The Witch: Subversion

Director - Hoon-jung Park (The Showdown, New World)
Starring - Seung-chul Baek (The Wailing, The Windmill Palm Grove), Kim Byung-Ok, and Woo-sik Choi (Train to Busan, Parasite)
Release Date - 2018
Genre - Action
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     A few years back I became more open to international films and quickly found a love for Asian cinema.  Their romance, comedies, action, horror, and sci-fi films really pulled me in and I couldn't get enough.  Since then I've collected several Asian releases and loved most of the movies I've picked up.  A few weeks back I was sent the press release for the Korean action flick The Witch: Subversion.  I watched the trailer when the press release was sent over and thought it looked fun.  It wasn't a horror release but had enough horror elements to work in my favor.  I reached out and they were kind enough to send a review copy my way.  I want to thank Well Go USA for sending this my way.
     The film follows a teenage girl who was found as a little kid by a couple who take her in and raise her.  She has no recollection of her life before them but now she is struggling watching them suffer.  Her mother is now very sick and her father is about to lose everything.  A friend of her tells her about a singing competition with a price that is more than enough to get her family out of debt and cover her mother's medical expenses.  She attends the event and is running to win but her skills and abilities attracts someone that knew her previous life and she learns much more about herself than she previously knew.
     I honestly didn't know what to think when I saw that The Witch: Subversion was an action flick.  I was definitely intrigued by the idea and I had fun with the film but at the end of the day I feel like something was missing.  The acting I this one is very solid.  The cast and the characters were great.  Some had a more demanding role than others but the acting is consistent throughout.  I liked the characters and I loved how some of them brought a few little laughs to the film that I wasn't expecting.  The story for this one is mostly action but the supernatural aspect could have been expanded upon more.  I get that they wanted to keep the film a little more grounded but an actioner based heavily on witches would have been so much fun.  The pacing is a little off at times with some very dialogue heavy scenes but it is still easy to follow and enjoy.  Finally, the film has plenty of blood.  No real carnage for you gore whores out there but we do get a decent amount of blood and solid practical and make up effects.  We get some visuals as well but they stick out and look rather cheap when compared to the rest of the film.  Overall, The Witch: Subversion is a fun action flick with some entertaining characters but the horror aspect is put in the backseat and rarely mentioned.  Check it out for some fun action but if you want a scare you may want to skip it.