PARK Hoon-jung’s new mystery-action film The Witch : Part 1. The Subversion has been receiving some positive comments from overseas ahead of its domestic release on June 27. Featuring rising star KIM Da-mi alongside CHOI Woo-shik, CHO Min-soo, and PARK Hee-soon, the film will quickly bow overseas as well, when it has its international premiere at the 22nd Fantasia International Film Festival in Canada next month.

KIM plays a teenager who escaped from a mysterious government facility as a child. She lives a peaceful life but when she enters a national singing contest, dangerous figures from her past begin to close in on her.

The Hollywood Reporter commented on the film’s impressive style while Korean film critic and Udine Far East Film Festival advisor Darcy Paquet praised the film as very fresh. Meanwhile, Udine’s festival director Sabrina Baracetti likened the film to the Netflix show Stranger Things and Brian De Palma’s classic Carrie. The International Film Festival & Awards Macao also described it as an immersive film with mysteries unfolding at every turn.

The Witch : Part 1. The Subversion follows quickly on the heels of Director PARK’s last film, the North Korean themed serial killer thriller V.I.P. (2017), which also featured PARK Hee-soon and was released last August. PARK is also known for helming films such as New World (2013) and The Tiger (2015), as well as penning the screenplays to RYOO Seung-wan’s The Unjust (2010) and KIM Jee-woon’s I Saw the Devil (2010).