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!! 
 

Kidnapped (2010)

By Senor Woo

The home invasion sub genre has really come to the forefront of horror in the last five years or so. Zombies and undead super killers are most likely not going to become a reality, making those movies a good disconnected watch, no matter how grounded in reality they try to be. But a group on dudes breaking into your house and wanting to get all rapey with your wife and steal your shit?! That kind of crime happens every day and quite frankly, that is what true horror is all about.

KIDNAPPED is a little sleeper from Spain that I honestly I had never heard of. I ran into it cruising through Netflix for the next piece of unknown depravity to watch while drinking my tall cans of cheep beer. It starts out like almost every other home invasion flick. It introduces you to a family in the middle of moving into a super nice new house, making it very obviou the dude has money. Mom, dad, and their hot to trot 18 year old rebellious daughter are ready to start their lives in the new digs. Before they can get all cozy, three masked and armed dudes smash through a window and start terrorizing the family. All of the guys have a role; there is the leader, the psychopath, and the guy who doesn’t want to hurt anyone and often gets mad when the other bros lay hands on the family. The leader collects all their bank and credit cards and makes dad drive him to an ATM to empty out the accounts, leaving the wife and daughter behind for insurance. It’s only a matter of time before the psychopath does too much cocaine and starts getting rape on the brain. With mom tied up, he takes the daughter upstairs and goes to pound town on her. Not long after, Mr. Sensitive robber runs up and tackles him off the girl and they start fighting. The dude probably still had a boner so that must have been weird. With the guys Greco Roman wrestling, the daughter gets up and starts wandering around the house in a state of trauma and shock (she should have b lined for the door, idiot) but is soon caught again by psychopath McRapey, but this time she gets the best of him by smashing him in the head with some sort of stone sculpture. She continues smashing in his face and the camera stays on him the whole time. It’s super brutal and reminded me of the fire extinguisher scene in IRREVERSABLE. This kill sets the tone for the rest of the movie. Up until this point, it was just another home invasion movie. Instead of going with the ‘safe’ ending like most American horror movies do (except for THE STRANGERS,)   KIDNAPPERS gets all kinds of crazy! I don’t want to ruin the end so I’ll be vague, but the reason this movie made it on to Sunday Snuff was because of the reality and brutality of the violence. Shit looked like it was really happening, with spot on practical effects. It’s a goddamn bloodbath. Let’s just say when the leader gets back and sees what went down in his absence, he’s fucking pissed and expresses his distaste with violence. Brutal gunshot wounds, a slit throat, and a stabbing that comes out of nowhere and blew my dick off! I’ll say it again, brutal, brutal violence!

The only complaint I have is not with the movie itself, but with the English dubbing. I could tell the actors were doing and AMAZING job, but the voice over actors were only half assing it. I always watch foreign movies with subtitles with the original audio track, no matter what language it’s in. I’m sure that option is on the DVD but Netflix didn’t have it. Oh well, I will definitely be re watching with subtitles once I purchase this fine flick.

Blake and Jimmy's Extreme-O-Gauge!

Gore/Violence: 5 out of 5, Yes...hell yes!

Rape: 3 out of 5, not the most graphic but still disturbing.
Animal Death:  0 out of 0, go watch CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST you sick fucks!
Torture: 4 out of 5, this family is put through hell!
Overall Movie:  4 out of 5, it didn't reinvent the home invasion wheel, but it had enough twists and turns to be unique.  I highly recommend it.