What’s it About?

When his pregnant fiancee becomes the latest victim of a serial killer, a secret agent blurs the line between good and evil in his pursuit of revenge.

I Saw The Devil

Directed by Kim Jee-woon

10 out of 10

By Paul

I’m a huge lover of all things horror, and in this day and age it’s quite hard to find a good horror flick. That’s why I didn’t have high expectations when I started this movie, but boy was I wrong! Min-sik Choi is the first reason to watch this gem. I can see everybody going: Min-sik Who?? Now, to create that ah-hah! moment: He played the lead in Oldboy. After that memorable and raw performance of a guy who was locked up and tortured for years on end he followed it up with this, his role as Kyung-Chul, a very twisted serial killer.

The movie has a very simple premise: A serial killer is on the loose, agent tries to stop him. But this is just the beginning. It’s a movie thats hard to review in some ways because most of its force lies in the fact that you don’t know whats coming. However, having said that, its not so much the twists and turns but its sheer brutality that manages to get my most respect. If we look at horror in its present form, we’re mainly talking gore. However, gore on itself isn’t what makes a movie reach great heights, it needs characters, a story and a viewer who is willing to get involved in it all. So with that in mind: consider the first 40 minutes as a set-up in ‘I Saw The Devil’ and be prepared to witness brutality.

And you don’t need much to get involved. The cinematography is gorgeous and the terror that Kyung-Chul represents is felt from the first frame on wards. Don’t be afraid of the Korean speech or names like Kyung-Chul, it’s very well subtitled in English and it doesn’t take more than 20 minutes to get used to it. When you look at horror you will soon find out that if you want to see good movies you need to look beyond Hollywood and into countries like France, Korea, Japan or even the UK. If your new to this sort of thing, consider this movie the nasty whore that will take your virginity.

We are almost at the end of this love letter, sometimes it needs to be short and sweet. When you’re doubting if this movie is right for you, think Oldboy mixed with Silence of the Lambs and add a bit of Seven for flavour. Put some effort in to get the uncut version which runs for 141 minutes, because this is one movie that needs to be seen unrated! I guarantee you that this is not ”Paul’s Pick,” this will be your pick after seeing it. Enjoy!