The Guest (2018)

Worth every minute of your time!

This drama has surprised me sooo much. After watching the first episode which was almost like a movie on its own I was completely hooked. I enjoyed each episode so much that I rewatched certain scenes several times. I haven't seen such great character chemistry in a very long time. They're just perfect together. Sometimes you meet people and you know they're gonna stick with you no matter what and it doesn't matter whether you've only just met them. This is a story of an incredible bond between 3 completely different people whose lives were cruelly marked by supernatural powers in their childhood. Carrying this heavy burden into adulthood, fate brings them together again and they set on a journey to fight the evil which dwells in each of us waiting for the right moment to wake up. This TV series celebrates classic horror themes such as exorcism and shamanism but even though it's meant to be one of the main features it doesn't overpower the initialy subtle line of friendship which only grows stonger and in the end takes over. This aspect gave this series the emotional dimension it needed whithout a need for filler romance which would only ruin the atmosphere. All actors have outdone themselves in portraying their characters. Exorcism spiced up by Korean shamanism was so incredibly interesting that I found myself craving for more Korean lore and traditions knowledge. It spiked my interest and has served as a great tool to flesh out the plot. The music has artfully supported the ambience and is deeply stuck in my mind. Now I just hope I will be able to find it on Spotify ? To conclude this drama will pay you back for your time with more than you expect. Definitely one of my top 5 dramas.

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Okay okay i know horror,possession evil so many bad things but why do they feel so good in the show.
Wow the story was so captivating, well written and the cast pulled it off so well.Thw twists,and turns were so amazing to where you get sucker punched not in the gut but the heart.It,was,a,myriad of emotions .I thought I was a,ball of emotions waiting to be kicked and not caring where i land,because,I had a feeling I won't be,there for long.Fortunately the final destination was not any expected ground.Watch it to find out
Dayyuuuum that,was a show get your popcorn and some holy water and get,ready for the best 16 hours of your life.

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I think this is so different aand erfect drama. I have not finished it yet. But i can tell it is a great drama. Everything is great. Story is amazing. I recommend this drama if someone wants a drama with horror suspense romance friendship etc...
I think this drama is worthy to watch because it have a great story.
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First of all I have to admit that I usually don't watch anything related to the genres thriller/mystery/horror because I get frighted pretty easily but somehow I ended up watching this show.
And let me tell you one thing, it was absolutely worth it (I finished this drama within two days).

And to be honest: yes it can get frightening but in my opinion it was okay, I mean it could have gotten worse.

From the beginning on I really liked how those three lead characters harmonised with each other.
I especially appreciated the way the story develops within the drama, you'll get to know more and more details and after having watched it til the end, I can at least say that much:
When you think that it can't get worse, it will - when its too easy, something is off ...

Ohhhh and the ending ....

So in my opinion you should certainly consider giving it a try, it'll be worth it :))

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Well I have to tell you something, that people usually add to the end of the review, or whenever, they think of it, but I want to tell it first.

The music. I haven't gotten yet to identifying all the songs and finding their words, but whatever they say, they were perfect. I loved from the first episode every gruesome, every sad, hard, depressing, weird scene. Every one of them was influenced and perfectly played out within the accompanying song. I never felt like the music starts at the wrong time, or that it somehow creates a rift between the scene at hand and the melodies of the song, or the lyrics. I absolutely adore the soundtrack of this drama.

Really good actors and unknown, awesome actors. This is a pretty awesome thing. To create a criminal or mystery drama, also hospital dramas. Lots of short-term(my term for this) actors flitter through the drama. Who hasn't got a lot, or almost no screen time at all. And these days they seem more appreciated and they are given more things to say, to make an impact on the viewer, so more often than not, we remember these characters. I loved this drama, because the plot and obviously the way it was written, gave these short-term actors a chance to show their ability to act. And I think they made a chance for themselves as scary actors :D Well really. Sometimes I think it's a lot harder to play an ugly and unattractive, violent, screaming your lungs-off-character, rather than a smiling, coffee drinking, book reading person in a coffee shop. So I loved all of those side characters. They could even surprise me, scare me a bit, and really sometimes.. break my heart. I hope great future for any of those actors.

Then the plot. Let's give the screenwriter an applause. I was not surprised all the time. You don't have to write a screenplay, that has such twists, that I have never seen, heard.. to surprise me. The screenplay is either good or bad. It more often than not depends on how smooth the story flows. Just like when you read a book. If you stumble at every freaking step, then it's a bad book. And this was an awesome drama. I was satisfied with every part of it.

The starting made me want to see more. The continuing, from one episode to another, made me interested. The connections between the main characters were touching, and also logical. Why they, why here...
And the evil. Not just one bad, but the evil, the anger, the frustration inside people themselves, which gave them permission to take people over... Which called for that. It made sense. I liked how it was played out.
And the ending. The not sad end, which seemed perfectly logical and I did prepare for it. It felt also right. But the gently smile in the end, the quiet joy of together again... It made me happy too. So I do think, the screenwriter, did a perfect job.

I'm so happy, that they didn't create a love triangle. First, though fun and interesting, they are somewhat... in almost every Korean drama you see. And when I see them, I almost always enjoy them. But it's good to discover a drama that does not have one of those, or for that matter, no love line at all. Which.. is also good. Though not as hoped for, I was satisfied, because of the tempo of the drama, it ran so fast and so interestingly that I didn't see any reason for it.

Now the main three. The actors. They probably could have chosen a better three. But after saying this. I will say, that I don't want anyone else there. Why should I? There are not many actors with such eyes as Kim Dong Wook. At times they really seemed like the saddest, the one who had the hardest life, the one who knows it all, the one who was possessed... I absolutely love that actor now. No joyous adoring. But in skills of playing a part. This was over the top good.

Now Jung Eun Chae, was primarily interesting for me at first, because she didn't smile. Now don't get me wrong. I did think she acted great, but she was interesting to me, because I liked her frowning, and so serious and angry all the time. Her unbelieving, her hard fighting for known logic and not trusting the concept of possessions and evil as such that was shown to her. But then she made herself softer... She had a lot of hurts, she had some small smiles and she worried, for others. I loved the almost concealed really strong affection she felt for her partner and the two guys. She was like the bond in this triangle, though I do want to put that pressure on Hwa Pyung, I'm still not totally convinced I can.

Well, we can not leave out Kim Jae Wook. He was the only of the main three I had the pleasure to have seen before. I did already love his acting skills. I do have to say... I was confused for a little while. I could not find the satisfying affection for him, from the first sighting.. but it came. pretty quickly. He was a lot more confusing character than Kil Yeong. Because I could not read his emotions. I saw his anger and resentment, but I couldn't understand, why was it all concealed under such a hard face. It felt weird. It made sense soon and that was what made me appreciate the role he had been given. To play hard roles is something I do value. I think you have to see actors play both sides, from different angles to know if they are really good. (That's why everyone loves Meryl Streep, what character hasn't she yet played) So playing Choi Yoon gave me a totally new experience when I saw him on screen. He was like a beat-up child, on a street, who does not trust anyone or anything. And then he starts to trust someone, and then he discovers that he is deceived, and now he has to trust another(s). That's an immensely difficult task to do. In life, trust is not something that comes easily... to most people.

I think the three actors, in a way, were given roles, that made it immediate, that if they acted them out wrongly, it would have been clear to everyone watching this drama. And they did such a great job with all of those characters, that I think it's hard not to want to watch the drama if you're in any way in love with something thrilling and mystical and try out the first one.. maybe two episodes, then I think most people will continue.

I did love it. A lot.

Interesting watching everyone!!!

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I really like thriller / horror movies so when I found it I thought I should give it a try.

The story is nice and I really liked the fact that although it's a drama it wasn't "soft" .Some scenes were quite realistic as well. The cast was good ( especially the priest) but I didn't really like the policewoman . I think she her acting was a little annoying in some parts.
I don't know if they are going to make a second season but to be honest I didn't really get why did Pak Il Do reach HongJoo . They were distant relatives but still I feel something is missing . I could re-watch it easily.

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Not your typical kind of kdrama.
I had to summon my brave self every week to finish every episode ????????????but I like how the series feel frightening, and yet bearable to watch. (Bearable, because Father Mateo is so damn hot! Lol! *forgive me father for I have sinned* ????????)
Until the very end, i was really hoping for some romance between Hwa Pyung and Detective Kang.. ???? but sad to say NGA-NGA!!!
For me, the story doesn't only talks about exorcism itself, 'Park iL do' (the bad spirit) represents people's greed, jealousy and envy.
If you possess these three things in life, then you can never be happy and will always bring discomfort and harm to other people.

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Excellent Horror and Character-Driven Series

I've had this on my watchlist for ages and was putting it off because horror is not my favorite genre. However, I was bored and tried it and it's one of the best decisions I've made. The story revolves around three characters who's lives are intertwined by a horrible spirit who kills their family members. There are many reviews but I want to focus on the chemistry of the actors and how well they immersed themselves into the characters they portrayed. What makes a drama entrancing is the magic that happens when actors can bounce off of each other well and a great script. This drama has both. The supernatural was blended into the real world and the scary moments were believable. It kept me on the edge of my seat but I will say it can be emotionally tiring since the drama is in equal parts horror and drama. My favorite genre is drama and the way the characters had to push past their differences, their feelings of guilt and anger, and their loneliness in order to eventually defeat the big bad makes you root for them with all your heart. Their relationships with each other were the heart of this story. The complexity in their bonds made this drama sing. There were intimate moments where one or another character would care for the other in such loving ways. These moments were small but interspersed and made the scenes where they tried to save each other and even sacrifice themselves for another even more poignant. This is especially true between the priest and Yoon Hwa Pyung. This drama was a masterpiece and will go down as one of my favorite kdramas. Also the music was touching and perfectly matched the tension and emotion of the scenes. A+

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This show is so worth watching if you are into darker and mistery themes.

Okay so let me explain... The moment I lay my eyes on the synopsis of The guest I knew that I was gonna like it, it's OCN, it's dark and has a good premise, and in the end I did. I didn't love it, I felt like I couldn't conect with the characters as much as I should've, and frankly they were pretty dumb and made me annoyed most of the time, but they weren't bad characters overall. The acting was okay, nothing too admirable but not bad, even when things could've gone wrong with all the screaming and possesions and crazyness, it never felt too over the top.
The best thing about this by far is the writing, the story is so well develop that it doesn't need a thousand plot twist to make it good to watch, for me there was only one thing that I was kind of shock the pull off but that was it, and still was worth it.
The way the relationship of the main characters was portrayed was great, at the end you felt their conection and why it was important to them. Also, each of them had their lifes, their own stories to tell, and it was made clear in how they had their solo adventures during the whole show; it was focus on what each could bring to the team more that the team alone.
Everything came together and nothing important was left in the dark, not a single loose end. You could feel that it was written with the finale in mind and all the plot was driven to that, which seems normal but it's very rare to find a drama like that. And that's why the finale it's the best, it made me tear up for characters I didn't actually care five minutes before, for characters which deaths I was okay with, and expecting, since episode 10. Even if it wasn't the real ending the whole dead scene was beautiful, I loved Hwa Pyung's sacrifice because it was closure, the thing he wanted since the beginning, to avenge; and Choi Yoon giving his life, his strength to him in a image that send me The creation of Adam's vibes broke me. It was perfect, it made sense, it felt right, the three of them in the face of death itself just like the start, so intimate and yet so powerful. And nothing changed for me when I figured that it was gonna have a happy ending, because they deserved it, it was their win and they should be happy.
In the end it's such a worthy drama to watch, I would definitely recommend this to anyone who like dark and mistery theme dramas.



Bonus: me bitching about the other drama.
This is pretty much what possesed* wanted to be, and it was faaaaaar from it. I even thought about how similar they were, I kind of acepted that this was a much better prequel. It kind of shock me.

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Can't believe I only started this now!

Honestly, I haven't been finding anything coming out interesting lately. Everything just kind of seems the same and predictable now, but this drama took me out of my "slump".

Story wise, it was well written and the characters had so much impact on me. The three shared the same experiences which made me sympathize and understand them more. Each ending of every episode made me want to know more. There were unexpected twists to the story.

The acting was really good. The actors and actresses gave me chills. I have seen Kim Dong Wook and Kim Jae Wook in Coffee Prince together, so it was very nice and refreshing to see them together in a new drama once again. I first saw Jung Eun Chae in The King Eternal Monarch and I never knew she had so much to show! She was amazing here, and I would love to see her take more of these roles.

Overall, really good drama. I would definitely recommend this to a friend. 10/10 ?

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Has Character Development Horror Movies Always Lack!

I was anxious, scared, uneasy, angry, curious, worried and sometimes heartbroken but that's what I love about this! This drama was cinematically beautiful and musically eerie from the start! The film style was like a high-budget movie and the writing was enough to captivate me from the start (with the first 2-4 episodes being the most jarring).

STORY
The fast-paced introduction full of supernatural events, religious rituals, death, fear, and mystery sets the tone for the rest of the drama. The first half involved a lot of individual cases (similar to ones in crime dramas that only last for 2 eps) to provide necessary clues in connection to the larger mystery/enemy. In the second half, there was a noticeable change from individual cases to developing the main mystery. It was a change I appreciated since single cases get very repetitive. With a larger focus on the mystery of who exactly their enemy was, the twists and turns had me switching back-and-forth between guesses.

CHARACTERS
The tragedies and resulting effects the characters experienced had me worried for their well-being and that of the people who cared for them. Each character had sufficient time spent on truly developing their character's backgrounds, personality, and psyche with the progression of events. A detail I enjoyed was how they kept true to the limitations/restraints of what Choi Yoon and Kang Gil Young could do and when because of their jobs since this bit of realism made it more believable. All the actors had an amazing portrayal of their characters and were able to convey their emotions well.

OVERALL
Quickly piquing my curiosity, I became invested in how this trio would go about avenging their families against a demonic enemy. From how these characters were written, I came to care for all of them and hoped for the best overall outcome. From start to finish, this was a wild ride and one worth being a 10/10 rating!

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