Hail to Hell

In Im Oh-Jeong’s comedy-drama, the best revenge is living free.

“Don’t give cake to a dying person”

Sun-woo (Bang Hyo-rin) and Na-mi (Oh Woori) are two high school girls whose lives have been made miserable thanks to the bullies they encounter, namely Chae-lin (Jung Yi-ju). Dejected and lost in life, they try to end it all but when they learn that Chae-lin is seemingly living it up in Seoul now, they abandon their plans and travel to Seoul to get their revenge. Once there, they learn that things aren’t as expected, as Chae-lin (Jung yi-ju) has joined a religious group, and has seemingly reformed.

Hail to Hell throws a spanner in the works very quickly with the introduction of this psudeo-Christian cult. I mention cult as it’s pretty evident things aren’t on the up and up immediately: the group assigns holiness points, quantifying their devoutness. This in turns dictates whether they’ll get to go to the fictional island of Vashianu. It’s all very suspicious, and it becomes clear that the film remains a story about bullying, but one seen through the lens of religious power.

There’s a solid amount of satire here, and the comparisons aren’t subtle. A girl in the cult is constantly treated terribly by both her father, leader Myung-ho (Park Sung-ho) and other members of the group. This leads Sun-woo to empathise with her, just as Na-mi is beginning to perhaps see the other side. But that’s when things start to get a bit murky, in that in many places Hail to Hell isn’t particularly focused in its messaging or storytelling. It obviously has something to say, and usually manages to get that out, but sometimes Na-mi’s behaviour, or even Chae-lin’s makes things a bit more confusing.

It would be unfair to say that Hail to Hell coasts on the chemistry and likeability of its two stars but it would also be equally unfair to not point out how much heavy lifting they’re doing. After all, while the topic and themes are universally understandable, the film wouldn’t be nearly as watchable as it is without Bang and Oh in the lead roles. Sun-woo gets a little less to do, with her character being far more introverted, but she does it well, breaking out of her shell just enough to give us peaks into the deeper personality beneath. Na-mi is a lot more outgoing and gets a more evident arc, even when it is a bit all over the place.

Its weakest link is Chae-lin. Characters like Myung-ho are obviously pretty shitty throughout, but Chae-lin (who is in a relationship with him) doesn’t quite have that level of clarity. While Jung yi-ju isn’t bad in the role, there isn’t much to the character. With very little time spent with her as the bully (she appears briefly in the opening scene), it’s hard for the audience to judge for themselves what kind of person she is now and whether or not she’s changed. As a result we never quite get what her whole deal is, if she’s actually brainwashed or just doing her own thing. Sun-woo believes she’s completely unchanged but without any prior knowledge the audience can’t really agree or disagree with her.

It might not be the punk story of liberation it paints itself as but Hail to Hell still tells the story of what it means to be truly free, from others and how they quantify your existence. It has a pretty strong message and features some powerful moments, when it knows what it wants to say.

Verdict: While the film doesn’t really deliver on its promise of anarchic fun, it’s still a really good time.

Overall entertainment: 7.5/10
Violence: 3/10
Sex: 0/10
Forgiveness: or not, whatever.
Sun-woo’s sister: That was a weird little detail, huh
Dumb nicknames: Phony ranks high on the list
Catchphrases: “Oh mama”, also pretty dumb

Hail to Hell (2023)
Also known as: 지옥만세
Korean

Director: Im Oh Jeong
Writer: Im Oh Jeong

CAST

Oh Woori – Na-mi
Bang Hyo-rin – Sun-woo
Park Sung-hoon – Myung-ho
Jung Yi-ju – Chae-lin
Lee Joo-won – Yeon Bok