Movie Review: Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum

In the present blockbuster landscape today, it is easy for a smaller-budgeted movie to be drowned out by a larger one in the same release window. Occasionally however, a smaller movie can defy studio expectations and become a major hit through sheer word-of-mouth. Such movies are usually labelled to as “sleeper hits”, and Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum* definitely fits that aforementioned label.

Released in the spring months of 2018, Gonjiam became somewhat of a box office hit, not just edging out Hollywood blockbusters like Ready Player One, but also setting new box office records for locally made horror movies. After watching Gonjiam, it’s easy to see why it’s done so well at the box office.

*To be abbreviated to “Gonjiam” in later passages.

What is Gonjiam about?

The premise of Gonjiam is simple. It tells the story of a group of live-streamers who travel to the eponymous location to shoot a walkthrough of the derelict hospital.

Is this a found footage movie?

For anybody that has checked out the trailer for Gonjiam, the movie looks and feels like a footage film. While that is certainly true (elements of the movie include found footage), the interesting thing about Gonjiam is that it switches to “present tense” approximately 5 minutes in. The found footage elements take a backseat and the movie turns into a live stream gone wrong…to mixed results.

Mixed results?

For the most part, Gonjiam is a pretty well shot. Whereas a lot of found footage horror movies try to hide things with poorly lighting, shaky cam and intentionally degraded footage, Gonjiam takes the opposite approach. It’s as if director Jung Bum-shik realized that since some of its characters are professional videographers, terrible footage is not really an option. Hence, while the footage looks like it belongs to a live-stream, it never looks “terrible”. Sure, there are parts in the narrative where the camera shakes, but it’s never used to obscure the action or to create the illusion that something is happening.

With that said, that is not to say that Gonjiam doesn’t have its own problems. In a bid to make the movie look like a live stream, there are moments in the movie where common video-streaming glitches are reproduced. The most distracting example being an video delay effect that’s used liberally. Had the movie dialed back on the use of said glitch, I would have probably mentioned this as a positive.

Since this is a horror movie, is it scary?

Yes, and no.

Since the movie is relatively grounded, Gonjiam takes a subtle (albeit unoriginal) approach to its scares. Aside from a scare involving graffiti, there isn’t anything that hasn’t been done better in different horror movie. However, that is not to say that the scares in Gonjiam are ineffective, because while I could see most of the scares coming, I did get startled by quite a few of them.

If it isn’t that scary, what makes Gonjiam worth watching?

Horror movies live and die on their performances. So if I was to rate Gonjiam on cast chemistry and performance alone, it would be a solid 4/5 stars. The characters in Gonjiam aren’t just a vehicle for scares, they’re believable. In addition, they’re fun to watch. In fact, some of the best parts of Gonjiam are the character driven scenes where the cast bounces off each other.

Sure, you can argue that some of the scenes are overacted, but given that livestreamers are insufferable in general, I’d argue that it’s more of a creative choice.

So should I watch this? 

Definitely. Because with all that’s said about Gonjiam’s technical flaws, it’s still an effectively made horror movie. At 95 minutes, it also never overstays its welcome. If you’re looking for a horror movie to kill some time on the weekend, you can’t go wrong with Gonjiam. If anything, you’ll get at least one good scare out of that “graffiti” scene.

Where can I watch Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum?

Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum should be available for rent and streaming on the ITunes store and Amazon Prime Streaming.