Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Na Hong-Jin's Thriller 'Goksung' Gets An Unsettling First Trailer


When you talk about grim Korean thrillers, names like Park Chan-wook, Bong Joon-ho, and Kim Jee-woon are likely the first names that spring to mind. And with good reason, they’re goddamned hit machines responsible for some of my favorite movies of all-time. A filmmaker who doesn’t get name dropped as much, but sure as hell should, is Na Hong-jin. His The Chaser and The Yellow Sea are two of the best recent examples of gritty, suspenseful crime thrillers. It’s been years since his last movie, but he has another, Goksung, on the way this year, and now there’s a trailer that you need to watch. This is good enough news that I may have squealed and clapped my hands like an idiot.



It’s been six years since The Yellow Sea, but Goksung looks like it will be worth the wait. This trailer certainly delivers everything I want out of a movie of this ilk, with chills and tension and ominous atmosphere for days.


Starring Kwak Do-won (A Company Man, The Man From Nowhere), Hwang Jung-min (New World), and Chun Woo-hee (Mother), Goksung is set in a remote rural village that is besieged by a string of mysterious deaths. Sure, that’s vague, but that’s more than enough to pique my interest. Hell, the simple fact that Na Hong-jin has another movie on the way is worth getting excited about, but with an intriguing premise, that cast he’s put together, and now this trailer, I’m so all in.


Goksung hits theaters in South Korea on May 12. I have my finger crossed that it will find it’s way to the Seattle International Film Festival (which is where I first saw The Yellow Sea). I need this movie in my life ASAP.

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