Now available on digital as well as DVD is the Korean horror film, The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra.
I am a huge fan of K-dramas and K-horror films and series (It’s Okay Not to Be Okay, Sweet Home, Ju-On, All of Us Are Dead...). For that reason, I wouldn’t pass on the opportunity to review a K-horror film.
Hailed as both “innovative” and a “new kind of creature feature” (The Austin Chronicle), Syeyoung Park’s The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra, a festival favorite around the globe and winner of Best Director and Audience Awards at Bucheon Fantastic Film Festival and a Special Mention at Fantasia Fest, is a “melancholic, monstrous romantic horror” (Projected Figures) that is “as weird as it is unique” (Asian Movie Pulse).
Normally I write my own movie synopsis, but honestly, I don’t think I can do that with this film without giving too much of it away. For that reason I’ll use an official synopsis.
After a mysterious mold starts spreading across the surface of an abandoned mattress, a sentient creature begins to take shape from within. Feasting on its unsuspecting victims’ vertebrae while they rest, the creature grows stronger, finding nourishment not only in the bones and sinew it assimilates but also in the hopes, fears, and emotions of all those it encounters.
It sounds like a weird movie, right? That is because it is!
This mattress goes from person to person, taking bits and pieces of them before it finds its way to another location. The mattress started out brand new, but as time went on it had massive spots of MOLD (like black mold!) on it, yet people still slept on it. It even made it’s way into a hospital! Gross!
I won’t lie and say I understood the movie. It made no sense to me. There was something living and growing inside a mattress that no one realized was in there. That left me scratching my head.
I had so many questions with this film. It definitely left me scratching my head. My biggest question is that how did it get from the original home to the back of a building, and what happened to all it’s victims?
The ending of this film made zero sense to me. I “get” that the mattress creature took not only physical bits and pieces from people’s but also people’s emotions. So why did the mattress creature end up in the Han River, and how did it end up mushrooms? Huh? A true head scratcher.
I get it. This is an independent film, and definitely an “art house” film. It might not be everyone’s “cup of tea.” Normally I can appreciate independent film’s, and often find them very entertaining. It’s not that this film wasn’t entertaining, I just didn’t get the overall meaning of the film. Was it even suppose to have any deep meaning? I don’t know.
The film has a lot of disturbing visuals, accompanied with grotesque sound effects. It was that part of the film that really got to me.
Overall the acting was pretty good, even though most actors got very little screen time.
The film has a run time of only 64 minutes. I found that to be incredibly short for a feature film. Interesting…
The film is in Korean, but it has English subtitles.
Even thought this movie might not have been a favorite of mine, the film has gone on to receive plenty of awards an accolades.
- Bucheon Fantastic Film Festival, Korean Fantastic: Features (South Korea, 2022)–Best Director, Audience Award, Distribution Support Award
- Fantasia Film Festival, Underground Section (Canada, 2022)–Special Mention
- Sarajevo Film Festival, Kinoscope Section (Bosnia, 2022)
- Sitges International Fantastic FF, Noves Visions — In Competition (Spain, 2022)
- Film Fest Ghent, Focus on Korean Cinema (Belgium, 2022)
- London Korean Film Festival (UK, 2022)
- Leeds International Film Festival, Fanomenon (UK, 2022)
- Singapore International Film Festival, Foreground (Singapore, 2022)
- Torino International Film Festival, New Worlds (Italy, 2022)
- Auteur Film Festival (Serbia, 2022)
- Seoul Independent Film Festival (Korea, 2022)
- Across Asia Film Festival (Italy, 2022)
- Film Maudit 2.0 (USA, 2023)
- Berlin Critics’ Week (Germany, 2023)
- Fantaspoa International Film Festival (Brazil, 2023)
- Sydney Film Festival (Australia, 2023)
Below is the film’s trailer for your enjoyment.
Kimberly
*I received a free screener in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.
