Gonjiam - Haunted Asylum

This South Korean supernatural horror from 2018 centres around a group of young people who travel to one of the most haunted places in the country, in this case a former psychiatric hospital called Gonjiam, to begin a live broadcast for their popular YouTube channel ‘Horror Times’. Little do they know that it will be the last broadcast they will ever work on…

Based on the real-life Gonjiam psychiatric hospital (ranked as one of the seven freakiest places on the planet by CNN Travel), which was demolished in 2018 (the same year the film was made), the actual movie was filmed in a deserted High School in Busan and director Jung Bum-shik, together with his creative team, made sure that the interior of the abandoned High School resembles the inside of Gonjiam as closely as possible – based on photographs which the team had of the former psychiatric hospital.

Ever since the ‘Blair Witch Project’ (which was nowhere near as scary as the publicity spin doctors at the time had us believe), ‘found footage’ horror films became fashionable for better or worse, though here, director Bum-shik thankfully opted for something slightly more original in so far that the gradually unfolding horror happens during a live broadcast, which suddenly comes to an abrupt end when all crew members… Well, I don’t wish to give too much away.

There is a prologue of sorts which explains the background to the Gonjiam psychiatric hospital, set in the 1970s and how all the inmates were killed by the female director (Park-Ji-a) who then went missing, apparently. Nobody had or has any explanation for what happened back then and little is known about the director, except that she had a fondness for playing ping pong. Why would she kill her patients? Ever since these rumours began to circulate, more rumours about certain individuals vanishing in the building accumulated… during the 1980’s, the 1990’s and most recently, when two boys dared to enter the building to find out whether the rumours are true. At the beginning, not much happens but when the two teenagers head for Room 402, which is the intensive care unit and supposedly the very room in which many years ago the patients were killed by the hospital director, they find the door locked from the outside. Attempting to break the lock, the two teenagers suddenly see a ghostly face, albeit only for a few seconds before their recording abruptly ends. No one has heard of or seen the teenagers since though search parties found their recording equipment.

Following this latest uncanny event at Gonjiam, Ha-Joon (SQUID GAMES’ Wi Ha-joon), the owner of the YouTube channel ‘Horror Times’, decides to up the ante and considerably increase the number of his YouTube viewers by traveling to Gonjiam Asylum with a specially selected crew, including Sung-Hoon (Park Sung-hoon), Je-Yoon (Yoo Je-yoon) and Seung-Wook (Lee Seung-wook). Also traveling with them are three female crew members: Charlotte (Moon Ye-won), Ah-Yeon (Oh Ah-yeon) and Ji-Hyun (Park Ji-hyun).
Along the trip to Gonjiam they frolick about in a careless manner and it would seem that none of them really believe in ghosts nor in the rumours surrounding the former psychiatric hospital anyway. Setting up base-camp in a nearby forest, Ha-Joon is the only one who remains in the tent to control the livestream broadcast while the rest of the group enter the derelict building. A pair of knickers, which the group find on the ground of the forest (just what is a pair of knickers doing there?) is tied around a tree branch as a marker, so the team can find their way back to the tent again.

At first, not much of note happens but then things begin to go bump and some objects, like an old doll found in one room, suddenly appears in another – incidentally, it’s the same doll as depicted in an old group photo of the former patients and their director. The crew members also hear the ghostly sound of someone playing ping pong. What the three women don’t know is that Ha-Joon and his mates have semi-scripted upfront what is about to happen, not only to scare viewers watching the live broadcast but the three women as well.

However, things then take a very sinister turn indeed when Ah-Yeon and Je-Yoon try to open the notorious Room 402 while the remaining four crew members explore another room, called the ‘Group Treatment Room’. This room alone is reason enough to freak anyone out for it contains weird-looking, coffin-shaped wooden boxes with holes in them. When Ji-Hyun puts her hand into one of the holes, she starts screaming because some invisible force inside the box pulls her hand and scratches it. This is of course nothing compared to what is going to happen once Ah-Yeon and Je-Yoon manage to get into Room 402. At this point, the male crew members confess to the YouTube viewers and to the three young women that up until now, all the scares were pre-planned and planted to increase viewing numbers but no one has any explanation who or what scratched Ji-Hyuns’ hand… Worse is yet to come, in fact, a lot worse, because when our team finally realise that they are not alone in Gonjiam, it’s too late…

Admittedly, the film, which won several awards and nominations, may not be as scary because so many more ‘found footage’ horror flicks have been released since 2018 and one has become somewhat desensitized. The performances are extremely convincing though and cinematographer Yoon Byung-ho ought to be particularly applauded for creating a suitably spooky atmosphere in very dark and claustrophobic surroundings.

GONJIAM: HAUNTED ASYLUM is now available as stand Blu-ray (with Special Features including interviews) and as Limited Edition Blu-ray box set – presented in a sturdy slipcase plus a 70-page booklet and 6 collector’s art cards).