I Saw the Devil
Magnet Releasing | Release Date: March 4, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezApr 14, 2011
Director Kim Jee-woon's astonishing story of a serial killer who picks the wrong man's fiancée to murder, is so extreme and intense that it had to be trimmed down in its native country before it was released to theaters. We lucky westerners get to see it in all its hair-raising, stomach-churning glory, and that's a wonderful thing. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonMar 25, 2011
A terrific but uncompromising film that's definitely not for everyone. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn LevyMar 17, 2011
If you've got the stomach for it, it's a treat. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubScott TobiasMar 3, 2011
A mesmerizing study of the nature of evil itself. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnMar 3, 2011
Eventually, Soo-hyun's relentless pursuit-and-release approach outlives the director's skill and the premise starts to feel redundant. Read full review
80
Boxoffice MagazinePam GradyMar 1, 2011
Plenty of people die in I Saw the Devil, but it is that first attack on Ju-yeon in the movie's opening minutes that reverberates through the epic 141-minute running time. Read full review
80
VarietyRob NelsonMar 1, 2011
Repugnant content, grislier than the ugliest torture porn, ought to have made the film unwatchable, but it doesn't, simply because Kim's picture is so beautifully filmed, carefully structured and viscerally engaging. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. MusettoMar 4, 2011
You won't soon forget it -- if you have the guts to see it. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumMar 2, 2011
Somewhere in all the blood (sickening realism is a selling point), a question is posed: When does the one fighting a monster become a monster himself? Read full review
70
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisMar 4, 2011
A droll Nietzschean fable that's fully aware of its lapses into absurdity. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesMark OlsenMar 4, 2011
There is all the violent mayhem, for certain, but the thing that sets I Saw the Devil apart is its undercurrent of real emotion and how unrelentingly sad it can be. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenMar 24, 2011
Although the sequences grow somewhat repetitive in spite of their vicious escalation, and some of the details challenge believability, I Saw the Devil is a spectacle of substantial merit. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyMar 17, 2011
A typical mixture of the artful and the repellent. Read full review
63
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreMar 16, 2011
A thriller that makes you wish you knew how to scream "O.M.G." in Korean. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfMar 2, 2011
Ultimately, the returns of the film's premise can't justify a nearly two-and-a-half-hour squirm. The savagery is honest, raw and hardly entertainment. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisMar 17, 2011
But that ending is a whopper all the same: a heartless blast of tragedy, exploitation, amusement, and general flagrance. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleAmy BiancolliMar 10, 2011
An artfully depraved piece of South Korean torture porn directed by Kim Ji-woon, is a skillful serial-killer thriller in keeping with the likes of "Saw." Read full review
40
Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonMar 1, 2011
Never good with nuance, Kim is a beast with disarming imagery but has few resonating ideas, leaving the domino-tumble of brutality to become its own tiresome spectacle. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterElizabeth KerrMar 1, 2011
On any number of levels, "Devil" is troublesome at best, offensive at worst. Read full review
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