Hope (Hopeu, 호프)
Director – Na Hong-jin – 2026 – South Korea – Cert. 15 – 160m
*****
A cop and various groups of hunters track then confront a monster wreaking havoc in a small town and the woodlands nearby – out in UK cinemas on Friday, September 25th
Patrolling local cop Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min from Deliver Us From Evil, Hong Won-chan, 2020; The Wailing, Na Hong-jin, 2016; New World, Park Hoon-jung, 2013; Shiri, Kang Je-Gyu, 1999) and his second cousin Sung-ki (Zo In-sung from Escape From Mogadishu, Ryu Seung-wan, 2021; A Dirty Carnival, Yoo Ha, 2006) arrive at the scene of a tragedy where four men are waiting. Further down the road, initially in the distance and later seen in close up like so much in this film, lies the slaughtered bull, huge slashes on its flank.
The slashes are too big to have been made by a bear. One of the men suggests it’s the tiger that comes down from Siberia every few years. The men head to the woods where the tiger has been spotted. The cop’s route takes him into a nearby town of Hope Harbor, where huge holes in shop fronts suggest the presence of a creature much bigger than a tiger.… Read the rest