It first formed in the ratty mattress of an unhappy couple. He was rather irresponsible and lazy, so maybe it is fitting he becomes the first victim of the fungus. Despite the conspicuous black rot-like fungus, their former mattress gets passed around. At one point, it even ends up at a love hotel, where it attacks another unhappy couple. Ironically, it forms an affectionate bond with one of his victims, who remains bed-ridden on the offending mattress, presumably to prevent further contamination.
Since the film unfolds from the POV of the fungus, it is necessarily fragmented. As a result, it very definitely has an avant-garde vibe, but there are still vividly disgusting elements of body horror. Perhaps this is more interesting as a concept than an executed film. Even at an economical 65 minutes, it is a bit of a challenge to sit through a film dedicated to a toxic fungus.
Park deliberately frames the film from off-kilter and oblique perspectives, in a hazy, gauzy style. Yet, somehow, the performances of Park Ji-hyeon and Moon Hye-in are strangely, perhaps shockingly, emotionally resonant as two of the women most directly affected by the noxious, semi-sentient fungus.
