Bedevilled (2010)

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Director Jang Chul-Soo

Stars Ji Seong-won, Seo Yeong-hee

Country South Korea

Things You Might Like

•  Powerhouse performance from Seo Yeong-hee
• Harrowing drama
• Bloody last act
• Wicker Man vibe
• The final shot metaphor

Things You Might Not Like

• Disjointed use of Ji Seong-won
• Can be hard to watch
• …potatoes?

Conclusion
Bedevilled is an absolute must-watch for both horror and drama fans. It more that satisfies both markets courtesy of two intense lead performances.

4 out of 5 Honey Farms

Luke McGrath

***

Running through trees, a woman in white trips and falls to the ground. She pushed herself to her feet, her clothes are now stained with earth. They are the kind of clothes that usually get washed before they get dirty. The woman runs again. She runs out of the trees and over some rocks, down to a makeshift harbour. A boat it moored there, tied to a useful stone. The woman climbs aboard the boat and frantically tries to start the engine. She looks up in terror and her arms fall to her sides.

A second woman stands on the rocks. Her face is smeared with blood and her eyes glisten with madness. A scythe in her left hand drips red onto the brown stone.

Pop quiz: who do you want to know more about?

Chances are you said the second woman, the feared woman. I thought the same myself whilst watching Bedevilled and I’ve thought the same about many films over the years. After all, who’s more interesting; Sidney Prescott or whoever is behind the mask in Scream? A bunch of whiny teens or Freddy? A bunch of whiny teens or Jason? A bunch of…OK so teens are never too interesting, and thankfully you wont find any such dross here.

Billed as a horror, Bedevilled is much more of a harrowing family drama than slasher. It has a brilliantly rousing final act of slashing but one that works because of the patient set-up, not in spite of it. It’s The Wicker Man if he ever picked up a garden tool for revenge. Over two hours of twisting emotions, bookended by a unexpectedly powerful narrative.

Set on a barely inhabited island community, Bedevilled follows the relationship of two women local Bok-nam (Seo Yeong-hee) and outsider Hae-won (Ji Seong-won). The longer Hae-won stays on the island, the more she discovers about the life Bok-nam leads. Regularly beaten and abused by her husband and the female village elders, she is at breaking point.

The success of Bedevilled is the partnership of Seo and Ji. Bok-nam teeters on the edge of sanity, waiting for a moment that might tip her into seeking bloody revenge. Hae-won is her opposite, cold and unfeeling; she visits the island to recover from stress after refusing to identify one of her friend’s muggers. The see-sawing of focus between them works well, until Seo turns up the heat in the middle act.

Seo’s performance is mind blowing, awards worthy in any other genre. She nails every part of Bok-nam; the eager friend, the abused wife, loving mother, vengeful psycho and effortlessly controls her emotions to make it all ring true. Seo anchors the misery and murder with a perfect air of stolen innocence, one of the best horror performances of all time. She’s so good that the story’s insistence on following Hae-won turns into it’s downfall. Any time away from Bok-nam feels like time wasted.

The story redeems itself at the end with a stunning visual reveal that I won’t spoil. Suffice to say it pulls the rug from under a character’s feet and brings the audience back on side. Even with this final act of magic Bedevilled can’t quite justify a place at the table with masterpieces of film making. It comes just a scythe’s width away, and falls only due to a standout performance, but falls nonetheless.

Buy Bedevilled from Amazon