Directed by: Hwang In-ho (황인호) Starring: Lee Min-ki (이민기), Kim Go-eun (김고은), Ahn Seo-hyun (안서현), Kim Bu-seon (김부선), Kim Roi-ha (김뢰하), Kim Bo-ra (김보라), Bae Seong-woo (배성우), Heo Joon-seok (허준석) Release Date: March 13th, 2014
By the time Hwang In-ho’s Monster rolled around in 2014, South Korean thrillers had become a dime a dozen. And if they weren’t receiving rave reviews upon release, non-native Korean audiences like myself, who often have to go out of their way to track down subtitles or even a decent quality presentation of the film, may have been keen to pass and put their film watching efforts towards something else. Monster was one such thriller outing that I initially passed on that I’ve come to regret.
A factory owner asks his nephew Ik-Sang (Kim Rai-ha) to deliver $300,000 in cash to a former female employee who is currently blackmailing him with a recorded video on her cell phone of the owner slapping her face multiple times. Ik-Sang delivers the cash to loan sharks he’s indebted to after his newly constructed building fails to rent out any units. With his demanding uncle expecting the cell phone with the compromising video returned to him, Ik-sang reluctantly asks for help from his estranged brother Tae-su (Lee Min-ki), for whom death and killing is no stranger.
Meanwhile, Bok-soon (Kim Go-eun), who has been called stupid and crazy her whole life, lives alone with her younger sister Eun-jeong (Kim Bo-ra) in the countryside where she barely earns a living by selling vegetables on the side of the street. Finding herself getting into fights with land developers who pressure her to move locations, her sister Eun-jeong decides to move to Seoul where she’ll study in order to earn enough money so that her and Bok-soon will finally earn some respect. Devastated that her one and only sister will leave, Bok-soon pleads Eun-jeong to take her with her. But before the night is through, a mysterious young girl (Ahn Seo-hyun) shows up on alone their doorstep unable to speak.
Unbeknownst to the girls, Tae-su has been tracking the young girl in connection with the cell phone retrieval mission. In a sick game of his own making, Tae-su, who has already murdered the young girl’s older sister in front of her, vows to kill anyone she seeks to protect her. And less than 24 hours later, all three girls find themselves face to face with the monster who mercilessly kills Eun-jeong before disappearing with her body.
As the village idiot, Bok-soon is unable to convince authorities of the horrifying encounter and is forced to take matters into her own hands. Armed with a vegetable knife and few dollars, Bok-soon and the young girl, Nari, head for the big city of Seoul to confront their sisters’ killer. With the odds against them, Bok-soon must channel her rage and in order to become a formidable Monster of her own if she’s to stop Tae-su’s endless wake of destruction.
Monster is a very strange movie. If the bright colors and oddly timed comedic gags (mostly found within the Bok-soon side of the story) early on throw you for a loop, don’t take it personally. The creators of Monster made a special effort to create a thriller experience like none other. Not only does it feature some of the most unique characterizations ever to be found within the thriller genre by pitting two small stature female characters, one just 10 years old, against an unstoppable psychopath who turns his victims into clay pots, but the evolving nature of their personalities pushes the weirdness even deeper into uncharted territory.
In the red corner, we have Tae-su who is without a doubt one of the more bizarrely psychotic killers out there. He lives as a hermit in an old house in the countryside where he makes his own pottery. His family fears him and avoids contact at all costs. But the most interesting and frightening aspect of Tae-su’s personality is the sad realization that his destructive nature stems from the trauma of his early family abandonment. Now, his desire to keep others from ever leaving him again spurs him to harvest the souls of his victims by melting down their bodies in a kiln and molding their remains into clay jars he collects in his basement. In this way, Tae-su temporarily frees himself from loneliness while the seemingly unattainable dream of spending quality time with his mother and brother continue to fuel his monstrous ways.
And Bok-soon, in the blue corner, is undoubtedly a strangely mad woman. She sings dirty hymns and has her own set of rules for life. That being said, she’s a loving sister and her spiritual energy can fill a room quickly. She can be crude and childish but she remains pure at heart. It’s hard to imagine a world where she could square off against a bloodthirsty serial killer, but her energy appears limitless so when her inner beast is unleashed, take cover or run for hills because there’s a new monster in town.
Lee Min-ki (Spellbound, For the Emperor) channels a weird sort of loveless yearning for affection through his mix of subtle glances and cold stare downs as his eagerness to please his family drives him closer and closer towards the edge of sanity. All the scary talk of, “Whatever you do, don’t bring him anywhere around here” and even the bizarre hiring of a somewhat mentally challenged fighting expert (Bae Sung-woo) to act as Ik-sang’s bodyguard when he visits his brother helps to build up tension and curiosity surrounding Tae-su’s unpredictability and ferociousness. This way, Tae-su remains largely an enigma until deep into the third act of the film, where the sad nature of his own molding into the monster he has become is satisfyingly revealed during the final encounters he has with his family.
Fresh off her brave and award-winning performance in Eungyo (2012), Kim Go-eun has a special ability to elevate her roles to that next level which makes me like her more and more with everything I see her in. In Monster, she pulls of a strange mixture of being weak and helpless in one aspect while being capable of conjuring up the spirit of a demon in another, especially in regards to protecting her loved ones. This is definitely an actress for whom the sky is the limit.
For those looking for nail-biting tension or nonstop thrills, Monster may come off as too uneven in tone with its random moments of comic relief. But for those that like mixing things up for fresh experiences, there is a lot to enjoy here. The final act of Monster is tight and well written as it evolves into one of the most darkly comedic yet disturbing family dramas I’ve seen in a long time. And even though the set design in a few scenes doesn’t feel properly dressed for full cinematic emersion, coming across too clean or empty and perhaps more suited for daytime dramas, the cinematography by Kim Gi-tae (Bedevilled, Slow Video) is outstanding as it beautifully captures both the remote countryside mountains as well as the densely packed and narrow urban streets of downtown Seoul’s back alleyways.
Like director Hwang In-ho’s debut film Spellbound (2011), a romantic comedy and horror mashup, Monster is a curious mix of screwball comedy and bizarre family thriller that make for a completely twisted yet fresh viewing experience. Monster ambitiously attempts to sandwich laughs in between the devastating misfortunes of its lead characters who’ve all fallen victim to broken homes torn apart by brutal violence, greed, or other mental challenges. As hard of a task as this may sound to do and although Monster takes time to find its footing, the third act almost blissfully balances these two extremes as it bookends one of the most visceral and rage-filled bloodbaths I’ve ever seen with smiles on either end.
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