Hellbound (2021)

Realistically epic

Watching hellbound was a wonderful and beautiful experience for me. The ones who said this drama was not so good or scary they had expectations of sweet home type apocalypse. But this drama showed how just one reason is enough for mankind lose to their sanity and follow a herd blindly. How some people start thinking themselves as god. Eagerly waiting for season 2. To the ones who are still thinking wether to watch or skip, I would say to watch hellbound without any thoughts and expectations. This drama shows that people's thoughts and fear itself is making their lives a living hell.

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Human Fears the Unknown

This show may get flagged with mixed reviews, but I honestly quite enjoyed its concept. Despite its flaws in story-telling, I felt like everything was intended.

Even though this is a supernatural show, the real focus isn't actually on the supernaturals, but on humans and our society.

We as humans thrive on information, knowledge and predictability, so as soon as that is thrown out the window, chaos will ensue and swallow the world. And this show captures this idea perfectly as we see how quickly the world turns when the supernatural events immerged. Furthermore, how vile some people are to corrupt the truth simply for self-gain.

So if you were hoping to jump into this, expecting a creatively-written supernatural world, this show will disappoint you because it doesn't really cover many details on the supernatural side. In fact, towards the latter 3 episodes, you will be given more questions than answers. Some of the supernatural stuff seems to just happen out of the convenience to push the human side of the story, which I can see why some people hate. If you ask me, give it a try - the first episode is a bit of a mystery and open-ended but you should know how you would feel by the second episode.

In terms of acting, I was honestly very impressed. All of the main cast was solid, except for the police - I thought his character was a bit illogical sometimes, so perhaps the writing is to-blame instead. However, a special mention is Yoo Ah In's role. He absolutely sold his character.

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Existentialism Gone Amok.

The drama portrays interesting apocalyptic scenarios, using philosophical undertones to convey its point.
We can see appropriate criticisms against the religious zealots and the tyrannical priest class abusing its authority to gain control over the mass, a retelling of Nietzsche's biting critique on religion. We also receive a neat existentialist prescription: Don't rely on authority, rely on yourself and empiricism. Face the helms of danger with courage. Settle matters with your own choice and self-governance! Sounds great on paper. The issue?

None of the existentialist philosophers who encouraged us to think for ourselves encountered a supernatural floating head that damned people to Hell nor bootleg grey Hulks eradicating people left and right. All of them presupposed that God did not exist, so the natural recourse is to take matters into our own hands. Although a slight distinction, that slight distinction makes for a understandable and reasonable argument into one that is completely untenable. In other words, the drama conveys the most radical idea: Even if God or supernatural beings exist and gave us presumably divine commands, we say fuck it and take matters into our own hands and how we see fit.

The antidote against an unstoppable supernatural force is cute, but flimsy. It is as if we encountered an encroaching catastrophic tsunami with nowhere to hide, and the writer confidently assures us we need to face it directly for it is our only option. Fueled by his inspiring words, we brace ourselves and await the tidal behemoth. Any sensible person running away from the crashing waves dies and perishes. However, we, until the brink of death, face forward and are rewarded as a portion of the tide splits and passes right by us. We remain undamaged for we did not despair! Just as the writer said, we decided and accomplished our goal. The great irony? We relied on a divine force of the writer to part the seas to save ourselves from this dilemma despite our proclamation to overcome the situation by ourselves.

Similarly, despite the cute prescription of the show, the characters rely on Deus ex machina to rescue them. The protagonists mindlessly retort their individualistic beliefs, yet escape their perilous circumstances with the writer's convenient interventions; a direct contradiction of the confused theme declared by the drama.

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Fear bounds us all

I have seen such negative criticisms about this show and I'm honestly so surprised because this was amazing. First of all if you're into psychological, thriller, suspenseful and dark shows, this will be an treat for you. It doesn't focus on supernatural elements but rather the philosophical and psychological aspects. So if you're expecting Train to busan or Squid game vibes, you'll be disappointed. I actually enjoyed it being more psychologically focused, it was refreshing to see and helped create a more deep connection with the audience than if it was heavenly based on supernatural elements. I can't even begin to explain how brilliant the screenplay, direction and story was. Hats off to every single person working on the show. The show is split into two halves. The first half is setting us up about the story and second half involves the action and consequences following the first half. It actually caught me off guard with how the writer decided to take forward the story.

The main focus of this drama was fear and how fear can make humans do some unquestionable things. The cult and religion, mentioned in the story throughout was just the backdrop rather than the writers main focus. I believe the writer wanted the audience to see the impact fear and humans have upon each other, the cult was just a vessel of expanding that fear, the people in the drama couldn't bear to face hell and their bad deeds that they'd rather turn on each other and throw their humanity away. The screenplay was brilliant, the show did not feel rushed, confusing or slow and produced an effective story within 6 episodes which is difficult to do. This is a show where you actually have to think, the writer doesn't spoon feed you the answer rather they let you interpret what the show was trying to represent.

The actors, every single one did a great job, there was no main character which i appreciated about this, the location, cinematography and ambience only added to the dark aspect of the show. Just a pity that this wasn't appreciated enough but that's ok because the people that did know it was worth it. Fear I believe is one of the biggest emotions and this show tackles it so rawly and honestly that it left me wanting more. If you love a psychologically story that involves hell and fear, a supernatural and human element, don't even hesitate to give this a shot. One of my top shows.

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Unsettling, Brutal, Unpredictable

In the name of god, even violence is acceptable. The concept is great and different. The story line is so unpredictable and curiosity increases as episodes passes by. It is quite brutal and disturbing to watch humanity dying throughout the series.

I did watch this because of Yoo Ah In. He looked creepy and did a very convincing job. Only question is that why did Yoo Ah In character has to die that early? Definitely did not expected that but didn't like this twist killing the main character that early.
Every supporting character did a great work.

It is not as good as I expected it to be and hyped it made

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What an insightful proclamation

I enjoyed this drama because it showed a lot of insightful facts and meaningful scenes that can align with everyday life. When the first demonstration happened, I was surprised because I saw monsters killing a clearly frightened man in a very violent way. I mean in my opinion if I'm heading to my death, violently wouldn't be the way. So I kinda disagreed with the way they executed the deaths. I'm a Christian and I know that many of the things being displayed in this drama doesn't align with God's words, but they do align a lot with everyday beliefs and doings. Many people think that humans are born sinners, that fear can eradicate those sins. This drama executed it perfectly. The drama is on point, I loved the scenes and I can't wait for Season 2. I mean the ending was extremely surprising for me, so I'm waiting for any news of Season 2. The music was good as well, though I was too focused on the stuff displayed on the screen. The actors did a pretty good job, I congratulate them for showing perfect emotions. This is my review of this drama, if any of you have any comments and questions, just list them below, please.

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How people would react with a constant fear of death?

That's the first time I write a review, I was surprised after seeing ratings because this drama is part of the genre that people like nowadays.

To be honest I put this drama on my list without even knowing what was the plot and started just cause it's short (only six episodes of around 40-50 minutes). Once started, it immediately caught me, and I keep asking what's happening? Did I miss something? What's the truth behind these CGI Monsters?

I liked how the series shows the people reaction, the victims themselves and the "audience", it let us see how people act if they believe they're controlled by a higher power or if they think to have free will.

(I apologize if reading this review you will find only disconnected discourses, I would like to say that it doesn't contain any kind of judgment)

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A really gripping storyline!

I've seen all sorts of korean romcoms, comedies and action movies and this is the first time I'm writing a review for one because I feel so strongly about Hellbound and what seems to me is unfair criticism.

There are so NINE things about this series that I just felt so deeply about.
(Full disclosure: Im a Muslim and I think that does affect how I look at this series as I try to compare it with the world of today and of the future.)

1- The storyline is one that has never ever been done in the history of any mainstream entertainment.

2- All the characters, including the lunatic cultists and its supporters are so well-depicted even with them being so bonkers.

3- The portrayal of how cultism can cultivate such a grim world run by borderline schizophrenic, narcissistic human beings
having no true allegiance to anyone except themselves is so on point!

4- The fascinated on-lookers filming each demonstration with their phones showing false sympathy as the world spirals further down into turmoil almost comes as a slap in the face to people who live such lives today.

5- The masked stinking rich VIPs paying to get front seats to watch what seems to them as another form of entertainment as the 'lower beings' suffer.

6- The way people have to make the hardest decision to die in hiding just so their families aren't ostracised for something they did or did not do.

7- The look of despair when people receive the decree and punishment, with some of them ignorant enough to continue to live a life of sin as if they were still untouchable in a world where seemingly the sinful are so cruelly and brutally punished.

8- The world-wide organized crime and violence that ensues using the new 'religion' as a false front.

9- The blatantly deceitful workings of the cult behind the scenes to ensure they remain in power.

All in all, I am extremely surprised how the writers were able to so accurately illustrate a world with gullible people having no real sense of direction. The on-lookers, supporters and crime syndicate are the perfect fit for the good, the bad and the ugly. If you put some thought into it, it almost feels like this is exactly what the world would behave and react if something so horrific was to happen.

P.S. The chaotic camera work in the latter half of the last episode is so terrifyingly good.

P.P.S. I've never been the sort of person who would rewatch anything hence the low rewatch value.

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CRISPY bite sized (relative for kdramas) kdrama. hope this catches on in the west because that sequel building got me hot. even manages to create a sense of time proportionate to bigger dramas by jumping from current day ahead. after a little while of no dramas its very refreshing to get something that foregoes the usual stretching that eventually happens in most of them, opting for a clean start and finish without much of any padding.

500 characters idk how many to go, the fx was fire, ill never not appreciate some gore in my kdramas, unblurred bloody knives

(no rewatch value rating)

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A Victim of Squid Game's Success

It's important to remember that there is a difference between bad dramas and dramas not meant for your taste. In my opinion, HB is NOT a bad drama.

The themes of the show are clear and easy to understand, yet open for multiple interpretations. The action scenes are directed extremely well. The music never seems too out of place. Despite being only 6 episodes long, at no point did I feel like the story was overloaded or rushed.

On paper, not much happens but it is still entertaining in other ways. Thinking about how HB applies to the real world and what you would do if you were any of the characters on screen was a really eye-opening experience for me.

I must admit that episode 5 and the first half of episode 6 were painfully boring to sit through though. However, the final fight scene makes up for this.

I say HB is a victim of Squid Game's success because if HB was released first, I have a feeling that it would be receiving more positive reviews right now. Yes, HB is not as stimulating as Squid Game since it focuses on broader themes and a smaller pot of characters.

I urge everyone to be fair with their criticisms of this show.

Even so, HB is not perfect.

A few things that bothered me included:

A. WHERE IS THE PRESIDENT IN ALL OF THIS?: Okay, a trio of supernatural creatures condemn people to Hell in public. After the first public demonstration, this should be a nation-wide emergency. So, where is the president in all of this? And how are peoples' brutal deaths allowed to be livestreamed on TV? Last time I checked, your tattoos could not be seen on television in South Korea. I seriously doubt actual death is an exception.

B. WAS YOUNGJAE BORN YESTERDAY?: There's a random 4-year time skip, and the New Truth is practically a stand-in for the government now. There are museums dedicated to the sinners who agreed to be a part of public demonstrations. At this point, everyone and their dead grandpa knows how powerful the New Truth is and the existence of these monsters. So, tell me why Jae is so shocked when his friend gets condemned to Hell right in front of him. He acts like he has no clue what his friend is talking about when his time is almost up.

C. THIS HOSPITAL IS SO RUDE!: Lawyer Min has a mother in her late 60's suffering from cancer. When her already near-death mother is struck on the head with a metal bat and rushed to the hospital, tell me why healthcare officials threw her on a bed and called it a day. She wasn't rushed to the emergency room. She, despite being in an extremely critical condition, is not given someone to supervise her state. Mind you, the hospital was not busy at all. Poor Min had to be the first person to discover that her mother died. I was in disbelief.

Keep these in the back of your mind, and you'll be able to enjoy HB.

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I think some people are watching just to see how bad it really is after reading the reviews and making their own assumption about the film, which by all means, you have the right to. I came in with the same thought but intended to see it through the end. I know a lot of people aren't interested in the drama mainly because they held such a high bar that wasn't reached but I know there are a lot of films out there that didn't make a whole lot of sense until they were released a second part, answering the questions we had and some others we didn't even know we were thinking of. I say we give the drama a chance even though it is ultimately up to the writers, actors, and directors if they want to continue the drama or not.

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