Drama Review: 'Goedam' (2020)
Korean Title: 도시괴담
English Title: Goedam (Lit. Title: Urban Legends/Urban Horror Story)
Network: Netflix
Episodes: 8
Release Date: May 14, 2021
Genre: Horror, Anthology
Language(s): Korean
Cast: Various
Directed by: Hong Won Ki
Written by: N/A
Goedam is a South Korean horror anthology series based on famous Asian urban legends or superstitions. Each of the 8 episodes has an average run time of about 8 minutes.
Story
ALERT: An end-to-end story does not exist for this series. Summaries of the urban legends the episodes are attached to can be found below. In my opinion, it helps to know the origin of the stories tackled in each episode ahead of watching them. The episodes are very short so the show does not spend a lot of time explaining details which usually help the viewer piece events together. The section below doesn’t actually talk about how Goedam executes on the urban tale, so it’s up to you if you prefer to read ahead or skip to the review.
Episode 1: Crack
This episode is based on 콩콩콩귀신 or Kong-kong-kong (Bouncing) Ghost, one of the most prominent school urban legends in South Korea that originated in the 90s. The tale is about Student “B” who kills Student “A” after consistently ranking second behind A in grades.
B needs to rank first in the whole grade in order to get into a good university. Given the immense pressure being put on B by their parents and teachers, B decides to call A to the school’s rooftop saying that they need to tell A something. Once A reached the rooftop, B pushes A off the roof which causes them to fall on their head and die. After A’s death, B is advanced to become ranked as the first student in their grade and A’s death is ruled out as a suicide.
The legend goes to say that A roams around and bounces on their head as an 'upside-down' ghost’.
Episode 2: Destination
This episode is based on the 자유로 귀신 or the Ghost of Jayu-ro. It is said that a woman dressed in white who appears to hitchhike for rides from people driving along Jayu-ro. According to the urban legend, many people who have encountered this figure initially appears to be wearing sunglasses at night, but actually has big, black, dug-out eyes.
Based on the stories online, it seems that each encounter with the figure is different depending on the person involved.
Episode 3: Special Guest
This episode is based on the Korean superstition called 손없는 날 or Guestless Day. According to the superstition, there is an evil spirit, 손 (or a Guest) that wanders everywhere and around the clock to harm human beings. However, there are specific dates within the lunar calendar when this spirit becomes inactive. As a result of this belief, many people decide to do important things and celebrate milestone events on these dates such as moving, having a wedding or opening a business to welcome healthy energy. In addition, many services end up being more expensive as many people prefer to do important activities on these dates.
Episode 4: Prank
This episode seems to be based on many combinations of urban legends and horror stories told in the past. It involves a possessed doll, a crawling lady with many eyes. I couldn’t find any specific urban legend across the internet (regardless of regional origin) that this is based on. If you know, please leave a comment below and share.
Episode 5: Red Shoes
This episode is based on the Japanese urban legend of Teke Teke. The tale is of a student who gets tied to a railway by her bullies (although the execution of this detail is different in Goedam) which severs the entire lower half of her body and kills her. The girl becomes a vengeful spirit that roams around using her hands or elbows, dragging her upper torso and making a scratching or "teke teke"-like sound. The spirit is said to kill people it encounters in the same way that she died by slicing them half at the torso.
Episode 6: Dimension
This episode is based on the infamous Elevator Game, originating from Naver and Daum blog posts called, 다른 세계로 가는 방법 (or Method to Visit Another World) and are dated as early as 2010. The ritual entails going into an elevator alone and pressing buttons in a specific way and order. It is said the ritual only works if performed alone. In doing so, you can potentially end up visiting a parallel world and in the process, you could also get killed if you wrongly interact with a woman that hops on the elevator in one of the floors.
Episode 7: Threshold
This episode is based on the South Korean superstition pertaining to stepping on door thresholds bringing misfortune to one’s life. In Korean culture, there are many rules imposed by this superstition, including the belief that door thresholds serve as boundaries between the living world and the afterlife. In addition to this, there are also many Feng Shui guidelines regarding door thresholds and how to ensure they enable healthy energy in homes and establishments.
Episode 8: Birth
This episode is based on 염매 (厭魅) (Yeommae), an ancient oriental practice which is considered black magic due to its evil nature. The practice involves shamans taking children, holding them captive, starving them but feeding them only to an extent that keeps them barely alive. Food would typically be given in small amounts and would be placed in a barrel. Doing this lures the child to willingly go inside the barrel. Once this happens and the child is inside the barrel, the shaman would proceed to stab the child repetitively until it died. Quickly after the child dies, the shaman will seal the lid to the barrel tight to ensure the child’s distressed soul doesn’t escape.
To take it a step further, shamans who performed this ritual would go to wealthy households with the barrel and leave it there. At the sight and smell of the food inside the house, the child’s ghost would try to invade the home and cause the people living in it to become ill. This creates a business opportunity for the shaman since they will be called upon by the family to “resolve” the issue which they end up getting paid a huge sum of money in return.
The Verdict
Overall Rating: 2/10
I found this show on a whim while browsing around Netflix for a quick watch (because I was caught up with all of the episodes for dramas airing at the time). I was immediately baited by the short running times per episode (the longest episode is 15 minutes long) and the fact that it’s a Netflix-produced show was a bonus.
Like I said in the spoiler warning above, unless you’re aware of the different urban legends tackled in the show, each episode feels pretty pointless. Given that each episode is about 8-minutes long only, it doesn’t allow for a lot of time to give the viewers a background story on the people being haunted and the ghosts haunting them. It automatically assumes that you get it already (at least that’s how it felt like to me).
As a result, this takes away from a lot of the thrill and suspense that you would get from a typical horror film (that spends a lot of time explaining details) and other horror shorts (that rely on simple, but relatable day-to-day stories). The problem with Goedam lies in the fact that these urban legends aren’t simple storylines and are hugely cultural in nature. Because of this, regular Joes and Janes won’t be able to relate to them - especially if there aren’t enough establishing scenes incorporated per episode. Some effective horror shorts can be found below which might help explain what I mean:
The Smiling Man
Even if you don’t know about the CreepyPasta, anyone who has ever walked alone at night would understand how scary something like this would be.Lights Out & Pictured
Regardless if you’re actually afraid of the dark or not and whether you live alone or not, using universal scare triggers such as darkness and the “am I not actually alone?” narrative paired with jump scare music will work for most people. It’s a big bonus that dialogues do not exist in these scares.
In general, you just don’t need to come equipped with any specialized knowledge or awareness in specific topics in order to understand where the shorts are drawing their scares from.
The episodes in the series do share small details with each other which suggest that the stories are somehow intertwined. There are theories going around that suggest watching episodes in specific orders present different bigger picture stories. Personally, I didn’t go expend the calories to try out these different sequences - but I can see how people came up with their theories. Out of all the episodes, I would say the “best” one would be Episode 6: Dimension and Episode 1: Crack comes a close second. Otherwise, the rest of the episodes are relatively mediocre from a scare factor perspective.
Similar to how I came across this show, you can choose to pick Goedam up if you have absolutely nothing else to watch. I wouldn’t recommend this to hardcore fans of horror films and shorts because this show is just not scary enough to keep you at the edge of your seat. However, if you’re into urban legends, the stories themselves are actually interesting and the series itself is short enough for you to use Goedam as a medium to learn more about them.
