Rent Hope (2026)

Beast Wishes - Hope review by griggs

Give me a mutilated cow, giant footprints and frightened villagers, and I'm happy. For the first 45 minutes, Na Hong-jin keeps the creature off screen and lets sound and wreckage do the scaring.

Then Hope shows you the monster, and some of the dread goes with it. I preferred not knowing what was out there, and the alien backstory left me cold. Still, once the creatures show fear and grief, it gets hard to say who the monsters really are.

The mix of grisly horror, broad comedy and big chase scenes shouldn't work as well as it does. Hwang Jung-min plays a police chief just trying to hold it together while his town falls apart. Hoyeon gives the action a welcome jolt whenever she appears.

At 160 minutes, it runs longer than the story needs, and the ending is already clearing shelf space for a sequel. Somehow, neither bothered me much.

Loud, messy and a lot of fun. I'd happily watch it again.