2008 • Korea • Directed by Na Hong-jin

PURE EVIL HAS A NAME

Na Hong-jin (The Wailing) upends the serial killer thriller with The Chaser, the most searing debut film in all of Korean cinema. Replacing the whodunit with a clear killer who manipulates a broken patriarchal system, this bristling masterclass in defying expectations drags us down to the depths of despair.

Ex-cop-turned-pimp Joong-ho (Kim Yun-seok, The Yellow Sea) is having a very bad week—someone is stealing his girls, or so he thinks. After Mi-jin (Seo Young-hee, Bedevilled) becomes the latest of his workers to disappear he begins a search that will quickly lead him to the dead-eyed Young-min (Ha Jung-woo, The Handmaiden), who is exactly what he appears to be—a despicable murderer. When Young-min flaunts his crimes to the inept and ineffectual police, Joong-ho has to take matters into his own hands.

Taking the baton from Bong Joon Ho’s Memories of Murder, The Chaser was a box office sensation that instantly established itself as a modern classic and launched the careers of its director and stars.