Story of movie I Saw The Devil : I Saw the Devil (Hangul: ??? ???; Hanja: ??? ???; RR: Akmareul boatda) is a 2010 South Korean action horror thriller film directed by Kim Jee-woon, and written by Jee-woon and Park Hoon-jung. Starring Lee Byung-hun and Choi Min-sik, the film follows NIS agent Kim Soo-hyun (Byung-hun), who embarks on a quest of revenge when his fiancée is brutally murdered by a psychopathic murderer, Jang Kyung-chul (Min-sik). I Saw the Devil made its premiere in the United States at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and had a limited U.S theatrical release.
| I Saw the Devil | |
|---|---|
Korean theatrical poster | |
| Hangul | ??? ??? |
| Hanja | ??? ??? |
| Revised Romanization | Akmareul boatda |
| McCune–Reischauer | Akmar?l poatta |
| Directed by | Kim Jee-woon |
| Produced by | Kim Hyung-woo Jo Sung-won Kim Jae-young Kim Jung-hwa |
| Written by | Park Hoon-jung Kim Jee-woon |
| Starring | Lee Byung-hun Choi Min-sik |
| Music by | Mowg |
| Cinematography | Lee Mo-gae |
| Edited by | Nam Na-yeong |
| Distributed by | Showbox/Mediaplex |
Release date |
|
Running time | 141 minutes |
| Country | South Korea |
| Language | Korean |
| Budget | US$6 million |
| Box office | US$12.8 million |
I Saw the Devil was Choi Min-sik's first major role since the changes to the Korean screen quota system.
Screenplay
Academy-bus driver Jang Kyung-chul runs into Jang Joo-yun one snowy night and offers to fix her flat tire. Kyung-chul kills her and scatters her body parts. When a boy discovers one of Joo-yun's ears, the police are called in under the command of Section Chief Oh and Squad Chief Jang (Joo-yun's father). Kim Soo-hyun, a secret service agent of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and Joo-yun's fiancé, vows to track down and take vengeance on Joo-yun's murderer.
Jang supplies Soo-hyun with a list of four suspects, including Kyung-chul. Searching Kyung-chul's home, Soo-hyun finds jewelry and underwear taken from numerous victims. The discovery of Joo-yun's engagement ring proves that Kyung-chul is the killer. Soo-hyun places a tracking device on the school bus, following and then attacking Kyung-chul while he is sexually assaulting his latest victim - one of the schoolgirls he was transporting home. Beating him unconscious, Soo-hyun places a NIS transmitter inside Kyung-chul, allowing him to track him on radar and listen to his conversations. Waking up, Kyung-chul flags down a taxi. During the ride, Kyung-chul realizes that the two men in the cab are thugs looking to rob and possibly kill him. He stabs both men to death. After finding the real taxi driver in the trunk, Kyung-chul disposes of all three bodies before going to a medical center, where he attempts to sexually assault a nurse Han Song-yi. Soo-hyun intervenes and slashes Kyung-chul's Achilles tendon before letting him go again.
Kyung-chul goes to the home of his friend Tae-joo, a cannibalistic murderer. After explaining his situation, Tae-joo remarks that whoever is after him must have some relation to one of his victims. Soo-hyun arrives while Kyung-chul is having anal sex with Se-jung (Tae-joo's girlfriend), proceeding to incapacitate both murderers along with Se-jung after a fierce fight. The next day, both Tae-joo and Se-jung are found by the police and sent to a hospital. A trusted subordinate of Soo-hyun ensures he and Kyung-chul are sent to a private medical area away from the police. The barely conscious Kyung-chul hears them talk about the transmitter inside him.
Soo-hyun dumps Kyung-chul, intending to continue stalking him. Kyung-chul taunts him over the transmitter, now knowing who he is. Kyung-chul brutally assaults a pharmacist while searching for laxatives, forcing Soo-hyun to rush to the aid of the victim. Kyung-chul uses this time to defecate out the transmitter and place it inside a taxi driver he viciously assaults in a public restroom. Soo-hyun interrogates Tae-joo and learns that Kyung-chul is going after Joo-yun's father Jang and sister Jang Se-yun.
Soo-hyun is too late to stop Kyung-chul, who blinds Jang with a dumbbell and mutilates Se-yun. He narrowly abducts Kyung-chul before he can give up himself to the police. Soo-hyun tortures him before setting up a guillotine above Kyung-chul's head, which is triggered when his parents and son arrive to visit him and open the door to the room. Placing a transmitter nearby, Soo-hyun hears the death of Kyung-chul and his family's reaction to his decapitated corpse. Alternating between sobbing and fits of laughter, Soo-hyun suffers a mental breakdown while walking away from the house.
- Lee Byung-hun as Kim Soo-hyun, an agent in the National Intelligence Service
- Choi Min-sik as Jang Kyung-chul, an academy bus driver and serial killer
- Oh San-ha as Jang Joo-yun, Soo-hyun's fiance
- Jeon Gook-hwan as Squad Chief Jang, Joo-yun's father
- Kim Yoon-seo as Jang Se-yun, Joo-yun's sister
- Chun Ho-jin as Section Chief Oh, the leader of the police
- Choi Moo-sung as Tae-joo, Kyung-chul's friend
- Kim In-seo as Se-jung, Tae-joo's girlfriend
- Yoon Chae-young as Han Song-yi, nurse
- Nam Bo-ra as Section Chief Oh's daughter
The Korea Media Rating Board forced Kim to recut the film for its theatrical release, objecting to its violent content. The film received a "Restricted" rating twice, preventing any sort of release in theatres or on home video and promotions as well. Seven cuts were made with the total runtime of removed material between eighty and ninety seconds.
I Saw the Devil was released in South Korea on August 12, 2010. The film premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival on 21 January 2011. It also received screenings at several other international film festivals, including the Fantasporto Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Sitges Film Festival, San Sebastian Film Festival and the London Korean Film Festival.
American distribution rights were acquired by Magnet Releasing which released it in theatres on a limited basis on March 4, 2011.
Critical reception
Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an 80% approval rating from critics based on 80 reviews and an average score of 7.1/10. Metacritic assigned the film a score of 67%, based on a weighted average of 19 reviews from mainstream critics.
Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times wrote, "From an unexpectedly moving first act to a hilariously disgusting sojourn with Kyung-chul’s cannibal pal, Mr. Kim and his cinematographer, Lee Mogae, retain complete control of the film’s fluctuating tones and impressive set pieces." Mark Olson of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "There is all the violent mayhem, for certain, but the thing that sets I Saw the Devil apart is its undercurrent of real emotion and how unrelentingly sad it can be." Rob Nelson from Variety magazine stated, "Repugnant content, grislier than the ugliest torture porn, ought to have made the film unwatchable, but it doesn't, simply because Kim's picture is so beautifully filmed, carefully structured and viscerally engaging." Horror website Bloody Disgusting gave it a 4.5/5 rating and stated, "I could talk for hours about I Saw the Devil, but nothing I can say will ever do it justice. The film is an experience; it’s something that will have you emotionally invested in the characters, while also covering your eyes at the extreme violence", whereas Empire awarded the film with a 4/5 score, stating, "This gleefully black horror-thriller is a very classy follow-up to The Good, the Bad, the Weird for Kim Jee-Woon". Phelim O'Neil from The Guardian wrote, "There's no shortage of Korean revenge-thrillers, but this, along with the recent The Man from Nowhere, proves there is plenty of life left in the genre" and gave it a four star rating out five.
Not all critics were favorable towards the film's brutality; Mark Jenkins of The Washington Post wrote, "Director Kim Jee-woon is a born filmmaker, even if this script (written by Park Hoon Jung and adapted by Kim) is unworthy of his efforts" and rated it 2 out of 5 stars. The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "On any number of levels, Devil is troublesome at best, offensive at worst".
Rolling Stone magazine put I Saw the Devil in the top 20 of "the scariest movies you've never seen".
Awards and nominations
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