“Devils” Theatrical Poster
Director: Kim Jae-Hoon
Cast: Jang Dong-Yoon, Oh Dae-Hwan, Choi Gwi-Hwa, Jang Jae-Ho, Son Jong-Hak, Shin Seung-Hwan, Yoon Byung-Hee, Ji Nam-Hyuk, Lee Sang-Won
Running Time: 106 min.
By Paul Bramhall
The body swap trope certainly isn’t a new one, and in Korean cinema there have already been plenty of examples. From Shin Ha-kyun and Byun Hee-bong in 2007’s brain swapping thriller The Devil’s Game, to Jin Young and Park Sung-woong as a high school student and gangster in the 2019 comedy The Dude in Me, part of the fun that can be had with the trope is the ability to apply it to a variety of different genres. In 2023 debut director Kim Jae-hoon would add another entry to the body swapping universe with Devils, which applies the concept to that of a serial killer and the cop that’s hunting him waking up one day to find they’ve swapped bodies.
Unsurprisingly, Jae-hoon cites one of the inspirations for Devils as the 1997 John Woo movie Face/Off, which pit John Travolta and Nicolas Cage against each other as criminal and cop who literally swap faces using a new technology. For his directorial debut though, for which he also wrote, Jae-hoon steers clear of the technology angle. Instead, we meet a determined cop played by Oh Dae-hwan (The Wild, Paid in Blood), who in the opening scene is on the way to meet his colleague, the latter having found the filming location from a collection of snuff videos circulating on the dark web featuring actual murders. Dae-hwan’s colleague is also his brother-in-law, so when he turns up to find him dead with his throat cut, it becomes personal.
Skip forward a couple of years later, and Dae-hwan finally tracks down the killer, a psychopath played by Jang Dong-yoon (Project Wolf Hunting, Run Boy Run). After a foot chase through a densely forested mountain, the pair take a fall down an embankment, and proceed to disappear off the face of the earth. While an extensive search is set up to locate them, the authority’s efforts are futile, until suddenly a month later a car driving erratically crashes into the entrance of the police station Dae-hwan worked out of. Behind the wheel is Dong-yoon, and in the passenger seat Dae-hwan, his arm handcuffed to the grab handle. When the pair both regain consciousness, they come to the realisation that they’ve swapped bodies, which the now murderous Dae-hwan realises he can use to his advantage, while Dong-yoon is stuck handcuffed to a hospital bed and powerless.
It’s an effective premise, and Jae-hoon’s directorial style feels like it harks back to a more gruesome era of Korean thrillers, one populated by the likes of Tell Me Something and Say Yes. The locations that the pre-body switch Dong-yoon creates the snuff videos in are drenched in neon, with both himself and the victims covered in fluorescent paint, the garish colour scheme adding to the nightmarish tone once decapitated body parts start to be waved around. It’s once Dae-hwan steps into the role of the bad guy though that Devils really comes to life, with his performance effectively portraying the two personalities of a revenge seeking cop and a murderous psychopath. Clearly having fun with the latter, Jae-hoon’s script knows how to make the most out of the premise, with Dae-hwan getting to go home with his wife and daughter, unaware that they’re actually in the presence of a serial killer.
The most intriguing element of the story though is what resulted in the body swap in the first place, which is kept ambiguous for the most part. Dae-hwan tells Dong-yoon he can have his body back, but on the condition that he finds the trio of accomplices that took part in the murders with him, believing that it was one of them who tipped off the police on how to find him. It’s this part of the plot that comes to the fore during much of the mid-section, as a frazzled Dong-yoon tracks down each of the trio, expecting to uncover exactly what it is they’re involved in that’s led to the situation he finds himself in.
Indeed the reveal arrives, and to Jae-hoon’s credit it’s certainly not something most viewers will see coming (I certainly didn’t!). Unfortunately that’s not a positive, with the revelation of how cop and serial killer ended up in each other bodies being so ridiculous that it completely jumps the shark. Up there with the likes of Roy Chow’s 2009 magnum opus Murderer in terms of credibility stretching reveals, there were times where I had my head in my hands as the plot flashbacks to what happened during the month the pair were missing. The plot structure exasperates the issue further by having the reveal arrive arguably a little early, which means the narrative has to bear the weight of the ludicrous explanation for a little too long to keep its integrity (even at a relatively lean, at least for a Korean production, 105 minutes).
It’s a shame, as while Devils is clearly a mid-budget affair (most obvious during a car chase early on which features roads glaringly devoid of any other vehicles, and sidewalks absent of any people), its story is an ambitious one, and both Dae-hwan and Dong-yoon fully commit to the roles. The nature of the reveal though ultimately has a ripple effect, making elements that initially felt forgivable seem more contrived in their purpose for being there. This is no more apparent than in Dae-hwan’s fellow cop played by Jang Jae-ho (The Desperate Chase, Fragment), who seems willing to believe that Dong-yoon is actually his partner in another body almost instantly. It’s a character moment which at the time felt like it was there for economy of storytelling, but later turns out to be for a setup which doesn’t quite convince in its execution, making the whole narrative feel like it’s been built on shaky ground.
While the reveal doesn’t hit the mark, what can’t be argued is that Jae-hoon’s handle of the character dynamics is where he shows off his strengths. While Devils may be his debut, he’s far from a newcomer to the industry, having worked in various roles since the early 2000’s (including as assistant director on the likes of 2012’s Don’t Cry Mommy and 2014’s The Pirates). By the time the end credit’s role it’s clear why the title Devils is plural rather than singular, digging into themes explored in the similarly titled I Saw the Devil, director Kim Jee-woon’s darkly violent meditation on loss and revenge from 2010. Regardless of its shortcomings, as the leads Dae-hwan and Dong-yoon keep proceedings watchable, to the point I’d be willing to bet Devils may have been a stronger proposition if the body swap element was removed all together.
The approach of a crime thriller told mainly through the lens of the action and horror genre is also an applaudable one, with some fairly gruesome scenes playing out that echo the kind of pulpy vibe the previous year’s Project Wolf Hunting executed so well. Much like director Kim Hong-seon’s cinematic bloodbath, whether it be due to its modest budget or body swapping antics (or both!), Devils is one of those rare Korean productions that isn’t afraid to embrace its B-movie stylings, feeling a world away from the polish many have come to expect from the country’s output.
An ambitious debut, director and scriptwriter Kim Jae-hoon ultimately puts his cards on the table a little too early for Devils to maintain engagement to the end, giving the audience too much time to scratch their heads and think “Wait a minute, did that earlier scene really make sense if that’s what actually happened!?” I’m admittedly a fan of movies that unabashedly jump the shark with twists or reveals that throw caution to the wind with their outlandishness, but usually their placement has to allow things to go out with a bang, and not allow any time for viewers to start mulling things over. Devils shows plenty of promise, and in 2024 Ja-hoon would release his sophomore feature The Desperate Chase, which sticks with the action genre but swaps out the horror element for comedy. While his debut may take a few missteps along the way, it also does enough to ensure I’ll be checking out his next feature.
Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 5.5/10
