Svaha: The Sixth Finger

The bad reviews are because it's complicated. Not a typical film. Unless you're looking for simple escapism, you will enjoy this one. Theological and existential. Loads of great scenes and set pieces.

Side to Korean culture I hadn't seen in movies. Buddhist monk with a Nespresso machine, youth offender prisons, quarries etc.

The plot has a lot of "in scene" detective work and characters working out what's going on, kind of like The Wire, but in this case the detective work involves complex Buddhist iconography and monastic structure. Some who prefer simple guts and kinetic story might struggle. Hence the bad reviews - most films are way more simple, the people who are unhappy are comparing it to those expectations.

For fans of the Wailing, cult obsessives, people with spiritual beliefs. I'm personally atheist but the depth of spiritual enquiry in this film really touched me. "How can there be a God in a world like this?"

First of all, I really liked the cinematography, lighting, all the things we take for granted in a well-made film that are so obviously missing in a poor film. One shot was like a Dutch Old Master painting, you may spot it. The plot is rather complicated in following the work of an academic debunker of cults and the charlatans who mean to profit, or worse, through manipulation of followers. There is a weird mix of Buddhist and Christian influences in Korean culture which might puzzle viewers in the West like me, but it is worth paying attention and sticking with the story.

The first act is a bit messy with too much information. As soon as you passed that, it's a brilliant cult supernatural thriller.

Svaha: The Sixth Finger: South Korea, the Reverend Park investigates fringe Cults, he is paid by Christian and Buddhist organisations to take a closer look at their whackier offshoots. We see him being attacked by nasty nuns from the Agape Convent. He is presently investigating the Deer Hill Buddhist movement, superficially they appear to be a small, alms giving sect. Park sends a spy into them and discovers that they follow an obscure and esoteric form of Buddhism, they worship Generals who are actually Heavenly Kings. They also hold sacred a Buddhist text which is the equivalent of the Christian Book of Revelation and believe 81 Evil Ones will be born, basically Anti-Buddhas, The Cult are determined that these abominations must be killed. We have already witnessed a strange birth where one twin has bitten another in the womb, both survive but the biter seems to be demonic and is kept in a shed, her cries disturb animals, black goats bleated madly at her birth. Murders are uncovered and it looks as if Cult members are carrying out the prophecies. But there is much more at play in this multi-layered tale of Possession, Syncretic Buddhism, Cults and the quest for immortality. A killer sees the eyeless corpses of his child victims, another dreams of demonic creatures crawling towards him. Gory murders are committed. Snakes emerge from the demonic twins' hut and bite the curious, a claw-like hand emerges from beneath the door, flocks of birds strike the main home. Writer/Director Jang Jae-hyun delivers a worthy addition to the Korean Folk Horror Film Canon. 8/10. On Netflix.

This is would be much better if it weren't so messy. The plot is interesting, camera work is good, actors were decent and the effects were ok. For me, there are problems.

There are times where I almost felt that I was watching four different stories. Story one is about a girl and her twin sister, who is a demon or evil. Story two is about a cop who is working a murder case. Story three is about a group of boys who were sent to juvie for various reasons and came out on a mission. And, story four is about a pastor who investigates cults.

It isn't unusual to have several storylines that are interlaced and this one is but it has been done in an odd way. There are characters who are introduced but we see very little of them throughout the film. It is also a bit convoluted when it came to giving a clear understanding about all that was going on but I will be fair in saying that I was watching the film with subtitles and some things may have been lost in translation.

This is marketed as a horror film but it felt like a thriller to me. I watch a lot of horror though and I may be somewhat desensitized. Nothing about it every really rose to a level of horror. Creepy. Maybe. Not horror though.

It isn't a terrible movie. It was hard to follow.