KPop Demon Hunters Review

29 Sep, 2025

12 weeks and 3 days after the release of Kpop Demon Hunters, I finally watched the movie. I'd been avoiding it because I had exams and needed to concentrate, and there was a lot of hype around it. I managed to dodge listening to any of the songs in it—even as they topped charts—until I was done with it. I watched it earlier this month and these are my thoughts on it, mostly on the music and its relevance to me as a kpop fan.

Most of this post is just an expansion of my thoughts about it while watching it, and not a review of the movie itself. Don't expect too much.

Disclaimer: I'm not saying anything that hasn't already been said about this movie, but I wanted to write about it.

The Bias List does a better review of the movie than I do, even though he doesn't really say much about the songs. We share the same sentiments though, and the comment section provides some great songs to listen to, some of which are also included in this post.

This might contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

The Movie

Let's get this out of the way first. I'm not a film buff, so I'm only going to write about the aspects that I liked and those I didn't. Anything else is beyond the scope of this blog.

Animation

• I hated the exaggerated anime-like faces they pulled at times though. Like this one:

It just irritates me to my core for some reason, and this was the first strike against the movie from what I saw of the trailer. It wasn't as bad as I feared actually watching the movie, but it's still annoying.

• Score: 5/5

Story

What the Movie is About
KPDH follows a trio of demon hunters (HUNTR/X) who moonlight as kpop idols. Things seem to be going well for them and they're almost near retirement if they can get a hit song, but another kpop group stands in their way. The twist? The other group are all demons. Even more twisty: the leader of HUNTR/X, Rumi, is half-demon.

• It was OK, although it was unrealistic at points and the suspension of disbelief couldn't be sustained. For example, Huntrix spying on the Saja Boys in the variety show and none of the staff of the show calls them out on not being invited? They just accept it? Fine, it's a kids' movie, let's skip that. Huntrix wrote a diss track (by themselves, mind you) and were planning to release it? With how popular the Saja Boys were Huntrix would have gotten cancelled.

  • Even more unrealistic: the focus on food. I get that they're big and can supposedly do whatever they want, but most celebrities diet, Korean or not. It's not a bad thing though; this is a kids' movie and we should not be selling the message of starving yourself to them.

• The movie felt very Western to me. Apart from the mythology and the bits of Korean spoken nothing else made me feel like I was watching a movie set in Korea.

• I liked the names of the groups, especially the stylization of Huntrix as HUNTR/X. Felt very true to kpop.

• I also have some questions that are probably not going to be answered. Why is Rumi's hair always in that long, most likely very tight braid? How did the souls eaten by Gwi-Ma get returned? Is Gwi-Ma a container for souls or is he actually eating them, because if he was eating them they should've been digested already.

• Score: 3/5

Characters

• They were all flat and uninteresting. I did not care about a single one of them besides Mira, and that's only because I like her character design and her demeanour.

• It's fine not to flesh out the Saja Boys besides Jinu, since they were just demons and they were going to die anyway, but there was no excuse for giving the rest of Huntrix better development. We get hints of Mira and Zoey's backgrounds from Golden, but it's not enough.

• Rumi's main character syndrome drags the story back for me. I get it, she's the main character and the one in true danger, but if the movie was pushing all three of them then we should have gotten all three in the important action scenes. That part at the end where Rumi runs towards Gwi-Ma on her own, like she does for most of the movie, really buttresses the fact that the rest of Huntrix aren't as important as she is. It might actually be the most realistic part of the movie, seeing as some real-life kpop groups end up like this, being Rumi and the Huntrix instead of a group.

• The Saja Boys: ended up being parodies of real kpop groups. I'm not sure if their looks are meant to be a criticism of the way plastic surgery morphs some idol's faces into caricatures and pulls them down into the uncanny valley, but if it wasn't…well. I have no idea what fans of this movie are thirsting over. Jinu and Abby I can see it for, but the remaining three are hard to look at.

• Equally hard to look at was that tiger. I'm surprised I didn't get nightmares from it.

• Score: 2/5

Final Verdict

Averaging the scores from each aspect I wrote about, my rating for this movie is 3.33. This makes sense; the movie is nice, but it didn't change my life, and I can do without a re-watch.

The Music of KPDH

We're on to the music finally. I wasn't impressed by any of the songs, even more because they've been charting for weeks. I avoided listening to them until after my exams, in case they got too catchy. As it turns out, after finally watching the movie the only songs I can maybe sing along to are Golden and What It Sounds Like, and that is not an endorsement.

What I Thought of the Songs

• How It's Done: BLACKPINK sound-alike. Nearly all of BP's songs sound like this, and it's not just Blackpink, it's their producer's trademark. It's not unsurprising to learn that TEDDY, BP's producer, was involved in some of these songs. This also reminded me of K/DA, but only slightly.

• Golden: IVE's I Am, but less interesting. I'd rather listen to IVE.

• Soda Pop: Catchy.

• Takedown: Another BP clone, but I prefer it to How It's Done. The rapping was surprisingly realistic in how cringe it was. Kpop groups, let go of rapping abeg. We can have great songs that don't need raps in them.

• Free: Eh.

• Your Idol: I loved the visuals for this. In the context of the movie the song works great, but outside of it it's not great. The same thing can be said about all the songs in this movie.

• What It Sounds Like: The best Huntrix song. I like it because it fits in the context of the movie, and maybe even outside. It's also great to sing along to.

Songs You Should Check Out Instead

• Someone made a playlist that I agree with for the most part.

• Another one here, although it's based on genres and I don't agree with all of it.

• And another one.

My Recommendations

• If you liked Golden, then check out:

  • I AM, IVE: Definitely listen to this. This was the OG and the song that Golden takes inspiration from.

• If you liked How It's Done, then check out:

  • Drama, Black Mamba, Savage, Illusion, Girls, Supernova, aespa: aespa and their Kwangya universe should have been the go-to inspiration for these songs. With songs like Black Mamba and Drama I don't know why the makers of KPDH didn't go in this direction.
  • ANTIFRAGILE, LE SSERAFIM

• If you liked Takedown, then check out:

  • Kill This Love, DDU-DU DDU-DU, BLACKPINK: BP's producer clearly wrote most of Huntrix's songs, as I've said.
  • Adios, DUN DUN, EVERGLOW
  • THE BADDEST, POP/STARS, MORE, K/DA: the original virtual kpop group. Huntrix who?
  • PANDORA, MAVE:: another virtual kpop group
  • Armageddon, aespa

• If you liked Soda Pop, then check out:

  • Cream Soda, EXO
  • Boy With Luv, Butter, BTS

• If you liked Your Idol, then check out:

  • Mama, EXO: The original! Saja Boys could never!
  • Obsession, Monster, EXO
  • Favourite Boys (Goblin), A.C.E
  • HALAZIA, ATEEZ

• Lastly, I made my own playlist for songs that I think would fit in the movie. It eventually devolved to just songs I like, but I hope anyone listening to it has a great time with it. Enjoy!
  • Spotify
  • YouTube
  • Deezer

Previous

Next

#misc #reviews