The Judge from Hell (2024)

Is there such a thing as a Christian Horror? Refreshing Old Tropes

Horror is a genre frequently described as meant to "hurt its audience"; it's supposed to evoke "negative" feelings such as disgust, dread, fright, squeamishness. To that end, authors use a particular set of tools to evoke particular sets of feelings, and since there are so many horrors, nothing new ever really happens.

There are three main things to like about this show. The refreshing of Old Tropes common to these kinds of stories. Combining tropes that normally not put together for this kind of show to give it a feel of creativity and newness. The use of skilled and experienced actors to give life to old material.

So, what you get here is a crime serial that combines tropes from several other genres to give the show a fresh feel. To say more is to spoil some of the twists the authors placed within the story. By placing these tropes within a crime serial and connecting it to cosmic justice made it enjoyable, even when some events are predictable. Since there are still surprises, and twists and turns to take us to the climax. The predictability did not make it boring. It was smart of the author, "even if we know where all this must end, what interesting and surprising ways can we get there. The twist is in the journey rather than the outcome. We are working with Character twists and character journey twists rather than plot twists.

We have interesting and likable and loathsome characters. We have a plain, common setting. We have a serial plot with lots of room to grow and the possibility of expansion. So, on technical merits it scores high. Good Characters. Mid Setting. Good Plot. Mild Gore. Good Music. Great Actors, and at times mind blowing acting. So how do we deal with a "plain, common, setting."? The author extends it. Indicating some mysteries beyond our typical Korean city, hiding beneath the surface. I truly wish the author, and actors might have been afforded more time to flesh out the world more and explore more intricate story and plot arcs. It would have done wonders to make the setting more interesting. The other experienced and skilled actors might have also gotten time to show their skills more.


There is another merit to this work the person watching for entertainment might not consider. The show is great. Watch it. The best production of 2024. The Plot, Setting and Characters together are interesting, even though separately mid. That is my review as a piece of entertaining K-Drama.

The real meat of the show is in the philosophy of the work, the thinkers and ideas I think were adopted for the inspiration of the story; and the themes explored. Divine Providence, Cosmic Justice and Legal Justice. If we take C.S. Lewis (Screwtape Letters, till we have faces) Dostoevsky (The Demons) and the Bible as launching pad. This work is an excellent piece of death education, philosophical theodicy to the problem of justice and interesting challenge to moral nihilism and how legal justice is powerless in the face of it all. There are things seemingly played for laughs or to show the quirkiness of the characters that turn out to be significant. What is it that can change "Dostoevsky style demons"? Can it be related to the silence of God? What is hell like to the soul given to depravity?

The first watch, it's a fun serial, with laughs and tears. The second watch is more serious. A Christian horror tackling the silence of God and Cosmic justice. So, watch it, and if you get a chance afterwards; read "the Screwtape letters", "Till We have Faces" and if you can stomach it add "The Demons". Then watch it again.

If you really have time, and love reading (all by C.S. Lewis), you can throw in
The Weight of Glory
The Great Divorce
The Problem of Pain
Miracles
The Final Battle (The last book of the Chronicles of Narnia)
The Abolition of Man

To further the appreciate the philosophical and theological depths of this drama. I might even be inspired to give a spoiler review for those who might want to watch it a second time and look out for interesting stuff.

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I wouldn't say it's the best kdrama of the year but it's a really good one

Story: I think the entire punish the sinner thing is dumb. But the rest of the stories and the rest of the plot was good. There were a few moments I felt like were rushed. Bael felt forced. But overall it was good. It felt like they wanted to put and do a lot of things but didn't have the time for it.

Acting: Everyone did a great job and Park Shin Hye was incredible! She delivered the emotions and the charisma of the character perfectly. Also Kim Jae Young did an incredible job. Their chemistry together was insane. They really complement eo.
I do have a problem but it's not with the acting as much as it's with the casting. Many of the actors looked like their characters' real self. What I mean is that I could tell if they were a bad guy or a guy that did bad things out of fear. Like no surprises but it's not because the story is lacking but just because I get what they are from their looks.

Directing: Good! The ferris wheel scene was so beautiful.

Editing: The image of the broken leg and finger was so fake it hurts. The flying from the slap or just flying in general was so bad. I felt like I could see the wires (but Idk if it's editing or smt they should've fixed when filming), same with the falling of the cliff.

Choreography: Fun. I enjoyed the fight scenes. The actors sold it and it's impressive to watch the bts.

Overall it's good.

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A perfect story

As Justitia gets punished by Bael and is forced to live on earth in the body of Kang Bit things start getting haywire at the court. And the close observance of Detective Da On is only making it worse. Kang Bit na is a beautiful judge who speaks cutthroat in court and releases criminals with a meager punishment. But people around her are unaware that she is a demon who has been secretly killing sinners she is identifying in court to fulfill her job given by Bael.
The unique and fresh concept of the story successfully draws the audience to the first episode. Park Shin Hye in a completely different avatar and her chemistry with Kim Jae Young is only making the ride smooth.
So.....go to gehnna....

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Basic and underwhelming

It’s like, a “mystery” that gets solved in two seconds

they think they're being "smart" by the "plot twists", two faced people that fool the law, but they're so obv, i mean why would they even take the case if that person wasn't the villain xD

for the first case, he fooled the people by claiming he "was repenting". but yeah let's say the law would've put him in jail for a year and he'd come back, but so many things that happened was eyeroll worthy
And the victim is too scared to leave her house cuz he’ll kill her so she chooses to stay alone, won't open the door for the cop who said he'll help, but opens the door for a random stranger claiming to be sent by that cop



for the second case, everyone believed her, and ml comes with her record that she killed her previous husband after he becomes blind, so yeah when there's three mysterious accidents, it starts to make fun of the law




so, the fl is being like death note's light, she is murdering ppl and creating fear with her way of exposing it like a serial killer
And then they add romance to make it look fluffy...

Yes she’s taking rightful revenge, but she also “killed” two not bad ppl without evidence, and she leaves bodies for fun..

So it can create the same chaos as death note, ppl don’t know she’s a demon judging villains cuz it’s her “role/job”, same with dramas like no way out, others would think “ah I can kill a murderer too” and start killing and judging cuz the law won’t

So they’re adding the romance to make it lighter and never go that far in their actual plot..

and this demon judge character, is so over animated, extremely comical, they had to make her so comical to lighten up the role but the over exaggerated facial expressions and extremely high pitched voice just makes it annoying
I don’t wanna compare her to IU but HDL was exactly the perfect balance, she seemed evil and scary but it kept a good comedy while still allowing her to be cute yet mythically believable as someone who’s lived for so long


After a while, she stops “judging” and it became another boring mystery chase for the worlds most obvious serial killer and satan
They had “three” big side plots:
Fl being chased by the demon that would kill her if she cried
Ml finding the serial killer
Fl finding satan

First one, even tho they killed another poor demon for it, she was “spared”
Second one was tied to the third one, the big scary demon she had to hunt, that was solved in two seconds
And they made such a big deal on all and how she didn’t want to kill the serial killer cuz the victims deserved justice

Just for him to run away from the law and her having to finish him off….


They were also talking so much about how if she didn’t kill the serial killer, she’d die… again for them to let that go
And they give her three years to enjoy her time with ml, just for her to leave him and occasionally meet him
And then she’s given yet another chance that if she killed xx amount of ppl, she’ll become human

So, she can be a murderer judge, have feelings, kill ppl and leave marks like a serial killer, get romance, and the chance to become human when



That demon who just loved a human was killed off, real bitna was left in hell without any justice, and PSH wasn’t the real justina, like if she’s allowed to become human, she should have her own face of nara


So yeah I really hated this, they had so many big scary hard to achieve plots, and half were skimmed over while the other half were forgotten…

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poor frames transition

I am an avid kdrama watcher as it helps me relieves stress but I am also interested in film/media. we're just on ep6 i hope the editors will take note of this one especially since this is under disney, viewing experience should be seamless. when it comes to plot, casts, and music they're all good. but one thing i noticed is the changing of frames are bothering as some transitions are late or too fast. in d world of film this is a downside. i hope disney will do something about it. ive watched some of kdramas they produced before and i had a good experience but im not on this one, this might be on the editors end

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So Far So Good

Love both the ML and FL, so that helps. I’ve been kind of in a bit of a slump lately, but this has gotten me out of that. I kind of wish I would have waited for all episodes to air, but I was too anxious. Now I have to wait every week after they leave the currently airing episodes on a cliff hanger. I so far love it, but you how that goes. It’s a revenge kind of genre which I tend to like, with a very different kind of plot. If you don’t like a supernatural kind of Dramas, don’t bother watching this. So far, the FL character is unlikeable, but I have a feeling this will change. We will see going forward, and I’ll re-score it and review it at the end.

I started with a rating of 9, but it dropped to a 8.5. It was really good, but towards the end, it jumped around a lot. I would watch it again, but I really didn’t like the edits too much. Real short scenes toward the end then black, then another short scene. Liked the beginning more than the end.

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