Once the lesser regarded cousin to Japanese screen horror, South Korean has come in leaps and bounds over the past decade or two. Jang Jae-hyun’s Exhuma is a strong case in point. This tought, hugely effective supernatural thriller has already been a huge hit back at home. This weekend it screens at Melbourne’s ACMI, as part of a weekend-long “Spotlight on K-Horror”. All four films screening are well worth an audience’s time – the other three are A Tale of Two Sisters (2003), Save the Green Planet (2003), and Train to Busan (2016) – but Exhuma in particular deserves Australian horror fans’ attention.

A team of supernatural investigators and shamans fly from Korea to Los Angeles at the behest of the wealthy Park Ji-yong (Kim Jae-cheol). He believes something has cursed his family – specifically its first-born sons including both Park himself and his newborn child. Shaman Hwa-rim (Kim Go-eun) suspects a ‘grave’s call’: a restless ancestor spirit that will make trouble until it is either reburied or cremated. When Hwa-rim and her team – assistant Bong-gil (Lee Do-hyun), geomancer Kim Sang-deok (Choi Min-sik), and apprentice Yeong-geun (Yoo Hae-jin) – excavate the coffin from its burial site along the North-South Korean border, they discover a far more ominous threat than they first expected.

Exhuma is a film of two halves. The first is an excellent and evocative supernatural thriller with a solid premise, a strong cast, and an impressive attention to detail. The second, far more unexpected half transforms the premise. It becomes a story embedded in Korea’s own history and focuses upon past injustice and real-life horrors. The shift from one type of film to the other is well-handled. It lifts Exhuma well above its initial premise and into the realm of minor classics.

Part of the richness of the film comes from Hwa-rim’s assembled group of ghost hunters. On the one hand their practices are presented as legitimate and well-grounded. Their ceremonies and rituals are reflective of Korea’s own complex religious and spiritual background, which is vivid and effective touch. On the other, there is still a disreputable air of exploitation about them. Solving the Park family’s curse is seen not as a solemn duty but as an opportunity to fleece some rich people of their money.

It is always a pleasure to see Choi Min-sik onscreen. The star of Oldboy and I Saw the Devil is well known and loved by Korean cinema enthusiasts, and he acts very much as the emotional core of Hwa-rim’s team. His co-stars are similarly effective, and do a valuable job of balancing the film’s dark subject with its unexpected and momentary flashes of levity. For viewers here in Australia it is the best kind of horror film: while adding to the rich, global tradition of folk horror, it leans heavily into its own cultural context. It provides a striking and original contribution to the field, both haunting and horrific, and stands as one of 2024’s best films so far.

ACMI’s Spotlight on K-Horror screens over the next two weekends, 27-28 July and 3-4 August 2024. For more information, and to book tickets, click here. Exhuma screens tomorrow, 27 July.