divine fury korean movie review

The Divine Fury

How is a movie that’s as conceptually bizarre as “The Divine Fury”—a Korean action/horror hybrid about a possessed mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter— not as thrilling as its wilder ideas? This is a movie where Yong-hu (Seo-joon Park), an agnostic pro-athlete, works on his daddy issues by joining good-natured Father Ahn (Sung-ki Ahn) in speaking Latin and exorcising demons. I agree, hypothetical reader, “The Divine Fury” does sound like fun, especially given that, in the film, demons tend to catch fire as they’re exorcised. There’s also a climactic fight scene involving a scaly demon-man. And a ton of dead air, boring asides, tedious backstory, and other unnecessary narrative padding.

Yong-hu’s story is almost never as cuckoo bananas on screen as it is on paper. Writer/director Joo-hwan Kim frequently announces his intention of taking Yong-hu and his crisis of faith seriously, but Kim often fails to provide enough credible details to warrant the excessive concentration that he brings to this mostly generic post-“ The Exorcist ” horror movie. Yong-hu is consequently just another good guy struggling to rid himself of a heavy personal albatross: his dad, Officer Park (Seung-Joon Lee), was killed by the “Dark Bishop,” the same demon that Park chases throughout “The Divine Fury” and that, in the film’s present day, possesses stick figure antagonist Ji-sin (Do-hwan Woo). But what Yong-hu sees as a weakness (doubt) is actually a strength in the eyes of Father Ahn, a priest who gives voice to the film’s most regrettable expository dialogue, though at least he doesn’t have to say “I possessed the guy who killed your father,” an actual line that one unfortunate actress, playing a possessed Catholic, gets stuck with.

With that said: Yong-hu and Ahn’s bond is easily the weakest link in “The Divine Fury,” even more so than the slick neon-and-mirrors sensibility that makes the film look like a “ John Wick ”-themed perfume commercial. Yong-hu sometimes asks about Ahn’s background as a priest, since he lost faith after his father’s death. But, while Ahn frequently answers his would-be apprentice’s question, his replies are mostly trivial, stuff like “Sure, [priests] can drink and smoke” and “A glass of wine after fighting demons makes me sleep like a baby.” I don’t know why I now know this, but I’m guessing you don’t either.

Ahn also has an annoying habit of describing Yong-hu’s character in ways that aren’t really confirmed or denied by Yong-hu’s forgettable, plot-pushing actions. Yong-hu is told that “You hate [God] very much, but people can’t hate without truly loving,” but Yong-hu never meaningfully questions his faith or his anger. What does hatred for God even mean to Yong-hu, a character who initially talks to Ahn and a Korean shaman with equal skepticism? We’re told, in an early scene, that Christianity means a lot to Yong-hu because it meant a lot to his dad…but so what? More care was seemingly put into the lighting than the scripting of scenes.

Kim’s negligible investment in Ahn and Yong-hu’s core beliefs wouldn’t be so frustrating if most of the set pieces in “The Divine Fury” (pretty much any scene involving possessed women and children) didn’t look like one more box to check off of a long shot list. “The Divine Fury” is 129-minutes long and feels it. Some on-screen action is goosed by Ja-wan Koo’s Hans Zimmer-esque score, complete with periodic “ braaahms .” But the sheer spectacle of victims levitating, vomiting blood, and screaming obscenities at feisty Yong-hu and patient Father Ahn just isn’t spectacular enough.

Sometimes, Kim throws in some fun incidental details, like the black chalk that Father Ahn uses to draw the sign of the cross on one demonically possessed victim’s bedroom door. But these familiar symbols don’t add to viewers’ understanding of the characters’ surroundings so much as they remind us of Kim and his collaborators’ creative limits. Yes, I am curious about why Father Ahn carries around an exorcism kit with a charcoal pencil forged from a “sacred olive tree.” Just as I’m interested in finding out what Ahn means when he mysteriously observes that Yong-hu’s father “must have been kind and righteous” since “apples don’t fall far from the tree.” Unfortunately, there isn’t a thought in Ahn’s head that his creators didn’t either dumb down or flat-out misconceive for him.

I hate leaving a higher-than-God-concept like “The Divine Fury” wondering why I don’t better understand its characters, or why Kim chose to dwell so much on his protagonists’ motives when he could have just treated them like sturdy clotheslines to hang a few good scare/action scenes onto. Kim’s movie didn’t provide satisfactory answers to that question, but it did leave me with several new burning ones, like what kind of wine does Father Ahn drink, and how far did his apple drop from his father’s tree? The truth, like religion and several other bad horror movies, is out there.

Simon Abrams

Simon Abrams is a native New Yorker and freelance film critic whose work has been featured in  The New York Times ,  Vanity Fair ,  The Village Voice,  and elsewhere.

• Park Seo-joon as Yong-hu
• Ahn Sung-ki as Father Ahn
• Woo Do-Hwan as Ji-shin
• Choi Woo-shik as Priest Choi
• Park Ji-hyun as Su-jin
• Jung Ji-hoon as Ho-seok
• Sim Hee-seop as Priest Kim

Director of Photography

• Cho Sang-yun
• Kim Joo-hwan
• Kim Sun-min

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Review: “the divine fury” blends christianity, horror, and action.

Park Seo-joon uses MMA skills to exorcise demons in his latest collaboration with Jason Kim Joo-hwan.

By Richard Yu , 13 Aug 19 00:01 GMT

South Korea stands out among East Asian countries for being heavily Christian— almost a third of its population identifies as such. Thus, we’re not surprised that, despite a broader East Asian cinematic landscape more known for ghosts and traditional folk religion , Korean horror flick The Divine Fury takes on a heavy Christian theme. 

The film begins with Yong-hoo (Park Seo-joon) and his policeman father discussing their Christian faith. Yong-hoo’s mother died in childbirth, which makes him question his father’s strong belief in the power of prayer. This doubt only intensifies when a drunk motorist kills Yong-hoo’s father. Some years later, the adult Yong-hoo is now a famous (atheist) mixed martial arts fighter. After one fight, Yong-hoo starts bleeding from his palms—a phenomenon that doctors struggle to explain. He finally decides to visit a priest named An, who notices the resemblance with Jesus’ crucifixion. An tells Yong-hoo that his wound is in fact a Stigmata , with the ability to exorcise demons by lighting their faces on fire.

Buddy Cops Versus Demons

As it happens, priest An (Ahn Sung-ki) works as a full-time exorcist, using a holy cross and the power of Latin chants to remove demons from the human bodies that they take over. Although Yong-hoo is initially reluctant, he starts to help An out with the exorcisms, and Divine Fury almost takes on a buddy cop vibe. The duo spend considerable screen time discussing theology and the role of religion, but An also becomes a father figure for Yong-hoo as they battle possessed souls. 

While Priest An prefers to use the words of God to fight demons, Yong-hoo has a much more kinetic approach to exorcism—beat the crap out of the demon and light their face on fire with his Stigmata (he’s an MMA fighter, after all). Divine Fury is as much a horror movie as it is an action movie packed with more than enough pure ass-kicking on the part of Yong-hoo.

Jack of All Trades, Master of None

However, we’re not convinced that Divine Fury straddles the two genres well. For one, people love horror movies because of how they create a sense of drama and suspense—something that this film eschews in favor of fight scenes. At the same time, action fans might find the screeching demons, bloodshot eyes, and occult themes off-putting if they were just looking for some pure ass-kicking. In trying to execute both horror and action, Divine Fury succeeds at neither.

A bigger weakness is the lack of character development over the course of Divine Fury . Yong-hoo’s struggle with his faith is resolved quite easily—after all, it’s pretty hard to deny the existence of heaven and hell when you’re literally trying to light demons’ faces on fire. Priest An’s character is even more flat, hardly changing over the two-plus hours of screentime. 

With all these flaws, it’s no wonder that Yoona’s movie Exit beat it in theatres on opening day . Still, the movie does have one redeeming quality—at least Park Seo-joon fans can see him without a shirt on .

The Divine Fury is in theatres across Korea. It will be released in the US and Canada on August 16th, and across various Asian countries throughout the month of August. 

The Divine Fury (Korean: 사자) — South Korea. Dialog in Korean. Directed by Jason Kim Joo-hwan. First released Running time 2hr 9min. Starring Park Seo-joon, Woo Do-hwan, and Ahn Sung-ki. 

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Film Review: ‘The Divine Fury’

An MMA fighter and lapsed Catholic reluctantly aids an exorcist in this uneven, overlong Korean horror-action concoction.

By Dennis Harvey

Dennis Harvey

Film Critic

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Both “The Exorcist” and “Enter the Dragon” came out in 1973, igniting their respective genres at the box-office as never before. So you’d think more than a few enterprising souls would have tried to combine demonic-possession chills and fighting-action thrills. But apart from 1984’s flabbergasting camp classic “Ninja III: The Domination” — with Lucinda Dickey as an aerobics instructor who’s suddenly from hell — it’s hard to think of much in that vein before new arrival “The Divine Fury.”

This Korean import, releasing on about a dozen U.S. screens, features an MMA fighter battling his own demons while helping a priest free the afflicted of supernatural parasites. Jason (aka Joo-hwan) Kim’s film is a slick concoction that affords moderate guilty-pleasure fun for a while, though it goes on too long to diminishing effect. Nonetheless, a sequel is duly promised at the close.

His mother having died in childbirth, little Yong-hoo has only his father (Seung-joon Lee), a man so upstanding and kind you know he won’t survive the first reel. Indeed, he is soon dead after the routine traffic stop of a vehicle that turns out to bear a glowing-eyed, presumably demon-possessed couple. Raised Catholic, our wee hero angrily renounces his faith after prayer has failed to leave him with even one living parent. And he renounces it with a vengeance, actually braining a priest with a thrown cross at dad’s funeral.

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Twenty years later, as an adult now played by Park San-jun, Yong-hoo channels that rage as an undefeated pro mixed-martial arts competitor. Spurning God, it seems, has laid him open to worse influences, because upon spying his opponent’s Christ tattoo, he hears a voice saying, “God killed Dad! Get revenge! Revenge!! ” and nearly beats the guy to death. On the plane home, he dreams of being burnt with a crucifix, then awakens with an actual stigmata-like hand wound. Back home in Seoul, a spider-like spirit attacks him in his sleep.

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These things are worrying, so our hero consults a blind child medium who takes one “look” at him and says “You’re screwed. You’re covered with demons.” That’s a rare moment of humor in a movie that otherwise takes itself verrry seriously, particularly once Yong-hoo reluctantly starts assisting aged, frail, Max von Sydow-like Vatican envoy Father Ahn (Sung-Ki Ahn) in expelling demons from other unfortunates in the city.

Though compelling enough at first (if never very scary), “The Divine Fury” soon settles into a certain narrative monotony as the protagonists simply move from one possession case to another. Among them are a young woman subjected to some very Linda Blair-like torments, then a bullied boy at a Catholic orphanage. Meanwhile, we’re introduced to Ji-sin (Do-Hwan Woo), the impresario of a sleek local discotheque and a kinda-sorta Satanist who maintains eternal youth by sacrificing souls to a “sacred serpent” demon. It is he whom our hero will eventually have to defeat in rather disappointingly ordinary mano-a-mano battle, despite such CG fillips as a literal fist of flame.

At over two hours, all this takes far too long, frittering away the frights and fun in too much somberly nonsensical dialogue and incongruous maudlin moments (underlined by Koo Ja-wan’s score). There is certainly some entertainment value in the usual hash made of Christian beliefs in such an Eastern genre exercise, with arbitrary superpowers granted to such talismanic objects as crucifixes and holy water. You might also wonder why the heck the atheistic hero’s kickbox-y mojo would have any effect on evil spirits unfazed by such officially blessed totems. But this is not the kind of movie where it is useful to ask such questions. Better to pass the time counting salutes to other horror films, among which “The Birds,” “Suspiria” and “The Omen” each receive a passing nod.

Despite its longueurs, “The Divine Fury” is sufficiently atmospheric and polished in the packaging departments, with Lee Bong-Hwan’s production design a notable plus. The leads are reasonably charismatic within one-dimensional roles, so it’s a bit surprising when a closing-credits tag sequence announces, “Father Choi will return in ‘The Green Exorcist’” — passing the torch to a fraidy-cat younger priest (played by Woo-sik Choi) who had only played a minor role here. If there’s going to be a franchise here, it’s going to need more lurid disco lighting and serpent-demon-fu, not more dully earnest spokespersons for cross-culturally watered-down quasi-Catholicism.

Reviewed online, San Francisco, Aug. 5, 2019. Running time: 129 MIN. (Original title: “Saja.”)

• Production: (S. Korea) A Well Go USA Entertainment release (in U.S./Canada) of a Lotte Entertainment presentation of a KeyEast, 706 production. Producers: Park Sung-hye, Shin Pil-soon. Executive producer: Cha Won-chun. Co-producers: Kim Jae-yong, Park A-hyoung.
• Crew: Director, writer: Jason Kim. Camera (color, widescreen, HD): Cho Sang-yun. Editor: Kim Sun-min. Music: Koo Ja-wan.
• With: Park Seo-jun, Ahn Sung-ki, Woo Do-hwan, Seung-joon Lee, Woo-sik Choi, Si-eun Kim, Ji-hoon Jung, Eun-hyung Jo.

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‘the divine fury’: film review.

An exorcist gets help from an MMA fighter in Joo-hwan Kim's supernatural saga 'The Divine Fury.'

By John DeFore

John DeFore

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As nutty as it may sound, the logline “an MMA champion teams up with an exorcist to fight Satan’s forces” suggests at least a kind of excitement. But excitement is hard to find in Joo-hwan Kim’s The Divine Fury , a leaden good-vs-evil tale that takes issues of faith very, very seriously but fails to make K.O.-ing the Devil look the least bit fun. Asian horror buffs may turn out in small numbers for the Korean import’s Stateside theatrical release, and may appreciate parts of the movie’s vision, but few will argue that it offers either the scares of a classic exorcism drama or the rollicking action of a Hellboy .

Yong-hoo (Seo-joon Park) was still a boy mourning his mother’s death when his father, a traffic cop, was killed in the line of duty. Already on the fence about religion — if God answers prayers, why didn’t he heal Mom? — the boy now picks a side: He throws a crucifix at the priest trying to comfort him, hard, and storms off into a faith-free future.

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Release date: Aug 16, 2019

Twenty years later, he’s a famous MMA star living a life of sterile luxury. He’s entering the ring for a bout in America when he sees his opponent’s back: A full-torso tattoo of Jesus on the cross triggers something in him, and a voice in his head repeats, “Get revenge, revenge…God killed Dad, get revenge!” The poor guy in the other corner hardly knows what hit him.

On the long flight back, though, Yong-hoo suffers something more than a bad dream: He awakens with puncture wounds on his palms, and they only get worse over the next few days as the violent nightmares continue. After visits to a doctor and a blind shaman don’t help — “You’re screwed; you’re covered in demons” the shaman says — he seeks advice from men of the cloth.

We meet Father Ahn (Sung-ki Ahn) in one of the film’s many exorcism scenes. An older, very serious man, he’s tight with the Vatican and has mysterious scars from earlier adventures. Ahn’s a potentially appealing character, but he’s given the same tired faith-based dialogue (“There’s a reason behind every torment we suffer”) as everyone else here, and only one scene, in which he shares a couple of beers with the young fighter, attempts to flesh out his personality. Ahn recognizes Yong-hoo’s stigmata for what they are, but won’t initially explain how a man so far from God is experiencing a phenomenon that typically afflicts the very, very faithful.

Across town, a rich nightclub owner (Woo Do-hwan) has clearly made a deal with the Devil. Known as the Dark Bishop, he has an altar in the club’s basement and seeks to please an unseen demonic horde. The movie offers several episodes of remote-control evilmaking, as the Dark Bishop, say, stabs into a disembodied heart like a voodoo doll to cause his mortal enemies pain. He’s the man behind the string of possessions Ahn is being forced to investigate — encounters that are physically dangerous enough that Yong-hoo eventually feels compelled to tag along, lending muscle to the priest’s holy water and prayers.

Director Kim and his star Park had something of a local hit in 2017 with the action comedy Midnight Runners , but any charisma the actor might’ve shown there is hard to see here. Good-looking but generally expressionless, Park finds neither brooding anger nor engaging bewilderment in Yong-hoo as the character grapples with what’s happening to him. Hit-and-miss CGI drives most of the action scenes, and while Ahn’s performance suggests the stakes involved, the film itself has trouble getting viewers to care. Often sluggish and much longer than it needs to be, the picture slogs toward the inevitable moment when, after some hokey visions of his father in the afterlife, Yong-hoo accepts the Lord’s mysterious ways and decides to kick some ass on His behalf.

Production companies: Keyeast, 706 Productions Distributor: Well Go USA Cast: Seo-joon Park, Sung-Ki Ahn, Do-Hwan Woo, Woo-sik Choi Director-screenwriter: Joo-hwan Kim Production designer: Yoo Jung Han Composer: Ja wan Koo

In Korean 129 minutes

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The Divine Fury Reviews

"The Divine Fury" is more impressive than substantial, but Kim Joo-hwan has managed to combine all those elements in a package that somewhat works, at least in terms of entertainment.

Full Review | Jul 26, 2020

The Divine Fury manages to take cliches and spin genre gold out of them.

Full Review | Jul 23, 2020

What makes the film stand out is that it works on both a theological level and a secular, psychological one, with each bolstering the other in a way few films attempt.

Full Review | Jun 30, 2020

If you haven't been waiting for a South Korean MMA exorcism movie, "The Divine Fury" is here to tell you to get your priorities in order.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jun 26, 2020

The Divine Fury is filled with ideas and themes it has no real Intention of exploring. Not even divine intervention can save this film.

Full Review | Original Score: D | Nov 20, 2019

What surprises there are are mostly of the pleasant variety, starting with the tone of intelligent sincerity alongside the glowing red pupils and projectile vomiting.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 16, 2019

More care was seemingly put into the lighting than the scripting of scenes.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Aug 16, 2019

At over two hours, all this takes far too long, frittering away the frights and fun in too much somberly nonsensical dialogue and incongruous maudlin moments.

Full Review | Aug 16, 2019

Instead of playing such a ripe premise for camp value, The Divine Fury takes itself pretty seriously. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Full Review | Original Score: 5.5/10 | Aug 16, 2019

A leaden good-vs-evil tale that takes issues of faith very, very seriously but fails to make K.O.-ing the Devil look the least bit fun.

Full Review | Aug 15, 2019

A few shadowy ghouls and moments of visual trickery aside, The Divine Fury fails to deliver the scares one would expect from a film dealing with exorcisms.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 14, 2019

The Divine Fury delivers grounded action along with fun horror elements that are reminiscent of the Blade movies.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 14, 2019

In trying to execute both horror and action, Divine Fury succeeds at neither...A bigger weakness is the lack of character development over the course of Divine Fury

Full Review | Aug 14, 2019

As is, the movie's entertaining enough, but with a touch less restraint and a touch more imagination, we'd really be cooking.

Full Review | Aug 12, 2019

Aside from the great bits of martial arts ass kicking and the genuinely terrifying demons, Kim's film is a portrait of faltering faith and moral dilemmas.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 9, 2019

With beautifully choreographed fight scenes intercut with gentle comedy and character-focused drama, this film takes viewers on a thrilling ride.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 2, 2019

It's a slightly muted affair, serving only a handful of fun, but fleeting, moments of excitement.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Aug 2, 2019

While it has some good elements and can be fun from time to time, the unoriginal plot and concept, flat storyline and uninteresting characters do not really heighten expectations for the upcoming films.

Full Review | Jul 25, 2019

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Divine Fury, The (2019) Review

“The Divine Fury” Theatrical Poster

Director: Kim Joo-Hwan Cast: Park Seo-Joon, Ahn Sung-Ki, Woo Do-Hwan, Park Ji-Hyun, Choi Woo-Sik, Jung Ji-Hoon, Lee Seung-Hee, Sim Hee-Seop, Kim Si-Eun, Kim Seon-Min, Kim Bum-Soo Running Time: 129 min.

By Paul Bramhall

It’s been over 20 years since legendary Korean actor Ahn Sung-ki played a priest battling with possession hungry demons, in 1998’s Soul Guardians . Now a poorly aged showcase for Korea’s burgeoning CGI effects, in 2019 director Kim Joo-hwan clearly thought it’s time to update the concept. So it is The Divine Fury finds Sung-ki once again dusting off his old dog collar to take on, you guessed it, possession hungry demons. Times have changed a lot in 20 years though, and whereas Soul Guardians riffed heavily on Hollywood flicks like The Craft for its aesthetics, thankfully the Korean film industry has long since founds its own voice.

Having a voice isn’t a whole lot of use though, if what you have to say doesn’t make any sense. Or you’ve been possessed, for that matter. Which brings us to the hook The Divine Fury , which essentially rests on that of an MMA fighter battling against satanic forces. At least nobody can accuse it of not being original. Said fighter is played by Park Seo-joon, who worked with Joo-hwan before on the directors previous feature, the entertaining Midnight Runners . Seo-joon himself is no stranger to playing an MMA fighter, having played a similar role in the 2017 drama series Fight My Way , albeit one who wasn’t so angry at God. The issue is his policeman father died when he was still a kid, due to some suspiciously red eyed joyriders he encounters during a routine traffic stop, making the young lad a firm believer that his father’s encouragement to “pray hard” was all a sham.

Said anger has made him grow up to be an undefeated MMA fighter, who in the opening scene is taking part in a match in L.A., overseen by UFC refereeing legend (let’s assume that’s a thing) Herb Dean. File that one under the unexpected cameos in a supernatural Korean movie section. His opponent comes with a large crucifix tattooed on his back, and if anything triggers Seo-joon into an uncontrollable rage, it’s the sight of a crucifix. After obliterating said opponent, on the flight back to Korea he begins to show signs of stigmata through bleeding palms, an inconvenience which eventually leads him to Ahn Sung-ki to seek answers. Playing a Vatican based priest, Seung-ki’s been sent to Seoul on the trail of the Dark Bishop, a powerful Satan worshipper played by Woo Do-hwan ( Master ), who’s been happily providing victims for demons to possess. Somehow, Seo-joon and Sung-ki must team-up to take Do-hwan down.

I’ll be honest, as a reviewer I know I’m not supposed to assume I know what I’ll think of a movie before I’ve seen it. But I mean, come on, an MMA fighter battling a Satan worshipper!? I was already anticipating the cathartic experience of writing a joyously harsh review. So it came as a surprise when I found myself being rather entertained by The Divine Fury . Let’s get one thing straight, it’s a B-movie. It may be a B-movie wearing a big budget movies clothing, and featuring some of the top talent working in Korea today, but the concept is pure pulp. What makes The Divine Fury work, is that it takes itself ridiculously seriously, to the point where you just kind of smile and go along with it. The first time Seo-joon meets Sung-ki he walks into the middle of an attempted exorcism of a wild-eyed demon, and without a second thought starts busting out the MMA moves in the middle of a church like it’s the most normal thing in the world. It’s hilarious.

As bombastic as proceedings get though, everything is underpinned by the chemistry between Seo-joon and Sung-ki. Now 67, Sung-ki remains one of Korea’s most enduring actors, and can make even complete dreck like  Sector 7 at least partially watchable. He’s also one of only two Korean actors that has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (the other being Lee Byung-hun). Compared to Sung-ki’s 100 plus movies, Seo-joon on the other hand is a relative newcomer, however has already established himself as a solid performer on both the big and small screen. This is a guy who clocked in a special appearance in Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite the same year as The Divine Fury after all. Despite an age difference of over 35 years, the pair have a likeable chemistry together, one as the kind-hearted but world weary priest who’s seen it all, and the other as the cynical MMA fighter who wants nothing to do with religion.

The likeable chemistry between the leads is complimented by a brisk pace. Korean filmmakers often have the accusation levelled at them that they’re incapable of making a movie less than 2 hours, and it’s a valid one, with even a pulpy concept such as this clocking in at just over the 2 hour mark. However the time passes remarkably quickly. Ironically, the unlikely ingredient that makes The Divine Fury so enjoyable, is just how familiar it all seems. Crucially, it’s much more of an exorcism movie than it is an MMA flick, and as such Joo-hwan unleashes all of the exorcist movie tropes with giddy abandon. We get scenes of over-enthusiastic projectile vomit, evil flocks of crows, sacrificial hearts, possessed twenty-something girls clambering over the ceiling, and at one point Do-hwan even possesses a dog. There’s nothing really here that we haven’t seen before, but the jump-scares and gross out moments are still effectively executed.

There’s also no doubt Korea’s CGI work has come a long way in the last 20 years, and here the effects are delivered thanks to Dexter, the effects house that Along With the Gods director Kim Yong-hwa founded in 2012. The Divine Fury uses CGI much more sparingly than the Along With the Gods franchise (although you could replace The Divine Fury with literally any movie in that sentence and it’d still be valid), however what’s there is top shelf. Particularly impressive is Seo-joon’s method of exorcising demons. First off he invokes the stigmata (which, yes, means he has bloodied fists before he’s even thrown a punch), and then busts out the WWE wrestling move The Claw on the possessed victims head, making it burst into flames. There’s something undeniably cool about watching these possessed people and their flaming heads, and as I mentioned, it’s all executed completely poker faced.

Events eventually culminate in Seo-joon seeking out Do-hwan in the underground nightclub he’s been operating. But not before he’s given a shirt and dog collar that’s been blessed by the pope himself, explained to be “armour” by a colleague of Sung-ki (played by Choi Wooshik, here clocking in a special appearance to repay Seo-joon’s in Parasite , in which he was one of the main characters). Forget about those iron vests you see in old-school kung fu flicks, it turns out Catholic threads are the real invincible armour! The scene is Do-hwan’s call to action, who’s spent most of the movie so far lurking in a dungeon beneath the nightclub, which appears to house a satanic serpent in a dark pit of water (one which occasionally offers up random gifts that float to the surface).

The finale makes for a ridiculously gratuitous mix of what can best be described as Blade meets John Wick in terms of aesthetics. Seo-joon barges in and takes on all kinds of possessed opponents, setting so many heads on fire that I can genuinely say I enjoyed it more than the cop-out finale of John Wick 3 . By the time he battles his way to face Do-hwan, he has an honest to God flaming fist, and after taking a dip in the aforementioned dark pit of water, Do-hwan reappears looking like a hybrid of a K-pop boyband member and the Creature from the Black Lagoon . The fact that his transformation is presented using practical effects and not CGI was a pleasant bonus. The premise promised an MMA fighter versus the forces of evil, and in the finale that’s what we get, complete with the obligatory post- John Wick neon.

In a slightly left of field mid end-credits sequence, Choi Wooshik is seen sitting on a park bench, having received a postcard from Sung-ki sent from Vatican City. It’s a brief scene, but ends with the onscreen text that ‘Father Choi will return in The Green Exorcist ’ So it would seem a sequel is in the works which will thrust Wooshik’s limited screen time to starring role status, and hopefully include another martial arts based hook as well. Taekwondo versus Satan, or Hapkido? The opportunities are endless, much like the battle between good and evil.

Similar to the way titles such as Operation Red Sea and Wolf Warrior 2 may be shameless advertisements for the Chinese military, so The Divine Fury can be considered a shameless advertisement for the Catholic church. However also like those movies, it just so happens to be highly entertaining in a leave your brain at the door kind of way, to the point that it makes any of the more cringe worthy moments entirely bearable. I’m not sure if The Green Exorcist will give us more God-powered MMA, but based on The Divine Fury alone, I daresay I’ll happily check it out. Amen.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7/10

7 Responses to Divine Fury, The (2019) Review

Sounds intriguing! I wasn’t sure what to make of the trailer, but Divine Fury seems to have a Mr Vampire/Evil Dead/Exorcist vibe going for it, and I guess the trailer didn’t show the best parts!

This sounds entertaining, not gonna lie. I’ll almost definitely be giving it a watch.

By the way Paul – any chance you’ll be writing a review for “The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil”? This is another Korean flick that also seems to be getting a western release around the same time, in fact actually sooner. I’m curious to hear your thoughts on it.

It’s like somebody watched ‘The Priests’ and thought, “You know what would make this movie even better? Mixed martial arts!” Actually, I’m looking forward to catching this one when it releases on Blu-ray. Glad to hear that it mostly did the trick for you, Paul.

I’d definitely approach it as a fun B-movie . The concept of a cynical MMA fighter and his newfound ability to put the holy beatdown on evil Satan worshippers sounds ridiculous, and onscreen it’s no less so, but mainly because of how seriously it takes itself. For such an out there concept, it’s a surprisingly sincere flick.

PS As for ‘The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil’, I believe a certain Mr Ravas may be offering up his esteemed take on it very soon!

I’m a fan of The devine fury movie.can’t wait for next chapter of the movie The green exorcist.when will the movie coming out?? Make it more epic and stay with the actual star Park Seo Joon.. Love The Devine Fury. #sarawakianloveTDF #TheGreenExcorcist

I just finished watch the diving fury and must say I simply enjoyed it beyond words could say. It has everything I love. The suspense the action an gore. What makes this movie such a hit. Is it keeps it on the aspect of some realization. Just think of life. It takes you through so many ups an down an just when you think it couldn’t get worse god always lead you right back to him through others. And that give you purpose. I hope the second part comes out soon. Which is the Green Exorcist. I will definitely watch. Keep on making movies like this an I will watch it every time.

I really enjoyed this movie. And am looking forward to The Green Exorcist.

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Review: The Divine Fury (2019)

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Midnight Runners ‘ director, Kim Joo-hwan returns with a new blockbuster that reunites him with the Runners’ star, Park Seo-joon. Combining the corniest elements of exorcism horror and comical action-hero tropes, The Divine Fury is a gothic action fantasy which immediately reminds us of Constantine minus the angelic apparitions. From spiritual imagery of Catholicism, priests chanting prayers in Latin to expel demons, to fistfight against demon-possessed people, you are up for an action-packed ride full of blood, holy waters and… campiness, nevertheless.

The Divine Fury seems to seam unlikely components into one helluva narrative drive. The story roots on an enticingly crafted mythos of the Dark Bishop, a worshipper of the evil Holy Serpent. Dark Bishop corrupts problematic people and makes them hosts to eponymous demons before sacrificing their souls. In opposition to such a malignant force, a senior priest, Father Ahn (Ahn Sung-ki), lands to Seoul from the Vatican to exorcist the Dark Bishop’s minions. On his holy mission, Father Ahn encounters an MMA fighter, Yong-hu (Seo-joon), who mysteriously gets stigmata on his palm. Yong-hu resents God for abandoning him when his cop father died fighting crimes; however, Father Ahn sees something in him and he’s willing to make an unlikely alliance with him fighting off diabolical powers in the town.

The Divine Fury , however, is never scary or nerving in its horror department. The horror is limited to inhumane behaviors of the possessed people maniacally screaming and laughing if not defying physics. Director Joo-hwan manages to make all exorcism scenes disturbing with the amplified noise. Interestingly, The Divine Fury —albeit portrays Catholicism elements—takes parallel similarities to classic Hong Kong exorcism fantasy, in Jiangshi movies usually led by Lam Ching Ying or Sammo Hung. There will be a parade of sacred spells, relics, and instruments to expel the demons. Yet, the real deal is the martial actions that follow.

With Seo-joon injecting some zesty action-hero persona, The Divine Fury combines horror elements rooting back to The Exorcist (1973) or Stigmata (1999) with action set-pieces spiced with fantasy elements. At least, the first half of the movie shows promising build-ups, introducing the good, the bad, and the alliance between the good guys (involving Seo-Joon, Sung-ki and Parasite ‘s Choi Woo-sik as Father Choi, Father Ahn’s exorcism mentee). After some time, the plot becomes monotonous as Father Ahn and Yong-hoo go from one exorcist to another with similar stakes and methods.

The further the plot goes, the more the character’s backstories become irrelevant. Yong-hoo’s backstories serve nothing but a deus-ex-machina device for the third act. At times, The Divine Fury delivers sentimental moment as Yong-hoo starts to see a fatherly figure in Father Ahn. They will share intimate dialogues about the divine plan and love. Similar to Midnight Runners , Joo-hwan highlights the chemistry between the two leads; however, the bond between them is rather instant in this story.

Between the horror of exorcism and the action-hero tropes, The Divine Fury takes the gothic campiness too seriously, believes it as a credo. The movie never gets to be preachy about being religious or anything since its main goal is to provide a guilty pleasure entertainment. Even when the story becomes too repetitive, but it had its moment. At the end of the movie, they promise a spin-off about Choi Woo-sik’s Father Choi in upcoming horror titled The Green Exorcist . If the two movies should be related, let’s hope that the movie will stick to the characters more than The Divine Fury sticks to the spectacles.

[imdb style=”transparent”]tt10550884[/imdb]

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Film Review: The Divine Fury (2019) by Kim Joo-hwan Screening at Fantasia 2019

Following the immense success of “Midnight Runners”, which went on to become the 6th highest grossing film of 2017 in South Korea, big things were expected from its director Kim Joo-hwan ‘s follow-up film. Talks of a sequel to the hit buddy-cop action comedy were rife, but the news that he would instead be shifting gears to make a horror film with Park Seo-joon , one of his two leads from “Midnight Runners”, surprised many. Two years down the line, we have “ The Divine Fury ” from Kim, which has been chosen as the Closing Film for the 2019 edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival .

“ The Divine Fury ” is screening at  Fantasia International Film Festival

Yong-hoo was raised by a single father to be a God-fearing devout Christian boy, who believed that prayers could solve any problem and cure any illness. But when his policeman father dies despite his sincere prayers, he gets disillusioned by religion and grows up blaming God for his father’s death. Now a handsome young man, Yong-hoo makes a living as a successful international MMA fighter, having left his faith behind him. 

Religion, however, doesn’t seem to be done with him and when a stigmata-like wound surfaces on his palm, he gets pulled into the world of churches, God, evil spirits and the Devil when he meets Father Ahn, a Vatican priest who practises as an exorcist. The two couldn’t be more different than each other but join hands to save people from the clutches of the Dark Bishop, a Satan-worshipper moonlighting as a club owner, who has caused diabolical havoc across Seoul through the years and who Father Ahn has been after for a long time.

With the subject of exorcism, it is inevitable that comparisons with 2015’s “The Priests”, billed as South Korean cinema’s first exorcism film, would arise. While that film was interesting in parts but not fully convincing, “The Divine Fury” sadly falls the lesser film of the two. It does have some interesting ideas, particularly the age-old question it raises in the beginning about if God loves you so much, why would He let His most devout followers suffer such loss, but it never seems to take a stand on it and address it head on. Likewise, there are several scenes that do not seem to fit well into the narrative. The scene with the shaman is one such example. It could have been interesting to see the juxtaposition of the traditional shamanic rituals and beliefs with Catholic practices and Devil worshipping, but the film plays it safe and does not take it further, rendering its inclusion unnecessary.

Yong-hoo is a mixed martial artist but the story fails to capitalise on utilising those skills of his. What starts off promisingly with the first exorcism using his agility and fighting skills, the subsequent instances bring nothing new to what the audience is used to seeing from films of the genre, his abilities forgotten until the film’s climax. Credit where it’s due though, the exorcism scenes are very well done and equally frightening and exciting. The one in the basement with the little boy and the nuns is particularly well done. The connecting tissue between such scenes, however, is rather weak and does not manage to stop the film from falling apart. An attempt to connect Yong-hoo’s past with the demons he’s facing today falls laughably flat. 

The film is technically strong, with Jo Sang-yun’s cinematography one of the film’s few saving graces. Combined with the special effects by Jeon Gun-ik, it creates a dark and scary, yet oddly appealing, vision of Seoul. The sound design and background music also score brownie points. If only the editing had been much crisper; losing some of the deadweight scenes could have massively helped the film’s runtime and kept the narrative engaging.

One of the key reasons “Midnight Runners” succeeded was the chemistry between its two leads Kang Ha-neul and Park Seo-joon, who played off each other delightfully. And though Park Seo-joon and veteran actor Ahn Sung-ki are rather good in their respective roles of Yong-hoo and Father Ahn, that chemistry is sorely lacking between the two. Save for the one instance in Yong-hoo’s apartment, they do not get much of a chance to bond and share a convincing camaraderie. Woo Do-hwan as Ji-sin, the Dark Bishop, doesn’t get a lot more to do apart from standing in the dark wearing a hood, wording indiscernible chants and growling menacingly, which is a shame because he is an actor with a good range. After Park Seo-joon made a guest appearance in the Choi Woo-sik starring “Parasite” earlier this year, the latter returns the favour by cameoing here.

Riding on a lot of expectations, not least for Park Seo-joon fans, “The Divine Fury” does not manage to live up to them and ends up disappointing majorly. What could have been genuinely different take on the exorcism sub-genre ends up being a very average fare that fails to separate itself from a torrent of similar films.

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Hello, my name is Rhythm Zaveri. For as long as I can remember, I've been watching movies, but my introduction to Asian cinema was old rental VHS copies of Bruce Lee films and some Shaw Bros. martial arts extravaganzas. But my interest in the cinema of the region really deepened when I was at university and got access to a massive range of VHS and DVDs of classic Japanese and Chinese titles in the library, and there has been no turning back since.

An avid collector of physical media, I would say Korean cinema really is my first choice, but I'll watch anything that is south-east Asian. I started contributing to Asian Movie Pulse in 2018 to share my love for Asian cinema in the form of my writings.

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The Divine Fury (2019)

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The divine fury.

Directed by Jason Kim

Will you stand with good or evil?

After waking up with mysterious wounds on his hands, a champion fighter finds himself in an otherworldly battle against evil forces that wreak havoc in the human world.

Park Seo-jun Ahn Sung-ki Woo Do-hwan Choi Woo-shik Park Ji-hyun Jung Ji-hoon Lee Seung-hee Sim Hee-seop Kim See-eun Kim Seon-min Jeong Eui-soon Kim Beom-soo Park Jae-hong Cha Si-won Lee Seung-joon Ryu Kyung-soo Seo Jeong-yeon Jo Eun-hyung Lee Jung-hyun Park Ji-yeol Shin Min-ho Mi Seok Lee Sul Park Jin-joo Han Hye-ji Jeong Da-eun Seung Hyung-bae Shin An-jin Yoon Jae-in Show All… Lee Chan-yu

Director Director

Producers producers.

Shin Pil-soon Park A-hyoung Park Sung-hye Im Jun-hyuk

Writer Writer

Editor editor.

Kim Sun-min

Cinematography Cinematography

Cho Sang-yun

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Cha Won-chun Jeong Gyeong-jae

Lighting Lighting

Park Jun-gyu

Production Design Production Design

Lee Bong-hwan

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Kim Hak-hyun

Visual Effects Visual Effects

Seo Byeong-chul Jay Seung Jaegal Ha Jae-gu

Stunts Stunts

Kim Yong-ho Choi Kwang-rak Lim Wang-sub Jeong Seong-ho Park Young-sik

Composer Composer

Sound sound.

Lee Soon-sung Park Yong-gi Jang Cheol-ho

Costume Design Costume Design

Chae Kyung-hwa

Makeup Makeup

Seol Ha-un Son Eun-ju

Lotte Entertainment Content K KEYEAST

Releases by Date

• Theatrical limited

16 Aug 2019

31 jul 2019, 15 aug 2019, 22 aug 2019, 14 aug 2020, 19 nov 2019, 31 jan 2020, releases by country.

• Physical 18
• Theatrical IIB
• Theatrical NC16 (with cuts)
• Theatrical 15
• Physical NR

129 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Sierra ★★½ 2

dohwan unhinge ur jaw and swallow me like the demon lizard daddy u are hail satan

Review by maider ★★

this movie is part of the hpcm (hot priest cinematic universe)

Review by Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★★

Spooktober III: The Haunting of the Blood October

This film was pretty much a letdown. I mean, you practically have a Korean Constantine who also happens to be an MMA fighter who literally fights his a** off. The fight editing and choreography are particularly strong points. The primary demon has a cool, albeit not wholly original design. Furthermore, the film's cinematography is excellent, as is customary for Korean movies. The acting is fine considering the kind of movie it is.

But overall, it's a film I just couldn't get into. It contains a lot of interesting concepts, but the execution left me feeling very unimpressed. Though effective, the effects occasionally came off as comical.

All in all, though I found the film's concept and parts of it enjoyable, I couldn't shake the feeling that it fell short of its potential.

TODAY SCHEDULE Baby Blood Cat Sick Blues Terrifier 2 The Divine Fury

Review by donnia ★★★★

A hot MMA fighter taking on the devil's army with his literal fists...................... The Exorcist can't relate

Review by shi qin ★★★

3 stars for the hot holy trinity park seojoon, woo dohwan & choi wooshik 🥰

korean cinema 🇰🇷

Review by HKFanatic ★★★

If you watched William Friedkin's 1973 horror classic "The Exorcist" and thought, 'Gee, that was great, but you know what it could have used? Mixed Martial Arts,' then director Kim Joo-hwan has you covered with this year's "The Divine Fury." The film looks slick and stylish, with neon nightclubs lit like the ninth circle of hell, but it's surprisingly ponderous and self-serious for most of its 130 minute runtime, at least until the action finale impresses with flaming punches and a single take fight scene.

Review by yuw ★★★

woo doo hwan you kinky angry demon lizard bitch

Review by Aléks ★★★★

Park Seo-joon and Woo Do-hwan big tiddie fight to the death! This is the new Constantine! Genius!

Review by ada ★★½

it's so funny to me how everytime park seo joon was faced by a demon or whatever he just kinda smacks them or throws them and everything works out

Review by Chris Brown ★★★★ 6

"I Kick Ass for the Lord!" The Movie.

This flick surprised me by being a hell of a lot more fun than I thought it would be. Who could've watched The Exorcist and thought, "You know, I think this needs more fight scenes!"

This kind of reminds me of the more exloitationy American "Christian" films like Revelations, but with horror, marital arts and a superhero origin story. And it's all the better for it.

Review by Matt Malpica Reifschneider ★★★★

Had The Divine Fury been made in any other country besides South Korea and been made in any other time, the film would have been a hokey genre affair with a tagline like “First he brought the fight to the octagon, now he brings the fight to Satan!” To be fair, that is essentially what this film is in a nutshell. At the basics, it’s about a star MMA fighter who finds himself side by side with a Vatican priest fighting off a horde of demons possessing a bunch of people in Seoul. The brilliant maneuver that The Divine Fury brings to the floor is that it takes itself shockingly seriously and it’s impeccably executed. It’s stylish as hell (pun…

Review by André Hecker ★★★ 1

MMA-Priester kloppt Dämonen mit Flammenfäusten kaputt. Gibts nicht? Gibts doch! The Divine Fury mixt Exorzismus mit Fighting zu einem experimentellen Mash-up aus Südkorea zusammen. Anders als zunächst erwartet, nimmt der Exorzismus allerdings deutlich mehr Raum ein und anstatt Over-the-top-Action gibt es reichlich düstere Bilder und unheilvolle Bilder. Die Eigenschaften des MMA-Kämpfers spielen im Film lange keine Rolle, ehe es erst am Ende ordentlich was auf die Dämonenfratze gibt. Ein abwechslungsreicherer Mix hätte mir mehr Spaß gemacht, so behält sich der Film allerdings seine Ernsthaftigkeit länger als vermutet, bevor das Finale dann sehr an Videospiele erinnert.

Trotz 130 Minuten Laufzeit weiß Divine Fury diese auch zu füllen und langweilt nicht, wenn die Story auch reichlich quatschig daher kommt. Insgesamt ist das…

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Home » Horror News » The Divine Fury (Movie Review)

The Divine Fury (Movie Review)

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

PLOT : An atheist MMA fighter has to rethink his views on religion when he is stricken with stigmata and meets an exorcist who is trying to stop an evil being called the Dark Bishop.

REVIEW : I'll admit that I went into this South Korean action-horror movie, which I knew would be about an MMA fighter teaming up with an exorcist to fight the forces of evil, with a fair amount of expectations in mind, but one thing I didn't expect the movie to do was tug on my heart strings in the first 15 minutes. Writer/director Joo-hwan Kim starts things off by giving us the tragic back story of the character who will become our hero, Yong-hoo Park. Raised by his deeply religious police officer father after his mother died in childbirth, Yong-hoo was told that God would answer his prayers if he just prayed hard enough. But when his dad was seriously injured in an encounter with a couple demons, Yong-hoo's prayers didn't work to save his life – which the kid realized when his father's spirit visited him to tell him to mind his grandma, who would be raising him from now on; to become a good person who will help others; and that he would always be by his side. This is when THE DIVINE FURY began to make me unexpectedly emotional.

Yong-hoo was so upset that his prayers didn't work to save his dad that he injured a priest with a cross and turned his back on religion. Jump ahead 20 years and we find that Yong-hoo (now played by Seo-joon Park) has become a professional MMA fighter who fights a little harder when his opponent is religious, driven by voices in his head that tell him to get revenge for his father and blame priests for his death… But soon a bleeding wound appears in the palm of Yong-hoo's right hand. It's a supernatural occurrence of stigmata, which forces him to face the idea that all the religious stuff he was raised on was true. He's surrounded by demons. And this stigmata in his palm proves to be very helpful with exorcising demons.

The scene that introduces Yong-hoo and the audience to the idea that his affliction is going to be a good thing is one of my favorites in the film, as he happens to seek the help of priest Father Ahn (Sung-Ki Ahn) while the man is in the middle of a tough exorcism that has sent another priest running for his life and nearly takes Ahn's life before Yong-hoo shows up. Yong-hoo immediately shows that he "ain't afraid of no demons" by knocking the possessed person around. Unfazed when the possessed person defies gravity and scurries (while upside down) up the side of a nearby scaffold, Yong-hoo just jumps up, grabs the demon-infested fellow by the hair, and tosses him down to the ground. It's a very cool moment for Yong-hoo.

As Yong-hoo comes to terms with his new demon-banishing abilities by hanging out with Ahn and accompanying him on other exorcisms, THE DIVINE FURY essentially plays like a horrific superhero origin story. A character has developed special powers and has to figure out how to master them so they can put them to use saving people through action sequences. There's even a diabolical supervillain in here, as it turns out that Yong-hoo and Ahn have so much demonic activity to deal with in Seoul because the city is the base of operations for an evil priest known as the Dark Bishop (Do-Hwan Woo), who is stirring up all this trouble with his rituals. And like many origin stories, it takes a while for THE DIVINE FURY to allow Yong-hoo to be the hero I was looking forward to seeing. 

Many viewers will probably be expecting Yong-hoo to use his fighting skills more often that he does – while the exorcisms he takes part in are entertaining to watch, he's not exactly kicking ass and busting heads like Blade in them. But don't worry, the movie will let him get closer to that level in time for the final confrontation with the Dark Bishop. That's when Yong-hoo finally becomes full-on superhero and wades into a battle with the Dark Bishop and his minions with his right fist engulfed in holy flame.

THE DIVINE FURY's 129 minute running time did wear on me a bit as I made my way through it, but it is a fairly eventful film overall and it's carried on the shoulders of the friendship and working relationship that develops between Yong-hoo and Father Ahn. Seo-joon Park and Sung-Ki Ahn both do great work in their roles, and it's enjoyable to spend time watching these characters hang out together, banter, and banish demons. I came to care for both of them, especially since I knew what Yong-hoo went through when he was a kid. There's a feeling that the movie isn't quite reaching its full potential for a large part of the 129 minutes, but it gets to that point at the same time Yong-hoo reaches his full potential.

While this wasn't the action-fest I was looking for, it is a well-crafted film that tells an interesting story and has a strong focus on its characters, who are brought to life by a pair of great actors. The horror element is very dark, there are some quite disturbing moments, and we are made to understand just how despicable the Dark Bishop is – because the more threatening the villain is and the more we care for the hero, the more we'll be invested in that climactic fight.

After watching that climactic fight, I'm left wanting to see more of Yong-hoo and his fiery fist in a sequel that will enable him to cut loose on demonic hordes more often. We've seen the origin, now bring on the all-out action.

Well Go USA is giving THE DIVINE FURY a theatrical release on August 16 th. PRE ORDER THE BLU RAY HERE!  

About the Author

Cody is a news editor and film critic, focused on the horror arm of JoBlo.com, and writes scripts for videos that are released through the JoBlo Originals and JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channels. In his spare time, he's a globe-trotting digital nomad, runs a personal blog called Life Between Frames, and writes novels and screenplays.

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The Divine Fury (2019) Ending Explained – What is the mysterious wound in Yong-hoo’s palm?

The Divine Fury Plot Synopsis

The Divine Fury is a supernatural horror meets action movie, which deals with the universal theme of good vs evil. The dominant theme is Christian Catholicism with major stress on exorcism, stigmata and demons. The film begins with a little boy, Park Yong-hoo with a good Catholic upbringing who’s recently lost his mother and lives with his father. The father, Police Sergeant Park Ji-ung is a good man who strives to instil Christian values in his son.

The first hint of the supernatural happens when Yong-hoo’s father is killed in a bizarre accident. Years later, we see that Yong-hoo is a ruthless MMA fighter who gets an unexplained wound that only the exorcist, Father Ahn can help with. Meanwhile, Ahn is dispatched by the Vatican to handle the Dark Bishop who coincidentally can only be taken down by Yong-hoo.

Is Park Yong-hoo a godless man?

For little Yong-hoo, who’s barely coming to grips with the grief of losing his mother, the death of his father is the tipping point and traumatizes him to such an extent that he not loses faith in God but develops an intense hatred towards any symbolism connected with God.

Forward twenty years later and Park Yong-hoo (portrayed by Park Seo-Joon) is now an accomplished MMA fighter. His hatred for anything remotely connected with Christian values is so intense that when he spots a tattoo of Christ on the back of his opponent, he is filled with rage. He starts to hear voices in his head screaming for revenge for his dad, his eyes start to glow with demonic propensity and he nearly beats his opponent to death.

When Father Ahn (played by veteran actor Ahn Sung-ki) leaves his cross pendant at Yong-hoo’s home, the latter promptly chucks it into his toilet. Immediately later, he does retrieve it, cleans it and drops it outside Father Ahn’s door.

So Yong-hoo being a godless man is not that he doesn’t believe in God, but that he’s angry with God, for the loss of his father who was devout.

What changes Yong-hoo?

After his MMA fight where he nearly killed his opponent, Yong-hoo is flying back to South Korea when he suddenly develops a mysterious bleeding in his right palm. The puncture marks in his palm don’t heal, though all the medical tests show that Yong-hoo is at the peak of his health. Moreover, he is plagued by nightmares of strange demonic creatures trying to hurt him.

Finally, on the advice of his chauffeur, despite his distrust and lack of faith, he visits a 15-year-old girl-shaman, Hong-jin (played by Jo Eun-hyung). She tells him that his anger against God has allowed evil to creep into him and that ‘they’ whisper in his ears, inciting him to violence and evil.

What is the mysterious palm wound?

Yong-hoo is then directed by the girl-shaman to a church at midnight. Inside the church, Father Ahn is in the middle of an exorcism assisted by a junior priest, Father Choi (cameo role by known bestie, Choi Woo-shik).

Ahn nearly loses his life before Yong-hoo appears and in the process of trying to save the priest, stops the demon by planting his bloodied palm on the possessed man’s face on instinct. Father Ahn chucks holy water on the assailant, which finishes the exorcism.

Later, when Yong-hoo asks Father Ahn about his bloodied palm, the latter tells him that he is blessed to have developed Stigmata – a spontaneous appearance of the wound marks of the crucified Lord on a person’s body like nail wounds on the palm, and it plays a crucial role in the exorcism. Yong-hoo is surprised when the priest also mentions that Stigmata normally happens to a person with strong faith.

Who is the Dark Bishop?

Father Ahn is a Vatican emissary sent to South Korea to monitor rising demonic activity. Shortly after his first meeting with Yong-hoo, he is informed on the phone by his senior that the Dark Bishop is in Seoul and is behind these demonic activities.

It turns out that the Dark Bishop is the wealthy nightclub owner, Ji-shin (played by Woo Do-hwan). He runs a sophisticated nightclub, aptly called Babylon with a logo that reveals its satanic proclivity. Lurking in the bowels of the flashy nightclub is a cavernous temple dedicated to a cult called the ‘Sacred Serpent’ where the Dark Bishop recruits victims into Satan’s unholy legion.

The Dark Bishop’s satanic powers are immense – he can read and control the minds of the weak and sinners. His powers are first revealed in his introductory scene where he is threatened by a gangster. Unbeknownst to the gangster, Ji-shin’s face glows briefly with his demonic possession.

He smoothly sows mistrust in the gangster’s mind against his partner-in-crime, Dae-hwan. The gangster tortures and kills Dae-hwan despite his pleas of innocence. Shortly thereafter, the gangster himself is pursued by the ghost of his dead partner in an empty parking lot and dies a gruesome death.

How does Dark Bishop realise that Father Ahn is his adversary?

The Central Archdiocese requests Father Ahn to perform an exorcism on one of their church-goers, a young lady called Soo-jin (Park Ji-hun) who’s recently been possessed by a dark entity. With great difficulty, he and Yong-hoo manage to drive out the demon.

Father Ahn then goes through the young lady’s personal effects and discovers photos of her and Ji-shin. He realizes that he is the Dark Bishop he’s been looking for, who had charmed and seduced Soo-jin. When the Dark Bishop realizes that he’s losing control over Soo-jin, he performs satanic rites to re-possess her, but Father Ahn manages to finally wrest her back and save her. The Dark Bishop loses the battle but realizes that there’s a churchman who’s trying to undo his evil plans.

How does the Dark Bishop manage to get to Father Ahn?

The Dark Bishop seeks out a little boy, Ho-seok at St. Mary’s Orphanage in Paju who’s being bullied by other kids and takes control of his innocent soul. He then starts separating Father Ahn and Yong-hoo. He approaches Yong-hoo, impersonating Father Choi whom Yong-hoo had only briefly glimpsed during his first meeting with Ahn.

He creates mistrust in Yong-hoo’s mind by saying, that Ahn is in fact a demon and that he is using him. Yong-hoo ends up abandoning Ahn who is trying to exorcise Ho-seok. However, the little boy is killed in the process. After the Dark Bishop’s spell breaks, Yong-hoo rushes to Ahn and they go to see Ho-seok’s dead body. The Dark Bishop uses his powers of illusion to separate the two and wounds Father Ahn.

How does Yong-hoo find the Dark Bishop?

Yong-hoo rushes the dying Father Ahn to his residence where the real Father Choi tends to his mentor with prayers. Before Yong-hoo leaves, Choi gifts the former with a clergy shirt blessed by the Pope. In a surprising turn of events, Yong-hoo dresses up as a clergyman to go battle the Dark Bishop. He extracts the information of Ji-shin’s sanctuary from his former lover, Soo-jin and rushes to Babylon.

Meanwhile, the Dark Bishop has transformed his men into a legion of demons who attack Yong-hoo as he enters the nightclub. He uses his MMA skills as well as his Stigmata to destroy the forces of evil barring his way.

Why does Yong-hoo struggle while fighting the Dark Bishop?

Meanwhile, the Dark Bishop finishes his satanic rites and is transformed into a scaly demon-like creature with fangs and claws. The battle begins with the demonic creature that was Ji-shin almost defeating the mortal Yong-hoo who is nearly rendered unconscious.

Suddenly Yong-hoo is transported into another realm, where he meets the spirit of his father. His father gifts him a holy ball of flame akin to a flaming sword and sends him back. Yong-hoo awakens back into the battle zone but this time his hand is a flaming ball of fire.

In a classically choreographed duel, Yong-hoo wins the battle and the Dark Bishop is destroyed. While Yong-hoo is standing over a dying Ji-shin, the Sacred Serpent comprising of headless limbs and torsos arises from the depth of the dark pool and drags Ji-shin back into the nether world.

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Netizens Are Raving About Park Seo Joon’s Performance in "The Divine Fury"

The name Park Seo Joon   needs no introduction for the true-blue   K-drama  fans . Among his most memorable characters, he's played the uptight cold male lead fawned over by trope enthusiasts in What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim and the justice-seeking protagonist in Itaewon Class . Suffice to say, Seo Joon is practically Korean drama royalty. But for the uninitiated, he’s also a movie star in his own right.

Nothing may typify his range than the now-trending 2019 action horror film The   Divine Fury , which has been shoved back into the spotlight thanks to Netflix Philippines. Still, here’s a question bound to be raised: Is it worth a watch for non-fans and curious Top 10 lurkers? Scroll down below for the essential info.

Everything You Need to Know About The Divine Fury

Park Seo Joon plays Yong-hoo, a man who, quite literally, is plagued by the demons of his past. Tragedies afflicted him as a child after losing both his parents, with the loss of his father becoming a strong catalyst for Yong-hoo to denounce his Catholic faith. 

Fast-forward a couple years and into his adulthood, Yong-hoo is a champion mixed martial arts fighter renowned in his field. But soon enough, darkness torments him as mysterious wounds suddenly appear in the palms of his hands with voices in his head compelling him to do evil acts. Yong-hoo seeks out a priest named Father Ahn ( Ahn Sung Ki ), an exorcist from the Vatican.

Meanwhile, demons have afflicted several innocents in the Korean peninsula. The story points to the big bad “The Dark Bishop” ( Woo Do Hwan ) as the main tormentor, who’s possibly linked to the death of Yong-hoo’s father. Despite still clinging to doubts about his faith, Yong-hoo partners up with Father Ahn to battle these dark spirits.

Aside from K-drama regular Park Seo Joon, several familiar faces pop up in The   Divine Fury . Father Ahn is played by veteran South Korean actor Ahn Sung Ki, whose filmography includes Radio Star (2007), Unbowed (2011), and Two Cops (1994).

Alongside the two characters is rookie exorcist priest Father Choi, played by Seo Joon’s real-life friend Choi Woo Shik , who starred in the Oscar-winning Parasite (2019) and K-drama favorite Our Beloved Summer (2021). On the opposite side of the battle, actor Woo Do Hwan ( The King: Eternal Monarch ) portrays antagonist Ji Sin, also known as The Dark Bishop.

What Netizens Are Saying

Even for its theatrical release, The   Divine Fury has caught the interest of movie-going netizens. While marketed as an action-packed horror, Twitter users praised the film’s underlying themes hinged on humanity, be it loss, faith, or familial relations. Some have also commended its take on the occult genre, which is often filled with cheap scares and terrors.

#DivineFury probably best modern exorcism movie after the priests which is also S.Korean! what i like about their style is that they keep it simple & tells the story in their own unique way! my rate for it 8/10 highly recommending to anyone looking for horror movies!!! pic.twitter.com/6IAQm0a8al — V̳i̳c̳t̳o̳r̳.̳M̳.̳r̳a̳z̳l̳e̳r̳ (@mmvithy21) October 19, 2019

Such a good film. Love the acting and the ending. I like the fact that the film tells us how the lead role's mother passed away without having to say it out (the dad & son conversation at the restaurant after church). Very well thought out. #divinefury #koreanmovie pic.twitter.com/cMIO2Uyp9h — Amitiht (@TheRealAmitiht) September 10, 2019

"Its okay to have a bad grades but be a good person..." #Divinefury is a must watched movie. The story, acting & cinematography is jjang! woo do hwan and seo joon perfectly portrayed their character . I like the story since its a matter of faith... — bunny (@pmyrabbit) August 17, 2019

'Divine Fury' wasn't as scary as I thought. Loved Park Seo-jun's performance in this! I'm excited to see what they can bring to the table to create this occult-themed cinematic universe. If you like exorcism and superheroes, you'll enjoy #DivineFury . Rating: 8/10 — Jessica Chua (@jayceepeekay) August 19, 2019

just watched #DivineFury AND IT WAS SO AMAZING FOR REAL !!! loved how it dealt with themes of religion, faith, loss, love and strength, especially in friendship ❤️HUGE RESPECT and LOVE for the korean film industry and their GENIUS ! cant wait for #Parasite hi @poutyminsuga 😜 — gasoline ⛽️ (@samgYUUUUUP) August 17, 2019

What the Critics Are Saying

Audiences are raving about it, while critics remain a bit lukewarm. Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com deemed that “more care was seemingly put into the lighting” than scripting, and Courtney Small of Cinema Axis cheekily commented that “not even divine intervention can save this film.”

Still, there are a few rays of light when it comes to critic reviews. CJ Sheu of Critics at Large notes how The   Divine Fury plays between the lines of theological and psychological thought, while San Diego Reader ’s Matthew Lickona praises its “intelligent sincerity” amid all the blood and guts.

Watch the full trailer of  “The Divine Fury” below:

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The Divine Fury

Story: As a young boy, Yong-hoo lives alone with his father, who is a religious person and a policeman. His mother died while giving birth to him. One day, his father is critically injured during traffic control and is in hospital, so Yong-hoo goes to church and prays for his father. But God does not answer his prayers and his father dies. Twenty years later, Yong-hoo (Park Seo-joon) is a famous MMA fighter. Whenever he sees a crucifix, he becomes both sad and incredibly angry at the same time. Recently, he also started hearing voices. To make matters worse, he suddenly has an injury in the palm of his hand which is bleeding constantly. The doctors can't help him, so he goes to a shaman. She explains that there are demons surrounding him, but there is also his father's ring which is protecting him. In the rice, that the shaman pours out to show Yong-hoo the way, he sees a cross again, and so the woman sends him to a priest. The priest is in the middle of performing an exorcism and would probably even have died if Yong-hoo had not shown up. With the blood of his wound, the MMA fighter manages to drive the demon away. The priest introduces himself as Father Ahn (Ahn Sung-ki) and blesses Yong-hoo's apartment as a thank you. So now, after a long time, Yong-hoo can finally sleep through the night without having nightmares. When Yong-hoo brings back a cross, which the priest secretly left with him, he goes along with him on another exorcism. The demon there claims that he is responsible for the death of Yong-hoo's father. But the "Dark Bishop" Ji-sin (Woo Do-hwan) is the one actually pulling the strings in the background...

Review: A horror movie focusing on exorcism while one of the two heroes is an MMA fighter? And if you then find out that in the finale Yong-hoo even has a fist flaring up with divine fire as a weapon, this could certainly arouse some interest. It sounds trashy and cool at the same time. And that's exactly where you have to ask: Does the movie want to mix up the well-known devil-possession horror theme with some self-deprecation thus creating something new, or does the movie want to take its horror roots seriously? Hopefully the first? Nope, we get a pretty classic horror flick here, which - even though it does have its own flair due to the unusual action elements and the reluctant heroe - just doesn't quite feel right because the story simply takes itself too seriously. A clear case of identity disorder which sadly destroys the potential of this crazy story.

At least it seems as if director Kim Joo-hwan intended to focus on Yong-hoo's problem with God caused by the death of his father. But for that the dialogues are not a good basis. They get caught up in trivia which might have been supposed to make the characters a little more three-dimensional, but in the end, they only drag on the movie unnecessarily. With a running time of 129 minutes, the story is also told much longer than it has any right to be. This impression gets stronger if you look at the movie's narrative arc, which is built on one exorcism happening after the other, without barely any new findings coming to light. With "Midnight Runners" director Kim Joo-hwan previously created a small but impressively entertaining comedy thriller, and for his new project he brings back his lead actor Park Seo-joon. Unfortunately, Yong-hoo remains cold and withdrawn most of the time. His hatred is more of the smoldering kind, and the fact that the priest is able to identify it so accurately is pretty surprising. It is also the priest who, using words, wants to make it clear to us that the MMA fighter is actually a good guy who has only strayed from the right path. It would have been nice if the director had just shown instead of told us all of this.

I actually expected a lot from the action. Apart from a fight in the club, which was at least shot without any cuts and therefore required a lot of planning, there is no particularly great choreography. Yong-hoo throws punches and that's it. Now, of course, you could argue that MMA is actually designed for effectiveness, and you should not expect acrobatic maneuvers, but the fights are just dull. Even towards the end when Yong-hoo's fist is armed with a sacred flame. So, ultimately, the feeling remains that "The Divine Fury" simply takes itself too seriously and therefore ruins some of its fun factor. There could have been an entertaining action flick hidden in there somewhere, but for that the atmosphere aims far too much for horror and drama without actually delivering in these areas. As an exorcism movie, the flick is by no means original and uses well-known clichés instead. The script is certainly not the movie's strength, and so it should have focused on the action elements. But that's not the case either. So, the only thing left having sort of nice entertainment value is the somewhat unusual friendship between the two protagonists. But it's not enough.

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The divine fury.

Korean Movie | 2019

사자 | sa-ja

• Action • Horror

Directed by Kim Joo-hwan (김주환)

Written by Kim Joo-hwan (김주환)

129min | Release date in South Korea: 2019/07/31

Started filming: 2018/08/14 Wrapped filming: 2018/12/31 Synopsis A story about a man who has lost his father, and the final battle between him and the god of death.

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[HanCinema's Film Review] "The Divine Fury" Screening at Fantasia 2019 🕒 2019/08/02 22:11 By Panos Kotzathanasis

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Yong-hoo (용후)

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Review | The Divine Fury film review: The Exorcist meets mixed martial arts in limp Korean thriller

Director kim joo-hwan doesn’t seem to know what kind of film he wants the divine fury to be, and result is a mishmash of genres that’s sluggish and pedestrian it fails to deliver the scares or excitement that exorcisms and gore should provide.

Anyone bemoaning the lack of mixed martial arts in William Friedkin’s horror classic The Exorcist may very well rejoice at the prospect of director Kim Joo-hwan’s The Divine Fury , a high-concept horror-action hybrid that will answer their prayers.

Seemingly determined to combine the sensibilities of Keanu Reeves’ John Wick films and Constantine in an all-kicking, all-punching battle between Good and Evil, grieving MMA champion Yong-hoo (Park Seo-joon) teams up with a world-weary exorcist to rid Seoul of Satan’s demons. But the pairing fails here, in contrast to Kim’s previous film, the excellent Midnight Runners.  

Since losing both his parents at a young age, Yong-hoo has harboured a vengeful hatred of The Almighty, which he has channelled into a successful fighting career. But when he inexplicably develops a stigmata-like wound, Yong-hoo reluctantly seeks pastoral advice.

Father Ahn (Ahn Sung-ki), a Vatican emissary sent to Korea to monitor rising demonic activity, sees potential in Yong-hoo, and when his wound successfully defeats an attacking demon, the pair form an unlikely partnership.

Unfortunately Park, who starred in the recent hit TV series What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim and was excellent in Midnight Runners , spends far too much time in The Divine Fury brooding and pouting. Meanwhile, screen legend Ahn’s battle-hardened priest is cold and elusive throughout. Their quarry is an equally underwhelming foil.

Review: The Divine Fury

Like all good Korean action films, and quite a few non-action films, The Divine Fury is premised on revenge. As a child, Yong-hu loses his widowed policeman father after the latter is savagely attacked during a routine traffic stop, and denounces his father’s Catholicism when he realizes that this faith did nothing to alleviate the pain of losing a wife and didn’t protect him from the evil in the world. He becomes a professional fighter whose m.o. is beating his opponents within an inch of their lives in the first round, fired up by a hatred for humanity. Fortunately for him the world loves to watch this kind of thing and rewards him handsomely. He lives in a luxury condo in central Seoul and has fans the world over, but, of course, he’s never happy, and one day he develops a painful wound on the palm of his hand that he eventually come to learn is stigmata. He swallows his pride and consults Father Ahn (Ahn Sung-ki), a have-holy-water-will-travel exorcist for hire, who tells him that due to his denunciation of his father’s faith, evil spirits are battling for his soul.

As it happens, a smarmy, ageless nightclub owner (Wu Do-hwan), contains the evil spirit that killed Yong-hu’s father, and now seems bent on taking over Yong-hu, but the movie never quite calms down long enough to make sense of the whole evil possession thing. Those familiar with  The Exorcist will appreciate the script’s fidelity to the lore of demon possession—the naming of names, the transmigration of evil from one body to another, and the various tools at the disposal of the exorcist—but we never get a clear idea of how or why the nightclub guy is doing what he’s doing except that it looks like he’s having fun; and it could be a lot more fun if the first element in the high-concept theme, that of the martial arts fighter, were exploited more elaborately. As it stands, Yong-hu does more soul-searching and demon-denouncing than he does ass-kicking. It’s a muddled though nonetheless handsomely staged thriller that also lacks much in the way of campy horror, relying too much on cheesy special effects and uninspired body makeup (though the lizard-man thing at the end is pretty good). Park Seo-jun stans may be satisfied because they get a few scenes of him without his shirt on, but when plot integrity requires the donning of a priest’s collar, even that kind of fan service is compromised.

In Korean. Now playing in Tokyo at Cinemart Shinjuku (03-5369-2831).

The Divine Fury home page in Japanese

photo (c) 2020 Lotte Entertainment

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