2005｜119 MIN | Thriller

DIRECTOR KIM Dai-seung

CAST CHA Seung-won, PARK Yong-woo, JI Sung, YOON Se-a

RELEASE DATE May 4, 2005

CONTACT CJ Entertainment

Tel +82-2-371-5500

Fax +82-2-371-6340

Email filmsales@cj.net

Period dramas are among the most common and popular offerings on Korean cinema screens these days but it wasn’t that long ago that the genre struggled at the box office. Beyond the prestige dramas of IM Kwon-taek in the 1990s and a handful of breakout successes, such as E J-yong’s Untold Scandal (2003), the genre was generally avoided due to its high production budgets and difficult shoots. Despite this, KIM Dai-seung, following his well-received quasi-queer drama Bungee Jumping of Their Own (2001), accepted producer KIM Sung-je's (No Blood No Tears, 2002) offer to helm the risky and extremely ambitious mystery period thriller Blood Rain (2005).

The story take in place in 1808 in an affluent island community, made so by its advanced paper mill, whose inhabitants fall into turmoil when a series of brutal murders takes place in their midst. Royal investigator Won-kyu arrives to get to the bottom of the crimes and soon links the murders to a man’s death several years prior. He and his family were put to death for practicing Catholicism and the islanders now believe his spirit is out for revenge.

Pitched as a period thriller in the vein of BONG Joon-ho’s Memories of Murder (2003), the film was lauded for its intricate screenplay, which uses investigative tropes to exhume a complex social hierarchy that dictates the actions and true intentions of its characters, much as they might in real life. Yet beyond its social and narrative ambitions, Blood Rain also lived up to its title, proving to be one of the most viscerally violent Korean films to emerge at that time. 12 years after it first premiered, carefully staged scenes of carnage, such as a man’s execution by being drawn and quartered, retain their ability to shock.

Blood Rain served as a transition point for lead actor CHA Seung-won (Kick the Moon, 2001), who before then was known for his comic roles. Since then he has taken on a broader range of roles. PARK Yong-woo (Hwayi: A Monster Boy, 2013) and JI Sung (Confession, 2014) are effective as CHA’s co-stars but the standouts are in the supporting cast, which features YOO Hae-jin (Veteran, 2015), PARK Cheol-min (I Can Speak) and CHUN Ho-jin (The Neighbors, 2012).

Though director KIM surely revels in the violence he sculpts, there’s also reason behind the on-screen madness. A compelling investigation begins in a fairly traditional manner yet the murders gradually become harder to stomach. Though it can feel gratuitous (and the script occasionally offers up scenes that merely guide us from one kill to the next), it also gives the film the necessary license to execute its deliriously bloody finale and an unforgettable orgy of violence that does justice to the film’s title.