Film Review — "Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum"
I have a friend who’s obsessed with paranormal reality television. Anytime I go over to his house, the TV is always playing something like Ghost Hunters, Paranormal Witness, Frightful Hauntings, Phantom Occurrences, or Spectral Adventures. Okay, I think I made up a few. But those are the kinds of generic titles they have. I dunno, each seems like a carbon copy to me—nevertheless, these programs have an ardent fanbase.
Something else I’m not generally really a fan of is found footage—although I don’t know if this truly counts as “found” footage. With a few exceptions, I’m usually over the gimmick pretty quick. It’s been twenty years since The Blair Witch Project, so unless a director does something super fresh with the form, the movie reads as just another hackneyed (and cheap) horror outing.
Like Grave Encounters, this story follows a squad of camera-clad supernatural enthusiasts as they brave one of the freakiest spots in the world—according to an actual CNN article—South Korea’s now-defunct Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital. Like Blair Witch, the character names are borrowed from the actors portraying them, for a sense of realism, I suppose. And like just about all found footage films, the characters keep recording no matter how ridiculous the circumstances get.
Before the bizarro stuff starts to run rampant, we’re given ample time to get acquainted with the team—several of whom are strangers when they assemble for their initial production meeting. A love of infamous, far-out sites has brought them together. Over the course of the first act, they get to know one another and play with the equipment they’ll be using to record and communicate.
Once they get to the asylum, the initial creeps and scares feel a little too stagey… seemingly on purpose. It doesn’t take a genius to see that much of the “discoveries” have been manufactured. It also doesn’t take a genius to see where the film is going next. Gasp! Gonjiam is in fact haunted and these characters are actually in danger.
Considering what the crew is filming is being streamed live, it makes some sense (sort of) as to why their narcissistic leader won’t cut the feed and get his team out of there. Namely, the allure of internet fame makes people do stupid things. You see, the more clicks the stream gets, the more advertising dollars can be made. And the crazier things get, the more people will watch. So basically, human life is less valuable than views. Because, to reference the great philosopher Jill Roberts, who needs friends when you can have fans?
A horror film that doesn’t utilize blood or gore must use atmospheric spooks and bumps in the night to sell its frights. Location-wise, the production design sells the setting. I don’t know if the film shot at the real-life hospital—how wild would that have been?—but the art direction is convincing enough of make me wonder if they did. So that’s something.
The cast is also believable enough to satisfy the story. Maybe this is common in the paranormal faux-documentarian world, but these folks don’t seem to buy that ghosts are totally legit. (Oh yeah, it’s all for the fame.) Which actually makes things more interesting. They know, for the most part, that they’re part of some fake online nonsense. So when it becomes clear that they’re in genuine peril, their collective wrestling to come to terms with their situation lends a mortal quality the movie needs.
Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum, unfortunately, does not reinvent the reel. There’s definitely talent in front of and behind the dozens of cameras—too bad the film just doesn’t push itself hard enough. Fans of the style will probably enjoy it, though. It’s fun, I guess; I’ll give it that. But I frequently found myself wanting more.
