By Sarah Kurchak

Dir: Kim Hong-sun. South Korea, 2022. When an effort to extradite a group of dangerous criminals from the Philippines to South Korea is thwarted by a suicide bombing, the Korean government is forced to try something a little more unorthodox. What they come up with is loading the next group of cons, a handful of police officers, one doctor, and one nurse, on an old cargo vessel and making the journey by sea.

Almost immediately, the plan starts to go sideways. Officials that are monitoring the ship from South Korea are kicked out of their positions when a secret agency takes over the surveillance room. Then some of the convicts, lead by a notorious crime syndicate enfant terrible (Seo In-guk), stage a bloody uprising. Then all of that blood and violence wakes up something even scarier from the bowels of the boat. Who immediately starts causing exponentially more blood and violence. And then things get really weird. And even bloodier and more violent.

Project Wolf Hunting is bloody and brutal almost to the point of absurdity, and its plot twists might be even more gleefully excessive than its gore. But in a good way. Writer/director Kim Hongsun’s screenplay is as clever as it is over the top. All of the wild pieces of the plot eventually fit together as surely as every possible piece of the human body is torn asunder. The effects are suitably gory while remaining just cartoonish enough to keep the rising body count fun instead of a horror that will make you question the nature of movies and life and haunt you until you die. The fight sequences have just the right smattering of martial arts prowess. And the cast throw themselves into their roles with excitable abandon. Especially Seo In-guk as the scenery and ear-chewing Park Jong-doo and Choi Gwi-hwa, who has one of the most impressive and intimidating physical presences you’ll find outside of a wrestling ring.

It’s obviously not going to be to everyone’s tastes, but if you have a strong enough stomach and a twisted enough mind, you’re in for a hell of a ride. 3/5 stars.