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‘I Saw the Devil’ is Devastating, Fascinating, and Totally Amazing

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I Saw the Devil

Kim Jee-woon (A Tale of Two Sisters, The Good The Bad and The Weird) has created a masterpiece of tension, terror and tragedy in his 2010 film, I Saw the Devil.

It was announced in 2014 that Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett (The Guest, You’re Next) have been slated to create the American remake (Click here for more info). For a film that is so uniquely intense, brutal, and heartbreaking, it will certainly provide a challenge.

In I Saw the Devil, NIS agent Kim Soo-hyun (Lee Byung-hun, The Magnificent Seven) embarks on a quest of revenge when his fiancée is brutally killed by a psychopathic murderer, Jang Kyung-chul (Choi Min-sik, Oldboy). Their twisted game of cat-and-mouse descends into chaos as they engage in ruthless acts of ferocious retaliation.

First off, let me just say that the casting is perfection. Lee Byung-hun and Choi Min-sik are captivating as they trade the roles of hunter and prey. Their characters are both unstoppable forces and immovable objects, trapped in a battle of life and death.

It’s absolutely fascinating to watch how they travel further and further into darkness, knowing that there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. Both actors bring their A-game and, for such a bleak film, they make it very enjoyable.

via IMDb

I Saw the Devil is unflinching in its approach, taking the audience on a violent journey into madness. We spend the first act of the film in observation mode, tracking our hero and villain separately to show their dedication to their work.

Soo-hyun is sharp, focused, and committed to tracking down his fiancée’s killer. Kyung-chul is a savage and vicious opportunist, finding his victims as often as he can.

The second act is where we really have some fun. The first meeting between Kyung-chul and Soo-hyun thunders in like a freight train. From there, the action does not let up as Kyung-chul frantically tries to get the upper hand in this demented game of catch-and-release. He’s tired, furious, and completely bewildered. With moments of the darkest slapstick comedy you’ll ever see, it’s incredible to watch.

via IMDb

The film has justifiably received high praise for its cinematography and direction. Every action sequence is brilliantly shot, showing the full power and frantic skill of each character.

There’s one scene in particular that involves a tracking shot in a moving vehicle that strikes a balance somewhere between bizarre comedy and horrific violence. It’s gloriously filmed, visually striking and very bloody.

As a whole, the practical effects are visceral. Each torturous act is filmed from a close angle and the shots are held to completion. Just like our villain, there’s no way for the viewer to escape.

via IMDb

Ultimately, I Saw the Devil is sincerely haunting. It shows us how, even as civilized people, we can be horrifically destructive. All-encompassing hatred will transform and consume. In our natural world, the real devils are not demonic, they’re human.

Honestly, I could go on for days about the emotional landslide of this film and how it will punch you in the gut and leave you breathless. However, it would probably either be a paragraph of spoilers or just a lot of passionately unintelligible sounds that do not translate well as text. Mostly the latter.

There are so many reasons why it’s a personal favorite. This two-and-a-half-hour march of complete devastation is so absolutely heavy, but oh my god I love it. The acts of violence are insanely intense, and every single time they still make me squirm.

It’s a film that is, at times, gruesomely difficult. However, once you start watching, it’s impossible to turn away.

via IMDb

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‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

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It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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