Exhuma
Theatrical release poster
Hangul	파묘
Hanja	破墓
Lit.	Exhuming and relocation of a grave
RR	Pamyo
MR	P'amyo
Directed by	Jang Jae-hyun
Written by	Jang Jae-hyun
Starring	Choi Min-sik Kim Go-eun Yoo Hae-jin Lee Do-hyun
Cinematography	Lee Mo-gae
Edited by	Jung Byung-jin
Music by	Kim Tae-seong
Production companies	Showbox Pinetown Productions MCMC
Distributed by	Showbox
Release dates	February 16, 2024 (2024-02-16) (Berlinale) February 22, 2024 (2024-02-22) (South Korea)
Running time	134 minutes
Country	South Korea
Languages	Korean English Japanese
Budget	US$11 million[1]
Box office	US$93.9 million[2][3]

Exhuma (Korean:파묘;RR:Pamyo) is a 2024 South Koreanhorror film written and directed byJang Jae-hyun, and starringChoi Min-sik,Kim Go-eun,Yoo Hae-jin andLee Do-hyun. The film includes mystery and occult elements, and follows the process of excavating an ominous grave, which unleashes dreadful consequences buried underneath.^[4]

Exhuma premiered in the Forum section at the74th Berlin International Film Festival on February 16, 2024.^[5] It was released theatrically on February 22 and received positive reviews from critics.^[6] The film grossed $93.9 million worldwide, becoming thehighest-grossing South Korean film of 2024 and thesixth highest-grossing South Korean film of all time.^[7][8]

RenownedKorean shaman Hwa-rim and her protégé, Bong-gil are enlisted by a wealthy real estate developerKorean American family to identify the mysterious illness of the family's newborn son. Hwa-rim uncovers the curse to be a "Grave's Call", a vengefulancestor's spirit haunting them. The family's patriarch, Park Ji-Yong, entrusts them to relocate the grave to appease the ancestor, his grandfather. Hwa-rim enlists colleagues, afeng shui master and geomancer Kim Sang-deok and amortician Yeong-geun with a promise of huge payday of 500,000 USD from the job, especially Sang-deok who's in need of money to pay his daughter's wedding.

Sang-deok specializes in selling burial locations for the wealthy, while Yeong-geun owns a funeral home. During their first encounter with Ji-yong, Sang-deok becomes wary when Ji-yong insists on cremating the grave, which is located in a remote mountain near theNorth Korean border. Sang-deok backs out, sensing sinister energy but Ji-yong convinces him to reconsider by doubling the payout for the job. However, Hwa-rim convinces them she can perform a ritual while the grave is dug to avoid the curse. Ji-yong tells them about a famous monk named 'Gisune' who in order to assuage grave robbers, provided the grave location for his grandfather.

Hwa-rim and Bong-gil perform the ritual, and the excavation proceeds smoothly. But when cleaning up, one of the gravediggers severs the head of ahuman-headed snake, which triggers a bad omen and rain. Yeong-geun insists on cremating the coffin once the rain stops so they store it at a nearby ward. The local custodian, hearing rumors of a treasure in the tomb, greedily opens the coffin and thus accidentally releases the vengeful entity inside, Ji-yong's grandfather. The entity targets his bloodline, killing Ji-yong's parents and Ji-yong himself. The grandfather, revealed to have been acollaborator with Imperial Japan during the colonial period, is tormented by his improper burial. Sang-deok cremates the coffin before the entity can kill the baby, abolishing the curse.

Months later, Yeong-geun informs Sang-deok about a gravedigger who becomes disturbed after killing the snake. He revisits the gravesite and discovers the head of the "snake" along with a second burial site for a seven-foot-long standing coffin. He enlists Hwa-rim, Bong-gil, and Yeong-geun to dispose of the coffin. The four excavate it and rest at a temple, where Hwa-rim learns about Gisune, who turns out to be a powerfulJapanese shaman named Murayama Junji who has the moniker ofThe Fox. That night, Bong-gil witnesses anoni killing the temple priest and the local pig farmer along with his pigs. Hwa-rim and Bong-gil find the coffin ripped from the inside and Hwa-rim is ambushed by the oni who is revealed to be asamurai who lost in theImjin war in Korea. Bong-gil gets injured and possessed, and the others witness the oni turn into aball of fire flying back to the mountain.

Hwa-rim investigates the oni's origin through the possessed Bong-gil. Sang-deok returns to the grave and finds the samurai dormant on the coordinates written on the grandfather's tombstone. It is revealed that during Japanese occupation of Korea, the Imperial Japan ordered their shamans to put multiple large iron spiritual spikes throughout the country to disrupt the country's life force so they could easily rule over the occupied Korea. He discovers that the supposed grave robbers were Korean patriots attempting to unearth and remove these spiritual spikes in Korea and the Samurai oni is actually the guardian spirit that was tasked by Gisune to protect one of the spikes. Sang-deok, Hwa-rim, and Yeong-geun devise a plan to unearth the relic when the creature rises after midnight. Hwa-rim will distract the samurai while the others dig the grave. A vision reveals The Fox embedding a katana inside a decapitated samurai's body, turning the samurai into atsukumogami and Ji-yong's grandfather's grave serving as a cover for the relic. Sang-deok realizes that the samurai himself is the iron spike and since he is represented fire in Feng shui, he must be vanquished by the element of water and wood. Sang-deok then uses the wooden pick axe drenched in his own blood to successfully vanquish the samurai spirit. Injured, he faints but later regains consciousness at a hospital with the others by his bedside. A few months later, the group attends Sang-deok's daughter's wedding.

• Choi Min-sik as Kim Sang-deok, feng shui master^[9]
• Kim Go-eun as Lee Hwa-rim, shaman^[10]
• Yoo Hae-jin as Yeong-geun, undertaker^[11]
• Lee Do-hyun as Yoon Bong-gil, shaman^[12]

• Kim Jae-cheol as Park Ji-yong, Hwa-rim's client^[13]
• Kim Sun-young as Oh Gwang-shim, shaman
• Kim Ji-an as Park Ja-hye, a junior shaman
• Jung Sang-cheol as Park Jong-soon, Park Ji-yong's Father
• Jeon Jin-ki as Park Geun-hyun, Park Ji-yong's Grandfather / Park Jong-soon's Father
• Kim Min-joon as Japan Ghost

In June 2021, it was reported thatChoi Min-sik will star in directorJang Jae-hyun's occult thriller.^[14]Kim Go-eun andLee Do-hyun joined the cast in August 2022,^[15] followed byYoo Hae-jin, who joined the cast in September 2022.^[11]

The film produced byShowbox and Pinetown Production in association with MCMC, is directed byJang Jae-hyun, who is known for making occult films.^[16]

Principal photography began in October 2022,^[17] and filming ended in March 2023.^[18] The director in an interview disclosed that the film used a large number of real scenes and real props for filming, tried not to use studios and avoided using CGI effects inpost-production. In his own words, "I tried to actually film the background and objects, avoiding CGI whenever possible. We took the photos as painstakingly as possible without building a set, and for things like ghost photos, the actual actors wore makeup for 6 hours and then took blurry photos on purpose."^[19]

Exhuma had its world premiere on February 16, 2024, as part of the74th Berlin International Film Festival, in Forum.^[20][21][22]

It was released theatrically on February 22, 2024, in South Korea by Showbox Co., Ltd.^[23]

The film was first screened at the48th Hong Kong International Film Festival on April 7, 2024, in Gala presentations.^[24][25]

It was released in India on May 3, 2024.^[26]

It was released onShudder on June 14 (United States and Canada).^[27]

The theatrical release date in theMENA region is June 13, 2024, distributed by The Plot Pictures MENA.

The film was showcased in "Prime Picks" at the23rd New York Asian Film Festival on July 20, 2024.^[28] It competed in the57th Sitges Film Festival in the "Oficial Fantàstic Competició" section^[29] and won Special Jury Award.^[30] It was screened in the festival on 4 October 2024.^[31]

The film includes scenes that are critical of the Japanese occupation of Korea, with the unearthing of the curse being linked to the unearthing of Korea's past.^[32][33]

The film was released on February 22, 2024, on 2,086 screens.^[34] On its opening day, the film finished in first place at the South Korean box office with 336,114 admissions and a gross ofUS$2,369,404,^[35] breaking the highest opening score for a film released in 2024 in South Korea so far.^[36] The film topped theSouth Korean weekend box office in its opening weekend, grossingUS$14,455,880 from 1,963,577 admissions.^[37] On February 25, the fourth day of its release, the film exceeded 2 million admissions,^[32] and on February 28, the seventh day, it crossed 3 million admissions.^[38] On March 2, the 10th day it surpassed 5 million viewers.^[39] On March 10, it became the highest performing Korean occult film with 8 million viewers.^[40]Exhuma on March 24 became the first Korean film of 2024 to surpass 10 million in ticket sales, on its 32nd day in theaters, according toShowbox.^[41][42]

As of May 15, 2024^[update], the film has grossedUS$84,095,030 from 11,902,097 admissions, making it thehighest grossing South Korean film of 2024.^[3]

The film has grossed $97,602,124 worldwide as perBox Office Mojo.^[2] It has recorded more than 2.23 million moviegoers in Vietnam as of March 31, and became the most successful Korean Film there, beating record of 2.15 million of6/45 a 2022 comedy film. It is also the most successful Korean film in Indonesia, recording 2.3 million admissions by March 31.^[43]

Exhuma was received well by critics. Onreview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 93% and an average rating of 7.6/10, based on 40 reviews.^[44]

Lee Yoon-seo writing forThe Korea Herald praised the performance of the cast writing, "the veteran cast puts in a strong performance to add to the immersive experience" and stated that "Exhuma consists of Jang's careful efforts to deliver super-realistic, detailed scenes depicting Korean shamanism - such as the traditional process of exhumation and "gut" rituals held to appease wandering spirits". Lee felt that these "are so realistically portrayed, that the film achieves a new level of horror". Concluding it that "however, despite the fine acting and attention to detail,Exhuma stumbles in unfolding its plot."^[45]

Critics ofCine21 gave the movie generally favorable reviews. Lee Yong-cheol rated the movie 4 out of 5 stars, writing that it is a well-made genre movie with great meaning.^[46]

Meagan Navarro ofBloody Disgusting rated the film 4/5 and called it, "A fun horror with a lot on its mind." Navarro wrote, "Jae-hyun Jang combines introspective cultural and historical themes with creepy, gory, and atmospheric horror thrills in an exciting way."^[47]

• Official website
• Exhuma at theKorean Movie Database(in Korean)
• Exhuma atIMDb 
• Exhuma atHanCinema
• Exhuma at Berlinale

• 2024 films
• 2020s Korean-language films
• 2020s mystery thriller films
• 2024 South Korean films
• 2020s supernatural horror films
• 2024 horror thriller films
• Anticolonial film
• Films directed by Jang Jae-hyun
• Showbox films
• South Korean horror thriller films
• South Korean mystery thriller films
• South Korean supernatural horror films

• Pages with non-numeric formatnum arguments
• IMDb ID (Cite Mojo) different from Wikidata
• CS1 uses Korean-language script (ko)
• CS1 Korean-language sources (ko)
• CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from July 2024
• Articles containing Korean-language text
• Template film date with 2 release dates
• Articles containing potentially dated statements from May 2024
• All articles containing potentially dated statements
• Articles with Korean-language sources (ko)