Goedam premiered on 20th August 2020 on Netflix. Directed by Hong Won-ki, the South-Korean anthology series stars SeolA, Song Chae-yun, Lee Hyun-joo, Han Ga-rim and Shim So-young.
“When night falls on the city, shadows and spirits come alive in this horror anthology series centered on urban legends.“
Ghosts/Spirits That Will Kill For No Reason!
Each episode of Netflix’s South-Korean anthology, Goedam is 5-10 minutes long and season 1 comprises of 8 episodes. While the series is short and is centred around urban legends, the difference arises when you have no introduction provided for the urban legend being told. No back story, no context just some spirits on an endless killing spree which are not even close to scary.
The mini-series has its fair share of gore, creepy ghosts and violence, but the lack of context is where I lost my touch with the ground Goedam was holding. Episode 1 and Episode 8 of the series still carry a bit of suspense and mystique but other than these two episodes, you’ll find yourself searching for the reasons behind the ghosts’ killing sprees.
The thing about horror movies is the slow build-up and story that it carries but Goedam does not work the same charm in regards to its duration as well. Nonetheless, the series is a good attempt at creating horror around urban legend but fails to leave you with any level of satisfaction.
Stream It or Skip It
SKIP IT! If you’re a horror movie fan, then this short series would leave you wanting more. However, Goedam might be a great mini-series to start your journey into Korean film-making.
Goedam is now streaming on Netflix.
Read our other reviews here.
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Not everything is meant for westerners. Could be it’s just a SK urban legend anthology meant for Korean speakers, but was translated to English. ????????♀️
This article is how westerners think every storytelling should be. It’s a series of korean urban legends lol if youre giving it 1.5 stars for the “lack of context” then maybe educate yourself on korean urban legend first? Yall like every story spoonfed to you lol
This article is how westerners think every storytelling should be. It’s a series of korean urban legends lol if you’re giving it 1.5 stars for the “lack of context” maybe you should educate yourself on korean urban legend first? Yall think every story should be spoonfed to you lol
The answer is in the title: it’s an anthology of urban legends. We’re not meant to know where the ghosts come from and why they do what they do. This article just screams “girl pretends to know horror but looks like a fool because she doesn’t understand it.”
It doesn’t have a lot of backstory because they’re urban legends that people are familiar with. Also If you paid attention some of the episodes are loosely linked. Characters from some episodes show up in others. (Without any spoilers, Ghost girl from episode 1 shows up as her live self in episode 5). If you have an interest in SK ghost stories like the elevator game, etc. I say give it a chance and stream it!! It’s not very long lol.
I did not have any problem with the “lack of context” even though I am not Korean. I actually liked how there is some kind of link between the stories, and that was the reason why I continued watching it. However, none of the episodes were scary at all. The effects felt more like comedy than horror to me, and there was no feeling of building a suspenseful mood. It simply felt flat and even amateur.
There’s just not much to it and there is a pretty repetitive formula. Characters encounters ghost, ghost makes scary movements, then kills them. That’s all there is. And the ghost encounters aren’t that memorable.