The horror revival at South Korean theaters this year is carrying into late summer. After the Korean horror film "Salmokji" drew more than 3.24 million admissions to become the highest-grossing Korean horror film ever, a string of horror releases with distinct styles is now reaching audiences, including "Insidious: They Crossed Over," "Obsession," "Thelma" and "The Wicker Man: Final Cut."
"Insidious: They Crossed Over," released on the 20th, is the sixth installment in the popular "Insidious" franchise. It follows malevolent entities that have dwelled in The Further, the realm of the dead, as they search for a passage into the human world. Where earlier films built their scares around The Further, this one shifts to a premise in which the spirits invade the real world directly. The film passed 100,000 admissions within four days of its opening.
"Obsession," opening on the 2nd of next month, ranked ninth at the global box office this year and first among horror films, with worldwide revenue of $488.05 million (about 691.9 billion won). The story centers on Bear, who harbors an unrequited love for his friend and colleague Nikki and wins her affection through a wish-granting branch called the One Wish Willow. Once the two become a couple, Nikki's love curls into obsession and mania, twisting a romantic comedy into a horror film driven by stalking and mutilation. Drawing the most attention is director Curry Barker, born in 1999. Until just a few years ago he was an unknown YouTuber working as a Starbucks barista and dreaming of directing, making comedy videos and low-budget shorts with a friend. After his horror short "The Chair" won notice, he directed his first feature, "Obsession," and emerged as a horror filmmaker of global standing. The film was produced by horror powerhouse Blumhouse.
"The Wicker Man: Final Cut" is a 4K remaster of the 1973 horror classic of the same name. It follows a police officer who arrives on a remote island in search of a missing girl and encounters the suspicious rituals of its residents, with mystery surrounding pagan rites and human sacrifice generating the tension. "Thelma," directed by Joachim Trier, combines supernatural phenomena with the desire and repression of a university student raised in a strict Christian household.
The recent cluster of horror releases also reflects a strategy of avoiding the summer peak season and its blockbusters. Rather than compete in a summer crowded with big-budget tentpole films, distributors are targeting the relatively less contested late summer and early fall, when they can also share in the marketing momentum of the North American Halloween season that begins in September. Attention now turns to whether the appetite for horror confirmed by "Salmokji" will hold at late-summer theaters.
