Netflix has announced the release date for its highly anticipated supernatural horror series, Hellbound. Riding high on the success of Squid Game, which released last week to thunderous acclaim, Netflix is hoping to wow the audience again with another thrilling Korean series. Created by the director of Train to Busan, Yeon Sang-ho,Hellbound sees devilish beings descend from the sky and condemn people to Hell while a detective, a lawyer, and a journalist investigate the incidents, linking them to a mysterious cult leader.
After month-long speculation, Hellbound finally has a release date. Fans awaiting Sang-ho’s follow-up to Train to Busan and its underwhelming sequel will get to witness action, horror, and insightful police procedural drama when Hellbound premieres on Netflix on November 19, 2021. Netflix released a trailer announcing the release date at its recent Global Fan Event TUDUM. You can check out the trailer below.
The trailer is the same as the one released earlier this month, albeit a bit longer. It opens with a man on TV narrating how angels appear in the sky, citing the name of a “recipient” and prophecize their death. He then goes on to reveal that “when the time comes, the Executors of Hell will fulfill the prophecy”. We then get a glimpse of an anxious man in a restaurant, checking the time as ominous music plays in the background. A sudden bang and boom, three dark, smoldering demons appear out of nowhere. After a brief chase, the demons pin the man down and drain his soul, leaving nothing but a charred corpse. And according to the early reviews, Hellbound will feature tons of such intense scenes and much more.
Netflix has also released the following plot synopsis for the series: “Unearthly beings deliver bloody condemnations, sending individuals to hell and giving rise to a religious group founded on the idea of divine justice.”
The whole series will center on how these strange events are tied to the rise of a religious sect called New Truth. Yoo Ah-in (Burning, #Alive) plays the leader of the cult, Jung Jin-soo, while Yang Ik-june (Breathless) plays a widowed detective Jin Kyung-hoon with Park Jung-min (Time to Hunt) playing a journalist and Kim Hyun-joo (Glass Slippers) playing the lawyer of the so-called sinners. Yeon Sang-ho has developed the series with Choi Gyu-seok based on the duo’s webtoon Hell.
Those expecting devious scares and violence won’t be disappointed with Hellbound, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Hellbound takes an unconventional approach to expand upon its intriguing premise, and like the webtoon, it will be an emotionally charged story about surviving social chaos. The series will be an investigative drama featuring sharp commentary on Korea’s social landscape. And bear in mind, the mysterious demons aren’t the only monsters in the series. As evident from the trailer, the people are far from helpful, with most of them choosing to record the incident on their phones instead of helping out. Greed, cults, blind faith, and mindless violence are some of the themes Hellbound will tackle.
Hellbound premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival to mostly positive reviews. The series will also be screened at the 26th Busan International Film Festival and BFI London Film Festival before streaming on Netflix from November 19. Be sure to check it out. This news was part of many new announcements to come out of TUDUM.