However, all of these issues are set aside when The Priests does arrive at the exorcism scene and Jae-hyun Jang finally delivers and gives the usual theatrics a highly entertaining workout. The scenes are not unwatchable but they give the impression of a short film that has been given a good deal of padded exposition to bulk out the running time. This early section is taken up with some not too interesting stuff set around the church politics, the backstory of what happened at the previous exorcism and Deacon ChoiвЂ™s meeting with Father Kim and preparations for the exorcism. It is not until nearly the first hour is over that we get to the exorcism. It runs to 108 minutes long, just short of two hours. It took a long time for me to get into The Priests. The odd thing it does offer is that is made in South Korea and we see certain aspects of local religion вЂ“ like choosing the exorcist based on their astrological year of birth, the use of a shamanistic ceremony in parallel to a Catholic one вЂ“ that make for an undeniably fascinating fusion. When it comes to the exorcism scene, the film is still reliant on the usual bag of tricks. During the forty years since The Exorcist (1973) laid all of this down, almost nothing has been done to expand, theologically question the actuality or offer any alternate take on things. I have written on how tired the possession and exorcism film is starting to become and only consists of cycling around the same cliches and effects вЂ“ vomitings, head turnings, the Catholic priests chanting вЂњthe power of Christ compels youвЂќ and so on. The film was a directorial debut for Jae-hyun Jang who had made the genesis of it in the earlier 25-minute short film 12th Assistant Deacon (2015). The Wailing, while a bit long and less straightforward and very confusing, was more entertaining overall.The Priests was a South Korean film that did some reasonable traction in was a very good year for Korean horror, also including Train to Busan (2016) and The Wailing (2016), all of which were released within an eight month period. It did look good, and there were a few scary moments, but nothing that would make me recommend this film to anyone. It just felt sort of standard and not special at all, the characters were OK, but not fully developed, and the whole thing felt all too familiar and overplayed. Once we get down to the exorcism proper, there are a few scary moments and gross moments, as all demons must puke out vile things.ДЄll in all it wasn't a bad movie, but it just did not really do anything for me. The film takes its time, this one does not rush, and they try to create a very creepy atmosphere regarding the demon and the possessed girl. We also get the new assistant's back story, giving us some idea why he wants to help save this girl. Even in Asian horror movies the Asians look down on having female children, their demons even don't want them!ДЄfter the introduction to the main characters, we get to see some of the basics of the exorcism, and what will be happening. The church is worried that he is molesting her instead of saving her, and the girl, while possessed, tries to kill herself as the demon inside of her would prefer to be in a male body, which would make it stronger. It takes two priests to do an exorcism, and everyone keeps quitting on him. The story revolves around a possessed girl, and one priest's attempt to save her. You could call this their take on The Exorcist, though it is not a blatant rip off by any means. This is a more traditional exorcism, based on the Catholic church, but also set in Korea.

I already reviewed the second and third ones I have seen, which were Grace and The Mobfathers, and now I am popping back to the first one I saw on June 23rd, 2016, called The Priests.Д®arlier in the year I caught The Wailing, a Korean exorcism filmed based on shamanism. It looks like I am going to catch at least 7 of the 50+ movies this year at the festival, but I have been known to see upwards of 20 or more. But while the festival was on this year, there were MANY competing Asian films playing at other theaters as well, at least 12 that I could easily count, and I am pretty sure it is more like at least 20 over the 18 days or so of the festival. Based on the work of these guys and other programmers, theaters nowadays show all kinds of Asian films, and for that I am grateful. When this festival started in 2002, there were few outlets to see Asian films.

The New York Asian Film Festival came to town recently, and although this is normally a time I really look forward to, I have been catching so many good to great movies all over town that getting excited about the prospect of new and potentially bad Asian films did not hold the appeal it once did.

The priests 2015 movie