DESIRE TO KILL

(A.k.a. ENEMY AT THE DEAD END; JOOGIGO SIPEUN)

It’s the early 1980s. Min-ho’s (Chun Ho-jin) mind is plagued by half-remembered memories of an attack on him and his wife Su-jin. The assault left her dead and provoked a stroke in the heavily injured Min-ho. As a consequence, he’s been left paralysed and depressed in a lonely cliff-top hospital overlooking the beautiful Daema Island.

Min-ho is clearly overwhelmed by the guilt of not only being incapable of saving his wife’s life, but being unable to remember key details attached to her demise. Such as her killer’s face, for example.

The torment proves to be so great that Min-ho attempts to commit suicide on several occasions. He disconnects his IV drip, tries strangling himself with a medical chord, obtains a piece of broken glass in a bid to slash his own wrists … all to no avail, thanks largely to the vigilance of kindly nurse Ha (Seo Hyo-rim).

One afternoon following the death of neighbouring patient Yang, Ha takes Min-ho for a walk outside in his wheelchair. She tells him that he will soon have new company in the form of a hit-and-run victim who’s presently undergoing critical brain surgery.

Under the expert eye of resident genius Dr Paik, the patient survives the operation despite one medical student declaring that their brains looked like "mashed potatoes". The patient is then wheeled into the quiet, two-bed ward where they are lowered onto the bed beside Min-ho’s. As the patient is tucked in and connected to various life-keeping equipment, Min-ho overhears the nurses utter his name: Sang-up (Yoo Hae-jin).

Min-ho’s eyes fire up. He knows the name. Craning for a better view of his new roommate, he’s sure he recognises the face too. Could it really be that Sang-up is Su-jin’s killer?

Left alone overnight, Min-ho is determined to get to Sang-up. Of course, this is easier said than done, especially as he’s still somewhat paralysed (though recovering gradually) and has unfortunately been strapped to his bed for his own safety, on account of his previously suicidal ways.

But Min-ho is an extremely determined man. However, when Sang-up finally awakens and realises what he’s being accused of, he turns the tables and says Min-ho is the killer. It seems both men, temporarily crippled and suffering from varying degrees of insomnia, want each other dead!

From there onwards, DESIRE TO KILL escalates to dizzying heights as the two leads gradually recover mentally and physically, piecing together the puzzle of Su-jin’s death while attempting to bump each other off in increasingly elaborate – and genuinely amusing – ways.

The performances are terrific. Ho-jin is a star from the start, heartbroken and easy to empathise with, even though his surliness could easily have turned audience sympathy away over time. Hyo-rim portrays the role of cute nurse Ha well, hinting at a dark background that will come into play much more significantly as the film progresses. Hae-jin has fun with his role, clearly relishing the opportunity of acting alongside his BLOOD RAIN co-star Ho-jin once more. Combined, the threesome is an absolute joy to watch.

Co-written and directed by Owen Cho and Kim Sang-hwa, DESIRE TO KILL establishes its premise without delay and builds steadily from there on in, keeping the pace fluent for the entirety of its 92-minute running time. Dialogue is sardonic and snappy, sets are sparse but stylish, and the action is regular and hard-hitting. The result is a genuine pleasure: a film with humour, horror, violence, twists and character quirks to spare.

Taking time to comment on traditional South Korean issues such as honour, familial duties, loyalty, caring for thy neighbour and – of course – revenge, it would be lazy to compare the film to OLD BOY. It shares the same country of origin and concept of vengeance, of course, but DESIRE TO KILL is its own beast and deserves to be savoured, far away from any such naïve comparisons.

Terracotta’s Region 2 disc presents DESIRE TO KILL uncut in a 16x9 anamorphic presentation that looks generally good. Colours are rich and authentic-looking, while detail is remarkably vivid. Compression issues arise mildly in darker scenes but don’t prove to be too distracting. Some edge enhancement is evident and unfortunately there was a noticeable amount of motion blurring on display.

Korean audio comes in reliable 2.0 and 5.1 mixes. Optional English subtitles are well-written and easy to read.

The disc opens with a static main menu page. From there, a static scene-selection menu allows access to the film via 6 chapters.

Extras begin with the film’s original 90-second trailer. We also get a 30-second trailer ‘highlight’, which is more akin to a TV spot.

A 9-minute Making Of documentary focuses on welcome behind-the-scenes footage and the odd blooper. It makes for a decent watch.

5 minutes of interview footage follows, with Ho-jin and Hyo-rim discussing their characters and what attracted them to the film in the first place.

A further 2-minute featurette serves as a promotional tool for the Terracotta Film Festival.

We also get a 38-second introduction to the film from someone billed as being the film’s director, but with a name different to Owen’s or Kim’s (damn, knew I should have made a note of that!). Anyway, the ‘director’ offers a succinct musing over the film’s central theme by posing the question, "are humans the sum of their memories?".

Finally, there are trailers for REVENGE: A LOVE STORY, FOX FAMILY, HANSEL AND GRETEL and DEATH BELL. The disc is also defaulted to open with the trailers for the latter two.

DESIRE TO KILL is an excellent dark comedy with great leading performances, Hitchcockian twists and a malevolent sense of mischief about it which is impossible not to warm to.

Review by Stuart Willis