Directed by Sung Hong Kim
I'm a sucker for modern era Korean movies and when I heard about a Korean version of The Hitcher I knew I had to have it. Having seen it I can now say that while it probably isn't the next Oldboy or The Isle, it isn't even as good as The Hitcher for that matter, it is still pretty damn good and I'm glad I checked it out.
A young happily married couple decide to take a trip to the coast to celebrate the husband's book finally being picked up by a publisher. They stop at a little diner to get something to eat and some creepy weirdo starts giving the wife the hairy eyeball from across the room. The husband looks at the weirdo and sorta flexes his manliness at him and the guy gets up and leaves. They think that is the end of it. They are wrong.
They end up giving the weirdo a ride as a result of a pretty silly plot twist and he immediately goes back into creep bastard mode and the movie starts to enter into The Hitcher territory. He stalks them and makes their lives a living nightmare. Nobody can help them and nothing can stop him. He starts off doing little subtle things to freak them out but by the end he is running them down with a big garbage truck and wrecking shit on a mass scale.
It all ends with the weirdo torturing the husband trying to get him to ask him to kill his wife. That is where the title of the movie comes from...like "just say yes and I will quit poking you full of holes." You get the idea.
I guess the main problem I have with this movie is that the first half just isn't as engaging as it should be. The husband does things that only a total moron or outright prick would do and it is hard to feel sorry for him when the shit hits the fan as a result of it. The first half could have used a little more intensity. The second half of the movie is great but there are times earlier on when it feels like sort of a chore to get there. I guess this was intentional and the director was trying to slowly build up to the slam bang ending but I prefer my movies slam bang all the way through. I'm just a slam bang kinda guy I guess.
I still really enjoyed the movie despite these flaws and would reccomend it. It isn't going to change your life but it is better than a lot of crap out there. -badfish
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