RV Resurrected Victims is About Victims Coming Back for Justice

“RV: Resurrected Victims” is a 2017 Korean movie based on the novel “Jongryodweeotseubmida”, and categorized as Crime, Mystery, Suspense, Horror, and Supernatural or Fantasy.

♦ Mom Died! What Do You Mean She Came Back Home?

In “RV: Resurrected Victims”, a supernatural phenomenon has occurred. It’s the first case in Korea but this event has happened in other parts of the world. Victims of violent crimes who did NOT get justice come back from the dead and get justice for themselves.

But why doesn’t anybody know about such events? Because “the government” does not want this to get out. Can you imagine the public reaction if they knew people were rising from the dead? Panic! Chaos! Disbelief! Belief! What about the criminals who committed the crimes and slipped through the justice system? Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.

According to secret classified reports, the resurrected victims only come back to the place where their deaths occurred, they kill the criminal who murdered them, and then they spontaneously combust! Yep. Justice has been served. There is no reason for them to stay in this world. So they crossover to … ??? … wherever.

Seo Jin-Hong is a high-profile prosecutor. He is where he is because of his mother’s love and sacrifice. It was a rainy day and he could see his mother, Choi Myung-Sook, standing across the street. Before he or she knew it, a thief on a motorcycle grabbed her purse. Instead of letting go of the purse, she held on to it.

The thief dragged her along with her purse. He fell off the motorcycle because she would not let go. It looked like everything happened at the same time. The thief grabbed her purse and got away. But she was brutally stabbed to death. Who stabbed her? Was it the thief or someone else?

The immediate suspicion is that the robber is also the murderer. When Seo Jin-Hong reaches his mother, she dies in his arms. Seven years go by and Seo Jin-Hong does not believe that his mother’s murderer was ever brought to justice. One day his sister calls and tells him their mother has come home.

His sister takes medication for a mental condition, but he does not dismiss her words. He goes to her home and is shocked. His mother … who died … was in the kitchen cooking!! Do you think that was a shock? He was even more shocked when his mother tried to attack him with a knife!! Choi Myung-Sook becomes unconscious and they take her to the hospital for observation.

Seo Jin-Hong doesn’t understand what’s going on. Son Young-Tae knows a lot about the RV phenomenon. He introduces himself to Seo Jin-Hong and explains that as unbelievable as it looks, the woman lying in the hospital bed is his mother who died 7 years ago. He explains the reasons why resurrected victims return. Once they kill the person responsible for their deaths, they leave!

Son Young-Tae tells him the victims are never wrong. They would not attack a person who was not the criminal who attacked them or the one who caused their death. Seo Jin-Hong is confused because his mother attacked him. Seo Jin-Hong believes that his mother’s murder investigation was bungled and the reason she returned is to find the real criminal who killed her. The murderer must still be out there.

As a prosecutor, he reopens her case and starts investigating again. He finds out that there were many things about his mother’s case that did not add up. This time he was going to get to the truth. He needed to know why his mother came back from the dead and attacked him.

Main Characters:

• Seo Jin-Hong (played by Kim Rae-Won, “Decibel“, “The First Responders 1 and 2“, “L.U.C.A.: The Beginning“)
• Choi Myung-Sook (played by Kim Hae-Sook, “My Demon“, “Under the Queen’s Umbrella“, “Hotel King“)
• Son Young-Tae (played by Sung Dong-Il, “Ghost Doctor“, “Hwarang“)

Where to Watch

Viewership and Rating:

• IMDb: 5.7 out of 10 stars
• My Drama List: 7.2 out of 10 stars
• Rotten Tomatoes: 2 out of 5 stars
• Letterboxd: 2.9 out of 5 stars
• Amazon customers rated this film: 4.2 out of 5 stars

My personal rating is 7 out of 10 stars.

“RV: Resurrected Victims” posed a question in the beginning and you did not get the answer until The End: Why did Seo Jin-Hong’s mother come back from the dead to kill him?

By The End of the film, there was also a couple of other questions:

• Supposedly Choi Myung-Sook was the first RV in Korea. But was she really the first? Maybe there were more of them walking around that “the government” didn’t know about.
• Supposedly the RVs came back for revenge. Do the resurrected victims ever forgive? What If they came back, learned some additional details, and decided to forgive the person responsible for their death? 

Both are valid questions. Don’t you agree?

LINKS OF INTEREST:

• A ‘Resurrected Victim’ returns with a purpose | Korea JoongAng Daily
• Review: RV: RESURRECTED VICTIMS Is A Consequential Thriller That Supercedes The Paranormal | Film Combat Syndicate
• Kim Rae Won returns to big screen with horror mystery ‘RV: Resurrected Victims’ | The Drama Corner

TRAILERS/TEASERS:

Well. “RV: RESURRECTED VICTIMS Official Trailer | Directed by Kwak Kyung-Taek | Starring Kim Rae-Won.” YouTube Video. YouTube, September 28, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzqkYisY5UQ.