A Record of Sweet Murder

This film is so awful. The premise is so good which is what makes it all the more disappointing. The main antagonist is so annoying and insufferable. They had many chances to stand up to him but did not. The pacing felt very off and repetitive. The ending was actually the worst part, and everything became even more unbearable. I just couldn't wait for it to end. If you are a lover of found footage and were looking for something here, you will not find it. It'll be added to the long list of found footage films you've seen but would never watch again. I wasted my time trying to give it the benefit of the doubt. Save yourself.

Maintaining the appearance of being a single, unbroken shot, A Record of Sweet murder is almost like a very bloody stage play. The real-time device brings to mind Hitchcock's Rope, with some cleverly hidden edits and sparing, but effective, special effects shots. The bulk of the movie really seems to happen all at once, drawing the viewer in to it's compelling and unusual story.

A Korean reporter brings a Japanese cameraman to meet a serial killer, who also happens to have once been a childhood friend. The killer traps them and, nervously wielding a knife, begins to explain that he needs them in order to enact some grander plan, an insane-sounding conspiracy theory. He explains that he needs them to wait for two other characters to show up, and when by some miracle they do, things start getting really crazy.

A Record of Sweet Murder has some fine performances, leaning into an odd, slightly surreal tone as it maintains its hyper real structure. This was something writer/director did very well in his horror classic Noroi: The Curse. While Sweet Murder is smaller in scope, it has a thematic energy, creates an interesting dialogue about fate and madness and the struggle between good and evil.

Found footage movies have a tendency to end abruptly or fall apart in the end and, thankfully, Sweet Murder brings it all back together and sticks the landing. A treat for foreign found footage fans and a thoughtful horror art film.

Journeying together with her cameraman, a Korean reporter finds herself tasked with following a former childhood friend who's now a ravenous serial killer leaving a trail of bodies behind him in his quest to conduct a specific ritual in order to bring back a childhood friend of theirs.

This one was quite an enjoyable effort. One of the better features here is the fact that there's a strong storyline at play here which brings a lot to the table. The familiarity they have with each other from their past gives them a rather strong and unique connection for her to be sought out for his rampage and has a big starting point to the point of his rampage. His intent with the rampage, to kill a select number of individuals in order to carry out a special prophecy told to him in an asylum, is told rather well and is quite original in the realm of following lunatics on a seemingly divine message. That plays a large part of what makes the middle of the film so intriguing. Knowing that he's intent on finishing his quest, the fact that his manic outbursts and psychotic ramblings about the need to follow the seemingly random clues he sees in the magazine article provide a grounding for that story that gets utilized here. When the clues in the story start to emerge and he forces them into more dangerous situations, the story becomes somewhat more intriguing and uncomfortable with what he puts them through later on. That the tables are further turned in the encounter when the final piece of the puzzle is revealed offers up a solid finale that makes this one get wilder in the finale offering up plenty of stellar gore and a crazy finish that's patently unpredictable. These here manage to hold this one up considerably over the few flaws as there are a few issues to be had with the film. The main problem is the seemingly random bit in the final half where the new couple involved in the events are way too eager to have the killer seemingly think they're under his control but instead turn the tables on him. While it's indeed a stellar surprise to have the couple become their true selves with their perverted nature egging him on to rape the girl for his delight, it's another thing entirely to have them all sit around listening to the entire story about his rampage and the intent behind it without voicing any objections about it and just going along with it. That's entirely unrealistic, especially after all the damage he had inflicted upon them earlier in the day which is rather tough to believe. Along with some goofy banter that makes this one somewhat difficult to follow at times, there's not much else really wrong here.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, Nudity, a sex scene and a rape scene.

The genre is a bit overused, but this is a good one with an interesting twist. Some crazy things (reminding Sono's movies) in there, a bit over-the-top sometimes, but very recommendable.

A RECORD OF SWEET MURDER is a found footage horror film which tells the story of a journalist duo who are invited into an abandoned apartment in order to do an exclusive interview with an apparently mentally disturbed serial murderer who had escaped from psychiatric custody . Once there, he tells them that God told him to kill 27 people to bring back a dead childhood friend, that his count is 25, and and that he wants them to record his final two killings of a loving couple which will soon appear.

The film is very unusual for the found footage genre and takes a number of unexpected twists and turns while maintaining a good tension based on the audience not knowing whether the murderer is insane or whether there is genuinely some supernatural stuff going on, very much in the spirit of M. Night Shyamalan's KNOCK AT THE CABIN (2023).

Some of the twists and turns are more successful than others, but even the less successful ones can be enjoyed as a sort of dark satire, especially since some of the characters are reminiscent of the weird characters in Takashi Miike's satirical horror movies (I was especially reminded of the antagonists in ICHI THE KILLER (2001)).

One aspect I wonder about is whether the fact that some of the characters are Korean and others are Japanese is meant as an oblique commentary on the dark history between the two countries. In 1910, Japan annexed Korea as a colony and severely subjugated and oppressed the local population, something for which Japan has not properly apologized to this day.

Be that as it may, I like movies with highly original stories, I found it entertaining, and it ended in a way I did not predict, so overall I rate this as a good movie.