How could I not end this year with talking about one of the biggest films of it?

This is a film that will forever make me glare at Sony whenever I see a trailer for some crap and think “you gave up on KPop Demon Hunters… yet kept this?”

Yes you heard that right, Sony had little to no faith in this film which is why they gave up the rights to Netflix… and then it became the big film of the year, everyone is referencing it, people are dressing up, people are listening to the songs, they are looking into Korean folk lore and mythology because of it. Basically Sony messed up and Netflix gained what became the most streamed movie on the platform of all time.

Directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, Kang wanted to use their Korean heritage to create a story. Obviously by the title of the film it makes heavy use of the KPop genre of music and is a central point in it. The opening of the film explains what we need to know. How Demons exist that would take souls to feed their king Gwi-Ma, however, every generation a trio of women would use songs as a weapon… as well as forming weapons with the magic of songs to protect mankind thanks to a magic barrier the Honmoon. We get a wee montage of the evolution of styles of music but always 3 women singing and seeing this going on before we are shown to fans waiting for a performance by the current hit KPop band Huntrix. Turns out they are late because Demons have hijacked the plane, but through the first of many songs in the film, this one being called “How It’s Done” they arrive at the show to the cheers of crowds and the Demons banished back to their realm.

The trio of girls that form Huntrix are Rumi who is the main character, daughter of a previous group of hunters, she’s voiced by Arden Cho with singing done by Ejae. Mira who is the more intimidating of the 3 and comes from a rich family but was the black sheep of them voiced by May Hong with singing done by Audrey Nuna. And finally Zoey the youngest of the three who was partially raised in America and is often the more bubbly of them, she’s voiced by Ji-young Yoo with singing by Rei Ami. The second song (and one you will probably hear played more than any other) “Golden” covers bits about the 3 including about Rumi’s dark secret she keeps from the other two. Sadly Zoey and Mira don’t get nearly as much time or development as Rumi as there is lots about those two I’d love to have seen explored (ah well, good thing there’s always sequel possibilities).

Their big plans start to go awry first from Rumi having issues related to her dark secret, but also when the Demon Jinu enacts his brilliant plan to stop Huntrix, a Demon Boy band! So now we have 2 bands each with memorable tracks such as an excellent villain song from the Saja boys near the end “Your Idol” ( really makes you realize how we miss good villain songs these days… I blame Disney’s current lowering quality, I’m not saying Infinity War and Endgame would have been made better by Thanos having an epic villain song, but their animated ones sure could get better memorable villains… and don’t get me started on the live action remakes….)

The film is wonderfully animated, mixing a modern Korea and its KPop styles combined with stylized creatures practically leaping out of old art. I can’t stress enough how good the animators are since not only do they do that, but make it flow in with the musical element of the film.

There are many reasons this film was nominated and won so many awards, and why it is the most streamed movie. Why it probably singlehandedly will have the biggest increase in interest in Korean culture and history ever. The film works great as a stand alone film, there is more it could go into on all the characters, but not doing that doesn’t make the film feel any weaker. I don’t feel like there was some key bit of information that without it felt like a hole in the plot, yet also those missing bits of information that are there are things I’d like to see explored more, as well as the lives of the other two girls… especially Zoey… she was my favourite.

If you haven’t watched it yet, it’s on Netflix, if you’re reading this on New Year’s Eve and sitting down with the family, why not pop it on, take the last day of the year as a chance to see why people have been going on about this film, maybe watch the Guillermo del Toro Frankenstein movie too, though put the kids to bed before that one.

Rating: 🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅