The Witch: Subversion

The subtitle of Korean writer-director Park Hoon-Jung's fifth feature cleverly subverts the title, which seems to promise a conventional horror movie that instead turns out to be a stylish action film in the vein of Hanna [VL Online 09/11] and Lucy [VL-01/15]. The premise revolves around an attempt by evil Dr. Baek (Cho Min-soo) to create super-powered children. For some reason, however, she decides to have her henchman Choi (Park Hee-soon) eliminate them all in a bloody massacre. Two escape—a boy who is quickly recaptured, and a girl who finds her way to a remote farm whose elderly owners raise her as their own. Ten years later, Ja-yoon (Kim Da-mi) has become a star student and expert singer, but her odd ways and apparent magical powers cause most of her classmates to consider her a witch. Unfortunately, the family farm is in financial trouble and her mother is showing signs of dementia, so Ja-yoon goes along with a suggestion from her best friend (Ko Min-shi) to enter a television contest with a big monetary prize.  She proves a vocal sensation, but as part of her magic act uses her telekinetic powers, which leads to the recognition of her identity by Gong-ja (Choi Woo-sik), the recaptured boy now in the employ of Baek and Choi. They and their minions recapture her for experimentation, leading to a surprising twist and a series of climactic confrontations, each more elegantly violent than the last. This deliciously odd, eerie movie will make genre fans sit up and cheer. Though the sole extras are three trailers for The Witch, along with three more for other titles, this Blu-ray is strongly recommended. (F. Swietek)