The Wrath

Premise

Set during the Joseon Era, the story follows two Joseon women against each other when a tragedy befalls a family of three sons who all die on their wedding day.

Lady Shin is the lady of a respectable aristocratic household. One after another, the sons of the house all died through supernatural means on their wedding nights. Ok-bun was an orphan found to be wed to the youngest of the three sons. Lady Shin and the third son plan to use the peasant girl as bait to kill the evil entity that plagues the household. On their wedding night, a ghostly female entity attacked the young groom, killing him.

Even though the plan failed, Ok-bun was found to be pregnant, which forces the family to accept her to carry the noble lineage. Still desperate to resolve the continuous haunting and also to prevent bringing harm to the unborn heir, Lady Shin found Hae Cheon-bi for help. Cheon-bi is an exorcist and visited the household. Seeing Ok-bun, he realized that Ok-bun has spiritual power that can resist the evil spirit. However, Ok-bun is still in a precarious situation, as the unborn son is not safe from the evil entity. One night, Cheon-bi team was unable to exorcise the evil spirit; the spirit killed many of the exorcists and escaped. During the day, Lady Shin acted weirdly and became kinder to others, unlike before.

Lady Shin gave Ok-bun the key to the storage shed, which she had previously forbidden her from entering. Lady Shin shares Ok-bun is part of the household now, so she is entitled to see what is inside. She instructed Ok-bun to bring some persimmons from the shed where she complies.

While retrieving the persimmons, Ok-bun hears someone in the lockroom begging to be released. She unlocks the door, and an old, disheveled man pounces on her. The old man was revealed to be the patriarch ,Lee Kyung-jin; he was imprisoned, as he lost his mind after his son's death. For some reason meeting Ok-bun has freed him from insanity.

A cutscene shows that the evil spirit was actually a vengeful prostitute, Wol-ah, in a relationship with Kyung-jin. Wol-ah was pregnant and wanted to become the mistress of the house. She threatened Kyung Jin with details of his meeting with important people and the secret of treason. Kyung-jin outwitted her and tortured her to know if she leaked the information to anyone.

Cheon-bi visited once again to convince Ok-bun to leave as he realized that Lady Shin had been possessed. He mentioned that possession will cause strange things to happen within the household. Possession cannot be sustained by human food, so live blood is needed. As Cheon-bi foretold, a possessed Lady Shin hunted livestock at night and killed a witness, a cook.

Another flashback shows that Kyung-jin refused to believe Wol-ah stabbed her in her abdomen. She cursed Kyung-jin for killing her unborn child and swore revenge on his sons. Wol-ah is subsequently hanged to death and buried by a henchman as instructed by Kyung-jin.

The next morning, Lady Shin was found to be pregnant. Her pregnancy threatened the heirship of Ok-bun's unborn child. Ok-bun also overheard the sinister ploy to kill Ok-bun if Lady Shin were to give birth to a son. To protect herself, Ok-bun met with Cheon-bi, where he passed her items to fight Wol-ah with. Similarly, Lady Shin started plotting and killing members of the family. She also made Kyung-jin kill under her influence.

Kyung-jin went on a killing spree; when he came to, Wol-ah revealed herself. He begged for his life while Wol-ah ripped off his face, killing him in the process. Wol-ah proceeds to seek out Ok-bun; meanwhile, Cheon-bi prepares for another round of exorcism. After a few bout of back and forth, Ok-bun managed to stab Wol-ah. Everything seems resolved, but when Cheon-bi is leaving the household, an eerie small girl is seen hugging Ok-bun. 10 years later we see a young boy walking towards Wol-ah's grave.

Cast

Seo Young-hee as Lady Shin

Son Na-eun as Ok-bun

Park Min-ji as Wol-ah

Lee Tae-ri as Hae Cheon-bi

Son Seong-yoon as Kyung-ran

Park Min-jung as Mrs. Han

Lee Kyu-sung as Buddhish Monk

Lee Jae-ah as Young-sook

Choi Hong-il as Lee Kyung-jin

Kim Hee-sang

Production

Principal photography began on December 20, 2017, and wrapped up in early 2018. Actress Park Jin-hee was first offered to play lead female role Lady Shin, but declined later.

Release

The film has been sold to 20 countries as of October 30, 2018.

Singapore: December 6, 2018

Vietnam: January 25, 2019

Thailand: November 29, 2018