Exhuma: Choi Min-Sik and Yoo Hae-Jin are in grave danger. 

Exhuma (NC16)

Starring Choi Min-Sik, Kim Go-Eun, Yoo Hae-Jin, Lee Do-Hyun

Directed by Jang Jae-Hyun

Jang’s follow-up to his 2019 cult-themed Svaha: The Sixth Finger sees regular K-cinema roughneck Choi (Oldboy) ditching his belligerent side to play an avuncular geomancer who’s hired — alongside a shaman duo (Kim and Lee) and an undertaker (Yoo) — to exhume a rich family’s ancestral tomb. The money is good but there’s just one problem: the coffin is buried in the “vilest” plot of land, the fengshui master says ominously,  on a mountain near the North Korean border. As the foursome dig deeper (pun unintended), they dredge up contentious topics about class, history, religion, mythology and superstition. The riveting paranormal thriller doesn’t rely on scares (rest assured, there’s a few solid ones) to deliver the goods; what really gets under your skin is its slow-burning eeriness all through to the bonkers third act. (4/5 stars) Out in cinemas