Director Kim Hong-sun’s 2019 South Korean paranormal horror film Metamorphosis showcases how inventive the sub-genre should be in 2020. Not only does it present a new and unique method of capturing horrific entities and performing exorcisms, it utilizes narratives on demonic possession that are uncommon to the genre.
Metamorphosis tells the story of a family that is forced to adjust to a new life following an unsuccessful exorcism performed by their uncle Joong-soo (Bae Seong-woo) who is a priest. Once they move into their new home, the unsuspecting family of five begins to fall apart. The father, Kong-goo (Sung Dong-iI), is forced to recognize the fact that a demonic entity is taking the faces of himself, his wife, two daughters, and young son in order to tear them apart. While other paranormal horror films that feature exorcisms such as The Exorcist (1973) contain the possession to one individual, Metamorphosis makes the decision that the devil will actively jump from one individual to the next.
In doing so, Metamorphosis contains thriller elements that keeps the viewer questioning which character to trust. The exorcism scenes are what really define the film as multiple attempts are made, highlighting the fact that not all exorcists are successful or even possible. Metamorphosis’s use of the devil taking multiple forms and its unique final exorcism showcases what the sub-genre can do when they branch out from stale tropes.
What Paranormal Films Should Take From Metamorphosis
While paranormal horror films are highly successful in comparison to other sub-genres, they have grown predictable and are not drawing audiences the way they once were. When horror parody also drew from exorcism movies that featured the same elements time and time again. Since the mid-2010s, paranormal horror films featuring exorcisms have been few and far between, but Metamorphosis’s creative take on these elements is exactly what it needs in order to reinvigorate the sub-genre.
Most fans of the sub-genre are accustomed to the predictability of one person experiencing the possession and having the internalized battle with the demon. In Metamorphosis, the demonic entity has the ability to enter the corporeal body but also manifest as it, creating a very convincing double of whatever shape it takes. Not only does the demon possess a person physically, it also haunts their surroundings. This is a distinctly unique method of creating fear, everything about the setting cannot be trusted nor can the characters. It leads to distrust; such is seen in Seon-woo’s (Kim Hye-joon) wrongful exorcism that was only performed when the demon took the face of Joong-soo and convinced the family to do it.
It does not work for obvious reason and culminates to the final exorcism of Joong-soo. Not only does this film contain several exorcisms, it includes one performed on a priest by someone not of the cloth, his brother. The ever-changing threat and distrust that this specific paranormal horror film one that future films in the sub-genre should take note from. Metamorphosis is a horrifyingly unique film that keeps the viewer’s guard up from beginning to end.