“Chaser” Theatrical Poster
They call him Na Hong-Jin. If you’re not familiar with his name, maybe you’re familiar with his work. In 2008, the South Korean filmmaker shook the world with his debut feature film, The Chaser. In 2010, he showed us that he wasn’t a one-hit wonder with The Yellow Sea. Then in 2016 came The Wailing, where Na proved his cinematic prowess while tackling the occult subgenre.
Apparently, his long-awaited next mystery project is The Mink, a Thai/South Korean collaboration (via HC), following his work with Banjong Pisanthanakun’s 2021 horror film, The Medium.
But back in 2017, it was reported that his next project would once again be based on horrifying factual incidents (The Chaser was loosely based on serial killer Yoo Young-chul) – this time – a film about Woo Bum-kon, a South Korean policeman who snapped and went on a kill crazy rampage in 1982 (via KJD). And within a 24 hour period, Woo killed 56 people and wounded 35 others. At one point, he was the deadliest known mass murder committed by a lone gunman in modern history until the Norway attacks of July 22, 2011 (via WIKI).
Considering the reported project would be coming from the director who gave us the three, perfectly-crafted thrillers, making a movie about Woo Bum-ko would have been the perfect topic for Na’s ability to deliver cinematic greatness on a brutal level.
If by chance Na jumps back to the Woo Bum-kon project, you bet you’ll hear it from us. Until then, watch a riveting documentary about Woo Bum-kon below. Be forewarned: Some of the contents is not easy to watch, and the fact that this was all real (even with everything going on in this day and age), makes it even crazier!
I have to be honest, guys – ‘The Chaser’ and ‘Yellow Sea’ are two of my favorite Korean movies of all time, but ‘The Wailing’ just failed to connect for me. I think I need to give it another viewing.
Definitely my least favorite of Na’s bunch, but still 100x better than anything a Hollywood director has tried to do in the same genre. Unlike most horror movies today, this one was at least creepy.