Death Name review: a subtle Korean American curse horror

Death Name is a fun, entertaining horror film, and I recommend giving it a watch. It follows a young Korean American woman who decides to use her traditional Korean name to reconnect with her cultural roots. Without knowing it, speaking and adopting that name reawakens a deadly family curse, passed down through generations and tied to a vengeful spirit.

What this film gets right, beyond the scares, is a broader theme that links a family curse to someone's desire to reconnect with where they come from. I wanted more development for the characters and their relationships, but overall I enjoyed it.

Death Name ties a generational curse to Sophie Park's search for her Korean roots

I enjoy horror stories that have a good backstory, and this one reaches back generations. The lead is Sophie Park, a college student who is trying to reconnect with her Korean heritage. She grew up without speaking the language at all. She has no Korean name to use, and she doesn't seem to know much about her family's history.

I loved how the story sets up her exploration of her culture and history, and how it connects that to her strong wish to connect with it as she tries to find out whether she has a Korean name. What she doesn't know is that the reason she never had one is bound up with a terrible family curse. I liked that it's rooted in a generational curse, because it gives the film the feel of a ghost story.

Light and shadow do the scaring in Death Name, not jump scares

The film doesn't lean heavily on sudden jump scares. There are a few, but they're fairly mild. What I liked more was the eerie play of light and shadow that makes you rub your eyes and ask yourself whether something was there at all.

I loved this approach because it's more subtle. To me it's scarier and more chilling. Overall, I feel the film places its horror moments and frightening situations in the right spots to reinforce its ideas.

The 82 minute runtime builds the curse well but rushes one relationship

Death Name runs about an hour and 22 minutes, and the filmmakers used that time well to establish the backstory of the family curse. It starts in a classic period setting and then moves into the modern day, so the audience clearly understands that something is happening to this family. The pieces are in place, and then the story gets going.

On the other hand, I think the short runtime sometimes hurt one part of the film: the relationship between two characters. I think I understand why they did it that way, but I don't want to spoil anything by explaining the reason. While I was watching, that relationship felt like it developed too quickly and didn't seem realistic. If I step back and look at the bigger picture, I think there's a reason for it, but the scene still felt awkward to me.

Even so, I loved the ending and I think it fit the story and the length of the film very well. The film moves fast because it's so short. If we had gotten an extra 10 to 15 minutes, I think many moments would have had room to breathe, and that's what I felt was missing. They just couldn't do it in the time they had.

Kevin Woo of K-pop Demon Hunters delivers a strong performance

Kevin Woo is also in Death Name. You may know him from K-pop Demon Hunters as the singing voice of Mystery. I don't want to say too much about his role because I don't want to spoil anything, but he gave a great performance.

If you're a fan of Kevin and haven't seen the film yet, make sure you check it out to see his acting. He's very good in it.

Death Name mirrors the experience of growing up second generation

I also liked the film's exploration of someone who truly wants to connect with her roots. For those of us who grew up as the second generation of immigrant parents, our parents often wanted us to assimilate into Western culture so much that we didn't speak our language at home, or we used American names because people couldn't pronounce our real ones properly, or for some other reason.

That isn't exactly the situation in the film, but you can link it to the same theme, and I saw a kind of parallel. I liked that they used it as part of the plot to drive the character's motivation to reconnect with her roots, and then she uncovers all of that horror and the reason her family avoided it all this time.

If you're looking for something to watch, especially around Halloween, Death Name is already available on Tubi, completely free. I recommend it. Give it a chance. I had a good time with it, and while I wished for more development of the characters and relationships, overall I enjoyed the film.