Movie Review: I SAW THE DEVIL (2010) - Nightmarish Conjurings

Salutations my screechers, screamers, and scary dreamers,

Tonight’s tale of terror entitled “I Saw the Devil” concerns a cop blurring the boundary between man and monster as he tracks, taunts, and tortures a crazed killer.

I was very impressed by the initial kill as they pulled off with such technical skill that through some clever visual cheating we mostly imagine a brutal beating. The opening manages to be both honest and misleading for while we view the rest of the proceedings the visual style stays firmly in place but the implied violence is a different case. During the rest of this film’s duration the kills were more violent than the first extermination so those who are a bit more blood shy may not want to give this one a try.

Now while the movie is incredibly gory the bloodshed is intricate to the story as the themes of revenge and fixation are central to this fierce rumination. The plot is a major selling point and, for the most part, it does not disappoint as it takes us meticulously through the lead’s grief and offers up some twists that are beyond belief. I discovered this picture on many lists of foreign horror movies that are not to be missed but to be honest even though this involves a psychopathic killer I saw it as more of a revenge fueled thriller.

Since this picture has such a multifaceted plot it seems appropriate that the score is a melting pot. There were at least three different movements present which matched up pretty well with the content but my one complaint about the compositions is the lack of any sort of smooth transitions. As soon as a certain thematic scene stopped the movement would suddenly be dropped and I felt like the music should better guide us along since individually the soundtrack is very strong.

Story/Concept: 2
Direction/Style: 2
Scares: 1
Atmosphere: 1
Rewatchability: 0
TOTAL: 6/10

In brief the rewatchability would rate higher if a horror film had been able to transpire but to me it does not make sense to call this anything but suspense. In fact it is movies like this that should start a conversation about horror pictures and their classification as I had to rate it low for not being a chiller but would watch it again if I wanted a thriller.

Stick to the shadows my fine friends.