Svaha: The Sixth Finger: South Korea, the Reverend Park investigates fringe Cults, he is paid by Christian and Buddhist organisations to take a closer look at their whackier offshoots. We see him being attacked by nasty nuns from the Agape Convent. He is presently investigating the Deer Hill Buddhist movement, superficially they appear to be a small, alms giving sect. Park sends a spy into them and discovers that they follow an obscure and esoteric form of Buddhism, they worship Generals who are actually Heavenly Kings. They also hold sacred a Buddhist text which is the equivalent of the Christian Book of Revelation and believe 81 Evil Ones will be born, basically Anti-Buddhas, The Cult are determined that these abominations must be killed. We have already witnessed a strange birth where one twin has bitten another in the womb, both survive but the biter seems to be demonic and is kept in a shed, her cries disturb animals, black goats bleated madly at her birth. Murders are uncovered and it looks as if Cult members are carrying out the prophecies. But there is much more at play in this multi-layered tale of Possession, Syncretic Buddhism, Cults and the quest for immortality. A killer sees the eyeless corpses of his child victims, another dreams of demonic creatures crawling towards him. Gory murders are committed. Snakes emerge from the demonic twins' hut and bite the curious, a claw-like hand emerges from beneath the door, flocks of birds strike the main home. Writer/Director Jang Jae-hyun delivers a worthy addition to the Korean Folk Horror Film Canon. 8/10. On Netflix.

Of course I had to watch "Svaha: The Sixth Finger" when I found it on Netflix, given the fact that it is a South Korean movie. Plus, the synopsis for the movie made it sound rather interesting.

However, the truth was far from this fact. Because "Svaha: The Sixth Finger" was most definitely not interesting. It was unfathomably slow paced and tedious. In fact, the pacing of the movie dragged down the overall enjoyment to the point where it was becoming a pain in the you-know-what to sit there and witness on the screen. And the fact that the character gallery was essentially as interesting as wet cardboard didn't really help to improve either.

I have no idea what director Jae-hyun Jang was trying to accomplish with this movie, because it was pure torture to sit through. I ended up turning off this stinking heap of a movie halfway through, out of sheer and complete boredom, and having absolutely no interest in any of the characters whatsoever.

Not even with the likes of Jung-jae Lee in the movie, was it possible to salvage this movie that sank faster than even Titanic.

It should be said that the production value to the movie was good. And that at least counts for something. But weighed against a so slowed pace that it felt like the movie was going in reverse, pointless characters and a frightfully lack of proper storyline, then good production only serves so little.

I have no interest of returning to finish this boring movie, because there seriously was nothing worth of any kind for me here. It was sheer and pure boredom in its purest form.

The bad reviews are because it's complicated. Not a typical film. Unless you're looking for simple escapism, you will enjoy this one. Theological and existential. Loads of great scenes and set pieces.

Side to Korean culture I hadn't seen in movies. Buddhist monk with a Nespresso machine, youth offender prisons, quarries etc.

The plot has a lot of "in scene" detective work and characters working out what's going on, kind of like The Wire, but in this case the detective work involves complex Buddhist iconography and monastic structure. Some who prefer simple guts and kinetic story might struggle. Hence the bad reviews - most films are way more simple, the people who are unhappy are comparing it to those expectations.

For fans of the Wailing, cult obsessives, people with spiritual beliefs. I'm personally atheist but the depth of spiritual enquiry in this film really touched me. "How can there be a God in a world like this?"