Hellbound (2021)

What is up with the ending?

That was an okay movie.

The acting and visual effects wasn't too bad. The story was meh, I understand the concept of sinners being judged and sent to hell. The story made sense at first, but it took a dive from the middle to the end for me.

Yoo Ah-in ending up murdering some people and getting sent to hell himself. There's a new founder of the New Truth who seems to have taken advantage of the whole situation. You have a group called Arrowhead that goes around and beat up people.

Basically, the New Truth feels very cult-like.

Also my reaction to that ending ↓
What? Someone explain that ending?!?! I am so confuseeee. So, baby survived because of the parents sacrifice (my understanding), but, then what is up with that ending? Was it just a cliffhanger?

Also, did it change cast in the middle?

I mean what????

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They Don't die because they are sinners

The drama started with some serious murder by the monster or we can call them angel from the hell...that really made me feel nauseous,.,,, *lots of blood* as the story progresses it was intriguing and had many jaw dropped scenes and also made me think is it even possible in real life???.... the connection between the characters was beautiful, though there were loop holes in the story and many things that were unexplained and left to viewers judgement, it was good. the CGI was perrrfect!!! and storyline was good. The acting was superb and intense. This season was not draggy and boring. I liked the last scene very much .... they don't die.... so are the all alive... are they born with super-natural power, or are the ghosts... lets wait for next season...there was no moment when I thought of dropping this series. IT'S A MUST WATCH GUYS!!!!

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Wow

This was a really good show in my opinion.

I like shows that revolves around cults as most of the time I dont understand why people follow cults in blind faith.

I am a religious person who believes in hell and heaven. and If anything that we are blessed about the fact that we dont know when we will die or where we will end.
I will elaborate more below but it may contain spoilers along with my character analysis of the drama ...

First lets start with the first 3 episodes and our main Lead Yoo Ah In who nailed his role (as usual), the man who created the cult and received his prophecy 20 years ago, within these 20 years this man didnt try for the least bit to be a better person or do good deeds and defy his fate ( like Satan when he was kicked out and defied God, he promised to guide humans into sin?). There is a fact that the cop detective mentioned to him which is the humans will and freedom of choice, we all own that even if our fate is written its written by our own choices and decisions rather than us being dictated by it, has our ML try to do good rather than try to create chaos and fear would things have changed for him?
The Hellbound concept and these creatures were there just as a factor to bring out the human darkness and see how a human would react in such circumstances and situations. People were driven out of fear to make them believe in God but fear were never a long lasting.. motive? or engine lets say as people rebel towards the end .. like it was mentioned in the first episode about making people fear God.
God, religion and prophets for it to long last should be driven by Love, understanding , guidance and true faith I would say.

Then comes the last 3 episodes in which a child receives the prophecy of hell (we all know that children are without sin and they go to heaven) its the factor that was put there to make people question the reality of the cult, and those people who promote fear, as we are taught that God is merciful and kind, the child who was saved by a mothers and fathers love as they defied that destiny and changed the fate of their own child as they believed differently. Have they not acted and just stood there to watch their child would have faced that very same fate, hence our fate is written by us.

Thats just me focusing on the 2 main stories, if we come to think of the detective's decision in the end to save his daughter, or the people who received the hellbound message when their sins were not unforgivable and so or those who wanted to take God's message as they say into their hands and start attacking and killing those who goes against them in the name of maintaining the system (As they showed in the beginning that those people were minors as they were the easiest to manipulate and brain wash, did those actually have faith in that cult? not likely as they would have prevented from doing bad things out of fear at least but they liked the concept of death and people being hellbound, the concept of something new and exciting as long as it didnt touch them, same goes to that youtuber who were a hard core follower but ones it touched him he lost his faith and fell into nothingness ) .. pretty much alot of things to look out for and think of!

Therefore I found this drama to be really good, I havent read the webtoon and I am glad that I didnt as I enjoyed the drama more this way, and I really liked the tension, the depth and characters along the way, the motives .. etc and I would highly recommend it.

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It just doesn't let up from the start.

I'm still relatively new to Korean horror. I started a few years ago with "Kingdom" on Netflix and I really enjoyed that. Inspired by that experience I jumped on that infamous "Train to Busan" and, more recently, "All of Us Are Dead". Somewhere along the way I also managed to catch "The Host" and "The Uncanny Counter" (although not strictly horror, there are definitely supernatural elements at play in "Uncanny Counter"). So, what would happen if you were to take those supernatural elements, throw it in with the visceral horror of "Busan/"All of Us"/"Kingdom" add a huge dash of End of Days/Revelations prophecies, bring all of that into the here and now - mix it all up and here you have it: - "Hellbound"!

The story starts out simple enough - an Angel comes to visit and tells you exactly when you're going to die. At the appointed time three demons come and drag you to hell. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Easy enough, right? Not so fast. They start in the middle of the story without warning and, in the first five minutes, you are dragged into the streets of Seoul were you become a part of the action. I can so clearly remember looking around trying to find a way out of the horror, but - nothing.

Now, when I watched it, that was about all I knew of the plot, so I will spare you the pot synopsis because, like "The Uncanny Counter", I sometimes find it better to be not too certain what you've gotten yourself into. So, just get on and enjoy the ride. Well rounded, multidimensional characters abound, tight plotting and decent CGI. I'm very glad I gave this one a chance. The closest I will give to a spoiler is to say that Episode 4 throws in one of the greatest WTF moments in the history of ever, and it isn't the only ginormous reveal in the series. Seriously, if the horror genre is your thing - psychological horror especially - give this one a try. I think you'll have a good (?) time.

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Humans being typically, mindlessly violent

There were not many surprises for me, in this violent and unsettling horror drama.
It is the usual portrayal of people manipulating events, putting a divine angle on them and then basically running their part of the world, as they see fit, under the guise of it being in the name of their God.
It happens for real, of course, minus the supernatural element we have here.
Hypocrisy overflows like Niagra, with the scum and thugs of society using the punishment of sinners as an excuse to gleefully maim and murder. "Where is their punishment?" I ranted!
Yoo Ah-in's character is suitably dark and creepy. He rarely over-plays his characters and this was no exception.
There is a time jump part way through, with new characters. I wondered what happened to some and there is one in particular whose identity I'm not sure I understood correctly.
Some people are truly disgusting in this and there are the usual onlookers, making no effort to protect or assist the most vulnerable and outnumbered, against mere mortals.
As with several relatively recent Netflix series (Sweet Home and The Uncanny Counter particularly spring to mind), I just hope they make a S2 with a cast that flows, otherwise the ending is less than satisfactory, with more questions than answers.
A good cast and plenty to shout at your TV about.

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I wish I knew...

ATENÇÃO: eu fiz esta review no meu Instagram e ainda não sabia que ia haver 2ª temporada!

É bonzito!

Uma coisa é certa, está muito fiel ao webcomic!, but still, há cenas que senti que foram um pouco apressadas de maneira a fazerem poucos episódios porque não sabiam se ia resultar.
Mas tanto no webcomic como no drama, gostava que houvesse uma explicação do porquê da coisa, é que aquele episódio final deixou-me shook!

(com isto dei conta que gosto de terror coreano, judge me!)

EDIT: Aqui espero, ansiosamente, pela 2ª temporada, porque eu quero saber o que acontece a seguir, não me podem deixar assim pendurada dessa maneira!

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Screentime Arrowhead Kebanyakan

Sedikit kecewa dengan penampilan Yoo Ah In yang ga terlalu banyak. Muncul cuma di eps 3 awalnya aja sebagai tokoh kunci dari Hellbound. Pemeran utama rasa cameo.
Sebenernya banyak plot hole dari series ini, ada beberapa tokoh yang tiba-tiba hilang gitu aja dan ga dibahas lagi.
Banyak yang mengganggu juga, kaya Arrowhead yang screentime nya kebanyakan dan ga penting-penting amat kehadiran Arrowhead ini.
Tapi puas banget dengan akting seluruh pemerannya. Emosi yang mereka sampaikan itu nyampe ke penonton. Paling suka sama akting Park Jeong Min sama Won Jin Ah chemistry mereka sebagai pasutri cocok banget. KIM SHIN ROK! PECAHHHH aktingnya bikin merindinggg.
Endingnya mindblowing, kalo ada season 2 nya semoga screentime Yoo Ah In dibanyakin.

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Quite disappointing

This show was just kind of underwhelming, I expected it to be more exciting than it ended up being. I still enjoyed it I guess, but I feel like it could just have been so much better. The acting was good but not the best, and while the essential idea for the plot is pretty good I feel like it could have been developed in a more interesting way. Even though I did finish it, it just kind of failed to really catch and keep my full attention. I finished it just to finish it, not because I was intrigued or excited to see what would happen next.

The ending of the season looked quite promising but since they don't even know if season 2 will actually be happening at all I don’t really know what to think…

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Good Enough

Korean Drama "Hellbound" is an atmospheric drama with a dark story and masterful direction.

The drama has an interesting story to offer. exploring the nature of men when an unexpected new element appears, changing the way we lived so far and spreading fear. Fear that is the common factor that everyone uses in order to achieve their goals. And the ending was masterfully handled as well, with a huge cliffhanger to prepare the audience for what is to come next.

However, and apart from those, the drama felt hectic and partial. The pace was all over the place, with events following one another in a way that wasn't either smooth nor served the drama well. In addition, the drama was disjointed, as its parts didn't blend in together nor followed each other nicely.

Finally, the CGI were not great, but the performances were masterful by everyone in the cast.

So, overall, 5 out of 10.

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A good offering in this genre if you are okay with cliffhanger endings

7.5/10 os my rating. This is a 2021 South Korean dark fantasy, horror series with 6, 42 to 60 minute episodes. It is based on a webtoon of the same title.

First I provide a unique synopsis then review

Synopsis

The main part of the story is set in the years 2022–27 in South Korea. During this timeframe, people start to see am ethereal face, purported to be an angel that prophesies the exact date and time of the person’s untimely death. The individual is targeted for a very violent end where these large demonic looking minsters carry out what is tantamount to a public execution. They end their demonstration by incinerating the targeted individual, who is then sent to be further tormented in hell. A cult leader, Jeong Jin soo (Yoo Ah in), warns his followers and the public at large that these demonstrations are intended to show people the err of their spiritual ways. Dubious of the credibility of these incidents and convinced something far more human based and sinister is going on. A detective, Jin Kyeong hoon (Yang Ik june) and an attorney who is a warrior for victims Min Hye jin Kim Hyun joo) team up to determine what is really going on. Turns out a religious cult, the New Truth and another organization called The Arrowhead group fan the flames to instill the fear of God and mete out their own form of moral justice.

Review

Overall it is a very good horror series with strong mystery and fantasy elements. If you realize, they are already planning another season then the ending, which ends with a lot of questions, will not be as disappointing. It is a gorefest. And characters you may like may not survive. So if you are prepared for those things you will likely enjoy the short series. I wanted some more insight so looked for the webtoon.  The live action version follows the webtoon precisely so there is little additional information to derive from reading the webtoon. If you like supernatural and horror content this is a good one in those genre. It is a good one to watch with those who are looking for something that has little to no romantic component and prefer more action based dramas. I would rewatch it if someone had it on simply because there are a lot of complex plot elements that you may pick up on after having watched it once.

 

Spoilers

 

They allude to the fact that the “angel’ and creatures were identified as such by “The New Truth” and there was never a deep dive into what they might be by anyone else. As it becomes apparent that the targets are not always sinners, or at least not sinners we as viewers can identify, the entire God’s punishment angel begins to fall apart. And it leaves you wondering why and how the targets are selected. If “The New Truth” believes it is God’s will why do they call on Arrowhead to go after those they identify as sinners.  Who is Arrowhead and how did “The New Truth” find a band of psychopaths that are so ready to mete out punishment in the form of brutal beatings up to death.

 

How did the baby live? The target of the incineration is always the subject and the white light glowed from between the parents so it would have originated at the baby. How did the beings “miss” burning the baby? Then, when the baby survived, they left without accomplishing their intent. How does that work? Do they just leave the target alone if they are able to survive a period of time after the date?

 

If those that have been incinerated are brought back, why were they incinerated in the first place? Do they come back fully as their former selves?

I read that it was approved for another season but it seems if that is the plan there are huge delays. As time passes it becomes less likely they will carry through with a second season but I will remain alert for another season, If you are not okay with a cliff hanger that may never be resolved with additional content, you might bypass this one or wait for when and if there is a second season.

#Hellbound

#UhmHingSik

#YooAhIn

#KimHyunJoo

#ParkJeongMin

#WonJinAh

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Too many unanswered questions

Hellbound (2021)

Likes
1. Great acting from the cast. It makes me think what will I do if i receive a decree? Do i spend my last remaining hours hiding in fear or do i spend it saying goodbye to people? I know everyone eventually dies, it's just that here, the way you die is too scary and merciless. The decree also doesn't say the reason why you're going to hell. And how come Jinsu got the decree 20 years ago but others only had a few days to live?
2. The kind of religious fanaticism is happening right now and everywhere in the world. Not just religion, even in politics and social media we have this scary cancel culture. Some people are so righteous thinking their way is the right way and bullies everyone else who does not conform to their truth. And if their truth is wrong, instead of correcting them, they hide the truth and call the others as fake news. I wish everyone would ve more compassionate towards each other and less self serving.

Dislikes
Since there are only 6 episodes, there are too many unanswered questions thus it's hard to feel satisfied with the ending. Hoping for a season 2 to explain not only the last scene but also the overall phenomenon.

Rating: 8/10

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