2013|107 MIN | Thriller
DIRECTOR HUH Jung
CAST SON Hyun-ju, MOON Jeong-hee, JEON Mi-sun, KIM Su-an
RELEASE DATE August 14, 2013
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During a blockbuster summer that saw titles such as
Cold Eyes (2013),
The Terror, LIVE (2013) and
BONG Joon-ho’s
Snowpiercer (2013) command the charts, few expected a debut thriller with a little-known middle-aged lead to make an impact, but that’s exactly what happened when
HUH Jung and his star
SON Hyun-ju blasted onto the scene with the chilling, twisty and highly topical mystery-thriller
Hide and Seek (2013) in the middle of August in 2013.
Despite suffering from insomnia and an obsessive-compulsive disorder, cafe entrepreneur Sung-soo has it all - the perfect wife, son, daughter and apartment. Things take a sudden turn one day when he hears a word that his estranged brother Sung-chul has gone missing. Unwilling to delve back into the past but unable to help himself, he visits his sibling’s lair. He finds no answers, only more questions, which include the provenance of mysterious markings left under each doorbell in the building. His family returns home while he stays behind but it seems they aren’t alone, and before long, the same markings appear under the doorbells of their apartment complex.
Hide and Seek kicks off with a chillingly effective cold open as a woman returns to her apartment (in the same complex as Sung-soo’s brother) only to find that she may not be alone. With careful dialogue and staging, the sequence deftly heightens the tension but just as effectively highlights Korea’s quick evolution into a modern nation obsessed with consumer values. The stark contrast between the ‘old and shabby’ and the ‘new and gleaming’ residential blocks is but one of the many thematic clues to Director HUH’s true intentions in his film.
MOON Jeong-hee also impressed as a neighbor in the rundown complex, with an intense portrayal with also led to more major parts, notably in the following year’s protest drama
Cart (2014). A very young
KIM Su-an, who went on to star in
TRAIN TO BUSAN (2016) and several other blockbusters, can be seen here as the youngest of Sung-soo’s two children.
Debut director
HUH Jung brought a weight of expectations with his first feature, particularly to those familiar with his acclaimed short films, which drew several accolades in Korea, such as a Special Jury Prize win at the
Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival (MSFF) for
The Wish (2012). HUH stayed in the mystery-horror genre for his subsequent feature, 2017’s summer chiller
The Mimic with
YUM Jung-ah.
Hide and Seek inspired a strictly faithful (almost shot-for-shot) remake in China, which was directed by LIU Jie and released in 2016 with the same title. Meanwhile, a US version is also in the works with
CJ Entertainment on board as a producer while actor Joel David Moore (seen in James Cameron’s
Avatar) is set to write the adaptation and direct.