“Revenant” synopsis by episode (Eps. 1-12, no spoilers) with in-depth analysis of its cinematography

Trigger warning: This drama has numerous scenes of suicide. (Although this blockbuster drama’s main genre is horror, it relies not on jumpscares but on excellent writing and superb acting.)

Jump to synopsis of Episode 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12 (Finale); How I wrote these episode summaries without spoilers; Historical / cultural backgrounders and other information; Lessons in photography from “Revenant” with in-depth analysis of its visuals, cinematography, and editing

From Wikipedia: “Revenant” is a South Korean television series written by Kim Eun-hee, and starring Kim Tae-ri, Oh Jung-se and Hong Kyung. It premiered on SBS TV on June 23, 2023, and aired every Friday and Saturday at 22:00 (KST). It is also available for streaming on Disney+ in selected regions.

Kim Eun-hee wrote “Signal” (2016), “Kingdom” Season 1 and Season 2 (2019), “Kingdom: Ashin of the North” (2021), and “Jirisan” (2021).

Genre: mystery; thriller; horror.

The drama averaged 1.980 million viewers per episode, with the lowest number of viewers at 1.767 million and the highest at 2.302 million.

How I wrote these episode summaries with no spoilers

1. I assumed that you will be reading these summaries and watching the videos chronologically.

2. I narrated some of the main actions in each episode without revealing the plot’s twists and turns.

3. At the beginning of each summary starting with Episode 2, I placed in a table a recap of the major twists and turns of the previous episode. But because you have already watched the video of the previous episode, they aren’t spoilers anymore.

4. I followed this structure all throughout, except for Ep. 12 (Finale) where I included spoilers. Reason — most people want to know if the drama has a good/happy ending or a sad ending before they invest the time in watching it.

Episode 1

Gu Gang-mo, a professor of Korean folklore, hangs himself inside his room during a rainy night.

Dozens of victims of a voice phishing scam converge at a police station as the main suspect is brought in for questioning. One of the victims, Gu San-yeong, breaks away from the other victims and chases after the suspect as he’s brought into the station.

Gu San-yeong is a young woman who’s struggling to make ends meet for herself and for her mother. While taking on various part-time jobs, she prepares to take the civil service exams.

Yoon Gyeong-moon, San-yeong’s mother, confesses to San-yeong that she lied about her father Professor Gu Gang-mo having died when she was five years old. At the wake at “Hwawonjae” (her father’s house), San-yeong receives from her paternal grandmother a gift from her father — a “baetssi daenggi” (traditional ornament for girls’ hair). As she holds the ornament, she hears an eerie voice saying, “She received it.”

Shaking with fear, San-yeong’s mother swipes away the “baetssi daenggi” from her hand and says that they must leave right away.

After meeting at Professor Go Gang-mo’s funeral, San-yeong and Professor Yeom Hae-sang of Jeyoung University meet by chance at a construction site. As he sees San-yeong’s ominous shadow again, Professor Yeom Hae-sang warns her that an evil spirit has attached itself to her and that people against whom she has any resentment will die.

San-yeong shrugs off Professor Yeom Hae-sang’s dire warning, but later on, Detective Seo Mun-chun of the Violent Crimes Unit questions her for the death of the voice phishing scam suspect.

Notes:

1. San-yeong received from her father a “baetssi daenggi,” which is a traditional hair ornament for girls. The hair of girls began to be adorned by baetssi daenggi since young age as it was believed that the ornament can protect the child from illness and bad luck.

2. Around three or four times in this episode, you will hear in the Korean dialogue the word “molka” which is shown in the subtitles as “hidden camera.” The boys who took pictures of the room as San-yeong and Se-mi slept were afraid that they will be charged by the police as hidden camera perpetrators.

From ’It Breaks My Heart.’ Confronting the Traumatic Impact of South Korea’s Spycam Problem on Women: More than 30,000 cases of filming with the use of hidden cameras were reported to police in South Korea between 2013 and 2018, according to media reports.

Episode 2

Ep. 1 recap: Before his death, Professor Go Gang-mo sent Yeom Hae-sang (who’s also a professor of folklore) a letter pleading that he protect his daughter San-yeong. At the funeral and on the construction site, Hae-sang sees San-yeong’s ominous shadow of a loose haired woman and thinks that it’s the evil spirit who killed his mother. Detective Seo Mun-chun is perplexed with the voice phishing scam suspect’s death by suicide because San-yeong’s fingerprints are all over the crime scene. One of the boys who surreptitiously took pictures of the room where San-yeong and her friend Se-mi were sleeping in winds up dead on the street after falling off a flight of stairs. As San-yeong looks on as the police investigate what happened, she remembers Professor Yeom Hae-sang’s caution that the evil spirit that has latched on to her is especially dangerous; she also remembers her father’s words when she was five years old that ghosts are real. In Jeyoung university, San-yeong finds out that students think that Professor Yeom Hae-sang is a creepy guy who sees ghosts. At the wake, she learns from Professor Yeom Hae-sang that the evil spirit who latched on to her didn’t kill the boy. Professor Yeom Hae-sang learns from Detective Seo Mun-chun that the boy who died bullied a student named Hyun-woo, who took his own life because of the bullying. He thinks that Hyun-woo has become a vengeful ghost. One of the boys who took pictures of San-yeong and Se-mi’s room cries in fear to San-yeong that he keeps getting calls from Hyun-woo. He says that in the calls, he hears the cries of a little girl. As San-yeong looks at the cell phone, she remembers Professor Yeom Hae-sang’s words: “The worlds inside and outside a door are different. Doors are the passageways that connect those worlds. If someone knocks on the outside of a door, make sure you know who they are before opening it.” She turns and sees on the mirror Hyun-woo’s image. After no one answers the door of the basement unit where Hyun-woo used to live, Professor Yeom Hae-sang sees a woman entering a nearby unit. Remembering the numbers “4237” which San-yeong saw, he uses the numbers to punch in as code in the electronic door lock of the basement unit. As he peers into the room, he hears the cries of a little girl.

As Hyun-woo’s vengeful ghost enters the house, San-yeong grabs the hand of the terrified boy, and they run out of the house. Behind a wall, as they hide, she remembers Hae-sang’s words about what to do if she meets a ghost: “Listen to them. Learn their names and why they’re still here.” When she sees Hyun-woo’s reflection on the windshields of the cars on the street, she tells the boy to go back to his house. She runs away, but the boy, instead of going back home, runs after her.

An elderly man and woman stop Hae-sang from entering the basement unit. But after San-yeong calls up and tells him what Hyun-woo told the boys (who were accused of bullying him) befire he committed suicide, he goes back and looks for a way to peek into the basement unit.

Se-mi drags San-yeong to a social gathering of their classmates from high school, hosted by the uppity Joon-young, who’s getting married. There, San-yeong meets Se-mi’s crush, who was two years their senior in school. She also remembers how difficult her life was in school.

Hae-sang finds out from San-yeong’s mother that San-yeong touched the “baetssi daenggi” (traditional hair ornament) that her father gave her. Meanwhile, San-yeong works part-time for a moving company that’s been hired to move the belongings of a family into a luxury apartment. As she goes about her work, she becomes irritated with the young girl of the family, who keeps crying about a missing expensive doll.

Inside a pedestrian tunnel, San-yeong sees for the first time her ominous shadow of a loose. She recoils as she sees her reflection on the floor-to-ceiling mirror on the tunnel wall; her reflection snickers at her and says, “Guess my name!” As she stares in terror at her reflection, she sees in a vision Hwawonjae (her father’s house which now belongs to her grandmother).

Episode 3

Ep. 2 recap: The three boys who took pictures of the room where San-yeong and Se-mi slept didn’t bully Hyun-woo. Before Hyun-woo committed suicide by jumping off from the school’s rooftop, he asked the three boys to look after his little sister. The three boys took pictures of the room, thinking that Hyun-woo lived there and that his little sister might be there. San-yeong and Hae-sang rescue Hyun-woo’s sister, who has been kept isolated and locked up in a room in the basement unit by her abusive parents. (The little girl got hold of Hyun-woo’s cell phone and called up the people on the contacts list, trying to ask for help. The abusive father killed one of the boys by pushing him off the flight of stairs.) At the social gathering, San-yeong meets Lee Hong-sae, the junior detective from the Violent Crimes Unit. On the river bank, San-yeong is shocked when she realizes that she has been cutting up the young girl’s missing expensive doll with a box cutter. San-yeong’s grandmother finds Professor Go Gang-mo’s research notes on the cursed “baetssi daenggi.” The notes mention the name “Shaman Choi Man-wol,” who was born in 1914. The evil spirit that latched on to San-yeong kills San-yeong’s grandmother and burns up the research notes. Detective Seo Mun-chun suspects that San-yeong has something to do with her grandmother’s death because she stands to inherit Hwawonjae, the big house that belonged to her father. He convinces Lee Song-hae that they should investigate the long line of cases of people who committed suicide and who all had deep red bruises on their wrists. Hae-sang tells San-yeong that his mother died with the "baetssi daenggi" in her hand. He says that they will know the evil spirit’s identity if they find out how Professor Go Gang-mo got hold of the ornament. Through San-yeong’s vision of the research notes, they start looking for a place called “Jang Jin-ri.” Flashback, Jang Jin-ri, 1958 ... a female shaman stabs to death a young girl.

Hong-sae tells Detective Seo Mun-chun about several cases of suicide by university students who lived in adjacent study hostels in Gwangcheon City. Based on a post on the university’s chat room, he says that witnesses heard the sound of high heels and very aggressive knocking.

In Gwangcheon City, Hong-sae and Detective Seo Mun-chun find out that there are common links among the students who committed suicide. Meanwhile, San-yeong and Hae-sang, who are also in Gwangcheon City, find an old man who identifies the tree in San-yeong’s sketch as a sacred “Dukdali Tree.” Hae-sang explains to San-yeong that a Dukdali Tree is where corpses of young children were hung. The old man also says that the tree was also known as “Suicide Tree” because a lot of people hanged themselves there. When San-yeong and Hae-sang ask where the tree is located, the old man says, however, that the tree was cut down when the city was developed.

Through the lead given by the old man, San-yeong and Hae-sang go to Janghan Study Hostel. When they can’t find the person they’re looking for, they begin to argue about what’s more important to do — how to get rid of the evil spirit that latched itself on to San-yeong or to prevent another university student from committing suicide.

While Hae-sang follows up another lead from the old man, San-yeong ends up at a store that sells aquarium fish.

Episode 4

Ep. 3 recap: The old man recognizes Professor Go Gang-mo as the man who frequently visited his younger brother. The common links in the suicides of the university students are Lee Tae-young (who’s also a university student) and the exotic fish which the students had in their rooms. Just like Lee Tae-young, the other university students became deeply in debt to a loan shark. To disguise himself, the loan shark’s enforcer dressed up as a woman and wore red heels whenever he forcibly collected from the students their loan payments. Flashback ... When the loan shark and his enforcer pressures her to give her relatives’ names and addresses, Lee Tae-young tears up the picture of her family, with the Dukdali Tree in the background. After she surreptitiously throws the torn pieces into an aquarium, an evil spirit transfers itself into the fishes. At the Janghan Study Hostel, Hae-sang and San-yeong sense the evil spirit in the building. As her mother Yoon Gyeong-moon tells her that she should accept Hwawonjae (the house) as her inheritance from her grandmother, Sanyeong hears an eerie voice telling her to accept it. Hae-sang rescues Lee Tae-young from the loan shark’s enforcer. After arresting the enforcer, Hong-sae and Detective Seo Mun-chun rush to the loan shark’s office. As they review the CCTV footage in the office, they’re stunned to see the image of San-yeong standing in the middle of the office. Possessed by the evil spirit through the aquarium fish that she received from the loan shark and his enforcer, San-yeong goes to the middle of the bridge. As Hae-sang goes to her, the ominous shadow of the evil spirit that latched on to her becomes much bigger that it was before.

The evil spirit that possessed San-yeong mocks Hae-sang that he caused his mother’s death. After saying the numbers “21” and “176,” San-yeong regains her own spirit.

Detective Seo Mun-chun gets from the detective investigating the death of San-yeong’s grandmother a copy of the only recovered portion of the burned notebook. Meanwhile, San-yeong decides to go to Hwawonjae (her father’s house) to try to find out what the numbers 21 and 176 mean. While rummaging through her father’s library, she finds his father’s book that mentions “juvenile ghosts.”

In Jangjin-ri, Lee Tae-young tells San-yeong and Hae-sang that Professor Go Gang-mo was looking for a girl named Lee Mokdan. Lee Tae-young’s great-uncle adds that back in 1958, the whole village was turned upside down when Lee Mokdan went missing.

At the Korea National Library where they examine the microfilmed newspapers from 1958, San-yeong and Hae-sang finally discover what the numbers 21 and 176 mean.

Episode 5

Ep. 4 recap: Hae-sang withdraws 50 million won from an ATM and gives it to San-yeong. After first feeling insulted and refusing to accept the money, San-yeong takes only five million won for her financial needs and promises to pay it with interest. Hong-sae remembers the times during high school when he tried to help San-yeong. The recovered portion of the burned notebook is an excerpt of a 1958 news article about a missing girl. When Hong-sae and Detective Seo Mun-chun interview the daughter of the reporter who wrote the article, they’re stunned to find out that the reporter died the day the article was published. He hanged himself, and there were red bruises on his wrists. Behind a folding screen, San-yeong and Hae-sang find the well-kept room of Professor Go Gang-mo and San-yeong’s mother during their happier days. San-yeong finds a calendar with a date marked with the words “Estimated due date.” San-yeong and Hae-sang find out that the numbers 21 and 176 are page numbers on Professor Go Gang-mo’s book on folklore. The specific pages refer to “juvenile ghosts” and a shamanic ritual called “yeommae” (cursing someone by making a doll made of straw or parts of a tree, or starving and killing children to turn them into ghosts). They rush to Baekchagol Village where they find the elderly villagers preparing for the straw doll ritual. The ancient ritual is supposed to keep off wandering ghosts. San-yeong is stunned to find out that her father Professor Go Gang-mo and her mother met and got married in Baekchagol Village. An elderly woman named Mrs. Park stole and burned the straw dolls for the ritual, thus unleashing the wandering ghosts on the villagers; she wanted to finally meet her daughter who committed suicide after leaving the village to go to the city. San-yeong runs away from the wandering ghosts who have gathered behind her. At an isolated shed, she sees a ghost through the window — it’s her father, Professor Go Gang-mo.

Hae-sang finds out that Mrs. Park changed the “jangseung” (Korean totem pole for directions and for protection against evil spirits) and thus blocked the path to the afterlife and confined the ghosts. Meanwhile, Professor Go Gang-mo’s ghost tells San-yeong that he’s sorry and had no choice.

Yoon Gyeong-moon, San-yeong’s mother, arrives at the hospital and berates Hae-sang, telling him not to communicate with San-yeong ever again. But after asking to be discharged from the hospital, San-yeong confronts her mother about the lies that she has told her.

Flashback ... Yoon Gyeong-moon, San-yeong’s mother, goes back to Baekchagol Village to wait for her second child to be born.

Hong-sae gives Detective Seo Mun-chun the files for several cases that resemble the “red bruises” suicide cases they’ve been investigating. He says that the common link in the cases is Professor Go Gang-mo. Later on, Detective Seo Mun-chun shows Hae-sang the case files, including Professor Go Gang-mo’s will that asks his mother to give the “baetssi daenggi” to San-yeong.

Based on her mother’s confession, San-yeong surprises Hae-sang by claiming that the missing child Lee Mokdan died not because of the shaman but because of her family and the whole village.

Episode 6

Ep. 5 recap: San-yeong and Hae-sang both conclude that she and her father Professor Go Gang-mo are possessed by the same evil spirit. Based on the case records that Hong-sae unearthed, Professor Go Gang-mo is linked to the deaths of four people. When Detective Seo Mun-chun shows him the records and Professor Go Gang-mo’s will, Hae-sang thinks that it was the evil spirit that wrote the will so that the “baetssi daenggi” would be passed on to San-yeong. When Professor Go Gang-mo said cryptically that he will kill their second child, Yoon Gyeong-moon, San-yeong’s mother, panics and goes to her mother’s house in Baekchagol Village. But she miscarries and later finds out that Professor Go Gang-mo was there in the house. Her mother also dies when she gets sucked into a well. San-yeong tells Hae-sang that her father Professor Go Gang-mo told her mother that in Jangjin-ri Village, the second child always died and that during times of disasters, a child was sacrificed to evoke a juvenile ghost. The young man who Hae-sang has been talking to is an evil ghost. After San-yeong leaves, Hae-sang asks him if he wants to possess her youth to satiate his hunger. San-yeong is possessed by an evil spirit when Se-mi texts her and says that she passed the civil service exam and that they must attend their high school classmate Joon-young’s after-wedding dinner at a wine bar. An evil spirit possesses someone in the wine bar and attacks a young woman, who’s carrying an expensive handbag, inside the ladies room. Meanwhile, in her possessed state, San-yeong uses a credit card to buy expensive clothes and accessories. During the after-wedding dinner, San-yeong (in her possessed state) whispers to Hong-sae that she killed all the people in the cases he has been investigating; she also throws her wine at Joon-young. Confused, Se-mi stands up and asks San-yeong what’s going on with her. Regaining her own spirit, San-yeong staggers out of the restaurant and goes to the bridge. The evil spirit whispers to her, “You wanted all of this.” In Baekchagol Village, Hae-sang finds buried in the house of San-yeong’s maternal grandmother the object that his mother buried near a tree before she died. On the bridge, after possessing San-yeong again, the evil spirit says, “Found it.”

At the wine bar where the after-wedding party was held, an attendant finds the dead body of the young woman that the evil spirit attacked. Meanwhile, on the bridge, after walking away from Hong-sae, San-yeong is stunned to see various receipts for expensive items and Hae-sang’s credit card.

Hae-sang calls up a professor of folklore and tells him about the “Line of Prohibition” and a fragment of pottery that he found. He then goes to visit his grandmother Chairwoman Na Byung-hee; from the gate up to the mansion’s ornate interiors, he notices several security men and CCTV cameras. His grandmother receives him coldly and then explodes in anger when he shows her what he found and the “baetssi daenggi” that his mother held on to before she died.

At the Violent Crimes Unit office, Hong-sae gets into an argument with Detective Seo Mun-chun, who accuses him of slacking off from his duties. Later, he learns from another junior detective that a homicide could have taken place in the venue of the after-wedding dinner party. When the junior detective mentions that the dead woman’s limited edition luxury bag is missing, he remembers the bag that someone in the dinner party found.

After arguing with her mother the night before, San-yeong goes to Hwawonjae, her father’s house. While cleaning it up, she texts Se-mi asking that they meet so that she can explain everything. That night, inside her room, she hears a voice telling her to open the vanity’s third drawer.

Notes:

1. “The Realm of Hungry Ghosts”: The Buddhist Notion that explains our strive for Perfectionism: In the Buddhist cosmology, Pretas, or the “Hungry Ghosts,” refers to a psychic domain in which the human mind is tormented by desires that could never, ever be satiated.

2. “Hungry ghost” (Wikipedia): Hungry ghost is a term in Buddhism, and Chinese traditional religion, representing beings who are driven by intense emotional needs in an animalistic way. The terms 餓鬼 èguǐ literally “hungry ghost”, are the Chinese translation of the term preta in Buddhism.

3. From “Ancestors Are the Storytellers: The Realm of the Hungry Ghost and Hell in Buddhism”:

Ancestors are storytellers. Buddhists consider that people will go to one of six realms after death. The six realms represent six worlds that consist of different mental states which correspond to one’s wholesome and unwholesome karma. Buddhist ancestors have warned why life impelled by ignorance, hatred, and greed leads to undesirable rebirths, such as in the realms of hungry ghosts and hell, and have taught the value of moral conduct through stories and paintings to children and adults.

Episode 7

Ep. 6 recap: Without San-yeong’s knowledge and approval, her mother Yoon Gyeong-moon accepted the inheritance from her grandmother that amounts to 1.3 billion won. As they argue, the evil spirit whispers to San-yeong, “Do you want me to kill her?” Chairwoman Na Byung-hee orders her right hand man to monitor Hae-sang’s activities. The man is Kim Chi-won, the Vice-President of Junghyeon Capital; he’s also the father of the ghost Hae-sang has been talking to in his house. San-yeong finds in the vanity drawer some film negatives. After having the film negatives scanned in a photo studio and studying them in a computer, she learns about the “Realm of Hungry Ghosts.” Meanwhile, as Hong-sae searches the crime database, he finds out that there have been several cases of theft where the victims had bloodshot eyes. Thinking that Se-mi is in danger, San-yeong and Hae-sang start searching for her. When San-yeong asks how a hungry ghost can be stopped, Hae-sang says that, unlike evil ghosts who can be stopped when their grudges are relieved, hungry ghosts are created by their inner desires. San-yeong and Se-mi’s friend, Joon-young, has been possessed by a hungry ghost and killed several people for their expensive belongings. Hae-sang meets the shaman who made the “Line of Prohibition.” The shaman says that Professor Go Gang-mo asked her to make five lines because he needed to find five objects in order to identify the evil spirit. Hae-sang is stunned when the shaman identifies his mother as the other person for whom she also made five lines. As San-yeong studies the prints from the film negatives, she sees a picture of a young man. At Hae-sang’s house, the door opens for her, and inside the house, she finally sees the hungry ghost Hae-sang has been talking to. The hungry ghost tells San-yeong that he knows the name of the person who created the evil spirit that has latched on to her.

The hungry ghost tells San-yeong to look for a woman named Choi Man-wol. Meanwhile, the shaman tells Hae-sang that his mother and Professor Go Gang-mo asked her to recite a “sutra” (aphorism) for a dead child.

Flashback, 1999 ... Kim Woo-jin is the teenaged son of Kim Chi-won, the future VicePresident of Junghyeon Capital. As he goes through rooms in Chairwoman Na Byung-hee’s mansion, he sees a rangefinder camera that he wants for himself.

Present times ...

Kim Chi-won, Vice-President of Junghyeon Capital, offers Hong-sae inside information on the company’s clients in exchange for information on what Detective Seo Mun-chun and Hae-sang are doing and talking about.

While meeting Detective Seo Mun-chun at a “pojangmacha” (sidewalk restaurant), Hae-sang learns that Shaman Choi Man-wol was arrested after police officers found Lee Mokdan’s severed finger in her house. He also finds out what the five objects his mother and Professor Go Gang-mo were looking for. Later, he meets the great nephew of Shaman Choi Man-wol.

At a coffee shop, after Hong-sae tells her that there are no records of any student from Jang-il High School who committed suicide back in 1999, San-yeong tells him that she and Hae-sang can see ghosts and that they’re both looking for the same evil spirit. Hong-sae scoffs at San-yeong but decides to come along with her when she says that she wants to go to Jang-il High School to investigate for herself.

Note:

“The hwan was South Korea’s currency between February 15, 1953, and June 9, 1962. It succeeded the first South Korean won and preceded the second South Korean won.

“Due to the devaluation of the first South Korean won (from 15 won to the U.S. dollar in 1945 to 6000 won to the dollar in 1953), the hwan was introduced in 1953 at the rate of 1 hwan = 100 won. The hwan was nominally subdivided into 100 jeon but the lowest denomination issued was 1 hwan. The hwan also suffered from inflation and a series of devaluations occurred.”

Episode 8

Ep. 7 recap: Hae-sang realizes that the child his mother wanted the shaman to recite a sutra for was his unborn sibling. Flashback, 1958 ... At the police station, Shaman Choi Man-wol hangs herself. The five objects that Professor Go Gang-mo and Hae-sang’s mother were looking for are the "baetssi daenggi" (pear shaped hair accessory), a blue pottery piece, a black band, a jade hairpin, and a glass bottle. From the records of Shaman Choi Man-wol that were kept by his great nephew, Hae-sang finds out that the “baetssi daenggi” was given to the child chosen for the sacrifice. He also finds out that the tremendous amount of one billion hwan that was paid to Shaman Choi Man-wol for the child sacrifice came from "Junghyeon Corporation." From a government registry, he confirms that “Junghyeon Corporation” is his family’s present company Junghyeon Capital. San-yeong and Hong-sae find out from the Jang-il High School principal that the belongings of the students who died were found in Woo-jin’s locker and that Woo-jin died after being hit by a car. Hong-sae shows San-yeong the records of Junghyeon Capital and says that the company is known as River Styx because its business rivals and government officials who investigated the company committed suicide. As San-yeong tries to figure out the connection, she sees a vision of Lee Mokdan walking on the street under the heavy rain. She runs after Lee Mokdan and staggers through the streets, while seeing visions of Lee Mokdan being led to her death by Shaman Choi Man-wol. She ends up crying and exhausted emotionally in front of the gate of Chairwoman Na Byung-hee’s mansion. Hae-sang confronts his grandmother Chairwoman Na Byung-hee about how their company paid Shaman Choi Man-wol for the sacrifice of Lee Mokdan so that their company could surmount its financial difficulties at that time and become prosperous. Chairwoman Na Byung-hee retorts that he could not have had anything that he has enjoyed in life if not for what she and his grandfather did. She also says that his mother died when she tried to break the curse of the evil spirit that the shaman prophesied would be passed on to each succeeding head of their family. At the gate, San-yeong curses San-yeong and his family for what they did to Lee Mokdan in order to amass the riches they have enjoyed through the decades. Using a rock, she batters San-yeong’s car. At the bridge, the hungry ghost Woo-jin tells Hae-sang how he found out about Chairwoman Na Byung-hee and his family’s deep dark secret. He sacrifices himself as the evil spirit comes for Hae-sang. In Hwawonjae (her father’s house), San-yeong speaks out to Lee Mokdan, saying that she will not enjoy the wealth that she has inherited and give her the justice she deserves. But she hears the evil spirit say, “Just like your father, you will want me too.”

Hong-sae and Detective Seo Mun-chun try to figure out the connections between the deaths that started with Lee Mokdan and Shaman Choi Man-wol in 1958, the deaths linked to Junghyeon Capital, and the deaths linked to Professor Go Gang-mo.

At the hospital, San-yeong finds out from the ophthalmologist that she and her father Professor Go Gang-mo have the same optical atrophy disease that leads to blindness. She realizes that her father chose the evil spirit in exchange for not losing his eyesight.

While Hong-sae interviews the son of the business rival of Junghyeon Capital who committed suicide, San-yeong goes to Buddhist temples trying to find the “Realm of Hungry Ghosts” painting that’s depicted in one of the pictures printed from the film negatives she found in the vanity drawer.

After the Baekchagol Village chief calls her up, San-yeong finds Hae-sang seemingly catatonic as he stares at the ceiling. When she looks at the ceiling, she sees a shadow spreading across it. Mrs. Park says that it’s the spirit of darkness; if Hae-sang stares into it long enough, it will engulf him.

San-yeong takes Hae-sang into her car and speeds away from Baekchagol Village. But the spirit of darkness follows them wherever they go and grows bigger, engulfing in darkness everything behind them.

Episode 9

Ep. 8 recap: San-yeong reconciles with Se-mi and brings her to Hwawonjae (her father’s house) where they drink and bicker about Hong-sae. The next day, San-yeong speaks to the evil spirit and says that she will do everything it wants. Remembering what Hae-sang said about his mother traveling to the east, San-yeong drives her car to where the sun will rise. After Hae-sang revives from his stupor, she shows him the picture of Woo-jin standing in front of a “Realm of Hungry Ghosts” painting. Detective Seo Mun-chun finds out from a former colleague that Professor Go Gang-mo acted as guardian for the Jangjin-ri Village chief who suffered from dementia and was confined in a Seoul convalescent hospital. On the other hand, Hong-sae finds out from a retired prosecutor that in the suicide of the prosecutor who investigated Junghyeon Capital, the company’s CEO left his fingerprints in the prosecutor’s room but had a solid alibi. At the temple where he took the picture of Woo-jin, Hae-sang explains to San-yeong how he tried to help Woo-jin. But Woo-jin committed suicide by throwing himself at an oncoming car. Hae-sang and San-yeong dig around the tree that Professor Go Gang-mo planted in the temple’s reservoir. There, they find the black band used in a suicide. When Hae-sang says that they also need to find a jade pin and a glass bottle, San-yeong asks why his mother and her father died when they knew all the five objects that had to be sealed. Hae-sang says that they must have missed something. Detective Seo Mun-chun finds out from the restored records of Lee Mokdan’s case that she wasn’t the second child in her family. While in the Violent Crimes Unit office, he gets a call from Hae-sang warning him not to open the door no matter what. But with Hong-sae now with him, they hear someone knocking at the door. He signals Hong-sae not to open the door, but when they hear Hae-sang’s voice, Hong-sae opens the door. It’s the evil spirit manifesting itself in San-yeong’s body.

Before jumping off to his death from the Violent Crimes Unit office to the pavement below, Detective Seo Mun-chun tells Hong-sae, “Professor Yeom was right.”

After the funeral, Hae-sang moves his research materials into Detective Seo Mun-chun’s apartment unit to continue his investigation. Hong-sae tells him that since 1958, 17 people have died, including Detective Seo Mun-chun. Hae-sang warns Hong-sae that he could be targeted by the evil spirit, but Hong-sae says that he doesn’t care and that he will find out about Lee Mokdan’s restored records.

In Hwawonjae (her father’s house), San-yeong tells Hae-sang that since they found the black rubber band on the temple’s reservoir, she’s beginning to remember less and less. She wonders that if they continue to look for the rest of the five objects, they could die just like her father. Prodded by Hae-sang, she remembers that before Detective Seo Mun-chun died, he was holding on to the confirmation document that her father signed after receiving the belongings of the Jangjin-ri Village chief. But she hears a voice telling her that Hae-sang will die if she tells him about the confirmation document.

After Hae-sang leaves, San-yeong realizes that the confirmation document is a weakness that the evil spirit doesn’t want to be revealed. As she rummages through all the drawers in the house, she finds a rangefinder camera and a paper bag marked “Jeongon Convalescent Hospital.” Inside the paper bag is a ledger titled “Jangjin-ri Management Ledger.”

Episode 10

Ep. 9 recap: Tucked inside the “Jangjin-ri Management Ledger” is a promissory note for five billion hwan from Junghyeon Corporation. Listed in the ledger are items and amounts that each family in the village received when Lee Mokdan was brought back to the village. San-yeong finds out from the lodge owner that his father planted a tree near the lodge. The night he died, her father had come to the lodge and dug up the tree, retrieving from it the “baetssi daenggi.” Hong-sae, who’s following San-yeong from afar, finds out that the lodge stands on the ground where Hae-sang’s mother died. Hae-sang finds out that before the librarian linked to Professor Go Gang-mo died, she was ripping up a book titled “Understanding Art” by Shin Seungju. After finding out that Shin Seungju was a middle school teacher who committed suicide, he thinks that the art book contains a secret to the evil spirit’s weakness. Hae-sang finds in Shin Seungju’s 1959 yearbook a drawing similar to the drawings that the evil spirit drew on chairs, tables, and walls in Hwawonjae (Professor Go Gang-mo’s house). Hong-sae tells Hae-sang that he met the evil spirit who possessed San-yeong. He says that based on what the possessed San-yeong said and did at the park, the evil spirit wasn’t either a child or an adult. While barricading herself in a room in Hwawonjae and protecting herself with a Line of Prohibition, San-yeong finds something wrong with the phases of the moon on the date Lee Mokdan was kidnapped and killed and the date her body was returned to the village. Confronting the evil spirit, she asks, “You’re not Lee Mokdan, are you?”

Flashback, 2002 ... After San-yeong’s maternal grandmother died, her mother Yoon Gyeong-moon tries to take her out of Hwawonjae (her father’s house). But her father Professor Go Gang-mo stops her, saying, “It’s dangerous at night; if you’re planning to take her, do it in the daytime.”

Present times ... After Chairwoman Na Byung-hee insists that it was Lee Mokdan who died, Hae-sang starts a ruckus, scattering the books on the shelves. Before he’s led out by Vice-President Kim Chi-won and the security men, he vows to find out the name of the sacrificed child and to stop the evil spirit.

Flashback, 1999 ... after Yoon Gyeong-moon, Professor Go Gang-mo, and his mother begin living in Hwawonjae (their newly acquired house), Kim Chi-won arrives and gives Professor Go Gang-mo the rangefinder camera and documents about Shaman Choi Man-wol. He pleads with Professor Go Gang-mo not to visit or contact Hae-sang ever again.

Present times ...

San-yeong tells Hae-sang that she wants to help in finding the two other objects because she saw visions when she touched the “baetssi daenggi,” the blue pottery shard, and the black rubber band; she says that the visions are probably the evil spirit’s memories.

Hong-sae’s investigation leads him to the hospital where Hae-sang’s father and grandfather both died at a young age. When he asks the hospital director about why Junghyeon Capital invested money in the hospital, the director becomes evasive and asks him to leave.

At the abandoned raw fish restaurant, Hae-sang and San-yeong search the bathroom where another person related to Professor Go Gang-mo hanged herself. Hae-sang becomes apprehensive, however, about whether he’s talking with San-yeong or with the evil spirit.

San-yeong finds the glass bottle, one of the five objects that Professor Go Gang-mo and Hae-sang’s mother sealed. When Hae-sang takes the glass bottle from her hand, the evil spirit possesses her and runs berserk, crying out for water.

Episode 11

Ep. 10 recap: San-yeong’s mother Yoon Gyeong-moon proudly shows her their almost finished café. But San-yeong can see only darkness. When Hae-sang tries to stop the evil spirit that possesses San-yeong, the evil spirit says that it begged for food and water for seven days. Hae-sang wonders why the evil spirit is using him to find the five objects when the objects will help him stop it. The evil spirit replies that he will know the reason once he finds the last object. Based on what the hospital director confessed, Hong-sae tells Hae-sang that his father died with red bruises on his wrists. Later, Hae-sang lets Vice-President Kim Chi-won hear what the hospital director said about Chairwoman Na Byung-hee suffocating Woo-jin to death. After tearing into pieces the non-disclosure agreement that he signed with Junghyeon Capital, Vice-President Kim Chi-won reveals to Hae-sang the strange occurrences with his father; he says that he overheard his father arguing with Chairwoman Na Byung-hee that they already had enough money and that the evil spirit wanted to kill his wife. Chairwoman Na Byung-hee replied that in exchange for the wealth their family had accumulated, they must satiate the evil spirit with their most cherished possession. When his father insisted on knowing how to stop the evil spirit, Chairwoman Na Byung-hee took a document from her safe and gave it to his father. But his father died soon after. At Hwawonjae, San-yeong confides in Hong-sae that her blindness comes and goes but will soon become permanent. She can only see through the evil spirit within her. When she can’t remember what she did the night before, Hong-sae tells her that the evil spirit took out a life insurance policy in her mother’s name with her as beneficiary. Hae-sang tells San-yeong that the evil spirit will take a person’s most treasured possession in exchange for its power. When Hae-sang and Hong-sae promise that they will fight the evil spirit the best they can, San-yeong confesses that she saw in a vision Detective Seo Mun-chun holding the confirmation document that her father signed; behind that document is another document with three Chinese characters on it. Working together, Hae-sang, Hong-sae, and San-yeong figure out that the document with Chinese characters is Lee Mokdan’s family register and that the evil spirit must be her sister who was a student in Jangjin Middle School. When Hong-sae tells San-yeong that they can’t search the family registries because they don’t know the domicile of origin and the head of household, Hae-sang comes up with a plan to use the “Safe Day” (when spirits cannot appear) to trick his grandmother. Acting like that she’s the evil spirit, San-yeong tricks Chairwoman Na Byung-hee into revealing the evil spirit’s name — Hyangi.

Vice-President Kim Chi-won arranges for Chairwoman Na Byung-hee to be confined and restrained in a hospital room.

Hae-sang finds the last object — the jade pin — while Hong-sae receives from the government office the school records of “Lee Hyangi.” Hae-sang calls up San-yeong at Hwawonjae and tells her that they need to verify the authenticity of the jade pin. While San-yeong is waiting at Hwawonjae for Hae-sang to arrive, however, the evil spirit whispers to her that she will kill her mother.

At the café, Se-mi sees red bruises forming on Yoon Gyeong-moon’s wrist; she’s shocked when Yoon Gyeong-moon takes a nylon cord and attaches it to the ceiling to hang herself.

With San-yeong missing, Hong-sae goes to Hwawonjae to look for her. Meanwhile, determined to seal the five objects, Hae-sang meets the shaman at a bus station. The shaman gives him the Lines of Prohibition that he requested but warns him that ghosts are adept at deceit; what may seem like answers often turn out to be traps.

Episode 12, Finale (with spoilers)

Ep. 11 recap: San-yeong stops the evil spirit from killing her mother by threatening to stab herself with a piece of broken glass. Chairwoman Na Byung-hee dies after Vice-President Kim Chi-won opens the door and lets Hyangi’s evil spirit into the room. Because of the shaman’s warning, Hae-sang has second thoughts about the broken jade pin; he thinks that Hyangi, a poor girl who’s the daughter of a fisherman, didn’t have the means to buy a jade pin. Flashback, 1958 ... Shaman Choi Man-wol offered the “baetssi daenggi” to Hyangi, not to Mokdan. But after hearing that she will be killed as a sacrifice, the next morning, Hyangi puts the “baetssi daenggi” on Mokdan. Her mother takes her own life, unable to bear the thought of Mokdan dying, and her father and brother die in a fishing accident. Overcome by guilt, she takes the money that was her family’s share and offers it to Shaman Choi Man-wol, who’s in a shed in Chairwoman Na Byung-hee’s mansion. But Shaman Wol still kills Mokdan. Days later, Hyang struggles with Shaman Choi Man-wol, grabs her jade pin, and stabs her with it. But Shaman Choi Man-wol stabs and kills Hyangi with a ritual knife. On a deserted street after Chairwoman Na Byung-hee dies, Hyangi tells San-yeong that she will disappear now that they know her name. But she makes a last wish that after San-yeong and Hae-sang find her body, they should bury it in a good place. San-yeong calls up Hae-sang and tells him about Hyangi’s wish but warns him not to do it since the body, not the jade pin, could be the last object. But Hae-sang and Hong-sae have already found Hyangi’s body, buried deep inside the shed. Near the body, they find the other half of Shaman Choi Man-wol’s broken jade pin.

At the café, Hae-sang sees that San-yeong’s shadow has returned to normal and that she took the jade hairpin from Hong-sae with her right hand. At home the next day, however, Yoon Gyeong-moon realizes that she’s not speaking to San-yeong but to someone else.

While Hae-sang begins to seal the five objects in various places, Hong-sae follows San-yeong from a distance as she goes to a jewelry store, a flower shop, and a car repair shop. While thinking about the link between these places, he suddenly sees San-yeong knocking at his car window.

Hong-sae steps out of his car and confronts what he thinks is Hyangi’s evil spirit that possesses San-yeong. He says that she has changed her way of killing people; instead of making people commit suicide, she’s now resorting to poison (cyanide, pesticide, and antifreeze) to kill Yoon Gyeong-moon and thus claim the insurance. But Hyangi’s evil spirit mocks Hong-sae and says that it’s over; he cannot save San-yeong.

At Hwawonjae, Yoon Gyeong-moon tries to kill Hae-sang but stops herself, saying she cannot do it despite San-yeong’s life being at stake. Hyangi’s evil spirit has trapped San-yeong within a mirror.

Based on what Yoon Gyeong-moon said, Hae-sang realizes that San-yeong and Hyangi’s evil spirit have exchanged places. Before, San-yeong was outside the mirror, and the evil spirit was trapped inside the mirror. The shadow and the body have now changed positions. He says that he should never have found the jade pin because if he seals the five objects, San-yeong, who’s now the shadow, will be in danger.

From the hospital’s CCTV footage of Chairwoman Na Byung-hee’s death, Hong-sae points out to Hae-sang that she did not die immediately; she lacerated her left index finger as a sign for Hae-sang. Hae-sang then remembers his research with San-yeong that after the shaman killed the girl, the girl’s left index finger was used as a host for deities.

Hae-sang, Hong-sae, and other police officers turn Chairwoman Na Byung-hee’s mansion upside down in searching for Hyangi’s left index finger.

Hae-sang doesn’t fall for Hyangi’s distraction and sees her take the box containing her left index finger from behind a painting. He grabs the box from her, checks it, and then pours lighter fluid on it But Hyangi starts to pummel herself with various objects, making her forehead bleed. She stops Hae-sang from burning the box by saying that San-yeong will not be able to come back if her body dies.

Hyangi stabs Hae-sang and starts to walk away. But her steps become heavy until she can’t move. When she turns, she sees San-yeong’s reflection on a mirror.

In the spirit world, as San-yeong struggles against her assailant, she remembers all her struggles and hardships to make ends meet, and taking care of her mother and cleaning up the mess she makes. When she sees that her assailant is herself, she realizes it was she herself who was preventing her from living the life that she wants.

San-yeong forces Hyangi to burn the box containing the left index finger.

Later ...

Hae-sang survives and recovers from his stab wounds. He donates Junghyeon Capital’s assets amounting to hundreds of billions of won to society and focuses on teaching in the university.

Together with her mother and Se-mi, San-yeong goes ziplining and stargazing. As Hong-sae visits her at the café, she talks about her plans for the future.

As they attend the fireworks festival, Hae-sang explains to San-yeong that the festival wards off harmful spirits, casts away illnesses and misfortune, and brings in good news. It also escorts all the lost and wandering ghosts to a better place. It’s a grand purification ceremony brought on by everyone’s wishes.

Historical / cultural backgrounders and other information

1. Korea was ’most haunted place on earth’ by Robert Neff:

“In the 1890s, George Heber Jones, an American missionary, declared Korea to be the most haunted place on the earth and poignantly described the spiritual world that oppressed and surrounded the average Korean:

“In Korean belief, earth, air, and sea are people by demons. They haunt every umbrageous tree, shady ravine, spring and mountain crest. On green hill slopes, in peaceful agricultural valleys, in grassy dells, on wooded uplands, by lake and stream, by road and river, in north, south, east, and west they abound, making malignant sport out of human destinies.

“They are on every roof, ceiling, oven and beam. They fill the chimney, shed, the living room, the kitchen ― they are on every shelf and jar. In thousands they waylay the traveler as he leaves his home, beside him, behind him, dancing in front of him, whirring over his head, crying out upon him from air, earth, and water.”

Other relevant articles by Robert Neff from The Korea Times: “Blind faith”; “Haunted Gangwon-do (pt 2): The restless maidens of the East Sea”; “Haunted Jongno”

2. How a shaman made the “evil spirit” possessed by Kim Tae Ri in “Revenant”

The evil spirit possessed by Kim Tae Ri in the drama is presumed to be the traditional Korean ghost “Taejagwi (Saetani)”.

“Taejagwi” refers to a baby ghost who died of hunger after being abandoned by their parents or a shaman carrying such a ghost. It is also called “Taeju”, “Myeongdo” or “Saetani”.

3. From Kim Tae-ri’s ’evil’ identity has been exposed... Capturing "The Devil is the Crown Prince" [Issue S]:

According to the Encyclopedia of Korean Folklore, a ghost born from the death of a young baby or a shaman carrying such a ghost is called ’Taeju’, and depending on the region, it is called ’Prince’. Recently, it is more often referred to as ’baby boy’ or ’mountain child’. Usually, it is known as the spirit of a child who died of starvation or contracting smallpox, or a shaman possessed by that spirit. ’Prince’ plus the word ghost (鬼) to ’Prince’ was the identity of the demon that Kang Mo concluded in the drama.

4. From “Shamanism in Ancient Korea” by Mark Cartwright:

Shamanism was widely practised in Korea from prehistoric times right up to the modern era. It is a belief system which originated in north-east Asian and Arctic cultures, and although the term shamanism has since acquired a wider meaning across many different cultures, in ancient Korea it kept its original form where self-appointed practitioners promised to contact and influence the spirit world in order to assist the living. Shamans were given their authority by those who believed in their worth. As such it is not a religion, and there was no hierarchical priesthood, no texts, and no dogma to adhere to. For much of Korea’s recorded history, Buddhism was the official state religion, but shamanism continued to be important to the ordinary, largely peasant population. Its influence on ancient Korean culture is most tangible in surviving art, architecture, literature, and music.

5. From “Shamanism Enjoys Revival in Techno-Savvy South Korea” (The New York Times, 2007):

There are an estimated 300 shamanistic temples within an hour of Seoul’s bustling city center, and in them, shamans perform their clamorous ceremonies every day. They offer pigs to placate the gods. They dance with toy guns to comfort the spirit of a dead child. They intimidate evil spirits by walking barefoot on knife blades.

In an election year like this one, the most famous shamans are fully booked. Politicians, whether Christian or Buddhist, flock to them, asking, for instance, whether relocating their ancestors’ remains to a more propitious site might ensure victory.

There are an estimated 300,000 shamans, or one for every 160 South Koreans, according to the Korea Worshipers Association, which represents shamans. They are fiercely independent, following different gods, sharing no one body of scriptures. And they are highly adaptable. When the Internet boom hit South Korea, shamans were among the first to set up commercial Web sites, offering online fortune-telling. Many younger shamans maintain Web logs.

6. Korean beliefs about the afterlife

A. Terms:

• Kaekkwi - a wandering ghost
• Joseung Saja - Grim Reaper
• Dokkaebi - goblin
• Cheonyeo gwishin - virgin ghost
• Mul gwishin - water ghost

B. “8 Korean Folklore and Urban Legends That Inspired Korean Dramas and Movies”

Unsurprisingly, Korean dramas and movies dealing with the supernatural have a way of captivating our attention through their unique storylines. That’s because the scriptwriters have a wealth of Korean folklore and urban legends to draw from. From god-like dokkaebi to vengeful spirits, there’s really no limit when it comes to letting their imaginations run wild.

Lessons in photography from “Revenant” and analysis of its visuals, cinematography, and editing

Index of topics: A. Color scheme or palette; B. Visual cues, including Dutch angle shots; C. Breaking the 180-degree rule or “crossing the line” in an Ep. 5 scene to depict or reinforce emotional or psychological tension or to signify a change of beat; D. Some shots that are composed similarly to “The King’s Affection” (placing a foreground object at the top, bottom, or sides of the frame; wide shots from a low angle point of view); E. The blurry images during San-yeong’s visions are probably inspired by the famous images in Brad Pitt’s 2007 cult movie "“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”; F. Short siding (short-sided shots to depict or reinforce anger, hate, fear, confusion, and other negative emotions)

A. Color scheme or palette: I stand to be corrected, but brown and its various tones are this drama’s predominant colors, which are peculiar for a horror drama or movie; an Ep. 2 scene suggests that the director wanted us the viewers to associate the color brown with horror or evil; “Obangsaek” or the traditional Korean color palette; the most stunning images in terms of color combination are in Ep. 7 and Ep. 12

A-1. I found it curious as to why the director and the production designer decided on using brown and its various tones (including beige) as the predominant colors in this drama. Take a look at the GIF below and notice how brown and its various warm and cool tones are used in this drama:

In some flashback scenes with Lee Mokdan, Hyangi, and Shaman Choi Man-wol, the predominant color (due to color grading) is bright yellow or orange, instead of the usual muddy brown of sepia images.

The article “Blood Red to Morgue Blue: The Role of Color in Horror” states: “The most commonly used colors in horror films are black, blue, green, red, and white. The use of color in films is stylistic and evokes an emotional reaction from the viewers. Red is often associated with anger or passion.”

The article “9 Horror Movies With the Most Quintessential Color Palettes” states: “Colors in horror movies can greatly impact the atmosphere and emotions conveyed to the audience, which is why they are some of the most powerful tools in cinema. The use of color is sometimes motivated by the necessity of elevating the representation of the character’s emotions. Other times, a specific color palette will be employed to support the themes exposed in the screenplay or, more straightforwardly, to bring an unsettling and creepy atmosphere to life.”

The article discusses the colors and color palettes used in nine horror movies:

“Blood and Black Lace” (1964): deep reds and simultaneously, in the least tense parts, the movie is ultra bright and colorful, creating an amazing contrast with its bloody scenes”

“The Masque of the Red Death” (1964): deep red

“From Beyond” (1986): mix of muted colors and splashes of bright purple

“Hardware” (1990): orange patina

“A Tale of Two Sisters” (2003 Korean movie): muted colors

“Green Room” (2015): green with sporadic yellow

“The Neon Demon” (2016): red and blue shades

“Annihilation” (2018): green with "incursion of tonalities of pink, yellow, and purple"

“Suspiria” (2018): “chromatic and vivid color palette” with colors that stand out being red, purple, and pink

As to the psychological effects of colors, the article “How a Film Color Palette Can Make You a Better Filmmaker [with infographics]” describes brown as “materialistic, sensation, earth, home, outdoors, reliability, comfort, endurance, stability, simplicity.”

The article “Color Theory for Designers, Part 1: The Meaning of Color” (Smashing Magazine) states:

Brown is associated with the earth, wood, and stone. It’s a completely natural color and a warm neutral. Brown can be associated with dependability and reliability, with steadfastness, and with earthiness. It can also be considered dull.

In design, brown is commonly used as a background color. It’s also seen in wood textures and sometimes in stone textures. It helps bring a feeling of warmth and wholesomeness to designs.

My two guesses on why the director and production designer of “Revenant” chose brown and its various warm and cool tones for this drama’s look are that (1) the director and production designer of “Revenant” wanted to emulate Wes Anderson’s philosophy of flipping traditional color theory, and that (2) an Ep. 2 scene with San-yeong suggests that the director wanted us the viewers to associate the color brown with horror or evil.

(1) The director and production designer of “Revenant” wanted to emulate Wes Anderson’s philosophy of flipping traditional color theory.

From “How Wes Anderson Uses Color to Shape His Stories”:

Wes Anderson Flips Traditional Color Theory

Most filmmakers tend to follow the industry’s color theory—the idea that certain colors elicit certain emotions, and thus they should be present in scenes that correspond to those emotions. Typically, bright and warm colors are associated with joyful, happy scenes. If you’re seeing lots of yellows, oranges, pinks, or light blues, logic follows that the scene is one that’s generally pleasant or comforting. On the other hand, dark colors can represent discomfort or uncertainty. If a scene has a dark color palette, it’s more likely to make us feel nervous, fearful, anxious, or sad.

But Anderson flips the theory on its head. His films frequently depict unfortunate events in “happy” colors. Anderson loves discord—he relishes opportunities to depict sad scenes in comforting hues, often with high saturation (a term that refers to the intensity of the color in the image).

(2) An Ep. 2 scene with San-yeong suggests that the director wanted us the viewers to associate the color brown with horror or evil.

The article “Korean Color Symbolism: Learn What Traditional Colors Mean in Korea” states: Traditionally, Koreans thought of gray, taupe, beige, and brown as ‘unclean’ colors. However, thanks to movies, western trends, globalization, and interrelationships with other countries, trench coats in these colors have now become popular.

I can’t find any other English-language resource on the Internet as to why Koreans traditionally thought of gray, taupe, beige, and brown as ‘unclean’ colors. (Maybe because brown isn’t a primary color?)

At first, I thought that maybe the director and production designer of “Revenant” used brown and its warm and cool tones only for the emotionally lighter scenes (such as San-yeong and Se-mi happily meeting at Se-mi’s new house below) and not for the horror scenes.

But then a scene from Ep. 2 suggests that the director wants us the viewers to associate the color brown with horror or evil. At the river bank, as San-yeong is possessed by the evil spirit, she cuts up with a box cutter the eyes of the little girl’s missing expensive doll. We see her using the box cutter with her left hand; this foreshadows later scenes where the evil spirit uses her left hand to write Professor Go Gang-mo’s will and Hong-sae tests if he and Hae-sang are speaking to San-yeong or the evil spirit. Notice the prevalence of brown: San-yeong’s overcoat, the bench, the trees and foliage in the background, the grounds to her left, etc.

Relevant resources:

“How filmmakers manipulate our emotions using color” (The Verge)

“Color Theory and Wes Anderson’s Style — Sad Characters in a Colorful World” (Studio Binder)

A-2. “Obangsaek” or the traditional Korean color palette

From “5 Colors That Are Meaningful To Korean Dramas”:

In Korean dramas, particularly more evident in traditional or historical K-dramas, there are five colors that are commonly used: white, black, red, blue, and yellow. You’ll notice these colors a lot in the clothes and props that the characters use throughout the drama.

And, it’s interesting to note that these five colors aren’t just used by a lot of K-dramas coincidentally, but because these colors are rooted in South Korea’s history and culture. The Obangsaek is the Traditional Korean Color Spectrum, where the colors represent not only five directions—north (black), south (red), east (blue), west (white), and center (yellow)—but also the five elements of life—metal (white), water (black), fire (red), wood (blue), and earth (yellow). This is why these colors were often used in hanboks (traditional Korean clothing), paintings, architecture, and even food, because these colors, in line with what they represent, were deemed essential in living a healthy and prosperous life.

A-3. IMO, the most stunning images in terms of color combination are in Ep. 7 and Ep. 12, both of which are set in the same location.

Ep. 7: In a vision, San-yeong sees Lee Mokdan walking on the street under the heavy rain. She runs after Lee Mokdan and staggers through the streets, while seeing visions of Lee Mokdan being led to her death by Shaman Choi Man-wol. She ends up crying and exhausted emotionally in front of the gate of Chairwoman Na Byung-hee’s mansion.

Ep. 12: The flashback scene shows Hyangi going to Chairwoman Na Byung-hee’s mansion, out of guilt, to try and buy her sister Lee Mokdan’s freedom from Shaman Choi Man-wol.

B. Visual cues, including Dutch angle shots, to depict or reinforce unity or conflict; a character’s vulnerability, solitude, or fear; comfort and respite; change, danger, or showdown

“Visual cues” are explained in an excellent series of articles from “My Drama List” by someone with the username “3GGG”:

“Part 1: visual ways to establish a conflict, division, or fight between two or more characters”

“Part 2: boxing to establish a character’s vulnerability, solitude, or fear; comfort and respite; change; danger; showdown”

“Part 3: Dutch angle”

“Part 4 Interpersonal cues (using cues simultaneously or one after another)”

The YT video “The Brilliant Cinematography of Parasite” by Thomas Flight (5:04 mark) shows how director Bong Joon-ho used lines as visual cues to depict the division between the social classes, between the rich family and the poor family.

The four images below are the best examples of how this drama uses visual cues:

Ep. 11: Because of the shaman’s warning, Hae-sang has second thoughts about the broken jade pin; he thinks that Hyangi, a poor girl who’s the daughter of a fisherman, didn’t have the means to buy a jade pin. Notice how he’s boxed in by the door windows to depict or reinforce the emotional or psychological tension of the scene.

Ep. 1: San-yeong’s mother gets a call informing her that Professor Go Gang-mo (San-yeong’s father) died; we find out in the next scene that San-yeong’s mother lied to her about her father having died when she was five years old. Notice how San-yeong and her mother are boxed in by the posts on the ceiling and on the sides to depict or reinforce the emotional or psychological tension of the scene.

Ep. 6: San-yeong and Hae-sang race against time, believing that Se-mi is in danger from a hungry ghost because she has the luxury bag from the woman who was killed in the wine bar. Notice how San-yeong is boxed in by the window frames in the foreground to depict and reinforce her emotional and psychological tension; a background structure also boxes her in.

Ep. 8: San-yeong has just learned from the ophthalmologist that she will eventually lose her eyesight. While staring at the ominous shadow of the evil spirit, she realizes that her father chose to embrace the evil spirit in exchange for not losing his eyesight; she wonders if she herself will choose to embrace the evil spirit. Notice that in this low angle shot, she’s boxed in by the two black posts in the foreground and by the building in the background to depict and reinforce her emotional and psychological tension.

IMO, this is the most brilliantly composed image in the whole drama. (Studio Binder in its article “Low Angle Shot: Creative Examples of Camera Movements & Angles” says that a low angle shot is used sometimes to show a character’s vulnerability.)

Two shots before this low angle shot of San-yeong, there’s an establishing shot of her in front of what’s supposed to be the hospital where she’s standing between two tall black posts. If this is the same location as the location for her low angle shot, I would say that the cinematographer is lying on the ground shooting up (thus the "keystoning" effect), with Kim Tae-ri probably standing on several boxes or some raised platform. I couldn’t find the BTS video of this shot on YouTube; with the establishing shot showing that the two black posts are far apart, the only way this could have been shot was if Kim Tae-ri was high up by standing on several boxes or on a raised platform so that the two black posts would look near to each other (converging towards a vanishing point) as the cinematographer shot the image from ground level.

Posted below are other examples of how visual cues, including Dutch angles, are used in this drama to depict or reinforce emotional or psychological tension.

Ep. 12: San-yeong’s mother, Yoon Gyeong-moon, begins to suspect that she’s not speaking to the real San-yeong. Notice that besides being shot with a Dutch angle, she’s boxed in by the door behind her.

Ep. 11: As San-yeong disappears after her mother was attacked by Hyangi’s evil spirit, Hae-sang goes back to his house still debating in his mind on whether the jade hair pin belonged to Hyangi. Notice that, besides being shot with a Dutch angle, he’s boxed in by the door in the foreground.

Ep. 10: Hong-sae finds out that San-yeong has periods when she loses her ability to see. Notice besides that being shot with a Dutch angle, they’re boxed in by the door in the foreground.

Ep. 9: At an amusement park, Hong-sae finally meets the evil spirit that has possessed San-yeong. Notice how they’re boxed in by some kind of railings in the foreground.

When two or more persons are boxed in within a single frame, it could mean either unity or conflict, depending on the context.

Ep. 9: In fear, San-yeong barricades herself in a room at Hwawonjae, with a Line of Prohibition attached to the door. She hides in a corner, and she’s shot through a bookshelf to depict or reinforce her emotional and psychological tension.

Ep. 9: In Hwawonjae, Hae-sang tries to reassure San-yeong; notice that besides being shot with a Dutch angle, they’re boxed in by the door in the foreground.

Ep. 9: From a distance, San-yeong watches as the wake for Detective Seo Mun-chun is going on. Notice that she’s boxed in by the trees to depict or reinforce her emotional and psychological tension.

Ep. 8: San-yeong doesn’t know what to do after finding Hae-sang, who’s catatonic as he stares at the growing shadow on the ceiling. Notice how they’re boxed in by the door in the foreground.

Ep. 8: Hae-sang and a maid catch Woo-jin stealing the camera from Chairwoman Na Byung-hee’s study. Notice how they’re squeezed within a tight space to depict or reinforce the emotional and psychological tension of the scene.

Ep. 7: Woo-jin’s hungry ghost tries to comfort Hae-sang after Hae-sang finally finds out how his family obtained their massive wealth through Lee Mokdan’s death. Notice how Woo-jin is boxed in by the vertical railings of the bridge.

Ep. 7: Hae-sang is led by the shaman (who’s the great nephew of Shaman Choi Man-wol) into a room that holds Shaman Choi Man-wol’s belongings. Notice that besides being shot with a Dutch angle, Hae-sang is boxed in by the door behind him.

Ep. 7: Vice-President Kim Chi-won entices Hong-sae to monitor what Hae-sang and Detective Seo Mun-chun are doing and talking about in exchange for information about Junghyeon Capital’s clients that could lead to a promotion. Notice that they’re boxed in by some posts in the foreground.

When two or more persons are boxed in within a single frame, it could mean either unity or conflict, depending on the context.

Ep. 6: It turns out that Joon-young has become possessed by a hungry ghost; at the hospital where she was brought after being hit by a car, San-yeong and Hae-sang are boxed in by the glass window to depict and reinforce the emotional and psychological tension of the scene. They were also shot with a Dutch angle,

Ep. 5: Possessed by the hungry ghost, San-yeong creates tension and ruckus in the after-wedding dinner party. She regains her spirit after a stunned Se-mi asks what’s happening to her. Notice that besides being shot with a Dutch angle, she’s boxed in by the door behind her to depict and reinforce the emotional and psychological tension of the scene.

Ep. 5: Hae-sang goes to the abandoned house of San-yeong’s maternal grandmother to look for one of the five objects. Notice how he’s boxed in by an opening in the house in the foreground.

Ep. 5: In Baekchagol Village as the wandering ghosts run rampant, San-yeong and her father Professor Go Gang-mo are boxed in by separate windows to depict and reinforce the emotional and psychological tension of the scene.

Ep. 3: San-yeong and Hae-sang finally meet an old man who remembers Jangjin-ri Village with its “Dukdali” tree and whose great niece met Professor Go Gang-mo years ago. Notice that San-yeong, Hae-sang, and the old man are boxed within tight spaces to depict and reinforce the emotional and psychological tension of the scene.

Ep. 3: Hong-sae is boxed in by the door in the foreground as he asks San-yeong why she knows about Lee Tae-young.

Ep. 3: San-yeong and Hae-sang are boxed in by posts in the foreground after they find out that Hong-sae and Detective Seo Mun-chun are also looking for Lee Tae-young.

Ep. 3: Lee Tae-young is boxed in by the glass window as she withdraws money from an ATM to pay off the loan sharks to depict and reinforce the emotional and psychological tension of the scene.

Ep. 2: Hae-sang looks at the basement unit where Hyun-woo, the bullied student who took his own life, used to live. Notice that besides being shot with a Dutch angle, he’s boxed in by the door posts in the foreground.

Ep. 2: San-yeong helps rescue Hyun-woo’s little sister from the room where she has been locked up by her abusive parents. Notice that besides being shot with a Dutch angle, they’re boxed in by the small window in the foreground.

Ep. 1: The voice phishing scam suspect hangs himself on the rooftop of a building. Notice how he’s boxed in by some structures in the foreground.

Ep. 1: Police detectives visit San-yeong in her house as they investigate the suicide by hanging of the voice phishing scam suspect. Notice how (1) San-yeong and her mother are shot with a Dutch angle and are boxed in by the door posts, and how (2) San-yeong, her mother, and the police detectives are squeezed within a tight space to depict and reinforce the emotional and psychological tension of the scene.

Ep. 11: Hyangi stares at the glass bottles of color paints on the display window, something which she desires but cannot afford to buy. (Later on, she uses part of the money that was her family’s share as payment for Lee Mokdan’s sacrifice to buy the glass bottles of color paints.) Notice that she’s boxed in by the glass window to depict and reinforce her emotional and psychological tension.

Ep. 11: Hyangi’s art teacher and her classmate visit her after she has been absent from school for a period of time; her teacher encourages her to continue drawing. Notice how Hyangi, her teacher, and her classmate are boxed in by the door in the foreground.

When two or more persons are boxed in within a single frame, it could mean either unity or conflict, depending on the context.

Ep. 11: Hyangi’s mother hangs herself, unable to bear the thought of her youngest child Lee Mokdan being sacrificed to evoke the “juvenile ghost.” Hyangi and her father’s despair are depicted and reinforced as they’re boxed in by the frame created by her mother’s body and the door post.

Ep. 8: After seeing the ophthalmologist at the hospital, San-yeong meets her mother at the commercial space her mother has rented for a possible business venture. Her mother insists on knowing where she has been for the past several days, but she sidesteps her mother’s question by saying that they should put up a coffee shop in the commercial space. The conflict between them is depicted and reinforced by the lines (widow railing) that separates them.

C. Breaking the 180-degree rule or “crossing the line” in an Ep. 5 scene to depict or reinforce emotional or psychological tension or to signify a change of beat

From “What is the 180 Degree Rule in Film? Crossing the Line with Purpose” by Studio Binder:

“The 180 degree rule is a filmmaking guideline for spatial relations between two characters on screen. The 180 rule sets an imaginary axis, or eye line, between two characters or between a character and an object. By keeping the camera on one side of this imaginary axis, the characters maintain the same left/right relationship to each other, keeping the space of the scene orderly and easy to follow.”

“When the camera jumps over the invisible axis, this is known as crossing the line or breaking the line, and it can produce a disorienting and distracting effect on a viewer.”

The Studio Binder article also discusses the uses of the 180-degree rule:

Following the rule will establish orientation.

Breaking the rule will disorient and signal unease.

Bending the rule signals a gradual change in your scene.

Notice that the Studio Binder article speaks about “bending” the 180-degree rule. Examples of “bending” the 180-degree rule are these shots from “Heat” (blockbuster 1995 action movie starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro) and from “Parasite” by Bong Joon-ho.

San-yeong becomes angry as she realizes that Lee Mokdan was sacrificed by her family and village. When she asks what they can do to find out the evil spirit’s identity, Hae-sang becomes wary about what the evil spirit within San-yeong is thinking and why the “baetssi daenggi” was passed on to her. The first shot is an OTS (over the shoulder shot) with San-yeong frame left (short sided) and Hae-sang frame right. The next shot is a reverse angle shot, with Hae-sang short sided and frame right. He glances to his right, and in the next shot, as Hae-sang thinks about the questions in his mind, he’s frame right while the ominous shadow of the evil spirit is frame left. The camera trucks (moves parallel) to the left such that he becomes frame left while the ominous shadow now becomes frame right.

Note: I don’t know if there was an actual shadow on the wall when they shot this scene, or if the shadow was added during post-production. If it’s the latter, I would say that it’s a creative way of “breaking the 180-degree rule.”

D. Some shots that are composed similarly to “The King’s Affection” (placing a foreground object at the top or bottom portion of the frame; wide angle shots from a low point of view)

D-1. In my analysis of the visuals, cinematography, and editing of “The King’s Affection,” I pointed out how the drama used foreground objects at the top, bottom, or sides of the frame as compositional technique (and which sometimes act as visual cues). Examples:

This compositional technique sometimes creates visual cues of “boxing in” a character or characters as you can see in the following examples.

D-2. I noticed that similar to “The King’s Affection,” this drama also uses wide shots from a low angle point of view.

From “Low Angle Shot: Creative Examples of Camera Movements & Angles” by Studio Binder: A low angle shot is used to show (1) power or authority, (2) vulnerability, or (3) both power and vulnerability.

E. The blurry images during San-yeong’s visions are probably inspired by the famous images in Brad Pitt’s 2007 cult movie “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” for which Roger Deakins was nominated for Best Cinematography in the 2008 Oscars.

The GIF below shows, among others, some images from Ep. 2 when, after seeing the evil spirit on the mirror in the tunnel, San-yeong gets some visions that make her think her grandmother is in danger. You’ll notice that the images during San-yeong’s visions are vignetted by the blurred areas, with only the middle portion of the image in focus. This style is also used for San-yeong’s visions in other episodes.

When I first saw these images, I remembered Brad Pitt’s 2007 cult movie “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” for which Roger Deakins was nominated for Best Cinematography in the 2008 Oscars. Posted below are some examples of shots from the movie which show “dreamlike image with a clear center and blurry, ’smeared’ edges” or “wonderful vignetting and slight color diffraction around the edges.”

From “Lens Test: The Deakinizers”:

The cinematographer was looking to evoke the feeling of a “vintage” early photographic portrait lens for the period film. The resulting optics — which created a dreamlike image with a clear center and blurry, “smeared” edges — were dubbed the “Deakinizer” lenses.

The director of Jesse James, Andrew Dominik, had seen an old photograph that inspired this visual style — akin to the look achieved with a Petzval portrait lens from the 1800s — and Deakins began to experiment with ways to imitate it. He came into Otto Nemenz with a normal 50mm lens and a small single optical element that he would hold in front of it to emulate the look. He demonstrated the effect for Lopez and Hamerski and asked if they could suggest something that would re-create it.

They took a wide-angle Kinoptik lens and removed an element. As Deakins explained to AC in the October ’07 issue, the removal of that element “makes the lens faster, and it also gives you this wonderful vignetting and slight color diffraction around the edges.” The cinematographer asked for additional focal lengths, so Lopez and Hamerski scoured their inventory and tested several configurations before finally suggesting a combination of Arri Macro primes and various single-element attachments.

I don’t know if the cinematographer of “Revenant” created these blurry images by using what has been called “Deakinizers.” Maybe, the blurry images were done in-camera through the use of filters or done during post-production.

(To create blurry, soft focus images, photographers and cinematographers in yesteryears used good old Vaseline and wiped it on neutral density filters attached to the lens.)

Resources:

“Deakinizer”

“The Beauty Of The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford”

“Why Jesse James is a Cinematic Masterpiece - Frame by Frame”

“5 of the Greatest Cinematographers for Creative Inspiration” (Premium Beat)

F. Short siding (short-sided shots to depict or reinforce anger, hate, fear, confusion, and other negative emotions)

Some directors and cinematographers use short-sided shots to depict anger, distress, conflict, confusion, etc.

First, let’s have some illustrations and explanations of what short siding (aka “reverse lead room”) is.

San-yeong with lead room, nose room, or looking space

Hae-sang with lead room, nose room, or looking space

San-yeong with short siding

Hae-sang with short siding

Some other short-sided shots in “Revenant” are posted below:

One technique that I’ve seen in “Healer,” “A Business Proposal,” “My Liberation Notes,” and “Alchemy of Souls” is when the cinematographer moves the camera such that the character is first with lead room, nose room, or looking room and then becomes short sided.

In Ep. 11, the handheld camera arcs around San-yeong as she walks on an empty street away from the hospital where Chairwoman Na Byung-hee has just died; she meets Hyangi’s evil spirit who asks her and Hae-sang to find her body The cinematographer moves the camera such that from being long sided, San-yeong becomes short sided.

In Ep. 10, San-yeong’s mother Yoon Gyeong-moon proudly shows her their almost finished café. But San-yeong can see only darkness. The camera starts trucking (moving parallel) to San-yeong’s left (our perspective), and then there’s to a cut to an almost completely dark image. The next image shows San-yeong short sided.

From “Short-siding – How David Fincher and Nicolas Winding Refn Get it Right” by Jason Haggstrom (2013): “short-siding” (i.e., framing a shot so a character looks and speaks towards the edge of the frame that they are most closely positioned rather than across the length of the frame to where their partner in conversation will appear after the next cut).

From “5 tips to instantly improve your compositions” (Vimeo): “A short-sided composition means the subject is looking out of the frame, instead of into the frame. And unlike long-sided framing, which allows the audience to see what the subject is looking at, short-sided composition keeps that out of the shot.”

In my previous analyses of the visuals, cinematography, and editing of k-dramas, I have ranted against short siding or short-sided shots. Why do I hate short siding? It’s primarily because in a short-sided shot, the area behind the character is “dead space.” And hit K-dramas such as “Descendants of the Sun” and “Life on Mars” didn’t use short siding. People who like short siding claim that short-sided shots heighten the tension in a scene by making the audience feel anxious or uncomfortable. But I question this claim:

(1) This shot from Ep. 8 of “Sky Castle” shows Suh Jin confronting Soo Im. This short-sided shot doesn’t make me feel anxious or uncomfortable because of the tension; on the contrary, it makes me want to laugh out hysterically because Suh Jin is tightly squeezed into the edge of the frame.

(2) Some tension-filled scenes from critically acclaimed Hollywood movies didn’t use short siding, relying instead on great acting to convey the tension:

(a) The opening scene from Quentin Tarantino’s movie “Inglorious Basterds”

(b) The restaurant scene involving Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Michael Mann’s 1995 action movie “Heat”

(c) The coin toss scene from “No Country For Old Men”; this film won 76 awards from 109 nominations from multiple organizations.

(In Leonardo di Caprio’s movie “The Revenant” directed by award-winning director Iñárritu, there are two or three moderately short sided shots; in this scene, the protagonist Hugh Glass insists to Captain Harry that despite his injuries, he will help capture Fitzgerald. Only two or three short sided shots in a movie that’s two and a half hours long ...)

But I’m just a K-drama fan; no matter how much I rant against short siding, Korean directors and cinematographers will do what they want to do about using (overusing?) short siding in dramas and movies.

Speaking of movies, I was enjoying watching IU’s 2022 movie “Broker” (directed by award-winning Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda) for the first hour or so because there wasn’t any short-sided shot. And then, at a critical point at about the middle of the movie, WHAM! The movie hits me with an extremely short sided shot.

Let me end this rant with an excerpt from the article “Cinematography Notes – Desaturating Women Talking” (Filmmaker Magazine):

In 1930s Hollywood it was common to create a gauzy closeup of a glamorous star in her moment of passion. All it took was covering a lens with a silk stocking or Vaseline. This contrivance signaled emotionality and allure, as if seen through a veil of sentiment or her lover’s misting eyes. Josef von Sternberg’s infatuation with Marlene Dietrich provides well-known screen examples of this, but it was a common technique associated with the era. And then it went away. Why? It was a weak signifier to start with, too literal, too on-the-nose. A camera gag shouldn’t be necessary to gin up a scene’s emotional level or cue an audience what to feel; that’s what acting is for. [Emphasis by boldfacing supplied]