The Treacherous

I was expecting to look bad due to the budget, but the acting, special effects and quality was amazing, the gore/violence scenes were the best I've seen, the sexual stuff was very questionable and often times really hard to digest (subjective to everyone), but sometimes its pretty comical, pretty good movie overall.

I didn't know anything about this being a true story, as some reviewers have said here, before watching this. As a narrative story I found this a little all over the place. I was never sure who was who and whose side they were all on, although I think that may be lost in translation and more of a 'me' thing.

The acting of the king was simply ridiculous, crazed one minute and crying the next.

The sets, the cinematography and the costumes are wonderful and although the story may be difficult at times, the film is always a delight to look at.

References to this being the Korean Caligula on the right track. This is not a film for the feint of heart.

A slow and overlong historical drama from South Korea, telling the story of one of that country's most sadistic kings and his mad reign. It's a little similar to CALIGULA in that respect and the king's two corrupt advisors serve to only increase the drama in the film. However, like Tinto Brass's film version of the Caligula story, this film focuses on the sexuality of the situation to its detriment. It could have been really interesting had it focused on the political intrigue in an engaging way, but instead it merely wallows in explicit sexuality and the degradation of women, which isn't something that I particularly wanted to see.

When people think of 'The Treacherous', they think of eroticism in the movie. However, visual directing should be praised more. Use of water and the color red is very well thought out and appropriate. Costumes and settings show traditional Korea in a sexiest way possible. However, too much focus on sex scene and unnecessary nude scene can downgrade the quality of the movie. It had so much potential to be historical drama but stay being an erotic art film.

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The Treacherous (2015) (South Korean Drama).

After being engulfed with insanity and revenge, a prince demands beautiful women (regardless of age, marriage status, or social class) to be rounded up for his personal pleasure – this caused widespread anger in the kingdom. One of the would-be sex slaves makes an impression, but his long-time friend also has eyes for her. This film has some serious balls, and will likely offend many viewers with its immoral male characters, its wild tonal shifts, and its depiction of women (who inexplicably become very willing to be sex slaves once they enter the palace). However, this is way more interesting than one might think. Although this is primarily a drama, it does have a few highly entertaining doses of humor. There's a lengthy, hilarious "training" sequence where the women are formally educated in the art of sexual pleasure. The prince is a psycho nutcase, which provides some entertainment value in itself. Of course, there are some disturbing moments of graphic violence mixed in, which creates those oddly captivating tonal shifts. Despite the plethora of sexual references, there are only a small handful of sex scenes shown (one of which is a fairly graphic girl-on-girl intercourse). Performances are solid; the story and characters have an engaging dynamic. This film is beautifully shot and has a great visual style about it, with outstanding production values and set designs. A particularly abrasive film from South Korea, but I couldn't stop watching.