The 8th Night is a South Korean film directed by Tae-Hyung Kim, it is a horror and mystery thriller film with a runtime of 115 mins. The film was released on 2 July on Netflix.
The 8th Night Movie Cast
- Lee Sung-min as Park Jin-soo, the guardian
- Park Hae-joon as Kim Ho-tae, homicide detective
- Kim Yoo-jung as Ae-ran, a girl with a secret
- Nam Da-reum as Cheong-seok
- Choi Jin-ho as Professor Kim Joon-cheol
- Lee Eol as Ha-jeong
- Kim Han-sol as delivery man
- Park Se-hyun as a high school girl
The 8th Night Movie Plot
The movie starts off with the story of Buddha and the Devil. The Devil has two eyes, the Black and Red one, both represent anxiety and agony and that’s what forms the devil.
Buddha took the eyes from the devil and locked them in different caskets in different part of the world but the eyes always try to Unite and form the Devil, the story behind the 8th Night title is such that when the red moon comes the Red Eye will jump through 8 hosts from the day of the red moon and unite with the black eye on the 8th night and the 8th host.
An anthropologist prof.Kim Joon -Cheol from South Korea discovers the Red eye trapped in the desert, he tries to prove himself and the story of the devil but no one believes him and his life long work is wasted. To take revenge and show the world he was right, he decides to Awaken the devil and make the two eyes meet and open the door to hell.
While on the other hand the Monk Ha Jeong is supposed to protect the black from uniting with the Red one, his successor Park Jin-soo is given the task to kill one of the 8 hosts and stop the Red Eye from finding the black one.
The plot stays simple in the first half of the movie but later with more revelation about the personal life of each character, it becomes too much to soak it all in.
The 8th Night Movie Review
After watching the trailer for the film it seemed like it was going to be a very scary movie but after watching the movie it was more of a suspense thriller filled with a few horror scenes that didn’t really scare but were surely creepy and made you feel uncomfortable.
When telling the story of Buddha and The Devil, the narrator speaks in Sanskrit which is an experience of its kind. The movie progresses very slowly and explains the plot very well.
The first hour feels long and slow because in the story doesn’t have much happening, the real uncovering of the mystery starts after the arrival of the Virgin Shaman, ( the host that needs to be killed in order to stop the devil). The movie has very few characters and it has given equal importance to each one of them, everyone has a backstory and the story feels very detailed.
Talking about the cinematic shots, the experience of watching the VFX was very immersive. There were a few beautiful shots like park jin-soo was sitting under a tree at the end and the camera comes upside down from the top of the tree and the frame rotates 180 degree. The greyish filter had a very dark vibe and enhanced the theme.
The casting for this movie is what I feel makes it a good movie to watch. Even the extras played their part very well. For me the role of Cheong seok stood out alot. He speaks very little and he covers up for that with his expressions and body language. The creepy smile by Park se Hyun makes you feel some kind of way and makes you laugh too.
The 8th Night Movie Critical reception
The 8th Night has a very mediocre response by the audience, there are a few who like it for the thriller, the cinematic effect and screenplay. The down vote could be because of the lack of horror and jump scenes.
It has managed to get a rating 5.5/10 on IMDb and 54% of the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Movie Culture Synopsis
The 8th Night comes as another gift to Korean cinema fans around the world but with an offbeat genre that isn’t a proper horror movie but a mix of drama and mystery thriller with very horror scenes being the cherry on the cake.
I would definitely recommend you to watch this movie but in Korean language to enjoy the performance of the actors to the fullest and with lights turned off to elevate the experience.
The 8th Night is available to watch on Netflix.
