA (Pamyo)' Review (Spoiler Alert)

Movie 'EXHUMA (Pamyo)' Review (Spoiler Alert)

As of May 22, 2024, the movie 'EXHUMA(Pamyo)' continues to break records with a cumulative audience of 11.9 million in South Korea. The film is also set to be released in several international regions, including China, Vietnam, Mongolia, Hong Kong, Cambodia, India, Turkey, and Russia. Is 'EXHUMA(Pamyo)' showing in your country as well? If so, I highly recommend watching it. It is one of the best occult films to come out of Korea. Now, let me explain why. Please note that this review contains spoilers and the ending of the movie, so I advise you to read it after watching the film.

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"Something terrifying has emerged." Let's start with the plot of 'EXHUMA(Pamyo)'

 

 

EXHUMA(Pamyo) | Official Trailer

Part 1. Yin-Yang and the Five Elements (陰陽五行)

The story of the movie EXHUMA(Pamyo)' begins when MZ shamans Hwarim and Bong-gil visit Los Angeles, USA. They visit a wealthy family plagued by a strange illness passed down through generations, centered around the eldest grandson. With just a few whistles, Hwarim identifies the ancestral burial site as the source of the trouble. After receiving a request for a high-priced exhumation, Hwarim returns to Korea and proposes working together with the top geomancer, Sang-deok, and the undertaker, Young-geun. Drawn by the scent of money, they meet the client, Park Ji-yong, and begin preparations to find the burial site. 

MZ shamans Hwarim and Bong-gil visit Los Angeles, USA

Part 2. The Nameless Grave

However, something feels off. Ji-yong, who guides them to the top of a mountain, opens a securely chained gate. It's unsettling enough that the grave is located at the top of the mountain, but even more disturbing is the sight of foxes, which are incompatible with the burial site, watching Sang-deok's party warily. Sang-deok, who has sought out numerous auspicious sites, and Hwarim, who has appeased countless ancestral spirits, both find the eerie landscape unlike anything they've ever seen before.

Extremely inauspicious place where no one should ever be buried.

 

And then they arrive at the client’s burial site. Young-geun tries to soothe his ominous feelings by noting the favorable mountain features, but Sang-deok, who tastes the soil at the burial site, quickly spits it out. It is an extremely inauspicious place where no one should ever be buried. The old tombstone bears no name, only the mysterious numbers "383417 1283289." Sang-deok abruptly descends the mountain, telling Ji-yong he cannot proceed with this task. He firmly warns Hwarim, Bong-gil, and Young-geun, "You all know what happens if you disturb a burial site carelessly." Despite this, Hwarim, unable to ignore the sick child, proposes performing both the exhumation and the Dae-sal-gut ritual.

 

*Dae-sal-gut?
A type of ritual from Hwanghae Province, South Korea, where animals are sacrificed to the gods.

 

Hwarim&Bong-gil begins the Daesalgut ritual

On the day of the exhumation, Ji-yong’s aunt, Park Jeong-ja, also arrives at the ancestral mountain. As tension fills the air, Hwarim begins the Daesalgut ritual, and professional workers born in the Year of the Pig start the exhumation. After digging for a long time, they finally uncover Ji-yong’s father’s coffin. The coffin, made of Chinese juniper used by the royal family in ancient times, evokes awe. However, the ground surrounding the coffin is damp with moisture. Following Ji-yong’s request to cremate the coffin whole, Sangdeok and Yeonggeun promptly transfer it to the hearse and head to the crematorium in haste.

 

The Traditional Appearance of Nure Onna

At that moment, one of the workers finishing up the exhumation, hoping to find something valuable, begins to poke around the burial site with his shovel. He discovers a snake crawling out from the ground. This is no ordinary snake, but a 'Nure onna'—a yokai with a red-patterned body and the face of a young woman with disheveled hair. Terrified, the worker strikes the Nure onna's body with his shovel. The yokai's sharp scream rose to the sky and, as it echoed outward, ominous dark clouds began to gather in the once clear sky.

 

Mysterious numbers "383417 1283289" on the tombstone

With the pouring rain, Sang-deok, who was on his way to the crematorium, suggests postponing the cremation to Ji-yong, saying that "ancestors cannot find peace if it rains." They temporarily place the coffin in the morgue of a hospital where Young-geun has connections. Convinced that there is a secret the Ji-yong family is hiding, given the mysterious numbers "383417 1283289" on the tombstone and the unusual request to cremate the coffin intact, Sang-deok asks Young-geun to stay by the coffin until Hwarim and Bong-gil arrive at the hospital and then leaves. 

Boguksa, a temple near Ji-yong’s ancestral mountain

Sangdeok heads to Boguksa, a temple near Ji-yong’s ancestral mountain. There, he asks Lee Jong-gu, the solitary monk guarding the temple, about the head monk. Sangdeok recalls Ji-yong mentioning that a monk named 'Gi Soon-ae' had identified the burial site. However, Jong-gu doesn’t know anything about 'Gi Soon-ae'. He does mention that rumors of treasure buried in Ji-yong’s ancestral mountain attracted frequent visits from grave robbers. The belongings left in the storage shed are surprisingly serious for mere treasure hunters.

 

Meanwhile, while Young-geun is away for a meal, a hospital employee, driven by greed, starts to pry open the coffin, thinking there must be treasure inside the ornate fragrant wood coffin. As he struggles to open it, Hwarim and Bong-gil arrive at the morgue, but they are too late to stop him. As soon as the coffin is opened, something hits Hwarim and escapes from the morgue. Hwarim is urgently taken to the emergency room.

 

"something terrifying has emerged."  

Upon hearing the news, Sangdeok and Yeonggeun rush to the scene, where Hwarim and Bonggil explain that "something terrifying has emerged." They warn that the vengeful spirit, which has been wailing underground for decades, will now come for the descendants one by one. Just as Hwarim predicted, a shadow of death looms over Ji-yong’s family, and his father in LA loses his life. Hwarim manages to use Bonggil’s body to summon the spirit back to the morgue, but the resentful spirit escapes from Bonggil, declaring, "I will take all my children."

 

"The fox broke the tiger's waist."

To save his next target, Ji-yong, Sangdeok hurries to the hotel where he is staying. However, Ji-yong, deceived by the vengeful spirit, mutters the cryptic phrase, "The fox broke the tiger's waist," before meeting his death. While Sangdeok is left in shock over losing Ji-yong, the vengeful spirit heads to LA to find Ji-yong’s hospitalized grandson. The child begins to cry out in pain under the spirit's touch. Desperate to save the boy, Sangdeok convinces Ji-yong's aunt to approve the cremation. As the coffin burns, the vengeful spirit vanishes. But is it really over now?

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The subsequent storyline, which has divided opinions among audiences, will be detailed in the next two posts under "Part 3: Dongti." Following the plot summaries, I will also delve into the hidden interpretations within the movie "Exhuma" over a total of five posts. Stay tuned!