Sightlines · reception

How Exhuma was received

2024 · Jang Jae-hyun · Exhuma on Sightlines

The arc

A blockbuster from day one — it premiered at the 2024 Berlinale, then stormed the Korean box office to become the year's biggest domestic hit, and it's since settled in as the film that proved occult horror could go fully mainstream in Korea.

What’s debated

The hard midpoint pivot — from slow-burn graverobbing procedural to full-blown supernatural showdown — splits viewers between 'bold genre swing' and 'the second half lost me.'

Its footprint

Kim Go-eun's shamanic ritual dance became the film's iconic, endlessly clipped image, and the characters' faces inked with protective script turned into one of 2024's most shared horror visuals — big enough to spark cross-border online spats over the practice.

Where it stands

Already a Letterboxd-era touchstone for the Korean occult wave — the gateway film people hand you after The Wailing.

Did you know? Exhuma became the first Korean occult/supernatural film ever to pass 10 million admissions at the domestic box office, making it the most-watched Korean film of 2024.