Korean Horror films and TV shows bring the horror genre to another level! The latest horror gem that was released on Netflix is “Hellbound“, a Netflix original series. It is Directed by Yeon Sang-ho, who also directed one of the best modern zombie flicks, “Train to Busan” and the sequel “Peninsula“! When I found out he was connected to this series I was sold! The series is a mixture of Horror with dark fantasy and supernatural elements. The first episode gets to the action right away, which I love! We see a group of students watching a video on their laptop in a coffee shop. The guy in the video is talking about an “angel” that appears to people and tells them they are condemned to go to hell, which they call a “decree“. Then this “angel” gives them the exact date and time they will meet their hellish fate! Then in the video they show a recording from someone’s phone where a man is being attacked by three monstrous beings who look like a grey version of “the Thing” from the Fantastic Four. They then place their hands over him illuminating him with some bright light or force that burns the man to a crisp and all that is left is a burned skeleton and ash. 

The guy in the video is Jeong Jin-soo who is a cult leader of an emerging “religious” group called the New Truth Society. He is wanting his followers and viewers to believe that the angel and these monstrous beings are doing gods work and all the men and women that are chosen for this hellish fate are sinners who deserve it! In the same coffee shop where the students were watching Jeong’s video, the camera pans to a man sitting at another table in the same shop. This man is sweating and seems terrified he is looking at his phone anxiously and as the time changes he braces himself. Nothing happens… then a sound is heard like a boom or like asteroids hitting the earth! Then the three monstrous beings break through the coffee shop and attack the man. They have come to collect this man’s soul or just condemn him to hell! Note this happens within the 2-3 minute mark of the first episode which is a brilliant way to captivate the viewer!

The man runs into the street as the monsters chase him down. He eventually meets a brutal and bloody death! He is then burnt to a crisp as people in traffic watch the entire thing and film it with their phones! The first 3 episodes then follow Detective Jin Kyeong-hoon who is investigating this supernatural phenomenon and goes down a dark rabbit hole. There is also a gang-like group called the “Arrowhead” who are obsessed with the New Truths beliefs, but take a more violent approach. The leader of this group is sort of a social media influencer who in a lack of better words, insane! His YouTube video or live streams are hilarious in this series, but it touches on this era of social media “influencers” and how dangerous they can sometimes be if they use their influence for evil.