Another ghost story for your watchlist, but released in 2024 and from South Korea. Written and directed by Jang Jae-hyun, and starring Kim Go-eun, Lee Do-hyun, Choi Min-sik, and Yoo Hae-jin, Exhuma has a healthy dose of Korean and Japanese folklore and history.
 

Which is not to say it’s strictly educational. You’ll definitely learn something about what a Korean shaman ritual looks like, but mostly you’ll enjoy the slow-burn sense of dread the film conjures, frequently in the mountains of the Baekdu-daegan mountain range. A small team of professionals is hired by a Korean American family to exhume a lonely gravesite in the hopes of lifting an ancestral spiritual curse affecting the family’s newborn child. Things get eerie early on and any skepticism soon goes out the window.
 

With effective use of both the musical score and sound design, the film creates some great atmosphere, and also primarily features satisfying practical effects as opposed to the obvious and heavy-handed digital imagery too often the go-to choice of filmmakers. With terrific acting and compelling direction, there are just too many reasons to not skip this. Make your May a little spookier with this gem from South Korea.