Mikes Film Talk

Missing (Sil jong) is a 2009 Korean offering that can be summed up in two words: Grinding gore. It is a re-creation of a real story.

Background

This South Korean horror/thriller film is based on true events. Between August and September in 2007 a 70-year-old fisherman murdered four women in Bosung South Korea. Notes from the entry of the film in AsianWiki state that the events have been fictionalized.

Directed by Sung-Hong Kim (Say Yes 2001) it stars Moon Sung-Geun, Choo Ja-Hyun and Jeon Se-Hong. It tells the story of two young sisters who have the misfortune to cross paths with an old sociopath. He lives alone with his disabled mother.

The Story

The old sociopath Pan-Gon (Moon) sporadically runs a chicken soup cafe on the outskirts of town. He is considered a sort of village idiot, harmless enough, whose wife left him years ago. He is an object of scorn from the men in the village. They are jealous of the fact that his land is worth a fortune.

The first sister to meet Pan-Gon is Hyeon-A. She is travelling with a producer who is going to cast her in his film. They see the sign advertising chicken soup and stop for lunch. While waiting for the soup Hyeon-A goes to call her sister Hyeon-Jeong (Choo) on her mobile (cell) phone. Sis is a bit of a worrier and tends to keep close tabs on her sister. While the two girls talk on the mobile phone, Pan-Gon approaches the producer. He asks the man if he will help him to move some bags of grain.

Pan-Gon explains that he is old and has a bad back. He says he will give the couple a discount on their meal. Only if the producer will help him out. Slightly dubious and thinking that the old man is kidding him, the producer starts lifting bags of grain. In mid-lift, Pan-Gon takes a piece of piano wire and tries to strangle him. The wire breaks and the producer starts weaving to the door.He is bleeding from his mouth and throat.

Hyeon-A comes up just as the old man buries a shovel into the producer’s head killing him. Panic stricken, she cannot move. Behind her is a dog that she is clearly terrified of. In front of her is the murderous Pan-Gon. Frozen in place, Pan-Gon shoves a rag over her mouth and she passes out.

Trapped

She awakens in a dog cage in a room that has a bed, a couple of lights, and a sink. Pan-Gon comes in and tells her he won’t harm her.

This is the beginning of his systematic torture and rape of the helpless girl. Meanwhile the sister, Hyeon-Jeong is trying to track down her missing sister with little to no help from the local police.

Missing was quite unpleasant to watch. The torture and the raping of the first sister was disturbing and hard to stomach. The director did not show too much but it was still uncomfortable viewing. The other reaction this part of the film evoked was one of frustrated anger. The lack of fight that the girl has is puzzling. She might as well have had a tattoo on her forehead that said “victim.” The scenes do show just how unhinged Pan-Gon is and how far he will go to maintain absolute control over his victim.

When her sister Hyeon-Jeong comes looking for her you feel a sense of admiration.  She gets almost no help from the local police. Despite this she refuses to give up. The police chief refuses to help until she provides some sort of “hard evidence” that justifies his involvement. His assistant takes a shine to Hyeon-Jeong and gives her his card. He says she should call him if she needs any help or gets into any trouble.

2nd Chance

I first watched this film about eight months ago and gave up three quarters of the way through. It was frustrating. The total lack of interest exhibited by the local police became infuriating. I really did not care for any of the towns people either. It is almost as if the director decided to make a South Korean equivalent of the film Deliverance. Korean versions of the inbred hicks that inhabited the rural south of America.

All that was missing from the murderous villain of the piece was the slobbery drawl of “You got a purty mouth.”

But impatience and annoyance aside, the film does actually pick up in the last quarter and become more interesting. But only because the last of the film becomes a cat and mouse game with bloody action and deadly consequences.

Oddly enough that was what really let the film down. Despite being touted as being “based on true events” the film devolved into standard slasher fare. Albeit with a bit of white knuckle action between the “hero” and the “villain.”

Not Award Winning

I adore South Korea’s cinematic offerings, but, this film doesn’t fall into the category of brilliance that I’ve come to expect. It lacks the impact from the auteur directors who enthrall their audiences. Interestingly enough, I did not care much for Say Yes either. The film was very similar to this one. Both film have a lot of the gore and sadistic butchery. This seems to lower the film from thriller status to what my daughter says is “torture porn.”

The fact that I had to try twice to watch the film from start to finish says a lot. In essence, I would not recommend anyone rush to see it. It might be worth a watch if there really is nothing else on the telly.

The Verdict

Missing is a definite 2 star film. It only gets the second star because of the fighting spirit shown by the second sister. Missing is streaming on Tubi. Amazingly, IMDb gives it a 6.1.

The Obligatory Trailer

POSTSCRIPT: Updated and trailer added.

Michael Knox-Smith

08/01/2024