In the realm of South Korean TV dramas, ‘Revenant’ carves a distinctive niche with its unique blend of folk horror and suspense. This intriguing series is the brainchild of acclaimed writer Kim Eun-hee, known for deftly exploring the psychology of fear. In ‘Revenant,’ fear springs not from the unfamiliar or the supernatural, but from the hidden secrets within one’s own community and self.
The story begins in Seoul, with the lives of two central characters, Gu San-yeong (played by Kim Tae-ri) and Yeom Hae-sang (Oh Jung-se), intersecting on a bridge over the Han River, a symbolically significant location in the series. They later find themselves entangled in a rural mystery rooted in dark, ancient customs.
‘Revenant’ unearths a chilling metaphor, a series of suicides that are, in reality, murders perpetrated by ghosts. These ghosts sometimes represent personal pasts, while at other times, they signify community-wide guilt. This becomes evident as the protagonists investigate a cycle of terror starting from a rural village in 1958, involving a horrifying ritual to summon a protective deity at the expense of a child’s life.
In the series, these grim practices didn’t safeguard the village, but instead served the interests of a city-dwelling family looking to prosper their corporation, Junghyeon. As the family gains affluence, a malevolent spirit begins to haunt them, directly affecting Hae-sang, a descendant who tries to dissociate from his family legacy.
San-yeong too is a victim of her family’s past, discovering that her father, a former occult researcher, might have participated in dark rituals to prevent a blindness condition that now starts to affect her. Both San-yeong and Hae-sang must confront the sins of their ancestors, leading to some of the series’ most captivating moments.
The power of ‘Revenant’ lies in its ability to blur the line between the characters’ actions and the influence of the malevolent spirits. This is particularly evident in San-yeong’s narrative as she grapples with a spirit within her, giving rise to a deep-rooted conflict between her actions and inherent desires.
In its essence, ‘Revenant’ utilizes rural terror to reveal the darkness concealed behind societal facades, akin to the film ‘The Wailing.’ As the characters hunt for an ancient evil, they uncover their raw, primal instincts. Although the series paints a pessimistic picture, it stays true to its folk horror genre, delving deep into the eerie, supernatural, and the human psyche.
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