ReviewHoly Night: Demon Hunters movie review – Ma Dong-seok in tiring Korean action horror

Ma Dong-seok fails to make a hit in this tale of a private detective who deals with cases of demonic possession by fighting spirits

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Ma Dong-seok in a still from Holy Night: Demon Hunters (category IIB, Korean), directed by Lim Dae-hee. Seohyun co-stars.

Published: 5:45pm, 7 May 2025

2/5 stars

Supernatural thriller Holy Night: Demon Hunters might better have been titled “Ma Dong-seok: Demon Puncher”. This lowbrow exercise in low-rent exorcism offers little more than the hulking Korean superstar, also known as Don Lee, throwing down against an assortment of sketchily drawn spirits.

Produced and co-written by Ma together with first-time director Lim Dae-hee, the film is the latest, and certainly weakest, in a string of recent Korean horror titles that delve into the dark realm of demonic possession.

While a smattering of intriguing ideas are brought to the altar, they are immediately abandoned in a final product that pales next to the likes of box office hit Exhuma, or even the underwhelming Dark Nuns.

【馬東石神臂震懾魔界】《鐵拳驅魔》最新預告 5月8日以暴辟邪

Kang Bow (Ma) runs the detective-agency-style outfit “Holy Night”, together with exorcist Sharon (Seohyun) and rookie/cameraman Kim Gun (Lee David), which specialises in bizarre and otherworldly cases that the police cannot solve.

They are approached by psychiatrist Jung-won (Gyeong Su-jin) after her medical expertise fails to stop the psychotic episodes of her younger sister Eun-seo (Jung Ji-so).

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Ma Dong-seok fails to make a hit in this tale of a private detective who deals with cases of demonic possession by fighting spirits

Ma Dong-seok fails to make a hit in this tale of a private detective who deals with cases of demonic possession by fighting spirits