Morra ou Diga Sim

I have seen many good Korean Movies including thrillers and movies with darker overtone, but this one sucks. The director seems to be a sadist, who happened to get someone to produce some junk. The movie lacks any sort of entertainment value and is not even a thriller. I can't believe someone really made such a movie. Even though acting is OK, the story line and the feeling it leaves is awful.

I am sure, I am not going to see any movies of this director. No sense of movie making, and utter disappointment in having thriller moments. All this has is showing scenes with psychopath wasting the reels with badly shot scenes and showing more blood and violence thinking that makes it thrilling. Very disappointing movie and I strongly recommend skipping all the movies of this sort.

In Seoul, when the aspirant writer Jeong-hyun (Ju-hyuk Kim) finds an editor for his book, he buys a car and calls his wife and translator Yoon-hee (Sang Mi Chu) to travel to Sokcho to celebrate in style their first anniversary of marriage. He promises an unforgettable trip to her, and their happiness is briefly interrupted when the couple has an incident with a drifter (Joong-Hoon Park) that asks them for a lift. The guy chases them and irritates Jeong-hyun, provoking his reaction in public. Along the next days, the expressionless man proves to be a psychopath to the couple, but always without witnesses. When Jeong-hyun and Yoon-hee believe they have escaped from the man, they find that he is a sadistic murderer in their tail and they have to fight to survive.

"Sae-yi Yaeseu" is an excellent combination of "Cape Fear", "The Hitcher" and "Duel" but with a great difference in its conclusion. Hollywood would never let a gore and noncommercial unhappy end like in this movie. Joong-Hoon Park is perfect in the role of a deranged psychopath that decides to destroy the life of the couple just because they are happy. His exaggerated indestructibility recalls T-1000 in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day", but it works, increasing the action and the suspense of the story. The gorgeous Sang Mi Chu shows a wonderful chemistry with Ju-hyuk Kim, contributing to a darker and also ambiguous end. I regret that this film is totally underrated in IMDb User Rating. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Morra ou Diga Sim" ("Die or Say Yes")

This technically well made but highly sadistic thriller is basically an inferior Korean remake of The Hitcher with a bit of Seven thrown in. While the film is different enough from The Hitcher to not qualify as a remake, there's no doubt at all that the filmmakers here saw the 1980's Rutger Hauer film--there are two scenes, one in a restaurant where the psycho tries to taunt the hero into killing him, in The Hitcher with a gun and this film with a knife, and a second where the hero falls asleep in a police station only to wake up and find the cops murdered--that are too similar to be a coincidence. As dark as the American film was The Hitcher was still entertaining because the movie moved quickly and had numerous well-directed action set-pieces. Say Yes, in contrast, is largely lacking in action besides the sadistic torture scenes late in the film.

This movie begins well as the young couple are tricked into giving a ride to a sullen, brooding man. Tension mounts as the man is apparently stalking them after they finally get him out of their car. However, once it has been established that the passenger is dangerous--which happens within the first 30 minutes of the film, the movie is unable to maintain any real suspense. In lieu of suspense, we are given graphic violence. The torture scenes are extended, disturbing, and unnecessary and the battle that should have been the climax of the film comes 30 minutes to early. Everything that happens after that, which is meant to be shocking, comes across as anti-climactic and predictable. The final scene also seems so out of character for the person involved that it is ridiculous and should have been omitted. I left the theater with a headache.

I've watched this film twice so far and in my opinion it's one of the best thrillers I've seen to date from Asia, whilst not being as good as the likes of 'Infernal affairs' or 'Chaser' I still rate this highly all the same.

The bad guy is very good and totally believable in the role, as are the couple who he decides to prey on and generally make their lives a misery, whilst slowly driving them mad with every psychological/physical turn.

There's a consistently good atmosphere in the film which is at times brutal to a pretty high degree.

The film is about the right length, overall a very good watch, it probably won't blow you away, but it's much better than most thrillers over the past 5-10 years or so, well worth checking out.