Movie Review: K-Pop Demon Hunters (2025)

K-Pop Demon Hunters (2025) co-written and co-directed by Chris Appelhans and Maggie Kang

For hundreds of years (if not thousands), humanity has been protected from the demon world by a trio of female singers who use their music to maintain a barrier between the human and demon worlds. Occasionally some demons still make it through, so the trio fights those demons. The current trio is riding high on success as HUNTR/X (pronounced "Huntrix"), a girl band like Blackpink. They are about to solidify the barrier when the demon king Gwi-ma (Lee Byung-hun) makes a deal with human/demon hybrid Jinu (Ahn Hyo-seop) who proposes that he and four other demons become a boy band to defeat HUNTR/X. Their songs' power is based on their fans' reactions, using that energy to firm up the barrier, so a popular boy band could weaken them. If the boy band wasn't enough of a problem, HUNTR/X lead singer Rumi (Arden Cho) is starting to have voice problems, partly because she is secretly half-demon herself. She hasn't told her partners because they might just fight it out...literally.

The story is very imaginative while it leans into a lot of tropes from the K-drama genre. The boy band has a BTS vibe and naturally Rumi and Jinu have unwanted romantic complications...or are they unwanted? The music is fun and catchy with entertaining choreography (sometimes including fights with hordes of demons). The action is exciting and over-the-top. The comedy works very well referencing a lot of Korean culture and basic human situations, making it relatable to everyone and especially enjoyable to K-pop and K-culture fans. It's easy to see why this movie is a big hit.

Recommended.