THE CHASER (Korean) (2008)

One of the unusual modern thrillers from happening cinema of Korea. It begins with surprising kidnapping of call girls. An ex-cop turned pimp is after a nameless caller to whom he sent another girl just a few minutes ago. The search for the man takes us to dark alleys of the city at night. What we see is the street, parked cars and an deserted apartment where the killer has already set prey for his next victim. Get ready yourself for brutal bloodshed as the killer is not only psychopathic but sadist who uses chisel and hammer as his tool for killing. It's much more than thrill when the victim knew that she’s prey and the ray of hope lies in bathroom but then life gives you shock more than surprise in critical moments.

Something happens and the killer has to leave the tied girl half dead to save his ass from trouble. But the destined trouble keeps chasing him either as car crash with the most unlikely man or the left keychain and identified cell phone number. So much to our surprise both the killer and the pimp was caught by cops within the first thirty minutes of the film and the drama rolls into police interrogation where he surprisingly but ambiguously confessed the murders. A psychologist while interrogating let us know the reasons of his killing too. But soon he is released free due to lack of evidence and due to another shameful messy incident for police department. Need i go any further ruining it's awesome last thirty minutes? Absolutely not.

There is something so original about the way Director Na Hong-jin unfolds the whole film and executed it with impeccable thrill of chase, raw fight, dark portrayal and to quote one of fellow cinephile’s words ‘a poetry of violence on screen’. Like his contemporary Park Chan Wook, here is another face of Korean cinema who knows how to make violence an aesthetic treat on screen. Both lead players brought anything more or less than the character and after a long long time I see the face of unfathomable serial killer. Catch the brilliant portrayal of deserted narrow alleys of the city where nobody knows damn about what sort of gruesome things could happen in the next door neighborhood and above all do catch its edge on the seat climax quenching your thirst of watching truly an unusual modern thriller.

Don’t miss.

Ratings-8/10