Soshrii
I Saw the Devil is a dark, intense introspection of how serial killers and vigilantes would potentially function within the landscapes of South Korea. Directed by Kim Jee-woon (who worked on A Tale of Two Sisters, The Last Stand, The Good, The Bad, The Weird, A Bittersweet Life and the live action remake of Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade), the film centers around a secret agent, Kim Soo-hyeon, whose fiancé recently ends up being savagely murdered and her severed body parts cast out into the canals. Distraught, heartbroken and vengeful, he decides to take matters into his own hands and exact vigilante justice on the criminals he presumes to have had an involvement in the events leading up to her demise. To put it in shorter terms, he becomes a more violent version of Batman, except without the mask for some reason. What follows is an intense cat and mouse thriller between Soo-hyeon and the serial killer known as Kyung-chul, where the lines between good and evil become tremendously blurred.
And yes, this film does have a lot of torture scenes in it (I swear I don’t get off to this kind of crap you guys!). There’s a considerable amount of screentime detailing Kyung-chul’s, (for a lack of a better term) daily routine, and Soo-hyeon’s methods of delivering sweet justice to those he deems responsible are questionable, morally speaking that is. The interlude features a family of sick cannibals who kidnap innocent individuals to dine on their flesh, not unlike the iconic American hillbilly family seen in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Kim Soo-hyeon whets out his form of justice in such a way that would make even the least squeamish of audience members gag, no matter how deserving of it his victims are. There’s a strong reason why this film underwent multiple cuts by the Korean ratings board, the film was just that graphic.
Nonetheless, I feel this warrants a discussion as to how far a film can get in terms of how it depicts violence and bloodshed before it gets labelled as a vapid torture porn flick. How does this film differ from other torture filled horror such as Hostel or Switchblade Romance? For one, I don’t think I Saw the Devil should even be considered torture porn. Unlike the Saw films, I never got the impression that the violence here was intentionally made to entertain. The brutality here is harrowing and disturbing; there is no sense of entertainment to be had watching these torture sequences. And there’s a good enough reason for it: revenge is an ugly, senseless and unnerving action that only provides a short burst of catharsis to those partaking in it. It’s the kind of act that provokes you into asking yourself “was it worth it?” after that fleeting feeling of satisfaction soon dries out. It’s exactly why Kyung-chul is presented as if he’s the most despicable human being out there, and why Soo-hyeon goes overboard with his methods of exacting justice. They’re all done this way intentionally to emphasize how wrong it is to take revenge on somebody. This film differs from other torture porn flicks because of the context at hand. With Final Destination and Hostel, the main aim is to have all the kills be as over the top as possible to satisfying gore hungry audience members, but with I Saw the Devil its more so to question whether Soo-hyeon is doing the right thing. I Saw the Devil as a result delves into the darker nature of humanity and what even well-minded people are capable of when pushed to their breaking point. By hunting down Kyung-chul and exposing him to various forms of torture (as well as even going as far as to give him that short burst of satisfaction before doing so by letting his victims temporarily suffer before bursting in to save them), Soo-hyeon becomes no better than the man that killed his fiancé. Or, I dunno, maybe I need to see a psychiatrist.
The title I Saw the Devil reflects heavily on Soo-hyeon’s turning point and Kyung-chul’s view of the vengeful vigilante. To Kyung-chul, as far as he’s concerned, Soo-hyeon is the devil. He’s the man responsible for making his life a living hell. He ravages, tortures and sodomizes Kyung-chul’s body, inflicting pain beyond what’s imaginable, only to never actually kill him so he starts the cycle all over again. Much like how the denizens of most religious portrayals of the underworld find themselves brutalized repeatedly, only to spring back to life for the whole procedure to start over again, this is what Kyung-chul’s existence has turned into.
The acting is phenomenal, as is the case for most Korean flicks. Kyung-chul is portrayed by Min-sik Choi, who you’ll all notice as the guy who played the main role in the ever so popular Oldboy film that came out in 2003. And here, he gets lost in the role. Its like what people said about Heath Ledger portrayal of The Joker back in 2008, the fact that they pointed out how it felt nothing like the roles he played prior to that. Choi is given a lot of room to shine here, lacing his role with the malicious characteristics of a serial killer, a quality that distinguishes him from the vengeful Dae-su. Every shriek, every cry for mercy, every sense of sadistic glee glinting in his eyes feel genuine, as if he’s studied the art of serial killer long before he began acting this role. Byung-Hun Lee is also mesmerizing as Kim Soo-hyeon, his acting chops being put on full display here as the vengeful secret agent.
If you’re fans of films by Jeremy Saulnier, Gasper Noe and Lars Von Trier, be sure to check this flick out. I Saw the Devil is not for those with weak stomachs and there are going to be folks out there who will absolutely despise this. However, as a person who views revenge as something senseless and not worth pursuing, it’s a good examination of why that is the case. Plus, it’s a film about a serial killer, what else would you be expecting?
I Saw the Devil is available to stream on Netflix.
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Wasted potential. These are two important words I can use to describe this film. The premise at the start actually feels as if it’s building up to a promising title (no pun intended). It revolves around the Sathorn Unique Tower, an abandoned skyscraper in Bangkok that said to be haunted. Two teenagers, Ib and Boum, make a promise that they will purchase a room in the tower to live together in as close friends. However, they soon find their plans to instantly fail. To put it in simple terms, Thailand underwent an economic crisis in the year 1997 (which happened mind you), causing the value of the Thai baht to deflate to ridiculous amounts. This in turn lead to multiple employees being laid off, several businesses shutting down and various individuals offing themselves as they’re faced with the impending doom of bankruptcy. Some even went insane. One perfect establishing shot at the beginning sees Boum’s father conducting a formal business proposal with somebody, only to reveal that he’s talking to nobody but himself. Or maybe, he’s been conducting all of these with a ghost (oooh, spooky). In addition to this, the Sathorn Unique Tower turned from an ambitious project into an abandoned site. Because of their handicapped financial situation and the prospect of never being able to live together in the tower, both Boum and Ib decide to form a suicide pact. However, Boum chickens out and only Ib commits to it in the end. And that’s a perfect way to set up the film, using a real-world scenario to stage a competent psychological horror story. Unfortunately, everything goes downhill after the suicide.
The entire plot after that pivotal moment is about as nonsensical as you can get. Basically, Ib’s spirit decides to haunt Boum, but instead of targeting her specifically, she decides to go after her daughter, Bell. So, to deliver a form of vengeance against Boum, Ib’s ghost decides to possess Bell, using a myriad of ways to kill her, from staged hanging by curtain, to grabbing Boum’s revolver and attempting to blow her own brains out. The whole plot then switches gears to centre on Boum trying to protect her daughter from Ib’s attempts at getting her to off herself. Now, hear me out on this. This just flat out makes no sense. Ib is supposed to be best friends with Boum, so why does she want her to suffer by making her daughter die? She wants to wreck her friend’s life even further by making her feel guilt over not only her death, but also her daughter’s. I mean, what kind of friend does that? If this is a vendetta against her for breaking her promise, why couldn’t she possess Boum and try to make her commit suicide instead? It’ll make better sense in that case, since it tells use explicitly that Ib feels a sense of loneliness in the afterlife and longs for Boum to keep her company. The rest of the film could then be about Bell being the one to try and foil Ib’s plans. Other than that, Ib’s attempts at getting revenge just feels mean-spirited. I mean, I wouldn’t even do that to my worse enemy, let alone my best friend.
Boum as a character suffers from varying degrees of character derailment and blotched characterization. For one, her backstory. We are told, yes told, that her husband died sometime during the timeskip. How did he die? What was her relationship with him like? Well, we’ll never know because other than that, he is never mentioned anymore throughout the film. In fact, she feels absolutely content without him in the picture, and so does her daughter it seems. We also see her character try to commit heinous acts to stop her daughter’s suicide, from threatening to fire a group of starving construction workers, to endangering the life of a child. She even goes as far as to threaten to murder Ib’s innocent mother, who already feels distraught about her daughter’s unexpected suicide. This not only shapes Boum into a rather unpleasant and unsympathetic character, but its yet another element that makes it clear that Ib’s plan makes no sense. Clearly this shows how much of a wonderful friend she is, am I right?
The point where the movie’s plot collapses in a sea of contrivances begins when she meets this boy at the Sathorn Unique Tower, who could apparently see ghosts. Throughout the whole film, this kid is the only person who can actually see Ib, and we are given absolutely no reason why. No other character in the show can see her but him. He has no connection to Ib whatsoever, he’s just some random kid playing at the construction site. In other words, he’s a plot device designed so we as the audience can catch glimpses of Ib’s spirit form from his perspective. We are given no explanation as to why he’s a psychic medium, just that he can see her. To make matters worse, Boum decides to endanger his life by forcing him to come with her so she can commune with her dead best friend, all in front of his family. I mean, sure, she threatened them with dismissal from their jobs had they refused (she is at the head of operations regarding the Sathorn Complex construction), but not once did they decide to maybe send one of their workers or even have his mother tag along for his safety. I thought Thai families had a lot of attachment towards their kin, yet somehow his mother is willing to just let him go off alone with this mentally unhinged woman. Anyways, the two climb the top most floors of the abandoned building and try to commune with Ib. Instead of posing as a threat to them, she instead just toys with the two characters. If her goal was to have Boum filled with so much guilt, why not have this be the perfect opportunity to kill off the kid? I mean if you’re going that far to kill her daughter as a way to drive her to suicide, why not ruin her life to rub salt to the wound? But nope, she just dangles him in mid air for a few seconds and then proceeds to troll them some more. What is this, the Thai rendition of Peeves the Poltergeist?
The Promise has quite possibly the worse usage of jumpscares I’ve seen in a long time. Just ask yourself this, what makes a terrifying jumpscare? Is it one that utilizes obnoxious stock sound effects? Is it showcasing supernatural spirits leaping out at you from hiding spots? Nope, its instilling genuine fear into the audience. Horror auteurs fully understand this concept and make full use of it in short bursts to terrify movie goers. In fact, the best horror flicks barely use jumpscares. Take Hereditary, a recently released horror flick, for example. It has only one very effective jumpscare towards the end of the film, the rest is focused entirely on psychological terror and on creating disturbing imagery, which are far more potent techniques. The Promise however, relies entirely on fake scares to progress the narrative. Something falls from the ceiling and makes a loud noise, the lights suddenly turn on prompting an audible violin sound effect to be emitted, instances like that. Its just used to startle audiences, rather than keep them on their toes.
And that brings me to my next issue with this film: its just not scary. The Promise is honestly one of the least chilling flicks I’ve seen in quite a while. For the entire duration of the film, you barely catch a glimpse of the ghost. No, I’m serious here, you never get to see her. Even when you do, its angled in such a way that diminishes the scare effect. In Ladda Land and other horror flicks, the scares are often cheap, but also slightly effective since we’re able to see the spirits. This isn’t the case with The Promise, where sightings are limited to only short glimpses of her. Even the poster itself reveals more of her ghostly figure than the film does. Oh wow, she’s sitting at the edge of the construction site in the distance, kicking her feet in the air. Lame!
What the hell happened with this? What started off as a nice spiritual successor to Ladda Land, turned out to be nothing more than a complete mess, both as a jumpscare filled horror flick and as a narrative. The only positives I can give are that the acting is top notch, especially considering that these are possibly the first main roles for these actresses. The cinematography is outstanding for a film of this caliber, leading to some nice, wallpaper-worthy shots dispersed throughout the film.
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