Program Note
Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum is set in a real place. It is a mental hospital located in gonjiam-eup, Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province. Seven young men attempt to sneak into the hospital in time for midnight, saying they will experience this place, one of the world’s seven scariest places selected by CNN. This setting is fiction. Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum , though filmed as true, is a typical Found Footage Film. It has recorded nearly 2.7 million viewers in Korea though it is considered a non-popular genre in Korea. It is played in the eyes of the characters and is presented clearly in a sense of being on scene. This means that the fear of the experience was frightening. On the other hand, collective patient suicides and the disappearance of the hospital administrator which happened during the military regime of Park Jeonghee, are symbolized as the tragedy of modern history which is connected to the Park Geun-hye regime, and extended to the social fear as a reflection of the times in the several scenes. Director JUNG Bummshik, who made his debut in the feature film Epitaph (2007, co-director JUNK Shik), casts Park Ji-a, who starred a mother ghost in Epitaph , as the missing director in Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum . Combining the two works is also a good way to read Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum in a more multi-dimensional way. (HUH Nam-woong)