Program Note
After the suspicious death of the previous occupant, Won-seok volunteers to take the position of magistrate in Suwon, a role that nobody else wanted. His wife, Madame Kim, is left alone at home. As the two of them live apart, ominous events continue to unfold around them, leading the madame to suspect the presence of an evil spirit and seek the help of a shaman. In the censorship-laden 1970s, Kim In-soo’s Evil Spirit boldly presented rare and gruesome imagery in the era’s Korean cinema like in a scene where hundreds of needles pierce a body. Evil Spirit is an unforgettable film that fearlessly tackles taboo subjects, such as explicit sexuality, and explores the audacious themes that the producer and director Ju Dong-jin dared to approach back then. It is connected to the legendary film Mistress (1970), which opened the door to brutal eroticism in the 1970s, and features intriguing blood ties. Following Evil Spirit, Kim In-soo struggled to create another hit for nearly 20 years, until he spectacularly returned with the legendary softcore Cow Wife Get Flirt (1995). (Jin PARK)