The Witch: Part 1 – The Subversion review

I’ve had my eye on this week’s film for a little while, mainly because I thought it was about an actual witch. Turns out it’s not but don’t be fooled by the lack of supernatural action, there’s plenty of genetically engineered physical action to be had instead.

I’ll say this, Korean movies just seem to be the very best, I don’t think they ever do anything by halves and I’m delighted to report this flick already has a sequel, so if Jill’s game we may revisit the universe again sometime soon.

The Witch: Part 1 – The Subversion (2018)

Director: Park Hoon-jung
Starring: Kim Da-mi, Min-soo Jo, Choi Woo-sik

Synopsis:

A high school student with amnesia tries to uncover what has happened to her. All leading her into deeper troubles ultimately revealing a darkness she could not have imagined.

An eight-year-old girl runs away from a laboratory after what can only be described as a bloody incident, where many people have been butchered horribly. She is chased through the woods by a bunch of mysterious looking dudes but manages to escape whatever horror she’s just left behind.

The two members who run the lab – Dr. Baek and Mr. Choi – assume she’s so injured she won’t get far and will likely die out there, so call off the search. Little do they know she makes it to the farm of kindly childless couple Mr and Mrs Goo – who nurse her back to health after they find her unconscious in one of their fields.

Fast forward ten years and the girl, now named Ja-yoon, is doing pretty well, in a normal life kind of way. Helping her dad around the farm, worrying about her ma’s impending dementia and ribbing her BFF Myung-Hee (Min-Si Go). Except for the fact she suffers from debilitating migraines, she’s happy.

But when an opportunity to compete in a national singing contest arises, Ja-yoon is egged on by Myung-Hee to enter for the prize money, which will no doubt change her entire family’s fortune.

Ja-yoon is – annoyingly – good at everything. The girl is an academic dream and also happens to be an insane singer so she sails through the first rounds of the competition, especially when she pulls out a pretty spectacular trick to wow the audiences. This worries her parents who believe she might be drawing unnecessary attention to herself – they remember the circumstances of her arrival into their lives after all , while Ja-yoon herself has no memory of that fateful night at all.

Things take a turn on the way into Seoul for Ja-yoon’s second audition when the girls meet a smug fitty called the Nobleman. Nobleman swears he knows Ja-yoon though she believes he’s mistaken her for somebody else and is visibly shaken by the exchange, especially when he tries to hit her to prove a point.

Later the girls are approached again by a group of strange men in black, who try to get them into an awaiting SUV. Never a good sign. Though the besties escape it’s not without its drama and it all comes to a head at the farm that night.

But who are these people after Ja-yoon – and more importantly, who is Ja-yoon really and what happened to her?

My thoughts

I really enjoyed this one, though it is reminiscent of a lot of other things, including Stranger Things, and sometimes Superman’s origin story. That makes it not as clever as it thinks it is but that’s a minor observation.

The performances and the action are what drives this and Kim Da-Mi is really fucking good at both.

We’re also given an awful lot of twists and turns to contend with and some work better than others but I do really enjoy evil Dr. Baek and appreciate the work put in to create this universe.

All in all I’m interested in continuing the saga so watch this space.

My rating

4 out of 5

Find out what Jill thinks here.