Deo web-toon: Ye-go sal-in

Art that imitates life or life imitating art?

After a publisher is found dead, detectives find that she was reviewing a new piece of comic art that just happens to end just as her life ended. Baffled, detective look to the artist for an explanation but she is also confused and horrified. What does it all mean and how can the artist's renderings be so exact?

This was an interesting concept. It struggles to pin down a motive whether it may be based in reality or the supernatural. I loved all of the comic art. It was all really well done and the horror aspect was on point. The problem with this film is that it has a great deal of momentum in the beginning but slowly starts to lose steam. I think it could've used a little work. Some scenes seemed to be too long because they didn't offer explanations or really add much to the plot.

So, the positives for this film is that the idea is catchy, the artwork is fantastic, horror aspect is prevalent (but not in a gory way) and it starts off with great momentum. The problems are that it has unnecessary, drawn out scenes and it fizzles out in the end. Not a bad watch but has room for improvement.

Killer Toon mixes horror and mystery with a creative concept: a webtoon that predicts real murders. The story feels like Final Destination, but with a darker, psychological twist. The main character, a haunted artist, adds depth, while the two detectives bring balance with a lighter tone. There's also a subtle LGBTQIA+ presence. Visually stylish, the film explores guilt and punishment with no mercy. However, the plot has some flaws-slow pacing, a few incoherent points (like the unrelated first murder), and unnecessary jumpscares. It's frustrating the characters don't read the full webtoon to prevent deaths. Still, it's an original take on crime, horror, and unresolved guilt, where redemption is never an option.

Alright, well I have actually had the 2013 South Korean horror movie "Deo Web-Toon: Ye-Go Sal-In" (aka "Killer Toon") laying around since 2019, but I just never got around to watching it. Why? Well, simply because the English title "Killer Toon" just left a foul taste in my mouth.

But I opted to get around to watching it here in 2022, and I will say that the movie was off to a great start. And I initially felt that I had been missing out on a great South Korean horror movie here by not actually getting around to seeing it. But then the movie started to falter and sputter around midways through, and its momentum settled into a mediocre slump.

Writers Sang-hak Lee, Hoo-Kyoung Lee, Sun-ho Cho and Sung-hee Jo were off to a good start, as I mentioned above, but it seems that too many creative inputs spoil a good idea, and the movie ended up being somewhat of a generic horror movie, which didn't really offer much worthwhile watching.

The acting performances in the movie were good, I will say that much, but it was a shame that the actors and actresses weren't given a properly constructed script and storyline to work with.

If you enjoy South Korean horror movies, then there are far better choices on the market than "Deo Web-Toon: Ye-Go Sal-In". I managed to sit through this movie in its entire runtime, however I found myself not particularly entertained.

My rating of director Yong-Gyun Kim's 2013 horror movie "Deo Web-Toon: Ye-Go Sal-In" lands on a less than mediocre four out of ten stars.

Killer Toon starts very effective with nice visuals and some gruesome killings. It sets the tone of what to expect. And for a while it does bring you the scares and thrills. At that point you are not entirely sure if you are dealing with a slasher or something supernatural. And guessing what going on is very fun. Then it loses a lot of steam. So much so that it was hard to sit through the last half hour. It then goes through what a lot of the South Korean horror movies suffer from. One twist too many. Which is fine if it has a nice pace to it. But here it takes forever to get the plot going and with lack of really likable characters I personally did not feel compelled to stay invested or interested. Also the explanation given for what is happening is so far fetched it detracts from the enjoyment. I liked how Killer Toon try to do something fresh and therefore it's a shame it can't keep up with it. Currently feel very mixed about this. But I am leaning to recommending people to watch it for the first hour and then forget about the rest.

"Killer Toon" is a horror movie with a good atmosphere, nice acting (even if it leans to the over-acting side, especially in the case of Hyun Woo, who seems on a mission to make his eyes pop out of his face), and an interesting story: the creator of a series of webcomics sees how her creations come to life and people start dying as in her stories. The police seem to feel something is amiss and start to investigate her. It all makes for a quite meta and self-referencing way of storytelling, with a good understanding of the creator, their oeuvre and the craziness that dominates their life. Si-young Lee does a great job in interpreting the creator of the comics, Kang, and Ki-joon Uhm also does a good job as the policeman that seems to think there is more to it than just casualties.

Nonetheless, after a first hour with lots of thrills, surprises and wonderful moments, the movie decides to shoot itself in the foot in the last part and it loses its plot, going for an overcooked resolution. It is a pity, because "Killer Toon", even if it hadn't made much sense till that moment, had been a thoroughly enjoyable movie. Worth checking, though, even if it overstays its welcome.