This movie was a pleasant surprise. The story is intricate and seems to be well researched. Although I do not know the ins and outs of the exorcism ritual, this film presents a more complicated and seemingly authentic process than most of the Hollywood exorcism films. It portrays the bureaucracy of the Catholic Church but not in a biased or unnecessarily critical way. It respects the local Eastern Shamanism and never makes fun of it. It showed that it was ineffective in this particular case not because the shaman is a mere charlatan but because the demonic power was strong and only the power of God can dispel it. For example, while respectfully waiting for the shaman to finish, the priest told his assistant that normally the particular shaman was very good.The priests in the film are not irreproachable. While trying to save the possessed, they have to wrestle their own inner demons. However, even the older and jaded priest demonstrates none of exaggerated bitterness and cynicism of a Hollywood priest. He gives due to all parties including the possessed.The film is not perfect but it is well thought out and it keeps you on edge. It also skip the gimmick of denying you resolution like many Hollywood horror film. When will they learn that the audiences don't have to see that the demons are still lurking around at the end of the movie to pave the way for a sequel? Tricks as such just leave the viewers unsatisfied.

Every movie that has exorcisms in it, has the "problem" that it will be compared with The Exorcist. There's no way around it, but if you can try to keep an open mind. I don't know if this is actually the very first South Korean exorcism film or not. What I do know though, is the quality is very high.The acting, the set up and the scenes are very powerful. This can stand on its own, which is quite impressive. The horror that you get is quite impressive, especially if you consider that we have seen a lot of movies trying this. Cinematography and script are really good and I can recommend this, if you like horror movies

If you look at the IMDb page for "The Priests", you'll find that the summary really isn't what this film is about at all. Ignore it! Instead, the film is an interesting combination of Western films exorcism films combined with Eastern sensibilities. This combination is an interesting one and the movie by Jae-hyun Jang is well worth your time.When the film begins, a young Catholic priest in South Korea is trying to exorcise a demon from a young girl. However, soon something expected occurs and the girl dives from her hospital window. Despite the horrible fall, she is still alive and is in a coma where she remains off and on for years---all the while the demon remains trapped within her. The priest makes it his life's work to rid her of the demon but he is so far unsuccessful. As for his assistants, they all end up leaving the case...unable to cope with the horrible fight against evil. Soon, assistant number 11 is assigned to help. Can he manage to sum up the internal strength and together they rid the world of this evil? And, once the demon leaves the girl, what exactly are they to do with it?! That is a problem they really forgot to plan for in "The Exorcist"!As I just mentioned the film, at times, "The Priests" clearly feels like "The Exorcist". Fortunately, it is not some cheap Korean copy or reworking of the Hollywood picture and differs in many, many ways. Because it's an Asian film, it integrates quite a bit of Eastern religion and mysticism as well. You'll see shamans, salt used for purification and many other non- Western elements within the film. You also have some amazing special effects as well as an ending that is nothing like the more familiar Hollywood version. Additionally, the story works very well and it will keep you on the edge of your seat! Plus, the ending really is awfully intelligent and offers an excellent pay-off. Well worth seeing and I look forward to more films from Jae-hyun Jang.

By now you seen one exorcism you seen them all, right? The Priests tells the tale of a little girl processed by a old demon that needs two holy men to drive it out. The process is so standard, it comes off as cheesy. They use all the clichés of exorcisms to try to creep you out but it all comes out very dull.the most interesting parts are when the Koreans add some of their own culture into the Catholic religion in order to perform demon hunting, like the fact that one of the priest had to be born in the year of the tiger in order to battle this particular demon.The Priests also had a strange buddy cop element to it with a seasoned Priest who seen everything twice and his hard attitude expresses it, is force to team up with a young rookie Priest who has not even finished his studies. Although, this element of the movie seems to be used only to pass time and is not that appealing It was interesting to see Korea's take on the process of possession, but not interesting enough to support a whole film.