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It’s been a while since I’ve seen a good movie come out of Korea, but this one is every bit as good as a Chan-wook Park flick. The Chaser is your basic serial killer tale with a few original elements. It is visually lush, well-written, and full of solid performances. The Chaser is a truly entertaining experience and almost everything in the film works well.

In The Chaser, a pimp, who was once a cop, discovers that his girls are being disappearing. After doing a little research, he finds that they disappear after responding to calls from a certain number. It turns out that someone is targeting hookers… and it’s a serial killer. The pimp sets out on a mission to find the guy that is killing his girls, and it leads him to discover an inscrutable killer by the name of Young-min Jee. After a chance encounter and a footchase, the pimp beats the crap out of the killer, and then the cops show up. The slippery serial killer uses every trick in the book to try and get out of being arrested, and the pimp must go outside the law to get justice, before his missing hooker winds up a dead missing hooker. It’s a solid tale, full of tension and badass scenes.

Director Hong-jin Na crafts a slick tale that has all the technical expertise of a Hollywood blockbuster, but with the ethos of an indie flick. Hong-jin’s film is expertly crafted, from the solid pacing to cinematography that is simply pleasing to look at, everything works here. The best thing about the film is how Hong-jin Na tells the story. There’s no fucking around and he doesn’t bitch out on the violence while telling the story from every conceivable angle. There are tons of memorable scenes in the film, and the film, as an entirety, is ultimately enjoyable.

The Chaser features excellent performances from Yun-seok Kim as the pimp and Jung-woo Ha as the serial killer. The two play well off of each http://www.moviecynics.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpother and each makes the part their own. Yun-seok Kim is excellent as the morally questionable pimp, a man who wants justice so bad that he’s willing to do anything to get it. Yun-seok Kim turns in a creepily detached performance as the whore hating serial killer.

Overall, the film ranks right up there with serial killer flicks like Seven and The Silence of the Lambs. It is an excellently crafted tale with a solid story that feels fresh and original. It’s even got a few badass scenes of gore and violence in there to top things off. The Chaser is definitely a film that you need to seek out if you’re into serial killer flicks.

Final Synopsis: The Chaser is a near perfect film. You should definitely rent it to check it out, but a buy wouldn’t be out of the question. You could put it on your DVD rack in the Korean section… right between Attack the Gas Station and The Host.

Points Lost: -1 for the lame little girl side story

Lesson Learned: No one cares if you’re a pimp or a hooker in South Korea.

Burning Question: Who the hell wants a sick hooker?

The Chaser
9/10

Tags: 2008, asian, asian horror, asian thriller, foreign, foreign horror, foreign movie, foreign thriller, hong-jin na, horror, in-gi jung, jung-woo ha, korean, korean horror, korean thriller, latest movie reviews, recent3, serial killer, south korean, south korean horror, south korean thriller, thriller, whore killer, yun-seok kim