Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
A pastor is convinced of receiving divine revelations from God about ‘punishing’ the criminal who might’ve kidnapped his son, his actions obstructing a detective’s investigation into another missing case.
Created by Yeon Sang-ho (director) and Kyu-Seok Choi (writer), the 2025 Korean movie Revelations is a dark drama/thriller that begins with a girl nervously walking to her church as a creepy man stalks her. Unaware that the man is a stalker, Pastor Min-chan (Ryu Jun-yeol) encourages the stranger to join his church. But once Min-chan learns the man is an ex-convict named Yang-rae (Shin Min-jae), an unfortunate chain of events changes not just their lives, but also that of detective Yeon-hee (Shin Hyun-been), who has been tailing Yang-rae for both personal and professional reasons.
Violence, abuse, religious mania, and PTSD are some of the core themes explored in Revelations over its two-hour runtime. It’s a broody thriller with three distinct protagonists: the criminal, the pastor, and the cop; although Ryu Jun-yeol’s Pastor Min-chan gets the most screen time. In his first scene, he appears to be a kind, benevolent man of God, but as the plot progresses, he scarily morphs into a manic religious zealot suffering from pareidolia, a condition where a person perceives deeper visual meanings in their surroundings. For instance, Min-Chan often interprets cloud patterns or wall patterns as Jesus Christ, or as some other religious motif.
The young girl in the introductory scene goes missing, and Yang-rae is suspected to have kidnapped her, with ample proof indicating his guilt. Shin Hyun-been is the right amount of sinister and creepy in his limited screen-time as former convict Yang-rae. The character is a violent criminal shaped by a tragic, abuse-ridden childhood, with his past helping him in attaining a lighter sentence for a serious crime. Revelations raises a compelling question: do criminals like Yang-rae deserve a second chance? Interestingly, the script offers answers as well by giving the ex-convict a decisive ending, one shaped by the actions of those around him.
Yeon-hee’s connection with the former convict Yang-rae is explained through brief flashbacks, and it’s these scenes that could’ve benefited from more screen time to help viewers establish a stronger connection with the detective’s character – especially since she is pushed to the forefront as the climax approaches. Both Pastor Min-chan and Yeon-hee abhor the ex-convict Yang-rae, but their belief systems differ greatly. For the pastor, Yang-rae represents “Satan’s child,” while for the detective, he is simply a criminal who should’ve remained behind bars.
The ending is dramatic, conventional, and slightly predictable. If you enjoy thrillers with morally grey characters and some religious drama, this is pretty good one-time watch.
Rating: 3 on 5. Watch ‘Revelations’ on Netflix.
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