"Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum" movie review, part one

 

 Release Date: March 8, 2018  Length: 94 minutes  Director/Writer: Jung Bum-Shik

Main Cast: This was a real hospital until it was torn down in 2018. It was off limits to the public so filming took place at an abandoned school in Busan but the inside was remodeled to look the same as the original hospital. The cast used their real first names in the movie.

Wi Ha-Joon as as Ha-Joon.... Runs a YT channel named 'Horror Times' which is becoming slightly popular. After witnessing a short video of some teens at the hospital Ha-Joon decided to have a live broadcast from it but didn't expect the horrifying turn of events. But until the end he stayed in the 'control center' which was outside the hospital where he uploaded/edited the live feeds from the other six who entered the hospital.

Park Sung-Hun as Sung-Hun.... Ha-Joon's friend who helps him out with this channel, for this broadcast he was the main cameraman and had also installed many cameras beforehand on the walls. But also some 'effects' for at first this wasn't supposed to be a real event...

Lee Seung-Wook as Seung-Wook.... Also a friend of Ha-Joon's and for the broadcast acted as the main host, did help set up the cameras with Sung-Hun before the broadcast began.

Yoo Je-Yoon as Je-Yoon.... One of four, the only male, who volunteered to be a part of Ha-Joon's broadcast and was usually paired up with Ah-Yeon.

Park Ji-Hyun as Ji-Hyun.... The most unknown of the seven characters but she was the first to sign up for this night of horror and didn't scare too easily.

Moon Ye-Won as Charlotte.... Only one not to use her real name. Charlotte had been to three of the world's seven most freakiest places, this will be her fourth from the list. However she gets frightened rather easily which may have led to her and the above's death.

Oh Ah-Yun as Ah-Yeon.... Youngest of the characters though in real life is the oldest, she had been training to be a nurse before this adventure.....

 This was a real hospital that closed down in 1996 and there's many stories about it worth reading, two pictures of it before it was razed in the Spring of 2018.

Movie Trailer that's subbed in English

 First movie reviews in a while or least for a Korean film. Hope to have at least one movie reviewed per week for a while as I much prefer films to dramas and don't know why I've slowed down on them so much. Did review a pair of Korean horror films towards the end of last year which were both superb, this was a solid film too and while not quite as good as the other two was a bigger hit. As a matter of fact this turned out to be one of the most popular Korean horror films of all time which was a shock as it was definitely a low budget affair.

 So while this was a real hospital until it closed it's doors in 1996 the events in this story didn't actually take place but the hospital had been known to be haunted for other reasons. In this movie how the hospital was known as a haunted one was because of a tragic incident that took place back in 1979. Then 42 patients had either committed suicide or died very mysteriously, right after that the director disappeared and did she have anything to do with the deaths? That remained a mystery to this day but there are ghosts still 'living' there, to seek revenge for their deaths? So let's finally get to the review and will do it in two parts to make it easier to read, fifty screenshots in both. At times the screenshots may look a bit blurry or dark, that's because this movie was filmed with hand held cameras plus many cameras were ones worn on the heads of the characters.

 There's supposedly so many of these 'found footage films' though this is the just the third one I've viewed. This movie begins off with some lost footage which was from a trio of teens who had visited the legendary haunted Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital. The footage showed the boys trying to enter the hospital's most terrifying room which was #402, something seemingly pops up scaring the boys to death but the video ended there and the boys were never heard from again. Ha-Joon has a copy of this smartphone video and he operates a YT channel named 'The Horror Times'. He's just aired the video and has told his ever increasing amount of viewers the next haunted location he'll be travelling to will be this abandoned hospital which is in the small city of Gwangyu southeast of Seoul. Ha-Joon has two show mates who will travel with him, on the show he requested the services of other viewers to join him on this trip but the catch is they may never return!!!!

 Slow beginning as far as 'horror' goes but the trip to Gwangyu happened rather quickly. Ha-Joon has his mates Sung-Hun, the cameraman, and Seung-Wook, the MC, in tow and met up up two days later with four who had responded to the offer. One male, who was Je-Yoon, who is quite good at film editing, the other three were females named Ji-Hyun, Ah-Yeon and Charlotte. The asylum was on the list of the seven most freaky places in the world, Charlotte had already been to three others which were all overseas. In this film the story was that in the year 1979 42 patients had died odd deaths and soon after the director disappeared, did she have anything to do with this gruesome tragedy? That's one of the mysteries that Ha-Joon wants to discover but more than anything else he wants to enter room #402 which no person has since the hospital closed. So after a intro party between the seven making perhaps their final trips as living people(!) it's on to the small city of Gwangyu.

 That's Je-Yoon above and it was sometimes difficult to tell the men apart because the footage was so dark but that did add to the creepy atmosphere. The asylum is locked up to prevent many curiosity seekers from entering the place though many do. But the back of the main building is easier to get into which is where six will be entering. There are seven but Ha-Joon will be staying back in a tent set up on the hospital grounds. From there he'll be uploading, editing and replaying the footage to his 'Horror Times' channel as this will be a live show starting at midnight. There were still a few hours to go until then so Sung-Hun and Seung-Wook went to get things prepared inside the asylum. They planted many mini cameras around the three story building such as motion activated ones. All six will also be wearing head cameras but these others were set up just in case something should happen to that person(!) or if there was a ghost(!) in the area with no others from the group nearby.

 But it wasn't known until a bit later that the pair also set up some eerie effects for the show at the time. Ha-Joon wants to get a million views for this show and was taking no chances that things would be too dull so the pair set wrote some creepy sayings on the walls, planted a few scary objects and some other items that may scare the pants off the women! It's now getting close to the witching hour, the six headed to the hospital and luckily no guards were patrolling the grounds during their short journey from the main tent where Ha-Joon will be staying at. Success right off the bat as the group was able to break in quite easily and in the second to last screenshot above is Charlotte. She's the woman who had been to three other famous freaky sites but that didn't seem to help her as she gets scared more easily than the others. She had brought Holy Water from a nearby cathedral which she planted near the back entrance to ward off any specters, now it's on to travel further into the asylum.

 Final segment for this post, figured two medium sized posts would be so much easier to read than one humongous post. While the screenshots help it's hard to put the creepy atmosphere into words and it was quite creepy the last hour of the film. The last location to be checked out will be room #402 and if the group can enter the mysterious room it'll be the highlight of Ha-Joon's show. Back in the tent he's busy compiling all of the footage as over six cameras are filming at once, he needs to decide quickly which footage will interest the viewers the most. And those viewers are increasing rapidly, within a half hour of the show beginning it already has over 300,000 live viewers. So while the goal is to enter room #402 all of the key rooms will also be checked out, first off was the director's room which was very eerie and you can see the person in the first screenshot. Also to checked out was the laboratory which was entered by Ah-Yeon and Je-Yoon. Ah-Yeon is a cute woman who is studying to be a nurse and had been picked on by Je-Yoon since the first second.

But they seemed to make a good pairing and to save time there were three groups of two going around the hospital. In the lab the pair found many odd things such as vials and such on the floor and a message on the wall saying the patients all wanted to live! Je-Yoon is also one who volunteered for this haunted outing so he too didn't know that about the 'special objects' that had been planted around the asylum to scare the others, those objects certainly worked. All the groups had a few odd encounters but for the most part nothing major took place in the first half of the film and of course there were no lights, the ones you see are from the cameras all are wearing. Ha-Joon has told the group a 'ritual' needs to be performed now that they're deeper into the hospital and it should ward off any evil spirits.... but perhaps also bring them out! The director's office was chosen as the location and the group of is headed there, Charlotte was already so nervous about the place after visiting there once. So the start of this ritual is where this post will end and where part two will begin. This takes place right around the half way point of the film and below are the screenshots which take us to this point of the movie. All follow the action in chronological order so they may make it easier to follow what's take place up until now, many events have happened but most of the thrills will be in part two.