GONJIAM: HAUNTED ASYLUM (2018)
I'm going out of town for a wee bit this weekend, so I wanted to tide you over with a capsule. Of valerian root laced with chloral hydrate, but I decided to write this instead. Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum made boys and ghouls scream in South Korea. We heard the startled, tremulous bellows all the way from America. We had to know ~ okay, I'm going to drop "we" ~ I had to know if this "found footage" caboodle was worth the heightened hurly-burly of grapevine reviews. Remember, evidence via hearsay is not admissible in a court of law. "Well," you impatiently articulate. "Were you scared? Did you leave a wheelchair-shaped hole in the wall behind you?"
First and foremost, I'm not a fucking cartoon. And I can't say that I was frightened because I haven't been stricken with genuine terror by a movie since I was a kid. I'm not trying to sound macho; it's the Satan-honest truth. However, I can avouch for Gonjiam as a fun, creep-a-minute jaunt. Without divulging key plot details, a popular horror website picks three ordinary civilians to tag along on an excursion into the titular asylum. It's a real location, by the way. The cast and crew were prohibited from shooting there, so the sets were exact facsimiles of the real McCoy. The art direction is phenomenal. I never would have guessed that Gonjiam was pieced together inside of a fabrication.
The acting is spot-on. I particularly dug Je-Won Moon as the budding Hollywood starlet. The ghosties are ghostly, but this is where I touch on a dour, unfortunate cloudburst. Um, I can't place a name...the central specter (nice save) who assails one of the few remaining girls with rapid whispering is just dumb. Dense! Took me right out of the moment. Axe her, as the other final boss is infinitely more effective. I typed too much. Shit, I'll wrap it up by recommending Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum. It's atmospheric, suspenseful, and it's perfect for Halloween parties. That's coming from a genre nerd who doesn't care for "found footage" spooks, as a general rule. Have a grim weekend!
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