Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
Kyung-chul is a dangerous psychopath who kills for pleasure. One day he horrifically murders Joo-yeon, the daughter of a retired police chief and fiancée to Soo-hyun, a secret agent. Soo-hyun vows that he will do everything in his power to take bloody vengeance against the killer, even if it means becoming a monster himself.
Miami Herald by René Rodríguez
Director Kim Jee-woon's astonishing story of a serial killer who picks the wrong man's fiancée to murder, is so extreme and intense that it had to be trimmed down in its native country before it was released to theaters. We lucky westerners get to see it in all its hair-raising, stomach-churning glory, and that's a wonderful thing.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch by Calvin Wilson
A terrific but uncompromising film that's definitely not for everyone.
The A.V. Club by Scott Tobias
A mesmerizing study of the nature of evil itself.
IndieWire by Eric Kohn
Eventually, Soo-hyun's relentless pursuit-and-release approach outlives the director's skill and the premise starts to feel redundant.
Portland Oregonian by Shawn Levy
If you've got the stomach for it, it's a treat.
Variety by Rob Nelson
Repugnant content, grislier than the ugliest torture porn, ought to have made the film unwatchable, but it doesn't, simply because Kim's picture is so beautifully filmed, carefully structured and viscerally engaging.
Boxoffice Magazine by Pam Grady
Plenty of people die in I Saw the Devil, but it is that first attack on Ju-yeon in the movie's opening minutes that reverberates through the epic 141-minute running time.
New York Post by V.A. Musetto
You won't soon forget it -- if you have the guts to see it.
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
Somewhere in all the blood (sickening realism is a selling point), a question is posed: When does the one fighting a monster become a monster himself?
Los Angeles Times
There is all the violent mayhem, for certain, but the thing that sets I Saw the Devil apart is its undercurrent of real emotion and how unrelentingly sad it can be.
Los Angeles Times by Mark Olsen
There is all the violent mayhem, for certain, but the thing that sets I Saw the Devil apart is its undercurrent of real emotion and how unrelentingly sad it can be.
Time Out by Joshua Rothkopf
Ultimately, the returns of the film's premise can't justify a nearly two-and-a-half-hour squirm. The savagery is honest, raw and hardly entertainment.
Village Voice by Michael Atkinson
Never good with nuance, Kim is a beast with disarming imagery but has few resonating ideas, leaving the domino-tumble of brutality to become its own tiresome spectacle.
The Hollywood Reporter
On any number of levels, "Devil" is troublesome at best, offensive at worst.
Loading recommendations...
Loading recommendations...