Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum

Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum is a 2018 South Korean found footage horror film starring Wi Ha-Joon, Moon Ye-Won, Park Ji-Hyun, Yoo Je-Yoon, Lee Seung-Wook, Oh Ah-Yeon, and Park Sung-Hoon. The film follows a horror web series crew as they explore an abandoned asylum for a live broadcast. It was a critical success and a box office hit in South Korea and remains one of the highest grossing horror films ever in that country.

Plot
Two teenage boys are recording their exploration of the abandoned Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital, where rumor states that the director of the hospital killed all of the patients and went missing. The two head to Room 402, the intensive care unit, which no one has opened before. They try to open the door but suddenly hear a ping pong ball. Their broadcast abruptly ends. After seeing news of the teenagers' disappearance, Ha-Joon, the owner of YouTube channel "Horror Times", decides to explore the building as well.

Ha-Joon gets together a group of four applicants: three young women; Ah-Yeon, a nursing student, Charlotte, a Korean-American dancer, and Ji-Hyun, an experienced videographer. The fourth applicant is a young man; Je-Yoon. Also joining the broadcast are "Horror Times" employees Seung-Wook and Sung-Hoon. They will do a live broadcast of their exploration of the hospital with a goal of reaching one million viewers.

The group spend the evening drinking and eating and getting to know each other. Ha-Joon reveals that their goal for the livestream is 1 Million viewers, which would generate enough advertising revenue that everyone would walk away with at least tens of thousands of dollars. The next day, while travelling to the hospital, Ha-Joon lets everyone know their exploration of the asylum will climax with them opening Room 402, to the excitement of all. As a chance to unwind before their exciting night, they make a quick stop at a lake to swim. In the late afternoon, they arrive at the asylum and set up their equipment in the forest nearby. Before heading inside at midnight, the group make dinner and goof around while Seung-Wook and Sung-Hoon set up static cameras in select rooms in the asylum

The group attaches all their equipment, including detachable GoPros and other recording devices. Then the group heads up the path to the asylum, while Ha-Joon stays at their base camp to control the live broadcast. Along the path, the group find a pair of underwear and tie it to a tree as a marker for their return to camp. As they arrive at the entrance to the asylum, Seung-Wook speaks to the online viewers and explains their goals for the night. Upon breaking in, the group finds the asylum filled with dust, garbage, and broken furniture. To begin the night's festivities, Charlotte pours holy water in a small petri dish to record any potential paranormal activity. Seung-Wook once again addresses the online audience, but is interrupted by a door slamming shut on its own. Instructed by Ha-Joon to investigate, the group enters the room, which happens to be the Director's Office. Inside, they find a group photo with all the patients and staff, including the Asylum's Director, rumored to have killed all her patients over 50 years ago, leading to its closure. Ha-Joon instructs the group to split up. On the 1st floor, Ji-Hyun introduces an animated Charlotte to the audience. Charlotte tags her name on the wall alongside the number '4', signifying that the Gonjiam Asylum is the 4th location on the scariest places in the world that she's visited. Below her tag, the words "Let's Live" are written. Ji-Hyun and Charlotte move down the hallway until they find the Laboratory, where inside they find a creepy doll lodged in a cabinet. While exploring further, Charlotte accidentally knocks over a jar containing a deformed chicken. They're overwhelmed by the putrid smell and leave to regroup with the others.

Meanwhile, Je-Yoon and Ah-Yeon explore the 4th floor. Je-Yoon claims it feels colder upstairs, but it proves to be the same temperature as every other floor. They explore the Bathing Rooms and the Pool Room. Ah-Yeon finds a wig submerged in the water, which frightens Je-Yoon as he believed it a drowned human. Charlotte and Ji-Hyun approach Room 402 and explain to the audience that the night will end with them all opening the door and entering the room, the first to do so since the Asylum's closure.

Regrouping, the team return to the Director's Office to perform a ritual to 'invite' the spirits out. The room has been redecorated with strings and bells and candles. As the youngest, Ah-Yeon performs the ritual, but the group soon become terrified when the strings with bells start to shake violently. Everyone leaves the room in a panic. However, it is revealed to have been staged by Seung-Wook and Sung-Hoon, unbeknownst to the other four, as a way to attract more viewers. Sung-Hoon suggests they continue to provoke Charlotte, as they feel her reactions to the supernatural occurences are particularly entertaining. Ha-Joon grins with excitement at the success of the night, the numbers of viewers continually increasing. However, strange things begin to happen inside the tent. The group calms down and decide to continue the exploration of the asylum, starting with the Laboratory where Charlotte and Ji-Hyun had earlier venutred. Inside, Charlotte and Ji-Hyun are shocked to find that the doll has moved. Seung-Wook claims it appears to be the same doll as the one held by a patient in the group photo back in the Director's Office. As he picks it up, Charlotte screams for him to leave it be and then runs from the room in hysterics. Ji-Hyun, Je-Yoon, and Ah-Yeon follow. Seung-Wook and Sung-Hoon stay behind and have a laugh with Ha-Joon. They got the exact reaction they wanted from Charlotte.

Ha-Joon reaffirms the group that the success of the night will be worth all the fear they're experiencing. Once Charlotte is calmed, they split up again, with Je-Yoon and Ah-Yeon sent to try to open the door to Room 402, while the other four explore the Group Treatment Room. Inside, they find many strange coffin-shaped crates, all of them with a small-hole near chest level. Seung-Wook places his hand inside a hole in one of the coffins and fakes his hand being pulled. Charlotte screams, however, Ji-Hyun has grown suspicious of everything and tries the same. At first nothing happens, but then her hand is actually grabbed by something inside the coffin. They all grab her and when she's finally able to release her arm from the hole, she shows that she's been wounded with claw-like scratches. The group, terrified, notice Charlotte's scarf being grabbed by an invisible entity and flee into the hallway. In the hallway, Charlotte discovers that the words below her tag have changed from "Let's Live" to "Let's Die". Too disturbed, Ji-Hyun and Charlotte decide to leave. Seung-Wook and Sung-Hoon argue with Ha-Joon about there being actual supernatural events and wanting to stop. Ha-Joon tells them to continue with the shooting, but reviews footage of all six participants standing together and becomes unsure who filmed it if all six are in the shot. Charlotte and Ji-Hyun walk back to the base camp, Charlotte convinced the writing on the wall means she's cursed and that she's going to die. Meanwhile, Seung-Wook and Sung-Hoon convince Ha-Joon to give everyone involved a bigger cut of the advertising payout from the livestream. Ha-Joon agrees and Seung-Wook and Sung-Hoon grudgingly continue to explore the asylum. Back on the path, Charlotte and Ji-Hyun end up caught in a supernatural illusion as they encounter the underwear marker more than once. In one of the unexplored rooms on the top floor, Seung-Wook and Sung-Hoon see a wheelchair moving on its own, and then are attacked by objects being thrown around the room. Seung-Wook is knocked unconscious by a heavy piece of furniture, and Sung-Hoon is later knocked out when trying to run from the room.

On the path, Charlotte and Ji-Hyun begin to smell something. Charlotte realizes that the chicken and other equipment from the Laboratory are somehow on the path with them. A terrified Charlotte notices that Ji-Hyun has gone into a trance. Suddenly, Ji-Hyun's eyes open, completely black. She's been possessed, and murmurs under her breath. Charlotte screams and takes off running. She manages to make it back to the tent, but soon realizes she's not with Ha-Joon in the tent, but rather in Room 402. Using her flashlight, she spots Ji-Hyun standing in a corner and the doll from the Laboratory by her feet. A naked man appears in front of her and Charlotte tries to escape the room, but finds it impossible. Charlotte is then attacked and pulled into the darkness, her screams eventually fading.

Regaining consciousness, Sung-Hoon runs to Je-Yoon and Ah-Yeon, who are still drilling to open the door to 402. Suddenly, a ping-pong ball bounces towards them and Charlotte's screaming is heard from inside Room 402. Their infra-red cameras starts to flash as the sensor detects a presence. The door of Room 402 opens and the screen goes dark.

Sung-Hoon, Je-Yoon and Ah-Yeon find themselves trapped in a dark room with no exit, standing in knee-deep water. Numerous ghosts appear; the three panic until they are possessed one after the other and swallowed by the darkness. Ha-Joon, after losing contact with his team, goes to investigate. He brings a drone and flies it upwards, seeing someone in the window. However, he realizes it was an illusion. The person in the window was himself. He turns to see the director's body floating as if hanged. Ha-Joon is then strangled to death. Regaining consciousness, Seung-Wook finds himself strapped to a wheelchair. The wheelchair slowly rolls to Room 402 by itself, and Seung-Wook cries out for his teammates. He sees various ghosts and hears gibberish before he is pulled into 402.

The live broadcast fails with viewers dropping and claiming the broadcast was fake. In the epilogue, the dish of holy water starts to boil, implying holy water has the effect to repel ghosts.

Cast
Wi Ha-Joon as Ha-Joon

Yoo Je-Yoon as Je-Yoon

Moon Ye-Won as Charlotte

Lee Seung-Wook as Seung-Wook

Park Ji-Hyun as Ji-Hyun

Oh Ah-Yeon as Ah-Yeon

Park Sung-Hoon as Sung-Hoon

Reception
The film was well-received by critics and audiences. It holds a 91% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed over $20,000,000 at the South Korean box office, becoming one of the highest grossing horror films of all-time in that country.

Trivia

 * The filmmakers were unable to get permission from the South Korean government to film in the actual hospital, so scenes in the film set in Gonjiam were actually filmed in the National Maritime High School in Busan, with the production team adhering closely to the floor plan of the hospital to recreate exactly the same exterior and hallways.
 * Conception for the film was inspired by a 2012 article, where CNN Travel selected the abandoned Gonjiam psychiatric facility as one of "7 freakiest places on the planet."
 * Just shortly before the theatrical release, the owner of the asylum filed a lawsuit against the film being shown in theaters, claiming that the film will have negative effects on the sale of the building. However, a Seoul court in late March 2018 ruled in favor of the film being shown.