Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018)

Watching horror movie is one of my favorite things. But often I find movies with the same story line & plot. Not really bringing something new to table.
However with this one, it's different.
The story line is something we are quite familiar with. Youtubers goes to a scary place to film & ___ happens. Same with here. But what makes this movie different, is that it get on your nerves, in a good way.
I paused, so many times while watching, that I lost count. Not a lot of jumpcase, but a whole scene where you can see how its happening. That what makes it more scary. Loved that.
The way the story flows, specially the way the film is directed, it just sets it apart from the rest. Applause to the director.

The cast was perfect. I loved how they acted. All of them are good actors, so expected nothing less.

The music is low & it stretched, taking the whole scene with it. It wasn't over done, something that happens way too much in horror movies now days.

100% going to rewatch this. Probably not alone. With a friend - who haven't seen it- at night.

Please do give this a try if you love horror. It's an amazing movie!

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It's rare for horror movies to get much of a rating. When you look at their ratings, you look more for anything above a 5, because if it has 8 or above, it must be a unicorn or something. While this wasn't a unicorn, it hit all the buttons for me in terms of creepy.

I tend to not like supernatural stories that much, as I find that people can be far scarier than ghosts. This story managed to balance a line with the aspect of a haunted place and not feeling so focused on this abstract supernatural being. It was a haunting. Not a martian or a big bad wolf. The movie also played with timing, which I appreciated. In typical horror flicks, you have a 1-2 reaction with something popping up. There were points in this where the image held and so if you closed your eyes for a second and opened them expecting it to be done, you'd be wrong. Even at points when there was looking away and back again, it didn't follow a 1-2-bang punch. You kept thinking this would be the time, and so when it finally was, it was like being grabbed by the throat.

The music was just right to get an eerie feel and add that essence of "this sounds sweet and playful while also sounding ominous and like I may lose my head." The acting was solid, and while the story is not original, it was done in a way that didn't feel like I was watching the exact same movie with different actors. What really shows that the images held up for themselves is that the subtitles were less than perfect, and yet the aspect of terror was still projected.

Horror movies are incredibly subjective, but this one definitely had me covering my eyes for a minute and is something I would rewatch with a friend.

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An exceptional example of found footage horror done right!

An interesting found footage horror that was peppered with scares. The story behind the asylum was intriguing but took a while to pick up. Great acting by Ji-Hun and Charlotte, who were two of my favourite characters in this movie. So let me share with you why you may or may not wish to watch this film.

Why you should watch Gonjiam?
1. Great set design
2. Creepy effects and audio to support the thrills
3. Wonderful acting of some of the cast
4. Background story of characters with the scripted scares and later the real scares were innovative
5. Fitting ending that leaves us with more questions than answers

Why you shouldn't watch Gojiam?
1. Difficult to comprehend if you cannot understand Korean as I couldn’t figure out where to focus between audio, subtitles, cast & surroundings.
2. Slow first half
3. Mediocre subtitles
4. Not much differentiation between the scripted scares and real scares

Overall:
I found it hard to understand what was happening because there was too much diverting my attention between the subtitles, the cast reactions/gestures and looking for ghosts/background curiosities, and the constant camera switches didn’t help. Not being a fan of found footage I might be overly critical of the movie though as parts of it; mainly second half where the story picks up, were interesting.

So would I recommend this movie for anyone to watch? Only if you understand Korean or are a fan of found footage horror.
A 7.5/10 for me.

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I've been thinking about this movie a lot so I need to write a review. I consider myself someone who doesn't get scared easily, but not this time. This movie is actually scary I almost shit my pants (maybe because I watched it alone, in the dark, at 2 am..). Firstly, this movie is based on the abandoned mental hospital in SK that had to close down because of economics, it's one of the scariest places in SK. The movie did a pretty good story out of this hospital, adding ghosts and things like patients commiting suicide, mad director etc.

Another thing I liked about this movie is the way they filmed it, and the cast. Even if they didn't film it in the actual hospital, they did a good job recreating the place, although they added that bath tub and laboratory room. They filmed this as a documentary, everyone filming with a gopro. This makes it seem more realistic like it's actually happening. Another thing that made this more realistic is that all of the actors are new faces, they aint famous or have acted in anything, yet they acted REALLY good for newbies. They all used their real names in the movie too, so new faces makes it seem like it's again, actually happening irl rather than having like Lee Jong Suk, it'd be weird right :'D

Scary things doesn't happen until like, the last 15 minutes, however the jumpscares are real people, I seriously skipped a lot of scenes, otherwise I wouldn't be able to sleep (actually I slept at 8 am finally after watching numerous of videos of people visiting the hospital lol).

Rewatch value is low, because I rewatched it, and honestly it didn't feel the same as the first time, since now I already know everything. As for music, there were no music LOL.

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Just finished watching this and omg... never have I ever felt the need to write a review until now.
Its starts off as every typical found footage horror movie out there: bunch of young people who decide to visit some haunted location to prove if its real or not. I kept my expectations low with his one and halfway through I practically gave up on it, then the fun starts and I legit started to freak out.
The way the film was shot with the hand-helds and camera set up made the film seem much more real and believable. The acting was tolerable- its a horror movie so not much can be expected. The overall vibe was typical but still creepy and for that this gets a high score

I watch this at 9am so there was sun out but I kept my blinds closed to get into the mood- bad idea on my part lol Had me screaming so much that my mom rushed in my room wondering what was wrong with me.

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Found footage horror genre is not an easy one to execute well. There are many mistakes that can be made, and this movie avoided almost all of them.

The premise of the plot is quite simple: a group of young adults goes to a haunted location to film some spooky stuff and things go wrong. To sell such a story and make it believable you need few elements.

REASON
Why these people and that specific location? Here we have Ha Joon being the "captain" of the ghost hunting team bringing a group of selected people into one of the top 7 scariest places. It's not hard to believe that a group of haunted houses and ghost enthusiasts would sign up to go to such a location, especially since money was also involved. This setting makes it easier for us to believe this story could happen. There are plenty of youtubers doing just that.

CAST
The chemistry between the characters was amazing. While some people might say that the beginning part was boring and a bit too long, I'd like to say it was necessary. We got to know what are the dynamics between different characters, their motivation and style of acting and communicating. All the characters were relatable and easy to like which made the stakes much higher. I wanted them to survive.

That said, making a horror movie believable in the style of Blair Witch Project and using actors' names for the characters works only if the actors are not well known. Here it did not make much sense. I see no reasons why the fictional characters did not get original names since it's not like the writing, nor a production team really wanted to play on that "believability" aspect like it happened with BWP.

ENDING
Why no one searched for the kids? Why no one was concerned with what was going on? Why did none of the viewers call the police as they were watching? All of those questions have been answered in a simple yet quite clever way in one of the last scenes in the tent. Since they used a "live broadcast" as a way to showcase the found footage trope, I was afraid it would be hard to give it a reasonable ending, yet the writer and director made it work.

Overall, it was a nice horror movie. There were quite a few moments that made me scared. It wasn't heavy on cheap jump-scares, but instead they created a nice atmosphere and did a good job of playing with the different lights and shadows to make a viewer question if they saw something or not. While some scenes at the ending were unnecessary for me, and cheapened the movie a bit, I still believe it was a watch worth my time.

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A good story since it's based on something that is real. I thought personally that it wasn't scary after half of the movie happen. I recommend that people watch it though because it's a really good movie. My personal point of view is that all the patients died in room 402 and that's maybe why when the camera is seen it shows all of them at one point. I think that the director did a great job because it wasn't like all the movies, they made it look like a documentary making it more interesting to watch. I'm curious about finding out thought what happens to them. I honestly would like it if there was a sequel to this movie. I'm the type of person into the mystery and watching this makes me want to go to the hospital myself. One question I asked myself was about the director. Did she really killed those patient and then ran away?. Did she died in the hospital with them?. Who was the little girl?. This movie was amazing and I think that it awesome to do a documentary movie based on a place that is haunted in real life. Everyone into horror movies should for sure watch this.

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story vise yes it not that much ....like most of the youtubers explore to abundoned scary places...same they went to most scariest place of korea that is Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital ...which is really haunted placed in south korea . the director didnt shoot this movie in that hospital becoz ofc its" haunted " so they use school by setting it up like hospital which is incredibly done by art director. i have watched like tons of horror movie of all countries ..as i fucking love horror movie ....but this movie is on next level ya i love it more than conjuring 1 ahhahah .
it has all aliments of horror scary movie ,,,,,,i almost get jump scares at every moments of scenes . using it webcam for showing the effects of watching it though their camera is ausum ...camera work was good lighting was good for horror movie otherwise shown almost dark ....their was not creepy pathethic type ghost at all which i like most ....ghost only showed up in last scenes with supernatural elements ....editing with some creepy noises bangs sounds make it more worth watching for me .....other than showing up some ghost with heavy make up .....
sound was perfect only played when needed ....ohhhh yes sound was not there for creating extra effect to create horror environment ....that was so good .
charcters are almost new casted so they pretty much shown good work with charcters given,
overall worth watching ~~~~~especially at night.

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Unique horror movie that will keep your heart-pounding

I am really a scaredy-cat and rarely watch horror movies (specially alone) but I was able to watch this one. Not too many jumpscares and the plot is pretty cliché where someone tried to capture paranormal activities then it started going downhill from there. However, what's refreshing about it is the type of the way it was filmed.

In a way the movie makes you feel like you're with the characters exploring the building and all so you see their reactions as if you're with them. That really builds up the tension and my heart was racing the whole time not knowing what will suddenly turn up to scare me. It feels like those Youtube videos where they explore haunted and abandoned buildings but this time with really creepy twists.

The sounds were mostly natural like the footsteps, the breath, the sound of things being stepped on and minor common horror background music. Everything mixes up to make the ambience creepier and they achieved it.

As a person who gets scared easily, I might not rewatch this again but if I am a horror enthusiast, I'd probably see this again. Give it a try and challenge yourself to watch this alone without giving yourself nightmares.

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I love a good horror movie....

I really love a horror movie, but in recent years it's hard to find one that "convince" me to watch from beginning to end. But this movie turned that around!!

I don't know if it's because the hospice really exists or if it's because the film is all recorded in video format, but I just LOVED IT!!

The entire film was well produced, from the actors' performances to the background. The jump scares that happened throughout the film made the scenes even better. I loved the fact that, after a while, it felt like the actors really were going through the curse. The screams, the cries and even the tantrums were so real that I felt fear along with them (and I don't even feel fear in horror movies)
It's true that I made a bad decision to see this movie late at night, but I don't regret watching it. I highly recommend it, but I advise you to see it during the day.

GOD LUCK brave and watch out, you never know what might come up behind!

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gue pikir ini bakal serem bangett soalnya dia kaya grave encounters gitu kan ya. uji nyali di rumah sakit. gue jg udh tau kalo gonjiam itu salah satu tempat terhoror yg pernah dicatet sejarah.

makin excited tuh gue nontonnya. awal2 masih oke, eh pas di rumah sakit tu kaya?? selain gelap2 karena keadaan rumah sakitnya dan orang2 yg bandel (biasanya ada di film2 horor) ga ada yg spesial sih di film ini. cuma menang jump scare sama teriak2 doang asli WKWKW ga terlalu recommended lah, tp kalo lu mau nonton ya silakan aja si ga jelek2 banget kok. ini gue review kaya gini krena gue awalnya udh berekspetasi lebih sm ni film, jadinya gitu deh dikecewain banget rasanya?

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