This blog post examines why the film “Paradise Murdered” presents brutal murders alongside humor, focusing on the conventions and narrative strategies of the hybrid genre blending thriller, horror, and comedy.
Genre Definition
The genre of “Paradise Murdered” is thriller. More precisely, it centers on the splatter film subgenre of thriller, infused with elements of horror. It also incorporates slapstick comedy and mystery genre elements. This composition effectively reflects the current trend and reality in modern cinema, where genre boundaries themselves are gradually blurring, leading to the emergence of hybrid genres.
First, the thriller genre encompasses horror films featuring ghosts, monsters, and supernatural entities; occult films exploring supernatural, magical, or mystical themes; splatter films centered on murder and crime with an emphasis on gore; SF films depicting the confusion and suffering of humans facing strange situations, SFX films centered on special effects, and horror pictures emphasizing shocking terror and dread. In other words, the thriller genre refers to dramas produced with the purpose of stimulating the audience’s fear psychology.
The thriller genres primarily featured in “Paradise Murdered” are splatter films and horror pictures.
Secondly, the mystery genre refers to films centered on solving events through intellectual logic. The mystery genre emphasizes the process of intellectual reasoning, piecing together clues to solve problems. Its subject matter is typically set around events like murder or crime, and compared to other genres, it possesses the characteristic of strongly immersing the audience in the progression of the plot. The plot often follows the format of a detective novel, and the music and sound design play a role in sustaining tension.
Given that both genres use murder and crime as their subject matter and induce constant tension in the audience, the thriller and mystery genres may appear to have little difference. However, a clear distinction lies in the fact that mystery offers an ‘investigative fantasy’ where the audience participates in solving the case, while thriller provides a ‘victim fantasy’ that positions the audience as a direct participant in the event. In other words, mystery focuses on revealing ‘why’ someone was murdered, while thriller centers on showing ‘how’ someone survived. Furthermore, if mystery is a ‘puzzle’ solved with the mind, thriller is closer to a ‘nightmare’ felt with the heart. This difference becomes even more pronounced because while mystery audiences concentrate on finding clues to the solution, thriller audiences anticipate being constantly startled.
Finally, slapstick comedy is a genre commonly referred to as ‘noisy comedy’. Applying this comedic form to film, its core characteristic is eliciting laughter from the audience through exaggerated and boisterous acting.
Characteristics of Each Genre Seen in “Paradise Murdered”
Mystery Genre Elements
The plot of “Paradise Murdered” is as follows: A murder occurs on a remote island called ‘Paradise Island,’ inhabited by 17 residents. With the radio broken and communication with the outside world cut off, the inevitable investigation begins, centered around Park Hae-il (played by Jeu-seong), who works as the island’s health center director. First, in terms of subject matter, this film belongs to the mystery genre. Furthermore, the process of Park Hae-il attempting to solve the case through intellectual logic clearly demonstrates that the film faithfully follows the conventions of the mystery genre.
The first suspect is Deok-su, who vanished after playing cards with the transmission line workers who were murdered at the lodging house. Furthermore, Pan-su’s testimony that Deok-su arrived in the early hours of the day the murders occurred, holding bloodstained money and threatening to take Bong-soon away, establishes an alibi for Deok-su, suggesting he committed the murder impulsively over a ‘money’ dispute at the card game. However, the discovery of Deok-su’s body subsequently plunges the case deeper into mystery. Furthermore, after seeing the note stating, “‘The village chief brought in something he shouldn’t have,’” Chun-bae begins to suspect the village chief. Ultimately, amidst a situation where no one trusts anyone else, the bodies of the villagers continue to pile up.
Centered on the elite characters Park Hae-il and Park Sol-mi (Gwi-nam in the film), the process of piecing together the case follows the classic mystery genre convention of a ‘journey’ – compelling the audience to follow the ‘hero’s’ footsteps to uncover ‘who did it’.
Furthermore, by compelling the audience to constantly search for clues to uncover “how the murders occurred,” “Paradise Murdered” is unmistakably a film with mystery genre characteristics.
Elements of Splatter Cinema within the Thriller Genre
In the film’s opening, the director fills the screen with a blue sea before listing the lead actors’ names in blood-red letters. This contrasting montage of images suggests to the audience, “Paradise Murdered will literally be a blood-spattered splatter film.” So, what specific elements of splatter cinema are revealed within the film?
First, we must examine the film’s subject matter. The central theme of ‘murder’ in “Paradise Murdered” provides the core motif enabling the film to follow the conventions of the splatter genre. One of the power line workers murdered at the card game spills blood from his mouth as he collapses outside the door. Furthermore, the scene where the bodies are discovered presents two people hacked to pieces with knives, entangled together. Amidst this, Chunbae receives a note stating, “‘The village chief brought in something he shouldn’t have.’” He then secretly enters the village chief’s house to find what the chief had brought in, only to commit an unexpected murder. The village chief’s son is slashed by Chunbae’s knife, collapsing as blood pours out like a faucet turned on full blast.
The villagers, already suspicious of each other, are persuaded by Chunbae that “the village chief must be the culprit” and storm his house. During the chaos, Chunbae shoots Sanggu squarely in the center of his forehead. Sanggu collapses, spilling thick streams of blood. Pansu, who tried to stop the fight, is also shot in the stomach by Chunbae’s gun, collapsing as blood gushes from his wound. Witnessing these two deaths, the villagers, overcome with terror, flee to the Shrine of the Virtuous Women. Inside the shrine, just as the village chief is about to tell the villagers something crucial, Chunbae fires again, hitting him in the head. The chief dies, his mouth filling with blood. After most villagers are dead, two electricians who were trying to grab money and escape the island also die, their heads smashed by a Buddha statue Chunbae strikes down.
Thus, throughout the film, ‘blood-spattering scenes’ occupy a significant portion. Moreover, the sounds and volume of blood emphasized in scenes of people being hacked with knives and shot with guns are exaggerated beyond reality.
In this regard, it is clear that “Paradise Murdered” develops its story based on the conventions of the splatter film, a subgenre of thriller.
Elements of Horror Within the Thriller Genre
“Paradise Murdered” also distinctly features various horror elements. Early in the film, the boatman ferries detectives investigating “Paradise Murdered” to the island, then vanishes abruptly after uttering, “‘This is a village haunted by ghosts.’” At this moment, the boatman has lost sight in one eye, colloquially referred to as having a “dog eye.” The film borrows the folk belief that “having a dog eye allows one to see ghosts” to instill fear in the audience. This scene prompts viewers to wonder, “Could the murderer be a ghost?” drawing them deeper into the film.
The subsequent horror element is the depiction of the ghost’s form within the film. Old Man Kim was born into a cursed family that starved a daughter-in-law to death to establish a ‘chaste woman lineage’. As a reward for this lineage, the state granted them the entire island of Geolrakdo. However, the curse of the chaste woman ghost leads to the downfall of the entire Kim family. Consequently, the village chief builds a shrine to the chaste woman at the village’s highest point to appease her wrath. In this way, the film incorporates the archetypal narrative of Korean horror cinema: the ‘bitterness of women stemming from excessive oppression’. Within the norms of the Joseon Dynasty, which held female chastity and purity as supreme values, many women were sacrificed under excessive repression concerning ‘sexuality’. The chaste woman ghost appearing in the film can also be interpreted as a victim sacrificed within this system of excessive norms surrounding ‘chastity’ and ‘sexuality’.
However, questions arise about whether the virtuous woman’s ghost is a truly existing entity within the film. This is because only Chunbae, experiencing hallucinations due to drug side effects, and Yongbong, who travels to practice Taoism, can see the ghost. Of course, Old Man Kim also acknowledges the ghost’s existence and even burns down the virtuous woman’s shrine later in the film. Furthermore, Old Man Kim attempts to leave the Pure Land to escape the ghost’s curse.
By the film’s end, it is revealed that Chunbae was the mastermind behind all the murders. Yet, one cannot help but wonder if all these events truly stemmed from the virtuous woman’s curse. If we interpret the virtuous woman’s curse as the fundamental cause driving Chunbae to commit murder, then “Paradise Murdered” could be said to form a hybrid genre, with horror at its core and other genres woven in as secondary elements.
Returning to the main point, examining the appearance of the virtuous woman’s ghost in the film reveals an unusual presence from its first appearance. Typically depicted wearing a white mourning robe, this ghost makes its debut by ravenously devouring rice at Chunbae’s house, consistent with its starved-to-death backstory, and subsequently continues to haunt Chunbae’s surroundings. Furthermore, after Chunbae commits his final murder, the virtuous woman ghost devours the corpse with blood dripping from her mouth. This scene evokes a level of dread surpassing the typical horror felt in standard horror films. Finally, when Old Man Kim burns down the shrine, the ghost appears, grinning eerily at the audience. Thus, the appearance of the ‘ghost,’ a quintessential icon of the horror genre, provides the audience with constant tension and terror.
Comedic Genre Elements
Various comedic elements can also be found throughout the film. On the evening the murder occurred in the village, Taek-gi, the only boy in the village, heads to the health center to deliver food to Park Hae-il, the health center director. However, the health center is empty, and Taek-gi searches for Park Hae-il, muttering, “‘Where’d this old man go now?’” Later, in his conversation with Park Hae-il, the use of a thick dialect like “‘Sorry, sir’” and an unchildlike tone provokes laughter from the audience.
The next day after the murder, the scene where villagers gather in front of the crime scene repeats slapstick comedy conventions. In the scene where Pansu explains Deoksu’s threats, the rapid movements—as if the film were played at double speed—and the voice-over of Deoksu’s lines dubbed in Pansu’s voice create a strong comedic effect. The slapstick comedy characteristics also emerge in the scene where residents gather at the school to discuss the incident. For instance, during the process of deducing ‘how Deok-su might have died,’ when one resident says, “‘Deok-su must have drowned in the sea,’” the screen cuts to an actual scene of Deok-su, stuffed into a sack, being stabbed and falling into the sea. Similarly, in the scene depicting the guess “Duk-su must have been buried alive,” the killer is comically portrayed groaning under the weight while burying the sack containing Duk-su in the ground. Thus, in the deduction process immediately following the murder, the provocative and brutal scenes are comically reinterpreted.
Similarly, the camera presents shadows cast outside the door to suggest the Lee family is seriously discussing the murder. Yet, the moment the light illuminates inside, the three are eating sweet potatoes. The tension built through the shadows is released in this scene, eliciting laughter from the audience.
Comic elements also persist in the scene where Chunbae accuses the village chief of being the murderer and storms his house. Pansu, shot by Chunbae’s gun, exclaims, “‘Oh my, not here…’” and falls backward onto Takgi’s mother’s lap. In this scene, Pansu is portrayed comically even in his dying moments, giving the audience the impression of watching a skit. Consequently, the audience bursts into laughter even while witnessing a horrific murder scene.
Finally, even during the terrifying moment when the shrine burns and the ghost appears, the comedic elements remain active. When Chunbae sets fire to the shrine and screams at the virtuous woman’s ghost, “You are human, you are ghost!”, the audience, who had been screaming in terror, bursts into laughter at this line.
Of course, it’s difficult to clearly identify a narrative structure of the comedy genre in “Paradise Murdered”. However, the icons of the comedy genre placed throughout, the villagers’ colorful dialect, and the witty, offhand dialogue consistently elicit laughter from the audience, serving to soften the overall atmosphere of the work.
Conclusion
“Paradise Murdered” presents itself as the quintessential example of a hybrid genre film. It forms its fundamental backbone around the splatter film subgenre of thriller and the mystery genre, faithfully following the conventional narratives of these genres in its development. It further heightens audience tension by additionally incorporating icons and narratives from horror films, another subgenre of thriller. Furthermore, by incorporating comedic elements into certain characters and scenes, the overall atmosphere of the film is lightened, relatively reducing the repulsion towards the brutal scenes. In a sense, it could be interpreted that by utilizing these conventions of the comedy genre, the filmmakers sought to convey to the audience the ‘satirical commentary on the contemporary situation’ inherent within the film.
