Rating: NR | Runtime: 91 minutes
Release Date: April 30th, 2025 (South Korea) / May 2nd, 2025 (USA)
Studio: Lotte Entertainment / Capelight Pictures
Director(s): Lim Dae-hee
Writer(s): Lim Dae-hee / Ma Dong-seok (story)

We may look shady, but we’re professionals.

What if Don Lee/Ma Dong-seok’s “Beast Cop” was an orphan imbued with supernatural super strength powers who grew up to use them to fight for the innocent souls of Earth in a war against demons? This is the question I imagine Lee asked himself before hatching the story that writer/director Lim Dae-hee fashioned into Holy Night: Demon Hunters. Teamed with an equally powerful lieutenant (Seohyun’s Sharon) who holds similar abilities (expelling demons from their human captives’ bodies) as the man he once called his “brother” until he turned to the dark side and a trusted sidekick documenting their dangerous work (David Lee’s Kim-kun), Ba Woo’s (Lee) trio is single-handedly holding Hell at bay.

Sounds fun. They think so too. That’s why the whole enterprise feels like a proof of concept for another franchise to run parallel with Lee’s more grounded Roundup series. It starts with the team showing us what they can do in the field to take down Beelzebub while also providing a step-by-step education on the terminology they use to do so. We learn most of their business is funneled through a friend on the force who knows regular cops stand zero chance against this kind of evil and that Ba Woo has a strained history with the priest who raised him—so strained that he’s willing to turn away a potential client in desperate need (Kyung Soo-Jin’s Jung-Won) solely because she used his name as a reference.

But it’s through the possession of her sister Eun-Seo (Jung Ji-So) that Ba Woo must put aside his personal feelings to live up to the promises he made after a tragedy he still partially blames himself for happening. Yes, it’s his job, but this particular case also seems uniquely connected to his past in ways that allow Lim’s script to supply exposition that also foreshadows the bigger war we can presume is coming on the horizon via sequels (mainly a search for Lucifer that’s teased further during a mid-credit stinger). This is the moment Ba has been waiting for—a reminder that he can still try and make things right. It’s also the tipping point for Sharon to confirm her allegiance to the side of “light” and Kim-kun to prove his mettle despite having no powers.

The structure is pretty by-the-numbers with an introduction to the characters, another for the case, a sprinkling of contextually relevant flashbacks, and the thirty-minute climactic exorcism that will either save Eun-Seo or destroy the fabric of reality as we know it. Full of superimposed text to help hold our hand through the demonic kingdom’s hierarchy and the step-by-step phases of an exorcism, there’s little room for spontaneity—especially since Lee is the star and must make good on his production company’s name (Big Punch). That action is mostly tacked on via a throwaway line about sycophants always coming out of the woodwork to serve their master since these nameless (and mostly masked) foot soldiers are literally only on-screen to get knocked unconscious.

In many respects, Seohyun is the real lead as a result. While Kim-kun assists the work (and the comedy as a prop to Don Lee’s goofy antics) and Ba acts as protector clearing the way of fiery “bishops” while reliably being at the right place and time to lift something heavy or punch through doors, it’s Sharon who does the crucial labor. She’s making the plans and coming face-to-face with their enemies. She’s the one risking her very existence by using powers that threaten to consume her much like they did Ba’s “brother.” She’s the bad ass the plot hinges upon while Ba provides the ancillary excitement most audience members sought when buying a ticket. Holy Night: Demon Hunters is a supernatural thriller first, expansive IP foundation pour second, and actioner third.

And, to those ends, it works. The story itself is hardly groundbreaking, but the leading trio have a fun rapport that I wouldn’t mind watching again. There’s enough to their backstories to make room for growth and the overall mythology (bearing an uncanny resemblance to Keanu Reeves’ Constantine) possesses an infinite well of serialized possibilities. The special effects work is good, Jung Ji-So delivers a memorable “possessed” performance, and Lim Dae-hee nicely balances the dark horror with a lighter sense of comic entertainment. It’s only real knock preventing its popcorn fare’s advancement from “familiar” to “exciting” is that it inherently feels incomplete. It’s one thing to spawn a franchise on the back of success, but it’s another to plan one before you’ve proven anything.

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Seohyun, Don Lee, and David Lee in HOLY NIGHT: DEMON HUNTERS; courtesy of Capelight Pictures.