I Saw the Devil

By Senor Woo

Revenge, a dish best served cold…and Korean. At least in Kim Jee-Woon’s 2010 ultra violent flick I SAW THE DEVIL. What happens when a psychotic serial killer rapes, murders, and dismembers your pregnant fiancé? You take two weeks off work of being a secret agent and you track down and make the sick fuck pay, that’s what!

I SAW THE DEVIL is a pretty straight forward revenge movie with enough blood and gore to impress even the most jaded gore hound. After the brutal murder of his fiancé, a secret agent becomes hell bent on revenge. He relies on his training and eventually tracks the killer down. Does he instantly shoot him dead and piss on his corpse? Hell no, he delivers a hellacious beating and knocks him unconscious.  He then plants a tracking devise in the killers’ stomach so he can track and hear his every move.  After a while, the killer feels comfortable enough to get back at raping and murdering some young girls. Just when he is about to get all rapey on his newest victim, our hero shows up to ruin the fun, not to mention completely slicing through his Achillies tendon. It’s definitely a cringe-inducing scene. Once the killer gets privy to the tracking device, he downs a bunch of laxatives to shit his brains, and the device out. There is a nice little scene of him digging through his own shit. He then turns the tables on the agent by going after the people he has left to care about, his fiancés dad and sister. The old man takes a beating like a champ. The killer repeatedly smashes in his eye socket with a ten-pound dumbbell. I guess he is going to have a hard time SEEING the devil now! Zing!! The sister is also beaten beyond recognition and is presumably raped as well; this sends the agent or the edge even further. This cat and mouse game goes on for a while, until the brutal finale of some of the most extreme revenge pay off I have ever seen.

The best thing about this movie is that it’s not just gore and violence for the sake of gore and violence, it is amazingly acted and the storyline keeps you glued to the TV. But honestly, the gore and violence is what drew me to it. When it was first released in South Korea, it had to be drastically censored to even make it to the theatres and not get instantly banned. Good thing we got the unrated cut here on Blu Ray. Clocking in at over two hours long, the red stuff is flowing! All of the violence is brutally realistic and not over the top i.e. a lot of Japanese horror (think MEATBALL MACHINE.) A lot of heads get bashed in with pipes and hammers, a decapitation, we see a screwdriver slammed through someone’s cheeks, and lucky guy gets his jaw ripped into a “permanent Smile.”  Most of the rapes are implied so it’s pretty tame in that department. Like I mentioned earlier, the ending is very satisfying and creative. How do you torture a man that can’t feel emotion or pain? Our secret agent figures it out and it’s fucking great!! I SAW THE DEVIL is a must see movie. It’s definitely not for beginners, but if you are reading this review, you sure as shit can handle it.

Blake and Jimmy’s Extreme-O-Gauge!

Violence/Gore: 5 out of 5, super violent, super realistic 

Rape: 0 out of 0

Animal Death: 0 out of 0, I didn't even see a live animal in this movie

Necrophilia: 0 out of 0.

Torture: 5 out of 5, the best part about revenge movies is the torture and payoff. Good stuff here!

Overall Movie: 5 out of 5, I can't recommend this movie enough, it has everything. EVERYTHING!!