Metamorphosis (2019 South Korean film)

For the Philippine film, see Metamorphosis (2019 Philippine film).

Metamorphosis (Original title: 변신, Hanja: 變身, Byeonshin) is a 2019 South Korean supernatural horror film written and directed by Kim Hong-seon and starring Bae Seong-woo, Sung Dong-il, Jang Young-nam, Kim Hye-jun, Cho Yi-hyun, and Kim Kang-hoon. The film received two nominations from Blue Dragon Film Awards (South Korea).^[2]

Metamorphosis
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Kim Hong-seon
Written by	Kim Hong-seon
Produced by	Hyun-joo Jung
Starring	Bae Seong-woo Sung Dong-il Jang Young-nam Kim Hye-jun Cho Yi-hyun Kim Kang-hoon
Cinematography	Yoon Ju Hwan
Edited by	Shin Min-kyung
Music by	Kim Jun-seong
Production company	Dana Creative
Distributed by	Acemaker Movieworks Sega Sammy Entertainment Shudder
Release date	August 21, 2019 (2019-08-21) (South Korea)
Running time	113 minutes
Country	South Korea
Language	Korean
Box office	US$12.9 million[1]

Plot

When a troubled family moves into a new house because their pastor uncle was accused of murdering a child, things do not add up from the very beginning. The family members do not know that the face-changing devil, whom their uncle tried to expel from the child's body, has sworn to destroy the pastor's family at any cost.

Cast

• Bae Seong-woo as Joong-soo, a pastor who failed to exorcise a girl possessed by a demon causing her to die
• Sung Dong-il as Gang-goo, Joong-soo's older brother and father of Sun-woo, Hyun-joo, Woo-jong
• Jang Young-nam as Myung-joo, Gang-goo's wife
• Kim Hye-jun as Sun-woo, a college student
• Cho Yi-hyun as Hyun-joo, a high school student
• Kim Kang-hoon as Woo-jong, an elementary school student
• Jeon Mi-do as Girl's Mother
• Kim Se-hee as Girl
• Baek Yoon-sik as Balthazar
• Oh Dae-hwan as Man next door
• Ronnie Henares as Filipino Priest 1
• Joel Saracho as Filipino Priest 2
• Archie Adamos as Filipino Priest 3
• Troy Webb as Filipino Priest 4
• Bing Pimentel as Elder Filipino Nun

Reception

Patrick Brennan of Dread Central wrote, "Though visually inventive at times, Metamorphosis ultimately feels far too familiar to standout from the rest of the exorcism entries in horror today."^[3] Scott Weinberg of Thrillist added, " A bit too long and beholden to similar possession flicks, but there's still some impressive filmmaking here."^[4] William Schwartz of HanCinema wrote that while the film is "not particularly original", it "makes the smart decision to portray the spirit as a fairly mundane problem which exorcists deal with the same way a plumber might deal with a clogged pipe", and called the tension "absolutely superb" and the imagery "disturbing yet distinctly the work of a mortal hand, which makes it all the creepier."^[5]