A decade after its release, The Priests has become the talk of the town again thanks to a new spin-off sequel starring superstars Song Hye-Kyo and Jeon Yeo-Bin. The Priests is considered the film that paved the way for exorcisms in Korean cinema, but does it do anything new in relation to Western counterparts? The film was the directorial debut of now-popular Jang Jae-Hyun, director of the superhit Exhuma from 2024. But, trivia aside, The Priests tells the story of a priest and his deacon trying to save a young girl who has been possessed by demons. The film stars a young Park So-Dam (known for Parasite now) as Young-Sin, the possessed kid. Without further ado, let’s quickly jump into what happens in the film and how it might be linked to the second part, Dark Nuns.
Spoiler Alert
Why Does Kim Need A New Deacon?
The Priests begins in Italy, or possibly even in the Vatican, where two priests are discussing the existence of demons. They speak of the “12 demons” who hide themselves, because if mankind knows of them, even non-believers will start to believe in God. Of course, the demons don’t want that, but they’re the reason we have any disasters, wars, etc. The two priests then receive a letter from Seoul about how their help is needed to save a possessed girl. It looks like the priests are already handling an exorcism because they’re seen driving away with a black creature. In the film, an animal has to be sacrificed so the demon can be transferred to the animal, and it can be killed to save the human. However, this demon is too hard to control, and the priests get into a terrible car accident, leaving them both dead and the animal free. Later in the film, we see a flashback to this scene, or possibly a vision where Young-Sin, the possessed girl, is the one who got hit by the car that the priests were in. I suppose it was like a warning not to go to Seoul.
Back in Seoul, there’s a priest who goes by Father Kim who is desperate to save this girl, Young-Sin. It seems Father Kim and Young-Sin knew each other before the possession. There’s a beautiful scene where she’s trying to sing a hymn for him but can’t hit the high notes, so maybe they share a student-teacher relationship. Kim is in talks with the head bishop and a bunch of senior priests about allowing him to do another exorcism, but he gets rejected. It looks like he’s already tried and failed, which led to his assistant, Father Park, telling the church that Kim was a pervert doing inappropriate things to Young-Sin, which is why he shouldn’t be allowed near her. This is of course not true, but the church wants proof, so the bishop gives Kim the green signal but warns him that if the exorcism becomes public knowledge, he will be excommunicated by the church. I suppose the personal relationship he has with the girl as well as the urge to perform this exorcism pushes Kim to keep doing what he’s doing.
At a seminary, the dean is told that he needs to pick a budding priest to become Kim’s assistant, but he’s got to be born in the Year of the Tiger and know Latin, German, and Chinese to be able to transcribe what the demon is saying. The dean’s disappointed to learn that only one student fits this category, the miscreant who doesn’t care about anything. This is not true, though. Choi has a past, and we’ll get to that in a bit, but he’s been given the task of visiting the previous assistant to get everything he needs for the case. To begin with, when Choi gets to the assistant’s house, there’s a dog that scares Choi and leads him to a flashback, which I’ll get to in a bit. Choi’s a curious cat and asks the previous assistant loads of questions, but the guy doesn’t give him any answers. He’s just given the stuff he needs to use for the exorcism and sent away. However, when he’s there, the ex-assistant gets a visit from Father Kim begging him to come back, but the assistant tells him to leave, not even opening the door for him. It looks like the assistant is too afraid to take on this task anymore.
What Does Choi’s Past Signify?
When Choi meets Kim for the first time, Kim insults him by being nonchalant about his dead sister. On the outside, this could look like Kim’s just a prick, but I think it’s a test to see if Choi is strong enough for this demon. Choi says he had a sister who died when she was 9 after a dog mutilated her. Choi’s guilty about not being able to help her because when his sister grabbed his leg, he ran off, leaving only his shoe in her small hands. Choi wasn’t a bad older brother or a bad kid; he was just afraid, but he decided to come back with a stone to get rid of the dog. Unfortunately, though, it was already too late. Kim insinuates that the only reason Choi became a priest was because he wanted redemption for letting his sister die. Additionally, it is said that those who have been killed by animals will roam around in Hell, so Kim says Choi thinks he’ll be able to send his sister to Heaven by being a priest. I do think Choi feels guilty, and he wants closure through helping Young-Sin. This is why he’ll do everything in his power to actually help her, making him the strongest candidate for this job. However, at the same time, he’s young, and the demon is looking for a male body to shift to. The exorcism is set for the 15th of July, which is known as the Hungry Ghost Festival. It’s like the Day of the Dead, where the ghosts get to roam around freely on Earth and the gates of Hell and Heaven are open. This will make it easy to send the demon back to where he came from.
What Happens to Father Jung?
There is also a subplot around an elderly priest named Jung, Kim’s senior, who must’ve done the previous exorcism with him, which sent him into a coma. Before Young-Sin’s exorcism, Kim is informed that Jung has woken up. This was nearly impossible, because he was in a vegetative state. Turns out Jung is now possessed because the demon wants to stop Kim from exorcising Young-Sin and also wants to know who is assisting him. Kim says he’s doing it alone, performs a little ritual putting a cross over Jung’s body, and leaves. I suppose Jung will survive after all, but probably never get back to regular health. On the other hand, Kim also gets a call from the church saying that he should get rid of the demon without fail, even if it means the girl’s death.
Does Young-Sin Get Exorcised?
Choi is told by Kim to collect a bell and a pig from the church. Choi’s warned by the Father Superior not to assist Kim, but he decides to do it anyway. I did say he was determined for redemption. Choi was also told by the dean to record the whole exorcism with a camera. At the same time, we see that some shamans already performed an exorcism on Young-Sin and failed miserably, leaving them all hurt or dead (this almost looks like it’s writing off folk religions, no?). Anyway, Kim gets a doctor to check Young-Sin before the exorcism and record his findings so that if something goes wrong later, they’re not blamed. Kim then asks Choi to set up as usual, put the salt around Young-Sin’s bed, and always stay a meter outside of the salt.
It seems at first Choi was a skeptic because all he said to the dean was that he was curious to see how an exorcism would work. But again, I think it’s all pretense, because he watched his sister get bitten by a rabid dog; of course, he believes, or he wouldn’t be here. Choi sets up and starts to pray. As soon as Kim starts the exorcism, the demon starts to speak in tongues; as it usually goes, the priests need to get the name of the demon out of Young-Sin so that they can transfer it to the pig.
The demons know everything about Kim and Choi, of course. It looks like Kim also has an incident in the past involving a sibling and how he hurt them. The demons reach for the innermost desires or negative emotions the priests possess. Choi uses the bell to remind the demons who’s in power. It’s a powerful bell made by monks to keep demons away. However, Kim fights back and starts to choke Young-Sin. Seeing this, Choi goes into the salt circle and tries to get Kim off Young-Sin. This is all, of course, deception from the demons. Choi feels a demon taking hold of him and sees that his arms start to rot. The demon also talks to him in his sister’s voice, which leaves him fearful. The reason the demons got Choi to come into the salt circle was so that they could possess him. A male form, remember? Choi is afraid at this point and runs away, just as he did when his sister was being bitten. When he’s a little bit far away, he notices that the marks on his arms are gone. Making him realize he needs to go back and finish what he’s started. He sees his sister and a younger version of himself, almost as a sign to go help Young-Sin.
Kim then gives Choi his rosary, essentially telling him he’s ready to participate in the exorcism too. They have to get the final demon out of Young-Sin. This demon is Malphas. Kim then sees Young-Sin, who tells him that she will hold on tightly to the demon so that he doesn’t possess anyone else. This would essentially mean killing her would kill the demon too. But Kim can’t let this happen. He’s desperate to save Young-Sin. He uses his prayers to transfer the demon to the pig, which then turns black. Kim then gives Choi the responsibility to get rid of the pig in the Han River. At this point, it also looks like Young-Sin’s actually dead.
Choi wraps the pig in the sacred scarf and runs out of the hospital only to be stopped by the police. Young-Sin’s parents have likely called them to stop Kim and Choi. If Choi isn’t able to get rid of the pig in a certain amount of time, it will be disastrous. He tries really hard to run from the police, but they hear this is a homicide case. It is the pig that screeches and leads to the whole hospital going dark. This allows Choi to run. Multiple accidents occur on the way thanks to the demon pig trying to escape. However, at the last moment, Choi gets in a cab, and the man drives him to Han River. There, when he’s getting off, he’s nearly killed by an oncoming car but saved by the cab driver. I guess the cab driver’s a good man, eh?
In The Priests’ ending, Choi, nearly fully possessed by the pig, jumps into the Han River with it. When he hits the water, Young-Sin moves and grabs her mother’s hand, meaning they did in fact save her. Choi comes out of the water clean, meaning he’s not possessed, and he’s done the task. He then takes his rosary, which was on the bridge, and walks off. Kim was arrested for Young-Sin’s apparent murder, but if she’s alive, I don’t think he’ll be in much trouble. The Priests was all about redemption for Kim and Choi. I suppose Choi will go on to become a great priest, unlike what was expected of him. On the other hand, the church might end up disowning Kim after the whole thing became public knowledge.
What Will We See In ‘Dark Nuns’?
From what I understand, Dark Nuns will tell the story of two nuns trying to save a possessed kid despite not being allowed to perform exorcisms. The film might be a reflection of the time, delivering a similar story as The Priests but with a gender role reversal. I don’t know if we’ll get any cameos from the previous cast, but it would be interesting to see Choi return as a senior priest who helps the two nuns on their journey to save the boy.
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