An evil shaman trying to murder a child so that she can be possessed by the dead child’s spirit violently clashes with the child’s mother relentlessly chasing after the shaman to protect her son.

A widow Sun-ja has been living with her only son Hee-su, working determinedly hard on her vast acres of rice field. As Sun-ja is in favor of the Japanese colonial empire’s plan to increase rice production, she is mistaken to support the “Japs” and is hated by her neighbors. Sun-ja doesn’t pay too much attention to the misunderstanding and leads a life for her son. One day, some kids running around the village go missing one by one. Sun-ja has a growing concern for her small and weak son Hee-su.

Around that time, Hong-nyeon, a shaman looking for the missing children, appears. She is nosy about the villagers’ all sorts of matters and tells fortunes for the farmers. She is regarded as an enigmatic person but proves herself to be a good fortuneteller. Even the Japanese police officer Kimura, who wants to control the village, seems intimidated by Hong-nyeon.

Hearing about the children going missing, Kimura one day finds out that Hong-nyeon is the one who kidnaps and murders them. While being appalled by her deeds, Kimura secretly hopes her grotesque crimes will cause further conflicts among the villagers. Under such overlooking by Kimura, Hong-nyeon commits even bolder manslaughters and finally approaches Hee-su as she feels an inexplicable attraction to the boy.

Oblivious to Hong-nyeon’s killings, the villagers are busy with the preparation for harvesting. However, Sun-ja senses an ominous atmosphere from Hong-nyeon and starts chasing after her. Finally, Sun-ja finds out that all the evil deeds were carried out by Hong-nyeon. She risks her life to fight for her son.

“A story of a lunatic shaman committing murder to be possessed by a child spirit.”

On April 10, 1924, Joseon Sajeong Shinmun reported a grotesque crime committed by a shaman who kidnapped and starved a child. After three days, she served rice balls on a big skewer, and when the hungry child was only focusing on the food, she killed the child and even turned the skewer stick into a sacred object.

This act of horror came from an abnormal indulgence in spirituality and curiosity, as well as her thirst to become a possessed shaman. I connected this incident to the context of the Japanese colonial empire, where the colonial government sought to divide the people of Joseon through the so-called “cultural governance” and incorporated it into this project’s story.

With the two characters, the manic witch who wants to be a possessed shaman and the desperate mother who wants to protect her son at any cost, I wish to depict a fierce struggle between a female villain and a female heroine, which has been rarely represented before. This project aims to present a new type of mystery and thriller that is uniquely Korean.

* Reference: Korean People’s Shamanism (Hanʼgugin ŭi syamŏnijŭm)