I Saw the Devil and He Looked Like a Bitch

I saw the Devil’s pants.

I Saw the Devil is a movie that has a good premise, good acting, good directing, and good production values. Despite having so many good things going for it, it’s a piece of crap thanks to having a boneheaded script. No matter how wonderful everything in your movie may be, if your script sucks ass, your movie will suck ass.

The film takes place in South Korea, and the premise is that a serial killer’s latest victim was a young woman who happened to be the fiancée of a spy. The spy uses his training and advanced technology to hunt the killer. But he doesn’t just hunt him down and murder him. No, his revenge is to psychologically torment the killer, making his life a living Hell. Like I said, great premise. Sadly, the characters act like stupid dipshits, ruining the movie.

In movie-world, every serial killer is a maniac who is completely unable to control his impulses to kill everyone in sight. In reality, serial killers may kill once every few months or few years. They aren’t going on killing sprees that will just get them caught. The killer in this movie is a caricature of a serial killer. He kills everybody he sees. After his first encounter with the spy, he is released. Naturally, the next thing he does is stab two guys to death in a taxi, causing it to crash and nearly killing himself in the process. Afterward, he goes to a clinic, threatens a doctor, and tries to rape (and presumably kill) a nurse. The spy barely shows up in time to prevent this. You would think the killer would try to lay low, especially after he escaped death and murdered several people. But no, he doesn’t, because whoever wrote this script doesn’t have any common fucking sense.

Hmm, what other stupid things can I do to ensure I get arrested?

Next, the killer hides with his friends, who happen to be cannibals (are you fucking kidding me?). They have invaded someone’s home and are killing/eating them. The spy shows up to torment them, and it ends with him bringing the killer into custody. Of course, he isn’t satisfied, so he lets the killer go. Apparently, the South Korean authorities are totally fine with him releasing a serial killer back into the world. Way to go, guys! Also, the cannibals are left in a hospital room, handcuffed to their beds, but completely unattended and unguarded. I had no idea South Korean security was so airtight.

Free once more, the killer does what any rational person would do: run away and hide forever try to get revenge on the spy by killing his loved ones. The killer knows what town the dead fiancée was from, and since he’s Sherlock Fucking Holmes, he knows her parents’ exact address. He goes to their house, and bludgeons the entire family to death. Oh, but it also turns out her father was Chief of Police or some shit. Of course, the Police are super mad that the spy let all this happen. Apparently, the spies and the police work together all the time (derp). It’s also impossible to tell who is a spy and who is a cop, and it just leads to a ton of confusion.

Finally, the killer attempts to turn himself in to the cops, to prevent the spy from ultimately getting revenge. The spy manages to get to him first, and takes him to a place where he can torture him before killing him. The killer remains defiant until the end, and when he finally kicks the bucket, the spy is left crying his eyes out. The end.

Waaaaah! Boo fucking hoo.

So, nobody acts like a rational fucking person in this. The spy lets the killer go time and time again, and each time he does, the killer kills more people. And the killer, since he is nothing more than a movie stereotype, doesn’t do anything interesting. He just kills people because that’s what serial killers do. Apparently, they aren’t capable of long-term planning, and are victims to their baser instincts.

I see the message the movie was trying to convey: there is a blurry line between good and evil. The “good” spy is barely one step above the “evil” killer. At times, he may be worse. Even though this is an interesting concept, this is not a particularly insightful movie. No, it’s a torture porn movie. It spends far less time focusing on deep character analysis and philosophical introspection, and far more time on blood and guts.

“But he’s already dead. Why should I beat on him some more? It would be bloodier? OK, you’re the director.”

Decapitations? Check. Bodies cut into tiny pieces? Check. Humans eating human flesh? Check. Dogs eating human flesh? Check. Close up of someone’s Achilles Tendon getting slashed? Check. Close up of someone’s jaw getting ripped off? Check. A million fucking scenes of someone getting their head bashed in with a melee weapon and blood squirting everywhere? Check check check check. Whoever made this movie had a major hard-on for blood squirting out of people’s heads after getting bludgeoned.

I Saw the Devil wants to be an artistic and introspective movie. But it can’t be, because none of the characters act realistically, and it spends way too much time fetishizing gore. It doesn’t matter how much you dress up a torture porn movie as something artistic, it’s still torture porn. It’s a shame, too, because everything else about the movie makes you think it will be good. Naturally, this movie has 5-stars on Netflix user reviews, further cementing the fact that people love shitty movies.

Verdict: Bad