Gi-dam

Auslöser der Geschichte ist ein Fotoalbum, das den Arzt Park Jung-nam zurückführt in das Jahr 1942, als er im japanisch besetzten Seoul in einem Hospital als Praktikant Dienst tat. Gemeinsam mit ihm geraten wir in den Strudel dreier sich verzahnender Geschehnisse, mühelos hin- und hergleitend zwischen der Welt der Lebenden und der scheinbar Verstorbenen, zwischen Melodram und blutiger Ghost Story. Der effekt- wie stimmungsvolle Horror mit schneerieselndem Frost, aufheulenden Phantomen und Nervenschocks umkleidet einen starken emotionalen Kern: den Wunsch nach einer, vielmehr den Glauben an eine Liebe, die die Grenzen von Menschen, Zeit und Tod aufzulösen vermag. (Barbara Kronsfoth)

Jung Bum-shik would go on to use the historical horror of haunted hospitals again in his hit 2018 film GONJIAM, in which the spectres of the repressive yushin period, the final years of the dictatorship of Park Chung-hee, bring about tragic events in the present. It is no coincidence that GI-DAM, his feature debut co-directed with his brother, sets its prologue in 1979, when the assassination of Park brought hope for democracy but also provoked authoritarian countermeasures that, as in the film, triggered memories of the Japanese colonial era. Protagonist Jung-nam is an elderly medical school professor, who learns of the imminent demolition of Seoul’s Ansaeng Hospital, bringing back memories of 1942 when he was a young Korean intern destined to marry the daughter of the medical facility’s Japanese owner. From here, GI-DAM weaves together three separate stories around the main character and his colleagues in vintage K-horror style, featuring impressive visuals, vengeful female ghosts, inexplicable tragedies and shocking twists. Above all, the narrative conveys a striking sense of existential loneliness and romantic regret, the impossibility of facing the demons of the past—and surviving. (Gerwin Tamsma)

Jun Bum Shik: HOT DESIRE (2013), WOKING-GEOL (2015), GONJIAM: HAUNTED ASYLUM (2018), NEW NORMAL (2022)

Jung Sik: SEOKJOJEOTAEK SALINSAGUN (2017)