You know this movie, or think you do, from almost the moment it begins: first-person point of view, dark night, isolated highway, stranded car with illuminated pretty woman alone inside. It would be wrong, however, to write off Kim Jee-woon’s I Saw the Devil as just another film in a recent line of independent movies obsessed with psychosexual torture (e.g., Antichrist, The Killer Inside Me). The plot might follow genre lines, but its execution elevates the film to must-see for horror aficionados certainly, as well as any who appreciate the craft of genre film. But not for the squeamish: while the film shoots most of the violence off-screen, grisly scenes provide ample blood and flinch-inducing action.
While I Saw The Devil’s storyline pushes the genre in its study of how vengeance transforms the righteous to the monstrous, narrative and acting is matched in all aspects of production. Scenes are exquisitely framed, shot, and scored: nothing feels rote as in too many of j-horror’s recent lineage.
Choi Min-sik (Old Boy and Lady Vengeance) excels as the serial killer Kyung-chul, with eyes black and evil, who refuses to give Soo-hyun (Lee Byung-hun) satisfaction in his soul-killing quest to inflict the same emotional pain on Kyung-chul that has been wrought on his victims and their families. Both performances mesmerize, holding viewers’ attentions completely; when Soo-hyun threatens, “your nightmare’s only getting worse,” he unknowingly speaks not only to Kyung-chul but to himself as well. Neither will escape intact.
I Saw the Devil opens today, March 25, at the Tivoli Theatre, 6350 Delmar, 314-995-6270. The film, which runs for one week only, is unrated but restricted to audiences 18 and older. Tickets are $9, with screenings at 2 p.m., 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.
