Badmovies.org Forum

The Chaser is a 2008 Korean..  Thriller, I guess is the best description for it.  

Basically, it's about a rather nasty Korean serial killer from a few years back who murdered mostly prostitutes.  Then the pimp of a couple of these missing girls started to track him down, and the movie ensues.  I will say the structure of this one is pretty unconventional for a police procedural, but to say more would get into spoiler territory.

Oh yeah, and it's based on a true story.  No joke, a pimp did leg work and was instrumental in the investigation of the worst serial killer in Korean history.  

As you may guess, it's pretty dramatized, but the main character is a pimp and kind of a jerk to his girls.  But he has a character arc throughout the film, and ends up being likable almost in spite of himself.  It probably helps that cops (the lead character, unlike the real person, was once a cop himself) are so inept (or, if not inept, very poorly organized) you can't help but root for the much more effective investigator in the film.  From what I've gleaned, in the real events the cops were more helpful, but still made some pretty embarrassing moves.  I'll say that in America, serial killer capital of the world, things probably would have gone differently.  

But yeah, the film is very well acted - both by the actor playing the killer and the lead pimp.  Nicely shot, and pretty well-paced until the third act.  That's my only real issue - the third act feels too stretched out, and the film ends up seeming to be about 15 minutes too long.  This is a problem I've had with a number of Korean films, so maybe it's a cultural thing.  Interesting twists, some surprisingly appropriate and effective humor (considering the subject matter), and a very different sort of lead character make the film well worth a watch.  

It's now on Demand on Netflix, which is how I saw it.  Quality was pretty good, with solid subtitles.  I gave this film its own thread as it's pretty new to the western market, and I feel like a number of folks on here would enjoy it.  

8/10.

I agree with what Jim H said.

I've been a fan of South Korean film for a while now, mostly these oddball thrillers that keep making their way to our shores.

Another film worth checking out would be Memories of Murder (2003), which is also about a Korean serial killer, told from the police point of view.