![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scaldcrow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-56.png?resize=585%2C1024&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nGonjiam: Haunted Asylum <\/strong>(2018) Embarking on this film journey without any preconceptions, I dove in blind\u2014no previews, no spoilers. My initial reaction was a raised eyebrow as it quickly began echoing the vibes of “The Blair Witch Project” with its eerily similar premise. Here, we follow a band of spirited young adventurers tasked with capturing live footage at Gonjiam Asylum, a place reputedly steeped in unspeakable horrors, restless spirits, and enigmatic presences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The narrative starts by whimsically immersing you in the carefree and seemingly consequence-free lives of the protagonists as they gear up for their eerie expedition. The tantalizing promise of skyrocketing viewership and financial success fills their minds. They’re young, audacious, well-funded, and brimming with ambition. But as they step into the shadow-eaten asylum’s ominous corridors, shrouded in darkness and time, everything takes a sinister turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The film excels in fleshing out the characters and the high stakes of their daring venture. It plunges viewers into a claustrophobic abyss, as the asylum’s oppressive darkness envelops them, casting trembling shadows filled with foreboding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the action finally kicks in and the asylum bares its teeth, the payoff is satisfying. Early on, the film\u2019s resemblance to “The Blair Witch Project” becomes glaringly obvious, right down to the intimate, if not uncomfortable, close-ups of flaring nostrils and nose hair. Personally, being appreciative of “The Blair Witch,” I found this less troublesome than some might.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, one critique is the film\u2019s shortfall in an area where Korean horror typically excels\u2014its use of stark lighting to unapologetically thrust horror into the light, confronting viewers with the impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Expect this film to split audiences into two camps: those who adore it and those who loathe it. It’s like “The Blair Witch” meeting “House on Haunted Hill” (1999). Yet, despite my usual aversion to found footage films, I found it to be an entertaining ride, deftly executed, with plenty of suspense and a healthy dose of scares.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018)******* (7 out of 10 stars)Starring: Wi Ha-joon, Park Ji-hyun, Oh Ah-yeon, Moon Ye-won, Park Sung-hoon, Yoo Je-yoon, and Lee Seung-wook. Embarking on this film journey without any preconceptions, I dove in blind\u2014no previews, no spoilers. My initial reaction was a raised eyebrow as it quickly began echoing the vibes of “The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[44,39,1],"tags":[180,221,83,82,134,70,49],"class_list":["post-1472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-geek-opera-stories","category-scaldcrow-stories","category-uncategorized","tag-31-days-of-halloween","tag-gonjiam-haunted-asylum","tag-halloween","tag-horror","tag-movie-review","tag-t-glenn-bane","tag-worlds-of-pulp","pmpro-has-access"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scaldcrow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/31-Days-of-Halloween-II.jpeg?fit=325%2C516&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaldcrow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaldcrow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaldcrow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaldcrow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaldcrow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1472"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/scaldcrow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1477,"href":"https:\/\/scaldcrow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1472\/revisions\/1477"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaldcrow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaldcrow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaldcrow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaldcrow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
******* (7 out of 10 stars)
Starring: Wi Ha-joon, Park Ji-hyun, Oh Ah-yeon, Moon Ye-won, Park Sung-hoon, Yoo Je-yoon, and Lee Seung-wook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n