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The 8th Night
2021 South Korean horror thriller film From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 8th Night (Korean: 제8일의 밤; RR: Je8irui bam) is a 2021 South Korean horror film[2] directed by Kim Tae-hyoung for Gom Pictures starring Lee Sung-min, Park Hae-joon, Kim Yoo-jung, and Nam Da-reum.[3] 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 2 July 2021.[4][5]
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Plot
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"A man, who was once an exorcist, suffers until he faces a demon that is freed. The night exists between real and unreal, their struggle to stop the resurrection of the demon has begun!"[6]
About two and half millennium ago (2,500 years), a monster crossed the bridge from hell to the human realm to create human suffering. Buddha ripped both the Red Eye and the Black Eye from the monster and locked them inside different Śarīra caskets. Before the Red Eye surrendered to Buddha, it ran away for seven days by hiding inside human bodies. On the 8th day, the Red Eye looked back. Knowing that it could not escape Buddha, it surrendered itself. The Eyes were buried in the cliffs of the Far East and the desert of the Far West. Buddha instructed his disciples to make sure they would never meet.
In the present, Professor Kim Joon-Cheol (Choi Jin-ho) sets out in the desert to prove the existence of the Śarīra caskets. He finds a relic which is presumed to be one of the caskets. However, the scientific community declares his findings to be fraudulent, and he is shunned by all. Fourteen years later, Professor Kim, now a bitter individual, is determined to prove the truth of his discovery by reuniting the Black Eye and Red Eye. He opens the casket and pours six vials of blood into it along with his own. Before Professor Kim is about to give up, the Red Eye emerges from the casket, presumably possessing Professor Kim.
In Gwangju, Bhante Ha-jung (Lee Eol), protector of the Black Eye casket, realizes the Red Eye has reawakened. He tells a young monk, Cheongseok (Nam Da-reum), the legend of the monster with two eyes. Later that night, Bhante Ha-jung tells Cheongseok that the Red Eye has awakened and will soon reunite with the Black Eye. They must slay at least the seventh pillar, the Virgin Shaman, to prevent the Red Eye from reuniting with the Black Eye. Cheongseok must find Bhante Seon-hwa (Lee Sung-min) and inform him of the situation. The following morning, Cheongseok awakes to find Bhante Ha-jung passed away while sitting upright, presumably in his sleep, the Śarīra casket by the dead monk.
Meanwhile, in Chilgok, the Red Eye possesses a hunter and enters a secluded motel where a couple is staying. The woman tells her boyfriend about a meditation group where she was given a free health check-up along with a blood test. The hunter presumably attacks the couple. Detectives Kim Ho-Tae and Dong-jin investigate the scene and find the hunter's body shriveled and decomposed. Cameras show that the woman was seen leaving the motel. Later on, the very same woman is found in another location, her body found in a condition similar to that of the hunter's, both with a hole in their skull. Due to the bizarre condition of the two victims, Dong-jin suggests seeking help from a shaman he knows. However, being a skeptic, Kim rejects the idea.
Cheongseok leaves Gwanju in search of Bhante Seon-hwa. Unfortunately, he lost his bag which contained the casket and some money. He presumes that it was stolen by the young girl (Kim Yoo-Jung) who disappeared into the crowd. Cheongseok finds Seon-hwa, who is now a construction worker, and tells him (via writing, due to his vow of silence) what happened in Gwanju. Through flashbacks, Ha-jung's spirit reveals that Seon-hwa left the monastery because he didn't want to be Ha-jung's successor. Seon-hwa also neglected his duty of 'helping lost souls ascend', so countless spirits are now clinging to his back. The following morning, Seon-hwa prepares to leave in search for the seventh pillar, with Cheongseok following him. Seon-hwa presumes that the seventh pillar is the Virgin Shaman, with whom the monks of Gwanju are acquainted. Seon-hwa treats Cheongseok well, even buying him a new pair of shoes. Cheongseok thanks Seon-hwa, inadvertently breaking his vow of silence.
Meanwhile, the Red Eye has moved on from the woman at the motel and possesses another, leaving the woman from the motel dried up and decomposed. A delivery man on a motorbike drives pass the possessed woman in a tunnel and stops, recognizing that they both belong to the same meditation group. The Red Eye then possesses the delivery man. Later, Detective Kim is called to the crime scene, where the body of the second possessed woman has been found. Like the first two victims, her body is shriveled and decomposed with a large hole in her skull. A motorbike and delivery bag lie abandoned nearby.
Before boarding a bus, Seon-hwa is visited again by Ha-jung's spirit in a dream. It is revealed that Cheongseok's mother, driving under the influence, crashed into Seon-hwa and his family. His wife and daughter died, leading him to become a monk in Gwanju. Cheongseok's mother sent a letter to Bhante Ha-jung before she committed suicide, asking Ha-jung to adopt Cheongseok and apologizing to Seon-hwa for the death of his family. After getting off the bus, Seon-hwa told Cheongseok to search for shaman services in the area, hoping to find the Virgin Shaman. Upon learning of the recent bizarre murder, Seon-hwa goes to the tunnel where the woman and delivery motorbike were found. Detective Kim stops him, asking for Seonhwa's I.D. When Kim asks Seon-hwa to open his bag, which contains an axe, Seonhwa tries to run. The two get into a scuffle and Seonhwa is forced to leave his map that pinpoints the search area.
Cheongseok finds the house of the Virgin Shaman, and a young woman in a white dress lets him in. He recognized her as the same young woman who may have stolen his bag. Cheongseok leaves, but as soon as he steps outside, he sees a student staring at him. The student reveals the Red Eye on her face, being the sixth pillar. Cheongseok runs away in fear and informs Seon-hwa of what happened when they meet up. Seonhwa tells Cheongseok to go back home and reveals his intent to kill the young woman from the shaman's house whom he believes to be the seventh pillar and the Virgin Shaman. They go their separate ways, but Cheongseok runs back to the shaman's home and takes the young woman away. Meanwhile, Dong-jin informs Kim of Seon-hwa's past and how the victims were all connected through Professor Kim Joon-Cheol's meditation group for suicidal people. Dong-jin has actually met the Virgin Shaman, who is still alive, at the meditation group – she is the Virgin Shaman whose house Cheongseok visited and where he met the young woman in the white dress. Dong-jin has a talisman made by the same Virgin Shaman using his own blood which he gifts to Kim to thank him for saving Dong-jin from suicide. Kim tells Dong-jin to leave while he uses Seonhwa's map to track down Seonhwa.
Seonhwa finds the house of the Virgin Shaman and confronts the shaman whose face is covered with talismans. As Seonhwa prepares to strike her down, Detective Kim arrives in time to stop him, and the two square off once more. Before Kim can handcuff Seonhwa, the Red Eye student arrives and hurls him away. The talisman from Dong-jin shields Kim from further harm. The Red Eye student leaves after realizing that Cheongseok and the young woman have already left. Seonhwa follows the student, inscribing a talisman on his axe with his own blood. However, the Red Eye student intentionally runs in front of Dong-jin's car, tricking the young detective in order to possess him. After Red Eye departs the student's body and enters Dong-jin's, the student falls to the ground, her corpse blackened and shriveled. Red Eye Dong-jin doesn't kill Seon-hwa, but tells him to head back to Gwanju where he will die.
Meanwhile, Cheongseok brings the young woman in the white dress to Gwanju. Seon-hwa and the Red Eye Dong-jin arrive later. Detective Kim returns to the Virgin Shaman's house where it is revealed that the woman who Seonhwa almost killed is the actual Virgin Shaman. The young woman in the white dress is a ghost who was haunting Professor Kim. The real Virgin Shaman reveals that the ghost's name is Ae-ran, an abused child saved by Professor Kim. Professor Kim had groomed her to serve as the sacrifice needed to reunite the monster’s two Eyes. Professor Kim also tricked the members of the meditation group into donating their blood through free blood tests, intending to use the collected blood to summon the Red Eye and ultimately turn them into the seven stepping stones. After Ae-ran latched onto the Virgin Shaman, she used the shaman to trick Dong-jin into giving his own blood, so he could later be possessed in place of the shaman. It was also this Virgin Shaman, possessed by Ae-ran, who took the Śarīra casket from Cheongseok. Detective Kim leaves for Gwanju in search of Dong-jin.
Seon-hwa finds Cheongseok in an abandoned shack, and the young monk realizes that he is all alone from the start, with the casket in his possession. Seon-hwa instructs Cheongseok of their plan to trap Dong-jin, and let the Red Eye possess him instead, with Cheongseok delivering the killing blow. The plan goes well, and they manage to trap Dong-jin inside. However, Dong-jin revealed that neither Ae-ran nor the Virgin Shaman was the seventh pillar he needed. Ae-ran's purpose was to bewitch the seventh pillar, Cheongseok. Because Seon-hwa left the monastery and didn't become Ha-jung's successor, the title was transferred to Cheongseok. This meant that only Cheongseok has the ability to open the casket containing the Black Eye. Dong-jin orders the ghost of Ae-ran to find Cheongseok, who is hiding nearby. Still bewitched, Ae-ran was able to remove Cheongseok's robe, which had a talisman Seon-hwa made. Dong-jin orders Seon-hwa to shoot himself for being such a failure in life, but Seon-hwa shoots Dong-jin instead, though futile.
Cheongseok runs away from the possessed Dong-jin, and encounters Detective Kim. Detective Kim tries to stop Dong-jin but is again hurled violently to the side, protected once again by Dong-jin's talisman that's in his pocket. Seon-hwa manages to shoot Dong-jin's weak left leg but Dong-jin crawls to Cheongseok in pursuit. Seon-hwa delivers a killing blow to Dong-jin's back, but he gets shot by Detective Kim. Detective Kim goes over to Dong-jin, but his corpse rapidly dries up and decomposes. The Red Eye has successfully possessed Cheongseok, and it throws Detective Kim onto a sharp branch, killing him. As the Black Eye materializes, the Red Eye grabs the dying Seon-hwa. It transforms itself into a younger version of Cheongseok, and torments Seon-hwa into strangling the young boy, seeing as his mother was the cause of his family's deaths. However, Seon-hwa resists, caressing the young boy's cheek. The Red Eye reverts back to the grownup Cheongseok and is about to kill Seon-hwa with the axe. Seon-hwa traps Cheongseok's arm while chanting a spell. As he caresses Cheongseok's face, he was actually drawing another talisman on it using his own blood. This forces the Red Eye to possess Seon-hwa, and he asks Cheongseok to kill him. Cheongseok gathers the courage to do so, killing Seon-hwa and stopping the reunion of the Red Eye and Black Eye in the process.
Cheongseok is later seen in the border of India and Pakistan, and returns the casket back to where it was first unearthed. Ae-run appears before him, and Cheongseok offers his hand. As Ae-run's spirit grabs Cheongseok's hand, the chains on her ankles falls away, presumably freeing her.
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Cast
- Lee Sung-min as Park Jin-soo, the guardian[7]
- Park Hae-joon as Kim Ho-tae, homicide detective[8]
- Kim Yoo-jung as Ae-ran, a girl with a secret[9]
- Nam Da-reum as Cheong-seok[10]
- Choi Jin-ho as Professor Kim Joon-cheol
- Lee Eol as Ha-jeong
- Kim Han-sol as delivery man
- Park Se-hyun as a high school girl
Production
Casting
In May 2019, Lee Seong-min, Park Hae-joon,[11] Kim Yoo-jung,[12] and Nam Da-reum were confirmed to appear in the film.[13] Later, Lee Eul[14] and Choi Jin-ho joined the cast.[15]
Filming
Filming began on May 19, 2019, and was wrapped up on September 26, 2019.[6] The film was shot in Suwon, Incheon, Paju, Daejeon, Daegu, Yeongyang County and Kazakhstan.[16] It was set to release in 2020 but was postponed due to COVID-19.[17]
Reception
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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 63% of 8 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.60/10. [18]
Sarah Musnicky, writing in Nightmarish Conjurings, rated it with 4.5/5 stars and wrote that the screenplay is 'incredibly thoughtful' as it kept the audience guessing. She opined, "The writing helps to elevate the story beyond a typical "save the day" scenario." Musnicky also praised the performances of the cast because in her opinion that really helped the development of characters. Praising the FX makeup and the VFX, she penned, "And its in that simplicity that I think the Makeup and VFX teams really shone." Concluding the review Musnicky expressed, "Altogether, The 8th Night is a strong contender for one of my favorite films of 2021."[19]
Johnny Loftus, writing for Decider, praised Nam Da-reum's performance. He opined that The 8th Night, was a well-made film which eschews 'big scares' and 'jump scenes' for a 'suitably creepy' juxtaposition of the supernatural and mundane. Ending his write-up, he wrote, "A different film might fling the door to Hell open with a little more flair, but The 8th Night still drives at its central conceit with subtle notes of character and spirit world mystery."[20]
For JumpCut Online, Nguyen Le said the film has "the style, the startles and the sight to certify deeper currents" despite an overly rapid pacing and average English subtitling work that can cause details to be lost. He ended his 3.5/5 review by saying this is a film "you should, at least once, give the time of day to."[21]
Writing for Culture Mix, Carla Hay opined that The 8th Night has innovative cinematography and visual effects making the film an above average horror film. Hay wrote that the film with solid plot overcame decoration over content scenes, and suspenseful and surprising twists made up for the film's messy climax. Ending the review Hay said, "The 8th Night has enough captivating mystery and horror that viewers, confused or not, shouldn't get easily bored from watching this movie."[22]
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References
External links
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