MovieChat Forums > Gokseong (2016) Discussion > My theory (spoilers)

My theory (spoilers)

posted 8 years ago by SySnootles (100)
7 replies | jump to latest

I think this could be a battle for souls, and neither entity is necessarily good. There's a possibility that the Japanese man wasn't the devil, as he taunts the priest by both showing stigmata, and a devilish appearance, but he also points out to the priest that it is what he is expecting to see - it is a test of faith. The girl taunts Jong-Goo by not giving him straight answers either, but tests his faith too by asking that he wait for the rooster to crow 3 times. Both fail the test: Jong-Goo loses his family and his sanity, and the priest gets his picture taken - presumably to be one of the next victims.

More evidence: Both the woman and the Japanese man are incredibly sinister. They both collect something from the victims. The Japanese man is at least more human in the beginning - he has a house, a dog, a passport. She is more ghost-like, disappearing at will, giving cryptic messages. Both have some sort of Christian traits: she throws stones, he is resurrected.

I think that she is the original evil, and the Japanese man was encroaching on her turf. I also think it is her resurrecting the dead. Jong-Yoo's family die before the third rooster crow but maybe her despair is that the souls belong to the Japanese man, and not her. Between the two of them they are using the villagers to battle against one another (remember she says she has set a 'trap' for the old man) as well as using their lack of faith and ridiculous superstition into play to drive them crazier and crazier.

As for the city slicker shaman, he too is being manipulated by both. I don't think he works for one or the other, and the reason he can't get his divinations right is because both are evil, rather than one evil one good. In this case his own arrogance is his downfall, even though he's the one that gets to walk away with the end, clearing up the evidence of his own failings, as he flees the scene.

[–] Geff (453) 8 years ago

What makes you think that the Japanese man is evil? This seems to be the most popular claim.

Ofcourse at the end of the movie he shows his transformation. But, at this time he had already died. His dead body was possessed by the evil spirit/ghost just as the man in the car's dead body was possessed.

All of the stories about him being evil, being a ghost, wanting to suck people's blood, him using the photos to possess people come from inaccurate sources: from inaccurate accounts by townspeople, from the evil deceptive spirit herself, from Jung-goo's deputy (who I believe was possessed).

When the girl said she has set a trap, she meant she has set a trap for the city slicker shaman, not the Japanese man. The Japanese man was already dead and possessed, she got what he wanted in regards to him.

What makes you think that the city slicker shaman is evil? Are there any specific clues? If he had some ulterior objective and wanted to possess the family, why would he want so much money to perform the death hex? It seems his only incentive to help the family was the money. He was performing the death hex on the Japanese man because Jung-goo mistakenly made him believe that the Japanese man was the evil spirit.

[–] SySnootles (100) 8 years ago

I don't think the shaman was evil, more of a bit of a blundering idiot that both were manipulating to their own ends. When the Japanese man was 'resurrected' he came back in devillish form, remember when the dead man in the car came back he was a mindless zombie.

Your theory also carries weight though, and it's one of the coolest things about this film, that because nothing was verified at the end there's a number of possibilities.

[–] Geff (453) 8 years ago

The shamans use photos to help in performing a final passage ritual so that the dead bodies don't become possessed. The guy in the car came back as a zombie because his final passage ritual was only partially complete, remember it was interrupted by the death hex.

Nobody performed a passage ritual for the Japanese guy because his dead body was thrown off the side of the road and there was no shaman around to take a picture and perform the ritual. This is why his resurrection was a complete transformation.

[–] SySnootles (100) 8 years ago

So if shamans were already performing these rituals, what ritual was the Japanese guy performing with the chickens when the death hex came on him? Was it the same thing?

It's a good theory too!

[–] Geff (453) 8 years ago

Yes, the Japanese guy was performing passage ritual for the guy in the car. The city shaman was performing death hex on the Japanese guy.

Both rituals were interrupted. Japanese guy's passage ritual was interrupted by pain from the death hex. City shaman's death hex was interrupted by Jong-goo.

Interruption of Japanese guy's passage ritual made dead guy come back as a zombie instead of preventing the resurrection altogether.

Interruption of city shaman caused the death hex to fail and not kill Japanese guy.

I go into detail about the hints that led me to these conclusions in my other thread.

[–] SySnootles (100) 8 years ago

I'll have to have another watch... I think there were lots of visual references that other people have listed and I watched it on a ipad so probably missed loads. I'd love to see the original ending too - I guess at some point the director will open up about it.

Been recommending it to a lot of my friends as well as Train to Busan.

[–] Geff (453) 8 years ago

It's okay. I think you are not the exception. Almost everyone had the impression that the shamans were bad guys. It's the most popular theory on the internet.

The movie intentionally attempts to deceive you and lead you into those conclusions.

You only get the real answer if you analyze further and know a little bit about oriental mysticism, it's views about death and the characteristics of evil spirits.

I don't claim to know a lot about oriental religions. But, I have seen a good amount of anime and and I watched the 2013 horror movie Rigor Mortis (great movie btw, highly recommend it). Death and resurrection is a common theme in asian horror.

In Rigor Mortis too, the mystics have to guide dead souls so that they don't become possessed by evil spirits.

Evil sprits in asian cultures are known to be extremely deceptive. The spirits lul their victims into submitting rather than using a straightforward approach. The theme persists in this movie as well. In this movie, the evil spirit not only deceives everyone in the village, but it also deceives the audience.

The city shaman even states "She will tempt you."

I still don't know everything about the movie. For instance, I'm still confused about how the flower works (the one that dies). We see the flower twice in the movie, but I haven't found a concrete theory as to how it works based on the evidence given. Maybe I missed some hints. I do propose some speculations about how it works in my long analysis post, but they are only speculations.