I Saw the Devil (2010)

A secret agent exacts revenge on a serial killer through a series of captures and releases.

Director:

Jee-woon Kim (as Kim Jee-woon)

Writers:

Jee-woon Kim (adaptation), Hoon-jung Park (screenplay)

Stars:

Lee Byung-Hun, Choi Min-sik, Jeon Gook-Hwan

17 wins & 19 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lee Byung-Hun	...	Kim Soo-hyeon
Choi Min-sik	...	Jang Kyung-chul
Jeon Gook-Hwan	...	Squad Chief Jang
Ho-jin Chun	...	Section Chief Oh
San-ha Oh	...	Joo-yeon
Yoon-seo Kim	...	Se-yeon
Moo-Seong Choi	...	Tae-joo
In-seo Kim	...	Se-jung
Kim Kap-su	...	Planning team deputy head
Joon-hyuk Lee	...	Agent (as Lee Joon-Hyeok)
Deok-jae Jo	...	Detective Kang
Cheol-woo Han	...	Detective Park
Myeong-Yeon Jo	...	Detective Jo
Tae-goo Eom	...	Detective Eom
Se-joo Han	...	Woman on bus

Storyline

SPOILER: Jang Kyung-chul (Choi Min-sik) is a dangerous psychopath serial killer. He has committed infernal serial murders in diabolic ways that one cannot even imagine and his victims range from young women to even children. The police have chased him for a long time, but were unable to catch him. One day, Joo-yeon, daughter of a retired police chief becomes his prey and is found dead in a horrific state. Her fiancé Soo-hyun (Lee Byung-hun), a top secret agent, decides to track down the murderer himself. He promises himself that he will do everything in his power to take bloody vengeance against the killer, even if it means that he must become a monster himself to get this monstrous and inhumane killer.

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Plot Keywords:

revenge | fighting | murder | tragic event | decapitation | 

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Taglines:

Evil lives inside.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

This movie marked Choi Min-sik's first major acting role since his self-imposed exile over his protest of the Korean screen quota system. It also reunited Lee Byung-Hun with Jee-woon Kim, with whom he had worked in the past on films such as A Bittersweet Life (2005).

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Quotes

Kim Soo-hyeon: Heard that many times, haven't you? People begging for their lives. And you enjoyed that, huh?

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Crazy Credits

The title card unfolds with a scene in the background.

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Alternate Versions

The German ratings board FSK denied the uncut film its highest rating "Not under 18". Approximately 11 minutes were cut from the film to achieve this rating after all. For the release of the uncut version, the film was approved by an independent legal committee (because the legal committee of SPIO denied an approval).

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Controversial Movie Characters (2018)

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Soundtracks

Habanera
(uncredited)
From "Carmen" by Georges Bizet

User Reviews

The Personification of Evil

When Joo-yeon (San-ha Oh) has a flat tire on the snow, she calls the tow truck to help her and calls her beloved fiancé Kim Soo-hyeon (Byung-hun Lee), who is a secret agent, to kill time. Out of the blue, a man offers to help her and Joo-yeon refuses. But the man breaks her car, abducts her and dismember her body. Her father, who is a retired chief of police, gives the data of the four prime suspects to Soo- hyeon and he asks two week off to his chief. He hunts the men down and when he finds that Kyung-chul (Min-sik Choi) is the killer, he promises a dreadful to revenge against the killer to make him suffer as Joo- yeon did. Soo-hyeon becomes a monster and begins a cat-and- mouse game, capturing and releasing Kyung-chul wounded many times. But the serial-killer is the personification of evil and makes Soo-hyeon regret for not killing him when he had the chance.

"Ang-ma-reul bo-at-da", a.k.a. "I Saw the Devil", is a brutal South- Korean thriller with a story of revenge. The plot follows the creepy line of "Seven" and "Silence of the Lambs", but Kyung-chul makes John Doe and Dr. Hannibal Lecter seem to be in the kindergarten of crime. The viewer does not feel the 2h 21min running time of the suspenseful and haunting story. The direction, performances, cinematography, camera work, locations, resuming, everything is top-notch in this film. Fortunately there is no American remake of this film. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Eu Vi o Diabo" ("I Saw the Devil")

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Release Date:

12 August 2010 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

I Saw the Devil

Filming Locations:

South Korea

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$13,567, 6 March 2011

Gross USA:

$129,210

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$12,966,357

Company Credits

Production Co:

Softbank Ventures, Showbox/Mediaplex, Peppermint & Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

144 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1