And fans are flocking to the real thing
“Salmokji: Whispering Water,” a modestly budgeted horror film about a cursed reservoir, has topped the Korean box office for six straight days and is reportedly on track to turn a profit as early as Tuesday.
Starring K-drama star Kim Hye-yoon, the film attracted 73,629 admissions on Monday alone, bringing its cumulative tally to 797,652 since its April 8 opening, according to the Korean Film Council’s box office tracker. With a reported budget of 3 billion won ($2.02 million), the film needs roughly 800,000 tickets sold to recoup its costs, a mark it should clear comfortably on its seventh day in theaters.
Its opening weekend of 536,452 admissions marked the best for a Korean horror title since “Metamorphosis” pulled in 571,901 over its first weekend in 2019.
Not many saw this one coming. Horror is generally a summer genre in Korea, which makes the film’s April release something of an outlier. It also faced off head to head with Amazon MGM space blockbuster “Project Hail Mary,” starring Ryan Gosling.
The premise taps into a staple of Korean ghost lore: the water ghost, or “mulgwishin,” a drowned spirit that drags the living underwater. Its unfortunate victims are a street-view mapping crew sent to reshoot footage at a remote rural reservoir after strange distortions show up in the images.
Director Lee Sang-min, 31, makes his feature debut after a run of horror shorts. Kim Hye-yoon, best known for time-slip romance drama “Lovely Runner” (2024), leads the cast opposite Lee Jong-won (“Knight Flower,” “Brewing Love”). Jang Da-ah, the older sister of K-pop star Jang Won-young of Ive, also makes her debut on the silver screen.
Some of the hype has extended beyond the cinema. Moviegoers have been turning up to the reservoir in Yesan, South Chungcheong Province, to see the real-life “haunted” site for themselves. The county government has gotten in on it too, posting about the film on its official channels to drum up visits to the area.
Younger audiences are driving much of the turnout. According to data from local multiplex chain CGV, those in their 20s made up 38 percent of the film’s audience. Much of the audience opted for premium formats like 4DX and ScreenX that add motion, water and wind effects to the screening.
moonkihoon@heraldcorp.com
