Unseen Terror: Day 6

Ya know, we're only 6 days into this thing, but I have a strong feeling this one is going to be hard to top.





I Saw the Devil


The film's plot follows Soo-hyun, a secret agent whose pregnant fiancee is brutally murdered by a serial killer, Kyung-chul. After receiving a list of potential suspects, Soo-hyun decides to seek revenge on his own terms, and drags the killer into a deranged version of "Cat and Mouse," though he may have to be careful he doesn't become a monster in order to catch one himself.

I'll just come right out and say it: this is a very disturbing, but very moving horror/thriller. It also might be my favorite film I've seen this year, as I'm usually a sucker for anything Korean thriller/horror related. Director Kim Ji-woon might be somewhat familiar to Asian cinema fans as the director of A Tale of Two Sisters and The Good, The Bad, The Weird, but I can assure you that this film is nothing like his previous work (not knocking those films though). It's violence is plentiful, but I felt like it was in the vein of movies like Irreversible and Oldboy; realistic and ultimately unsettling, but pivotal. If I could hand out Best Actor nods, I would love to see Choi Min-Sik (also of Oldboy fame) get a nomination. His character is despicable, and downright loathsome, but in the end, still very much a human being. Lee Byung-hun (who you might recognize as Storm Shadow from the live-action G.I. Joe), who portrays Soo-hyun, is also excellent and we see the changes his character goes through throughout the film. There are times that we identify with him, and others where we fear him almost as much as our designated "villains."

I don't really have any gripes with this film, but I will warn some that it's very long (almost 2 1/2 hours) but in my opinion, it doesn't drag at all and manages to hold it's pace fine. I'd say that if the first 35-40 minutes don't hook you, then I'm not sure you'll have the patience to finish. Me? I loved nearly every second of it and highly recommend it. Hell, I'll even admit the ending almost made me tear up, which is so rare for something like this imo. Fantastic stuff.

Tomorrow, I go all medieval of your asses with BLACK DEATH.