The Priests

Normally eastern horror movies would dabble in traditional myth or folklore, for example the haunting of girl with white dress and long hair which plagues Japan, China and even Indonesia. It's a pleasant surprise that a Korean movie tries to incorporate possession and religious tone into this genre. By maintaining respect from the original source and using it in unique atmosphere, this is a commendable as well as a successful excursion to other side of horror.

A young deacon (Dong-won Kang) is called to assist Father Kim (Yun-seok Kim) in the exorcism of a young high school girl. Both men have no connection before, and their personalities are too far apart. This is not the usual mentor and student relationship, the older Father is weary and brash which makes him a contrasting character to the young deacon. However, necessity ensures that they have to work together.

The first act is admittedly rather slow, it gives a nice look of the priests' lives and appreciated details about possession. However, this tends to stall a bit as the movie strolls through some subplots that are not necessarily crucial to the story. It ramps up significantly as the two priests walk closer towards possessed girl, at this point visual dims to portray dark premonition against the bright light of modern city.

This is suspense build up and showcase of exorcism done right. Its unusual oriental vibe works in the movie's favor by clashing the cultures together. Details like traditional rituals, tight apartments and occasional bleak view on metropolis splendidly set up the ambiance. The cinematography used is extremely chilling and engaging, viewing the struggle in creepy close encounter. This rings especially true when they face the malicious entity.

At its peak this is one of the most eerie displays of the genre. The exorcism in the east uses enigmatic theme and unorthodox setting to conjure novelty and gripping terror.

Story revolves around a priest and his assistant who are trying to save a girl from evil spirit. The movie presented in a very uninteresting way. The slow and weak writing are major problem which let down the movie. The major positive thing of the movie is cinematography. Other than last 20 minutes of exorcism there are not any other scary scenes. The base plot of the movie were very old and Hollywood done many movies in the genre of excorcism. So as an audience I expect some uniqueness from other excorcism movie but I couldn't find any. Watch it if you are hardcore fan of excorcism movies. But it may not please you.

I was entertained by this Korean film with two priests unofficially assigned to remove the devil from a teenage girl. The acting is top notch and the script has a decent sense of humor. As a Catholic with some knowledge of my church's beliefs, I found the story to be well done. Nothing new in the popular theme but I was o.k. With the result.

If you look at the IMDb page for "The Priests", you'll find that the summary really isn't what this film is about at all. Ignore it! Instead, the film is an interesting combination of Western films exorcism films combined with Eastern sensibilities. This combination is an interesting one and the movie by Jae-hyun Jang is well worth your time.

When the film begins, a young Catholic priest in South Korea is trying to exorcise a demon from a young girl. However, soon something expected occurs and the girl dives from her hospital window. Despite the horrible fall, she is still alive and is in a coma where she remains off and on for years---all the while the demon remains trapped within her. The priest makes it his life's work to rid her of the demon but he is so far unsuccessful. As for his assistants, they all end up leaving the case...unable to cope with the horrible fight against evil. Soon, assistant number 11 is assigned to help. Can he manage to sum up the internal strength and together they rid the world of this evil? And, once the demon leaves the girl, what exactly are they to do with it?! That is a problem they really forgot to plan for in "The Exorcist"!

As I just mentioned the film, at times, "The Priests" clearly feels like "The Exorcist". Fortunately, it is not some cheap Korean copy or reworking of the Hollywood picture and differs in many, many ways. Because it's an Asian film, it integrates quite a bit of Eastern religion and mysticism as well. You'll see shamans, salt used for purification and many other non- Western elements within the film. You also have some amazing special effects as well as an ending that is nothing like the more familiar Hollywood version. Additionally, the story works very well and it will keep you on the edge of your seat! Plus, the ending really is awfully intelligent and offers an excellent pay-off. Well worth seeing and I look forward to more films from Jae-hyun Jang.

This was actually really scary at times, and later quite disturbing as the possession intensified. I did find it a bit slow moving somewhere around the mid point, but it was still interesting, though. The ending is awesome! It gets really exciting with a possessed pig, police chase, cars crashing left, right and center, and a priest running out of time. Wow!