Upon learning Tubi’s latest Original Movie was tackling Korean culture, I wondered if Death Name was about the superstition of writing one’s name in red ink. Director Réi and writer Regina Kim, however, went in a totally different direction. Even still, the story offers promise and uniqueness among the streaming platform’s growing collection of exclusive horror titles. Here, a Korean American woman investigates her family ancestry, only to then discover a series of dark secrets that will ultimately decide the fate of her bloodline.
Another preconceived notion I had when walking into Death Name: this was, somehow, a riff on Death Note. For those who don’t know a thing about that manga and anime series, Death Note essentially shows a teenager using a journal to assassinate other people. This movie, on the other hand, is not a thing like that. Quite the opposite, it’s unlike anything out in the current horror atmosphere, apart from, perhaps, Final Destination Bloodlines. The similarities are surface, mind you. An Asian American cast, intergenerational trauma and curses, and a supernatural entity link these two movies. Réi and Kim’s story, though, does stand out more by digging into actual Korean history, as opposed to basing itself on totally fabricated lore that is specific to the movie itself.
Death Name’s main character is relatable for anyone who’s ever felt detached from their ethnic culture. Amy Keum plays Sophie Park, a Korean American whose trouble begins when she tries to get in touch with her heritage, after years and years of being denied it. Her grandmother (Vana Kim) made sure that Sophie, as well as Sophie’s mother (Eliza Shin), didn’t learn to speak Korean. The assimilation went as far as robbing Sophie of a Korean name to go with her English one. Or so, that’s what Sophie believed for all her life. Therein lies the inciting action: to approach the past would mean summoning a lot of pain in both the present and the future. Of course, as we all know, the recovery process is never easy.
On the bright side, Death Name explores a fervent topic that is refreshing to see in the horror landscape. Not since the 2000s has genuine Asian culture, and not just mythology, been the subject of a horror movie. Indeed, there is an otherworldly quality here, but keep in mind: the Park family’s troubling history is deeply rooted in some fact. That bit of the plot is as fascinating as it is sad.
Where Death Name wobbles the most is the execution. The casting of mostly Asian actors, namely Korean ones, is impressive and worth applause. The performances, however, vary throughout, with Keum standing higher than others and only becoming stronger as the story unfolds. Then there is the horror element, which is more tacked on rather than organic. It’s clear that the director and writer had a narrative objective here, but most of the time, that shared aim of theirs takes precedence over the genre’s most basic inclinations. A few phoned-in sequences do little more than to justify the horror classification. Then again, the origins of Sophie’s ancestral curse are so horrifying that any mere jump-scare would pale in comparison.
Death Name has visible shortcomings, but in this case, you can hopefully look past that and appreciate the intriguingly unconventional story on full display.
Death Name is now available on Tubi.
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