Ma Dong Seok's latest film "Holy Night: Demon Hunters" produced, co-written and starring him, was released on April 30, coinciding with a long holiday in Korea.
The film focuses on a group of evil hunters destroying a secta that has caused the city to fall into chaos. The plot is similar to his previous hit series The Outlaws, which was also based on real-life criminal cases.
Ma Dong Seok has had big plans for the drama, planning to expand it to a broader intellectual property including webtoon and games. However, according to Allkpop, it has become an hollow shell - full of ambition, but lacking in reality.
The film was completed in September 2021 but had been "invented" for nearly 4 years before being released at the end of April this year. The producer promoted this as a "pre- release" mystery action film, compared to "Exhuma" (released in 2024) which attracted more than 10 million views. Ironically, Holy Night: Demon Hunters did not even achieve a small part of the success of Exhuma.
According to data from the Korean Film Council, the film attracted only 85,679 views during the peak of the holiday on May 5, ranking 4th at the box office with an accumulated audience of 585,023 tickets. The film's break-even point is about 2 million tickets, a number that currently seems to be within reach.
Initially, Holy Night: Demon Hunters was highly anticipated. Ma Dong Seok has announced his temporary hiatus after "The Outlaws 4" and is returning with a new project, raising fans' hopes.
On the day of release, Holy Night: Demon Hunters immediately took the top spot at the box office, proving the power of the Ma Dong Seok effect.
But it only lasted one day. Since May 1, the film's ratings have continuously decreased, and audiences have begun to turn their backs.
The Golden Egg (public satisfaction) rating of the drama at Korean reality TV dropped sharply from the 98% predicted before the release, to 71%, after its release. The film is likely to leave theaters soon without reaching the 1 million ticket mark.
According to Allkpop, viewers' reviews of Holy Night: Demon Hunters are very harsh: Is this a horror film or just a noisy mess for children?, My husband sleeps. I also sleep, It feels like Im paying to watch a YouTube drama, The worst script, the worst acting, the worst director...
Notably, one viewer commented: Even Ma Dong Seok needs to re khoi dong, this is the peak of laziness in creativity. Many others agreed with this view, saying that the film's failure was due to Ma Dong Seok's complacency.
After immersing himself in the success of The Outlaws parts 2, 3 and 4 all of which have surpassed 10 million views his storytelling style seems to have fallen into a repetitive, uncreative formula.
Holy Night: Demon Hunters still follows a predictable setting: a strong villain introduced and Ma Dong Seoks character defeating them with his fists.
The story lacks depth, CGI is cheap and the characters do not have development. Of which, only actress Jung Ji So, who plays Eun Seo in a darkroom, is a rare actress who shows some effort.
However, despite the failure of the work in the near future, Ma Dong Seok is still busy preparing new film projects. The Outlaws 5 has been produced and is scheduled to be released next year. He also planned for The Outlaws 8.
The disappointment with Holy Night: Demon Hunters made many viewers wonder whether they should look forward to Ma Dong Seoks later works. If Ma Dong Seok wants to continue to attract viewers, perhaps he needs to look back at the sincerity and uniqueness that have brought success to his works from the beginning.
