Exhuma (2023) is a chilling South Korean supernatural horror film directed by Jang Jae-hyun, known for his work on Svaha: The Sixth Finger and The Priests. The story explores the disturbing aftermath of exhuming a mysterious grave tied to centuries-old curses and ancestral sins. Drawing on shamanic traditions and folklore, the film is both a slow-burn psychological thriller and a meditation on the weight of legacy and guilt.
The plot centers on a wealthy Korean-American family whose youngest child is plagued by an unknown spiritual illness. Desperate for answers, they turn to a team of spiritual experts: a renowned geomancer, a Buddhist monk, and two shamans, including the gifted Hwa-rim (played by Kim Go-eun). Their investigation leads them to a remote mountainside grave in Korea, believed to be the root of the haunting. However, when the grave is unearthed, they unwittingly awaken a terrifying malevolent force, one far older and more vengeful than they imagined.
What sets Exhuma apart is its atmosphere — a haunting fusion of modern urban life and ancient spiritual tradition. The cinematography evokes dread through minimalist visuals, eerie nighttime rituals, and stark contrasts between sacred and profane spaces. Kim Go-eun delivers a standout performance as Hwa-rim, channeling both strength and vulnerability. Her character's spiritual abilities form the emotional and narrative core of the film.
Critically, Exhuma has been praised for its use of Korean cultural elements, particularly geomancy (pungsu-jiri) and ancestral rites, offering international audiences a unique look at non-Western horror mythology. The film is thematically rich — addressing the tension between tradition and modernity, the consequences of historical violence, and the spiritual debts we unknowingly inherit.
While Exhuma ends on a haunting note of spiritual release, loose threads remain. A potential sequel — Exhuma 2: The Blood Soil — could explore the aftermath of the desecrated grave. What if the evil force wasn’t fully exorcised, but instead absorbed into the land itself, spreading corruption across ancestral territories?
Hwa-rim, now a national figure in spiritual circles, is called to a new village where crops rot overnight and children speak in unknown tongues. Joined by a conflicted Catholic exorcist and a historian specializing in Joseon-era massacres, she uncovers an ancient blood ritual buried in Korea’s colonial past. As geomantic lines become distorted, Hwa-rim must not only battle ghosts but reckon with buried traumas in the nation's collective memory.
This imagined sequel would elevate the mythos, turning the Exhuma series into a saga exploring Korea’s spiritual and historical scars — a blend of horror, memory, and reckoning.
