I SAW THE DEVIL

After the chimps-with-cameras bloodsoaked willyfest that was Life And Death of a Porno Gang it's a sort of relief to get back to "normal" movies, even if the one in question is a brutally violent and merciless korean serial killer pic. If I was to say "Kim Ji-woon" to you you'd probably just stare at me blankly or just say "no thanks I'm not hungry" but you might get a little more animated if i mentioned he's the director of the  highly creepy horror Tale of Two Sisters (remade reasonably as The Uninvited) the awesome gangster epic A Bittersweet Life and the highly entertaining wild west themed The Good, The Bad and the Weird. I Saw The Devil sees him jump fearlessly to yet another genre and own it effortlessly. This is a grim and nasty serial killer vs cop revenge piece with an bizarre plot twist half way through...Rubber-faced octopus botherer  Choi Min Sik plays a truly loathsome femicidal murderc**t who spends his leisure time picking off stray women with a crowbar until he picks the wrong victim..the fiance of the cop hero.

 I dont want to give anything away here...one of the main strengths of this film is its unpredictability and athletic plot gyrations - but suffice to say the cop tracks the killer down less than halfway into the movie...but he doesnt kill him, or bring him in...

Like any of the director's previous films I Saw The Devil looks spectacularly beautiful and is masterfully put together, the performances range from adequate to scary and the violence levels are ramped extremely high...there's one multiple-victim stabbing frenzy in a speeding car that has to be seen to be believed, and some horrible testicle vs hammer and tendon vs scalpel action. It's nearly 2 and a half hours long but the time passes in an OTT screaming blur and it's highly, highly recommended...if you have the stomach for it.