"The 8th Night"

"The 8th Night" review

"The 8th Night" is a 2021 South Korean mystery-thriller film directed by Kim Tae-Hyoung for Gom Pictures starring Lee Sung-Min, Park Hae-Joon, Kim Yoo-Jung, and Nam Da-Reum. The film depicts the struggle of a former exorcist attempting to stop the resurrection of two mysterious beings who tormented humans and were locked up in separate caskets for 2500 years. It was released on Netflix and made available for streaming in 190 countries on July 2, 2021.

“The 8th Night” is a Korean horror film that draws on contemporary Korean horror elements. It weaves a tale of monsters, exorcisms, and ancient prophecies. The movie is about a millennia-old spirit who wants to unleash hell on Earth. 

The film starts with a legendary tale about a monster who tries to unleash hell on Earth by sacrificing a human but  stopped by Buddha. Though unable to kill him, Buddha hides the eyes of the monster in a stone like box, one red eye and one black eye, far away from each other. He leaves his two disciples with the task to make sure that the two eyes never meet. The tale tells that the monster will use seven stepping stones (meaning that it will kill seven people) to bring the  eyes together.

As the story goes on we are brought to the present we see a Kim Joon  Cheol  (The Professor) found one of the eyes in desert and in curiosity he opened it and freed, the monster and as told in tales it starts its journey of seven stepping stones. On the next scene we see Ha Jeong [the Monk]  who notices that the monster is free and tells the other monk Cheong Seok that the monster is free and he needs to find  Seon Hwa (Park Jin Soo). Park Jin Soo was  the chosen one and the only one who could stop the monster. With prayer beads in one hand and an axe in the other, Park Jin-soo sets out to stop the monster along with Chung-seok. It may sound like straight stroy where they just hunt down the monster but as the story goes we twist and turns.  

Overall the movie was good  its not too gore or bloody (which i mostly watch) but the story, the ancient tales  and the twists were good. Some might find the first-half boring since the monster doesn't interact much with the protagonist.  But later when the it starts meddling with the protagonist and when twist comes it becomes interesting. The acting of every member of the cast is exceptional. The dialogue delivery, the expressions, especially of those possessed by the monster are mindblowing.

So that was my experience with this movie "The 8th Night". The movie was good and it kept me entertained till the end. I definitely suggest to watch this movie even if you are not a horror fan.