A Horror That Feels Like a Prayer
When The 8th Night hit Netflix in July 2021, it felt a bit different than other installments in Korea’s horror-thriller series. It felt like a shadow from timeless folklore, a consideration of good and evil, cloaked in a genre film. It was a modern and suspenseful tale woven with Buddhist myth. The depth of the work lay in the performers, men and women who offered their battles, their journeys, and scars in addition to their craft.
Walking the Path of the Story
The film is based on an ancient Buddhist prophecy. Thousands of years ago, a red-eyed demon attempted to bring suffering to humanity by opening the “door of hell.” Its eyes were separated and buried—one in the West and the other in the East. If reunited, humanity would fall. The film then jumps to contemporary Korea, where the prophecy comes to the brink of reality.
At the center of the narrative is Park Jin-soo (played by Lee Sung-min), a monk who has committed himself to a life of keeping the awakening at bay. During this time, with his young monk apprentice, Cheong-seok (Nam Da-reum), is learning the true meaning of sacrifice. The events of this tale unfold over eight nights while the world is slowly succuring the powers of a demon through possessions, deaths, and betrayals. The plot is both mythical and human — carrying haunting burdens, dealing with the past, and the choice of compassion over despair.
Lee Sung-min: A Monk With the Weight of Experience
Lee Sung-min as Jin-soo is the anchor of The 8th Night. The character’s off-screen journey is almost autobiographical. Lee has been described in Korea as a veteran of the stage and screen, and for years he has also been typecast as a supporting actor — the dependable father, the strict superior. There have been interviews where he expressed the seemingly endless periods of doubt he struggled with and the wondering of whether he would ever be seen as a leading man.
That doubt, along with the weight of expectation, is what distinguishes Jin-soo. There is the weight of a past, existential mistake on the monk, and a question on the value of a protector. When Sung-min is on screen, kneeling in silence, the audience sees the character meditating. However, for many, this is a moment of recognition for the actor, a meditation, and the years of perseverance.
Nam Da-reum: From Child Star to Spiritual Seeker
Nam Da-reum, playing Cheong-seok, the young monk, is on screen opposite Sung-min. For Korean audiences, and especially Korean television, Da-reum is familiar as he served as go to child actor for many years, playing younger versions of the leading men in dramas like Goblin and While You Were Sleeping. However, the transition from child to adult actor is one of the hardest in the Korean film and television industry. The 8th Night gave Da-reum one of his first truly mature roles, and it was symbolic; a young man, who in a confusing world, was trying to find faith and strength. Da-reum certainly felt the pressure, and said he channeled it into Cheong-seok and his wide-eyed, innocent portrayal. The role was not simply character; it was a mirror of the transition he himself was undergoing into adulthood.
Kim Yoo-jung and the Layer of Mystery
Kim Yoo-jung playing Ae-ran, the enigmatic character entwined in the demon’s return, added a further layer of resonance. Yoo-jung has spent much of her life in the spotlight as a child actress before continuing her career as a teenager, which has surely come with a unique set of health and privacy challenges for her. In the film, Ae-ran is simultaneously vulnerable and strong, scarred yet searching for light. This duality of the character was immediately apparent to the fans in Korea, who saw Yoo-jung’s performance and understood it was more than a fictional character, but rather a quiet testament to her own strength and resilience.
A Cultural Reflection of Good and Evil
In India, it is common to tell stories in which demons, sealed away, reawaken through human weakness. The Ramayana and asura folk tales are part of a rich cultural tapestry featuring battles for Lanka, and other light and dark tales. The 8th Night was surprising for many Indian viewers, who made kinships with the demon and the chanting, and the associated moral dilemmas and cosmic balance, reminiscent of their own mythologies.
The film’s resonance beyond Korea stems from this cultural overlap connection. The film’s demons are not just Buddhist — it speaks to the issues all cultures deal with: the relentless struggle with greed, violence, and hopelessness. Anger and despair are universal, and the film demonstrates this vividly. Many stories, and the wisdom within, are clothed in the garb of the macabre. Ancient tales are often horrors.
The Veil of the Camera
Few may know the difficulty this film posed. This was a debut for Director Kim Tae-hyoung and, as tradition would have it, he tackled the problem of creating an artistic product within the conflicting demands of Netflix as a worldwide distributor. Resources were constrained, landscapes for filming were distant and impractical, and prolonged periods for filming at night were exhausting.
For Lee Sung-min, the action sequences were not the most difficult; rather, it was the prolonged silences. The director was adamant about the authenticity of the sequences, so for many hours, he filmed the character losing his breath and then… starting all over. “It wasn’t acting anymore,” Sung-min admitted, “it was like I was truly searching for something.”
Nam Da-reum similarly admitted that the ritual scenes with the chanting and beads were overwhelming. Even though he was not a Buddhist, he said that he felt, and it was not for the role, almost a true sense of calming peace after the repetitive scenes.
The Moment of the Questions, the Conversations
The trailers, prior to the movie’s release, were instrumental in the development of fan theories. Who was Ae-ran, really? Was Jin-soo predestined to failure? Was the demon a representation of modern-day avarice? Debates in Korean forums gained tracktion, and for international audiences, particularly in India, the movie drew comparisons with caste-related issues, syndicate corruption, and the overwhelming fear of the pandemic. Even mystical, it opened real-world conversations.
Discussions that began after the release of the film involved the actors themselves. Fans connected Nam Da-reum’s military service with Cheong-seok’s sacrifice and subsequent duty. On the other hand, Lee Sung-min was finally receiving leading offers after many years, demonstrating that the film marked the end of that waiting period.
When Reel and Real Become One
The 8th Night is not just another title added to the horror collection on Netflix. It is a film where the dimension of the “reel” and the “real” merged and actors underwent a personal transformation that added layers to the spiritual journeys they enacted. Lee Sung-min’s silent years of waiting, Nam Da-reum’s efforts to not be a child actor, and Kim Yoo-jung’s public scrutiny all contributed to a narrative on faith, burdens, and redemption.
It feels like a story told in an old Indian courtyard by a grandmother, with demons, monks, and trials that carry truths that outlive the plot of the story.
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