Strangers From Hell Review

Strangers From Hell: Makes You Never Want To Talk To Strangers Again

 

Recent thriller, ‘Strangers From Hell’ or ‘Hell is Other People’, available on Netflix, has been causing so much attraction for it unique plot, brilliant acting and compelling characters. If you haven’t yet watched it, you have been missing out on one of the best Korean Dramas that has ever come out. Ambitious young, Jong-woo moves into the city of Seoul to give himself a better life but also be closer to his girlfriend. However, he is only starting from scratch, thus has to endure the pitfalls of a creepy though cheap residence. What starts off as strange soon becomes disturbing and murderous; leaving Jong woo questioning his sanity yet also his surroundings. Hell is truly other people in this series, and you’ll come to find out soon.

 

Upon finishing this show, I felt as it is my duty to give feedback (brutally honest); commend the show upon its captivating story. Yet also criticise where it is due and worthy.

 

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVE NOT YET WATCHED THIS SERIES!

 

Cinematography

From the very first shot, the audience is completely immersed into this world, not just an ordinary depiction of Seoul, but Jong-woo’s mind frame and the eeriness of this residence.

There is a dark and highly saturated blue tint that pervades throughout the show to provide a gloomy atmosphere and sets the tone for the mayhem we’re about to witness. The camera is constantly moving, it is active and emphasises how hyper real this all is. We can feel Jong-woo’s anxiety simply through the camera shots and angles. With energetic shots throughout, I can draw comparisons to the directing style of Quentin Tarantino, and for those who aren’t used to this or like it- they may feel disorientated. Although, this may be the aim of the director as it all ties in to the overall mood of the series.

 

Acting

Im Siwan is brilliant, an actor I haven’t seen before and some of you may vaguely recognise him, but after watching this series, you will want to keep an eye out for him. His depiction of Jung Woo is perfect in this series, he truly captures the essence of his character: the awkwardness, discomfort and suspicion. The character of Jung-woo itself is already compelling, as he is not depicted as perfect or troubled but somewhere in between good and evil. He often toes the line between professionalism and allowing his anger to get the best of him. As Jong-woo is somewhat disturbed by his experiences in the army, Im Siwan cleverly depicts the struggles of wrestling with one’s emotions and the subtleties of containing one’s self (even the slight eyebrow twitch), truly shows how he has much control over his facial expressions and body. The depiction of Jong-woo’s psychological issues is elusive yet uncanny, showing his duplicitous nature, which we get to truly witness at the end, as we are almost completely sucked into his fantasies.

Additionally, Lee Dong-Wook’s portrayal of the psychotic, charismatic dentist is completely terrifying and excellent at the same time. We are truly afraid, yet so captivated by his charm, aura, looks and strange behaviour. The casting for his character, Moon-So, is perfect, as Dong-Wook’s looks play a huge part into this character and not for superficial reasons. Its always interesting to see a handsome, alluring character whose appearance masks a dark mind, ugly murderous thoughts, though he knows he is attractive and unassuming, thus uses it hide in plain sight. Though, there is a mystical element to this particular character, the audience is bewitched by his perfectly creepy delivery of lines and that sly grin. He is the most interesting and unnerving character by far in this series, and I am completely blown away by his acting skills here especially.

Similarly, the director Ms. Eom (played by Lee Jung-Eun) who I even forgot was acting because she was so brilliant. Her character isn’t as obviously eccentric, just a cheery elder lady which is very common personality trait of people we see in real life which makes scarier when we see her evil side because it’s like we’re watching someone we somewhat know and would probably trust. We now also recognise her from Parasite and hope to see more of her in many films.

Next up, the twins (played by Park Jong-Hwan), despite serial killers were very entertaining and brought a humorous energy to the show. We never know what they are up to, and Jong-Hwan’s amazing portrayal of them renders us disturbed but fascinated by them. They are very complex characters and the laughing disorder (akin to Joker) further paints them as misunderstood, pushing the audience to try and understand them.

Special mention to Ahn Eun-Jin who plays Jung-Hwa the police officer, who constantly gives us Fargo vibes and definitely provides a differing perspective to bring us out of the madness that is that residence. She has a lot of energy and charisma on the screen and her character provides an overflow of tension to the already tense and uncomfortable environment.

I simply cannot fault the acting here, everyone blew it out of the park this time.

 

Plot

The plot is interesting and uncommon to many of the K dramas we see being advertised. Despite its basis being on the Webtoon series, thrillers are still not as often appreciated in the K-drama society, but this specific type of thriller is even rarer. Yet, you’ve got to love the story of the ‘normal dude’ that finds himself in a crazy situation but this time we had many twists and our expectations of a normal dude were subverted here.

The first few episodes that focus on Jong-woo’s start up in the workplace culture was quickly a point of interest for me and others, as many adults can relate to the stressors, we face in work life, the workplace and also the financial struggle. The beginning concept definitely hit the nail on the head for relatability, despite its genre. Even with the craziness going on, you still feel as though this could really be happening because it feels so damn realistic as it captures the essence of the adult/working life world so well. The exploration of the dullness, repetitive and competitive nature of work life is well portrayed here. Moreover, the situations he faces at work and his relationship issues, shift us to a place where we know there are psycho murderers on the loose but we also are cringing at awkward everyday situations. Particularly the realism, especially with the relationships, are great here, we don’t have an cheesy perfect romance, at the start or even at the end. I think it shows a great contrast for other k dramas and tv series that constantly perpetuate these cliché’s. Its nice to see a change for once and perhaps we can see a trend of these explorations of a romantic relationship in the K-drama sphere.

Additionally, the concept of the grotesque murderers being a team operation is compelling, and although the back story isn’t explored in too much detail; the link of them growing up in an orphanage shows how there is a bond between them and answers some questions as to how they became acquainted. The show could’ve delved deeper, honestly, and show how they all had this descent to evil. However, I do like how some things remain a mystery because we can never fully come to understand why people do evil things and there is often not a simple rational explanation for behaviour like this (as we see in characters like the Joker). We are constantly reminded that we are just the audience and we may never get the full picture that we believe we deserve. Even at the end, when we still don’t seem to understand them, we can’t help but chuckle because in the end we can’t fully ever understand anyone and that’s life.

What I would assume is that they were groomed by Ms. Um as they grew up under her care, so perhaps she passed her evil onto them (lol) but we still don’t know the true cause for all of them - thus I believe this is a fair point of criticism.

The twist at the end was shocking and not as easily predictable as some people may have suggested. Jong-woo doing the murderers does force the audience to question why we almost gave into his side of the story and ignored his subtle murderous thoughts just because everyone else’s was overt and in-your-face.

Perhaps the twist could’ve been executed a bit sooner than just the last 5 minutes. I would’ve like to see a longer montage, even dating back to before that night of the big fight, but a true montage of Jong-woo descent to mania and his murderous tendencies in Episode 10. Things were left a bit vague here, I understand, and minor errors could be fixed. The twist, I felt was still decent and did link to the previous hallucinations we would see of him, which did give the show an edge where we aren’t strictly dividing characters into victim and villain.

 

I look forward to seeing more Korean Tv shows such as this, I truly believe this could inspire more shows such as this and keep us entertained.

Comment below what you think about this series and this genre in general.

 

- J