“The King’s Warden” Poster

Director: Jang Hang-Jun
Cast: Yu Hae-Jin, Park Ji-Hoon, Yoo Ji-Tae, Jeon Mi-Do, Park Ji-Hwan, Lee Jun-Hyuk, Ahn Jae-Hong, Kim Min, Lee Joon-Hyuk, Kim Soo Jin, Jung Jin Woon
Running Time: 116 min.

By Paul Bramhall

The latest period piece from Korea has turned into quite the cultural phenomenon on its home soil, one which is continuing to play out as of the time of writing (March 2026). Having recently passed 11 million admissions, that makes it only the 25^th movie in Korean history to pass the 10 million admissions mark, but more significant is its impact on the current cinema landscape. Attendance has struggled to get anywhere near its pre-pandemic levels, leading to the local film industry being in the doldrums in a way which hasn’t been seen since the 1990’s. The last time a production hit the 10 million admissions mark was The Roundup: Punishment from 2 years prior, highlighting just how bad the drought is. However while the Ma Dong-seok vehicle had the benefit of being the 4^th instalment in an established franchise, The King’s Warden instead opts to tell a relatively unknown (or at least largely forgotten) part of Korean history.

While the story is framed around the events that led to the execution of King Danjong, who reigned from 1452 to 1455, the actual plot itself is focused on the relationship between the deposed king and the chief of the village he’s exiled to. Masterminded by a politician named Han Myeong-hoe, the kings uncle pulled off a successful coup d’état in 1453 which dethroned the then just 12-year-old king, with the councillors who’d been governing the country on his behalf publicly Continue reading →

“Dead Camping the Live ” Poster

Director: Kim Hyun-woo
Cast: Nam Jihyun, Lee Jae-seok, Lee Pu Reum, Kim Jung Joo, Jo Myung-haeng, Jeong In-gi, Dong-Hyung Kim, Rim-Hoo Kim, Seung-Jae Won, Big Alex
Running Time: 72 min. 

By Paul Bramhall

Ladened with the kind of grammatically challenged title that feels like it came straight out of 80’s or 90’s Hong Kong cinema, 2022’s Dead Camping the Live is a low budget entry in the rape-revenge genre, a kind of Korean spin on I Spit on Your Grave (and probably made for less) if you will. So, yes, it’s a very low budget entry in Korea’s largely invisible B-movie scene, home to the descendants of the taekwon-action genre, unfussy horror flicks, and softcore romps whose posters promise far more than they deliver. Not that low budgets are necessarily a negative, however in the Korean film industry there’s an assumed level of polish expected from their productions, an expectation that needs to be significantly dialled back once you enter its micro-budget underbelly.

The sophomore feature length production from director Kim Hyun-woo following 2021’s Memory: Manipulated Murder, it would appear he’s something of a jack of all trades in the film industry, having previously worked as a planner, producer, cinematographer, editor, and production designer. Prior to helming his feature length outings, Hyun-woo spent Continue reading →