Holy Night: Demon Hunters Film Review

Holy Night: Demon Hunters combines the action and horror genres for a fun genre-shifting blockbuster that lets Ma Dong-seok and Seohyun shine.

To defeat them, the trio of demon hunters called Holy Night is needed, who themselves have superpowers from past encounters with the devil. They need to exorcise the evil before it’s too late.

The Korean police force finds themselves overwhelmed by the rise of this new crime syndicate. They don’t understand the devilish rituals or the history of demons behind them. And they certainly can’t stand up against the soldiers who draw strength from satanic rituals. So whenever a new case comes in that deals with the organization, Holy Night is hired to help. They specialize in demonic activities and have the expertise to deal with them. And more importantly, they have the supernatural abilities to keep up with the demons.

Western audiences might not be overly familiar with Don Lee (aka Ma Dong-seok), having only seen him as Gilgamesh in Marvel’s Eternals and maybe 2016’s Train to Busan, but he has long established himself as a powerhouse of the South Korean film industry. He comes with an incredible screen presence, a soft charm you might not expect from a man of this physique, and his true identifying feature: he can punch people like nobody else in this business does. He brings all of those qualities to the character Ba Woo, leader of Holy Night. Just like the cultists, he too has increased strength after an incident with a demon lord in the past, allowing him to punch harder than he ever has before.

But if you are familiar with Ma Dong-seok’s recent filmography, particularly the Roundup franchise, you already know how good the action in Holy Night: Demon Hunters is. Despite the supernatural quality, it’s mostly hand-to-hand combat with an emphasis on fist fighting, which allows Ma Dong-seok to shine. I’ll never get tired of the heft behind his punches. It sounds like a gunshot every time he hits someone. Often it even feels like the impact of his punches goes right through the body and hits the camera, which answers with dynamic movement and camera shake.

The other two members that complete the trio are Kim Gun (David Lee) and Sharon (Seohyun). I have to admit I’m not sure what Kim Gun really brings to the team. He films their missions for reasons I don’t entirely understand and operates as a secretary of sorts for them. For the most part he’s just the comedic relief of the film; to be fair, the movie is quite funny at times. Sharon, however, is vital to the structure of the team and movie as a whole; her actress, Seohyun, is also the star of the film (next to Don Lee). She’s a badass with an attitude who can sense evil, communicate with demons, and exorcise them from the bodies of innocent souls.

When Holy Night: Demon Hunters isn’t an action movie in which Ma Dong-seok punches demonic soldiers real hard, it’s a classic exorcism horror film. Their newest case is about a client (Gyeong Su-jin) whose sister (Jung Ji-so) has been possessed by a mysterious evil. Found footage elements of security cameras reveal the sister’s descent into madness. Over the course of the film, a larger conspiracy naturally reveals itself, but the central set piece of the film is simply a girl strapped to a chair, possessed by a demon, in a house that seems to be haunted. It’s never particularly scary; the movie is more interested in the spectacle of the exorcism than in truly frightening you.

That’s what Holy Night: Demon Hunters is: a classic, populist blockbuster. In his directorial debut, Lim Dae-hee is able to derive the spectacle from both the horror and action genres, creating a glue that holds them both together. The result is a fun, genre-shifting romp that allows Ma Dong-seok and Seohyun to shine.

Holy Night: Demon Hunters is now available to watch in North American theaters and will be released in cinemas in the U.K. on May 9, 2025.