Among a strong batch of international features screening as part of SXSW London's Shivers strand, Forte proved once again why South Korean movies hold such a special place in the hearts of horror fans. The directorial debut from filmmaker Kim Kimbo, Forte centres on Yeonji (Chae-young Leem), a young aspiring composer who has just landed her dream job at noted Forte Studio – working with a team of musicians to create the soundtrack for an acclaimed director's new movie. Isolated high in the mountains of South Korea, Forte is both daunting and awe-inspiring to Yeonji, who quickly comes to learn that the studio's stern director Jeongwha (Lee Jung-eun) harbours more sinister intentions that could be related to the bewitching pull of the surrounding impenetrable forest, and the figure watching Yeonji from the trees.

Even evident in his debut, Kim clearly has an impeccable eye for aesthetics, with Forte's biggest strengths coming from the heavy, humid atmosphere crafted in part by the contrast between the lush green forest and the looming, brutalist structure of the music studio. The thunderous, constant rain of Korea's monsoon season provides a viscerally damp backdrop to the ominous occurrences, while lulling you into a false sense of security with hypnotic rhythm. If you're a seasoned genre fan, you should already know that Korean horror generally likes to take its sweet time ramping up, and Forte is no different – the scares are subtle and slow, the unsettling images allowed to linger.

As one would hope for in a film so heavily focused on music, Forte boasts an entirely original score from Frédéric Alvarez, who blends ominous drones, not too dissimilar to the work of Akira Yamaoka, with sublime, classically-inspired piano melodies that swell in tandem with the film's most effective scenes. Soldered by Kim's own experience, along with its supernatural elements, Forte also provides a scathing critique of the cutthroat music industry and how promising young talents are all too often used and abused by their higher-ups.

While Forte's style is hard to fault, it's left to do the heavy lifting while the substance of the film falters. An underbaked script and poorly developed characters lead to a number of confusing moments (more so than can be justified by an unreliable protagonist), particularly in regards to Yeonji's unravelling and the motivations of those around her. Speaking at SXSW London, Kim stressed that Forte's ending is open to viewer interpretation, which would be easier to do if said ending didn't come joltingly out of left field.

However, there's still a lot to love in Forte, especially for those who like their horror heavy on vibes. Leem in particular proves herself as a promising emerging talent, ramping up her performance to take Yeonji from naive, wide-eyed subordinate to a woman teetering on the edge of a crashing crescendo of madness. Kim also demonstrates himself as a director to watch, taking aim at cultural expectations of women, both young and older, especially in regards to South Korea's strict hierarchical social customs, to conduct a symphony that's more complex than it may initially seem.

Forte had its world premiere at SXSW London 2025