Exhuma is a 2024 South Korean horror-mystery drama movie starring Lee Do-Hyun, Kim Go-Eun, and Choi Min-Sik. It revolves around two shamans, a geomancer, and a mortician dealing with ancient evil spirits.
A wealthy man, Park Ji-Yong, seeks shaman Hwarim (Kim Go-Eun) and Bong-Gil’s (Lee Do-Hyun) help to cure his newborn. At first glance, they realize the dark energy around the child and the family. It appears that the eldest grandchild of the clan is cursed, as they can hear their ancestor’s cry. Seeing a hefty payday, Hwarim involves old pals, geomancer Sang-Deok (Choi Min-Shik), and mortician Young-Geun (Yoo Hae-Jin) in the case.
The four initially take over the work to earn good money, but soon realize they are dealing with more than an ancestor’s spirit. From diving into old folklore to risking their lives, they go through a lot of trouble. Eventually, their fight against darkness saves the day and gives viewers a happy yet bittersweet ending.
Exhuma movie recap & spoilers: What happens after Kim Go-Eun gets rid of a vengeful spirit?
In Exhuma, Sang-Deok, Hwarim, Bong-Gil, and Young-Geun follow Ji-Yong to the top of a mountain. Sang-Deok, a Feng Shui expert, finds it fishy that Ji-Yong’s grandfather has been buried at such a location where foxes live. As per Feng Shui, graves and foxes don’t belong in the same place.
Initially, Sang-Deok refuses to dig the grave, but Hwarim convinces him, asking him to think of the newborn. Hwarim and Bong-Gil perform a ritual before Sang-Deok begins the digging. Ji-Yong and his family strictly instruct the geomancer to dig the grave but not open the coffin. When Sang-Deok questions if they are hiding some information, the family refuses. They want to dig out the coffin and cremate it so that the spirit of the grandfather does not trouble them.
After the century-old coffin is out, one of the diggers steps on a snake whose head looks like a crying lady. He kills it in fear, which later welcomes evil into the world. Meanwhile, the coffin is kept at a nearby mortuary because of the rain and is set to be cremated the day after. Unfortunately, the spirit gets out, passing through Hwarim’s body, and she realizes it is the evil spirit of Grandfather Park.
The spirit is vengeful and wants to kill his family for burying him at an unholy location. Starting with his elderly son, Grandfather Park kills his son’s wife and then possesses and kills Ji-Yong in front of Sang-Deok. The latter rushes to seek Grandfather Park’s daughter’s approval for urgent cremation to save the newborn. Thankfully, the coffin is cremated, and the baby is saved.
After getting rid of the vengeful spirit, Hwarim and Bong-Gil return to their everyday lives. However, Sang-Deok is curious about the location and digs it again. He finds another huge coffin buried vertically.
Exhuma ending: Are Kim Go-Eun, Choi Min-Sik & Lee Do-Hyun alive?
Sang-Deok convinces Hwarim and Bong-Gil to work with him again and find the truth behind the second coffin. They keep it at a nearby Buddhist temple, where Sang-Deok had learned about tomb robbers during the Japanese-Korean war.
At night, Bong-Gil’s chest feels heavy, and when he opens his eyes, he sees the temple’s monk stomping on his chest. He wakes up and sees someone eating the pigs. Bong-Gil wakes up Hwarim, who rushes to check on the coffin. The spirit has broken out of the coffin. When he approaches her, she realizes the spirit is a Japanese samurai.
In order to save her, Bong-Gil attacks the giant samurai, who inserts his hand inside his chest. The samurai then turns into a ball of fire and creates a trance-like atmosphere in the air. Bong-Gil is rushed to the hospital, where Hwarim’s other two shaman sisters also arrive. The trio uses their tricks and learns that their brother is possessed.
Meanwhile, Sang-Deok decides to fight the evil spirit for the betterment of his future generation. Hwarim and Young-Geun help him lure the samurai out. Hwarim plans to distract the spirit so that Sang-Deok and Young-Geun can dig into that place and find iron rods that can kill the samurai. Apparently, a Japanese monk buried the samurai who killed 10,000 people and became a divine entity. To distract tomb robbers, the monk buried Ji-Yong’s grandfather on top of that.
While Hwarim distracts the samurai, the other two fails to find any iron rods. The spirit returns to the grave and attacks Sang-Deok. He also harms Hwarim and Young-Geun, but Sang-Deok saves them. Using his Feng Shui knowledge, he realizes that the samurai is made of fire and metal. Thus, the weapons are wood and water.
Sang-Deok uses a wooden stick, covers it with his blood, and attacks the spirit until it vanishes from the face of the earth. In the end, all four of them live; however, a few innocent lives are lost because of the evil spirits. Hence, the K-drama Exhuma ends on a happy yet bittersweet note.
