The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra is a heady, at times strangely haunting mix of creature feature, body horror, and urbane set fantasy. The early 2020 South Korean film regards a mattress that grows a strange mold-bound creature in its springy depths- which feeds/ grows from removing   Vertebra from its human prey. So it’s a film that brings true horror to a place where you should be feeling comfy &  relaxed. Here from Indiepix Film is a region-free DVD of the film.

The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra is from the year 2022. It was directed, written, and filmed by Park Sye-young. This is his one and only film, and I must say it’s an impressive debut- it sits on the cusp of short & feature-length features- as it rolls in at one minute over the hour mark.

The film opens with two delivery men standing outside in the falling snow- one is on the phone getting cross with a woman, as the pair are there to deliver a mattress- and no one is there to accept it. She apologizes & says her boyfriend should have been there- she rushes back dragging it in herself to her new apartment. Laying on the floor is her long-haired boyfriend- who we find out has some form of narcolepsy/ similar, so he ends up spending a lot of time on the mattress.

We then get neat speed-up footage of the bed, its sheets, and its two occupants   - as we get a count down until birth- from several hundred days to just a few- stopping one or twice along the visual rush to check in on the couple & their quirky/ lightly trouble relationship.

As we arrive at the birthday a patch of green ‘n’ grey mold has appeared- and just after slumbering for a short time a tentacle breaks through the mattress, suddenly attacking the man's back-  ripping a Vertebra from the his back.

From here we follow the journey of the mattress and the creature- as it goes from attacking a pair of workmen who lean against it. Into a love hotel where a breakout couple have met up, and beyond. With each new attack, the creature seems to grow with rather icky footage of the thing bloodily expanding/ stretching in its mattress setting- with unsettling sound texturing.

The film's visual effects are most effective/ intentive going from the already mentioned sped-up bed footage, to a few close-up shots of jittering teeth/ lips, of course, the creature's growth itself, and a few other moments.

Throughout the rather shifting cast is all good with what they are given. With the films just over an hour been perfect for the story it has to tell- with the whole thing resolving in a rather haunting & creepy manner. So, I do hope we’ll get to see more work from Park Sye-young, as it’s a most impressive debut.

The region-free DVD is a bare bare-bones affair- with just a trailer. The English subtitles can be switched on & off- these are clear/ well defined throughout.  It would have been nice to at least get an interview with the films director/ writer- but I know it’s not always possible/ viable to do extras. 

The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra certainly is a distinctive & wonderfully strange creation- sure the whole idea of something nasty within a mattress/ bed is not something wholly new. But the way the idea is approached here is most inventive & refreshing.