Hellbound (2021)

Another great series in 2021

2021 has been great in terms of Korean productions as exemplified by "Sweet & Sour" and "Move to Heaven". "Hellbound" is a series for everyone, but not everyone will appreciate it.
The title and the reactions in the series to a repeated supernatural phenomenon, gives the viewers an insight into mass psyche in front of God/the transcendent.
Then, in the middle of the series one person makes a smart remark that goes against mainstream: in reality we are facing an unexplained set of phenomena and some people are exploiting these phenomena.
The author and/or movie maker will make everything crystal clear in the last seconds of the last episode, and I won't spoil it.

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GREAT ACTING, and Great story for those who understand.

In my headline, no need to explain to watch this netflix original series. This series will not feel you bored because your curiosity about the story will intruiged you especially the acting was superb. Watch till end before you decide. SIX EPISODES ONLY

THE ENDING WAS....

An open-ended but very satisfying.

The confusion about the monsters was understandble, if comes from nowhere then it ended from nowhere. It's okay not to know because it's SUPERNATURAL FICTION. I hope there is a second season to clarify the confusion of others and most of all, hoping the parents to be with their child again.

The message of the drama was definitely satisfy you.

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Skip it

This was a disappointment. I feel the biggest problem (among many) with this show was if you’re going to go all out with a CGI monster drama, it should be a fun, character-driven genre drama centered around these monsters. The great trailers made it appear this way and and we were expecting a lot after the best shows of the year, Squid Game and DP. But it turned out to be a serious philosophical story, and a very boring one at that, with no substance or characterization at all, and the monsters were hardly in the picture. There was also lots of unnecessary disturbing violence and torture.

I feel like even Yoo Ah In intentionally jumped ship on this one (you’ll know what I mean). Give the first episode a try and you’ll be able to know if it’s your kind of thing or not because it doesn’t get any better.

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Hellbound? You tried

'A delusion held by one person is a mental illness, held by a few is a cult, held by many is a religion.' -Robert Todd Carroll

I spend the whole last Night watching this, because someone in the House I life in told me they looked forward to it after Squid Game. I didn't go in for any Actor, I really don't think I knew anyone who is on the Cast before this. But I watched other Movies Yeon Sang Ho so I should be used to his style, at least that's what I thought.

But oh boy, I was wrong. From the beginning everything seemed kind of, fished out of the Nose?

Human fear, what they can't kill or understand, and this is a big part of this Drama, I think. The problem is, tho, I can just assume and think what this is all about. Next to the facts you see and kind of understand fast yourself, there is nothing, even in the smallest, explained in this.

I think if they choose just 1 direction they wanted to go in, and not 2 or 3, this could have been a really nice watch, or if it would be a standard 10 Episode Drama, that we are usually used to from Netflix.

The Music is, okay at best? All I remember was the Intro, that I skipped after the first Time watching it, and the sounds that usually came when something bad happens. Nothing new.

Would I rewatch it personally? Not really, there are better Dramas out there that at least does not make me vomit on my desk at 1 am in the morning. (Thank you, episode 3). But if they ever bring out a 2nd Season, I will force myself to watch it in hopes they explain more in it.

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Watch it like a long movie, not like a short Kdrama.

Wow there sure are a lot of bad reviews here. It's true that is this an awfully short format for a Kdrama, and that impacted the sort of character development we're used to. What you get here is longer than a movie, but shorter than the vast majority of Kdramas, and for that shortened format I thought it was exceptionally well done. In movies, you often see unexplained plot points and less developed characters, this is more like a long movie than a short Kdrama. The CG heavy baby was a little weird to watch, but the overall story was pretty impressive. Maybe it's the world we live in these days, but it seemed super realistic to me that people would just blindly accept a new faith because they are so desperate for any answer, regardless of whether or not that answer makes logical sense.

The part of this that seemed unrealistic to me was not having the military getting involved at all. Like weird alien assholes saying they're from god show up and melt people and no one even tries to nuke them? For sure if something like this happened IRL it would be more like the people who were given the decree would be taken to a military base and all sorts of testing would be done to see whether the decree can be thwarted or the fat ropey alien golem things killed. Mostly because if this were a decree from god against bad people, all the wealthy people in power would find themselves first on the chopping block and thus eager to learn how to protect themselves. That part of it I really had to suspend logic to get through. Maybe that's coming in season 2 idk.

The acting was pretty good, the visuals were good, and the story was compelling and would have been probably more appropriately set either in the distant future post-apocalypse or in the distant past....someplace with out technology. If it were set in modern day you'd have every scientist in the global community trying to snip off a piece of the aliens to see what they're made of and how they might be destroyed.

If you suspend your belief through all that and just take the story as it is, I think it's pretty compelling to watch how quickly people turn on each other, even their own friends and family, if they believe it will afford them more personal safety. That, I think, is the real message of this show. People are sheep and will flock to whatever group or religion that affords them the highest level of safety. People will greedily grasp at power to achieve some illusion of control. People will judge and condemn others in a heartbeat, if it means not ending up on the losing side.

Overall, this is entertaining, has a poignant message, and is worth a watch. If the plot seems confused, it's because you are watching a world in which all the participants are also confused. You don't have a single main lead guide who stays with you the entire show to fit the pieces together for you, you're abandoned and alone and trying to make sense of it all just like every character in this drama. And I think that's pretty poetic.

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The more you watch, the less sense it has

The show started well: there was some action, reasoning behind the monsters' arrival and a presentation of the weird cult with a creepy leader... and then it went south. I think that it is sad that the potential of this drama was completely ruined by the lack of reasoning behind everyone's actions. Everything started to make less and less sense, and by the end of the show, it was extremely annoying to watch the characters make any decisions.
The "streams" of one of the church's fanatics were obnoxious and I think they did not add much to the story, except for the "plot twist" at the end, which was very predictable.
Overall I wouldn't recommend this show to any fan of Kdramas, but I may use it to warn someone about the possible outcomes of religious fanaticism,

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What a disappointment!

This drama was a mess, at the beginning was difficult to understand and then when you can start guessing what is happening, everything is just bad, messy and without following the "original" plot line (to say everything changes from episode 4 onwards and the story just gets more uninteresting), there's a lot of plot holes, honestly, the visual effects are horrendous (no comments), there's some gore (not really, to be honest, I have seen more gore than this), no suspense or thriller.
The character's backgrounds, don't expect to be explained (they aren't), characters appearing, disappearing with no apparent explanation (there's little reasoning for this drama), some characters are underdeveloped that could have had more potential, others that could have been better without them...
The ending, it's difficult to explain, you could take it as a cliffhanger or not, because precisely the main character's story/problem is solved in the end so there isn't exactly a need for a season 2, the cult will be disbanded as it has lost it's followers and the problem with the monsters aka demons won't be solved, how can humans solve supernatural problems, even more so being that problem a hell one?
So what with that ending scene with the reborn woman? That it is, they are reborn if they are supposed to, I don't Chairman Jung will be reborn (as he is precisely the demon personified).

That's all for me thoughts in this hellish drama.
I don't recommend it, don't waste time on this one, even if the mc's are your favourite actors, it's not worth it, believe me I fell for that trap.

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CRAZY good!

I have been waiting for over a month for "Hellbound" to come out and now that I finished it, I have no words but one...CRAZY. The storyline is fascinating yet thrilling.
WARNING- those who cannot handle violance, gore, blood - please do not watch as it has extreme level of violance!
The actors put out such a great performance that I couldn't help but to get attached to the characters even tho most of them had less screentime and get emotional for their end comings. I think my favourite episode would be Ep.6, it shows the relationship and bond of a family especially between a mother and a child & how you can't help but be beside them and protect them in their worst times to the point of even sacrificing oneself for them.
I went from being surprised to being angry, horrified and emotional. So yeah it was a full on rollercoaster of emotions.
I hope Season 2 will be sooner than expected cause this cliffhanger has left me with SO many questions. Final thought- WATCH IT!

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A must-watch for fans of series like School Nurse Files

This series has polarised viewers. Either you like it or you won't.
I really liked it. In fact I watched the last 20 minutes of episode 6 again.
It's not a monster genre show, but like another reviewer said, it's sociological commentary. The monsters are just there to provoke thought: are they a punishment from God for sinners, or are they just a supernatural phenomenon?
Viewers have said there are plotholes and dropped plotlines. Spoiler here: for example, no follow-up to the detective and his daughter. Actually, it can be inferred that he chose to protect his daughter by not exposing the chairman, and this paved the way for the New Truth and the Arrowhead to flourish. End spoiler. Throughout the show, there is sufficient information for you to make inferences and draw your own conclusions.
The last episode sets the scene for a second season. Hence the cliffhanger.
Anyway, if you enjoyed series like Stranger and School Nurse Files, which aren't so mainstream, chances are you'll like Hellbound. I preferred Hellbound to Squid Game and Sweet Home which are more populist dystopian. Hellbound is smarter and more unique.

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Yoo An In acting is a masterpiece

I was waiting for this drama, mainly because of Yoo Ah In, and he did not disappoint. I have never seen manga, so the plot was completely unknown, and acetal the storyline was interesting.
There are several actors who can play good and bad guys, and Yoo Ah In definitely nailed his role here. A handsome charismatic pshycopath leading a cult and he played all sides of the character very good. May Hollywood borrow him? I have not seen good villains in western cinematography for ages.

Also Ryu Kyung Soo, I have seen him Before playing More playful and funny characters, here he is a bad guy
and he acted him so well. I hope he get more recognition.

However, I feel like the script did not do enough for the characters. Killing the main lead after two episodes? We don’t even know what kind of a man he was, a little background history would be great.
It felt a little rushed, and a lot of stories are incomplete. This could have been 10 episode series easily, with more detailed script. The first episode was slow, and than after second episode everything escalated so quickly, and became confusing. Where are cop and his daughter? What happened to children of lady from second episode? How the Soda loan firm was formed? How did the MFL survived?

The ending is a cliffhanger, and it looks like they are leaving the rest for season 2. But I am not sure if they will do the second season? If not than my rating will definitely decrease.

Overall, I am not regretting watching it. I like thrillers, and I enjoyed the story and idea, I enjoyed acting and the cinematography. However, I don’t think I will rewatch it. It reminded me of a “sweet home” and I rewatched “sweet home” couple of times, but this one is not that exciting and complete.
Also I am Not sure if that’s a horror genre that would make you scared. “Save me” was way more traumatising and creepy when representing a cult.
There is a lot of blood and people dying, but I think all Korean criminal dramas are like this. Mouse was way more bloody and creepy. So I would say that series was not very scary, but if you are a softhearted person, who can’t watch people dying and blood, than better skip this one.

I am giving 9 just for Yoo Ah In and his acting. If not for him, than the score would be 7 at most.

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Waste of time

There is a much more awesome series out there to look don't waste time on this. let talk about the story what the point of making it.
I want to ask myself a question.
Did the story gives any messages and show any issue related to the public? I say no.
Did the story entertain an audience? I say no.
Did this story thrill you? I say no.
Are you scared because of scenes? I say no.
Now come to the psychological part.
Did this story make you think? I say a little bit.
Did this storyline make you crave for the next episodes? I say nope.
I even wanted to skip to the next.
Is there any reason why we should watch this series? I say better not to watch. It really disappoints you.
Let me be honest here after watching the Sweet Home series I have too much expectation from this series. But this series is nothing just garbage trash. Thanks.

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Hot Mess

PS: it's my first time writing a review so bear it with me
I must say that I feel underwhelmed about the whole drama. The casting choice was good and the special effects were all well done but something important was missing from the plot.
I liked the topics that were addressed and how those were adressed. From the characters' pov, the story was confusing and jumpy. It felt like a lot of important scenes were removed from the script. Instead of those, there were only action scenes.
Regardless of this factor, I completed it. I don't know if it was the smartest move to leave this drama with an incomplete ending knowing how past netflix series have been treated. Would I rewatch it? No, because I would grow to hate it

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