# Bedevilled (김복남 살인사건의 전말) (2010 film)
**Bedevilled** (김복남 살인사건의 전말, *Gimbongnam Sarinsageonui Jeonmal*, literally "The Full Story of the Kim Bok-nam Murder Case") is a 2010 South Korean horror-thriller film, the directorial debut of Jang Cheol-soo, about an abused island woman who takes murderous revenge after her childhood friend from Seoul fails to help her.[1](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/55321) The film runs 115 minutes, was rated restricted (청소년관람불가) in Korea, and was released there on September 2, 2010.[2](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/movie/kimboknam/kimboknam_main.htm)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 김복남 살인사건의 전말 (Gimbongnam Sarinsageonui Jeonmal); international title Bedevilled[1](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/55321) |
| Director / debut | Jang Cheol-soo's first feature film[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/inFocus.jsp?blbdComCd=601018&mode=VIEW&pageIndex=1&pageRowSize=10&seq=234) |
| Premiere | Critics' Week lineup, 63rd Cannes Film Festival (2010); fan favorite at the 2010 Pucheon Fantastic Film Festival[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/inFocus.jsp?blbdComCd=601018&mode=VIEW&pageIndex=1&pageRowSize=10&seq=234) • [4](https://www.stats.koreanfilm.org/kfilm10.html) |
| Korean release | September 2, 2010; 115 minutes; restricted rating[2](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/movie/kimboknam/kimboknam_main.htm) |
| Lead cast | Seo Young-hee (Bok-nam), Ji Sung-won (Hae-won), Park Jung-hak (Man-jong), Bae Sung-woo (Cheol-jong)[1](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/55321) |
| Reception | 89% Tomatometer (9 reviews) and 82% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes; 7.2/10 on IMDb[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bedevilled_2010) • [6](https://thehorrormovietracker.com/movie/59421) |
| Awards | New director prizes at the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards and the 8th Korea Movie Awards, plus director and actress awards at other ceremonies despite a low budget[7](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=20728) • [8](https://www.akls.kr/uploaded/board/reference01/27639fd8f2d42aa5614142dedaf76d83b87ce54.pdf) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Hae-won ([Ji Sung](https://www.edgepedia.org/ji-sung)-won) works as a non-regular bank employee in Seoul. After witnessing an assault on a woman in the street and doing nothing, and after slapping a colleague at work, she is ordered to take a vacation and travels to Mu-do, the remote island where she briefly lived as a child, at the urging of her childhood friend Kim Bok-nam (Seo Young-hee).[9](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20100819089000005) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bedevilled_2010)
Bok-nam welcomes her warmly, but the islanders are wary of the visitor. Hae-won gradually sees the reality of Bok-nam's life: her husband Man-jong beats her, his brother Cheol-jong rapes her routinely, and the island's elder women shame and exploit her as one of the few able-bodied laborers left on the island.[9](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20100819089000005) • [10](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/landing/article.kci?arti_id=ART001881801) Bok-nam, who has waited fifteen years for her friend's visit, sees Hae-won as her only possible protector, but Hae-won remains a bystander to the abuse.[1](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/55321)
When Bok-nam learns that her daughter Yeon-hee has been raped by her stepfather, she attempts to flee the island with the girl; the villagers catch them and the daughter is killed, and Bok-nam is blamed for the death. Left entirely alone, she takes up a sickle and begins killing the island's inhabitants, five households and seven people in the small village.[1](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/55321) The Yonhap review notes that the film shows the killing of the husband in full, blood-soaked detail, including an uncut beheading scene, and that Bok-nam's childhood flute, once used to protect Hae-won from boys, returns fifteen years later as a weapon.[9](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20100819089000005)
## Production and release
The screenplay by Choi Kwang-young won the top prize at the 2008 Korean Movie Scenario Market, and the completed film drew attention as a dark-horse contender at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival.[2](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/movie/kimboknam/kimboknam_main.htm) It received its world premiere in the Critics' Week section at Cannes in 2010, alongside films such as *The Housemaid*, and became a fan favorite at the Pucheon Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) the same year.[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/inFocus.jsp?blbdComCd=601018&mode=VIEW&pageIndex=1&pageRowSize=10&seq=234) • [11](https://www.movist.com/movist3d/note.asp?mid=42349&op=) Production companies were Filma Pictures and Tory Pictures, with distribution by Sponge E&T; Kim Gi-tae was the cinematographer and Kim Tae-seong composed the score.[2](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/movie/kimboknam/kimboknam_main.htm) Location filming in Seoul included police stations and Seocho district sites in September 2009.[12](https://www.seoulfc.or.kr/data/briefing/027.pdf)
## Genre and critical interpretation
**A hybrid of genres.** Critics describe the film as a slow-burn character study that evolves from a depiction of oppression into a graphic revenge tale.[13](https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3195267/bd-review-bedevilled-is-riveting-and-intelligent/) The Korean Film Council places it in the lineage of Korea's revenge thrillers, following [Park Chan-wook](https://www.edgepedia.org/park-chan-wook)'s *Oldboy* (2003) and [Kim Jee-woon](https://www.edgepedia.org/kim-jee-woon)'s *A Bittersweet Life* (2005), combined with the psychological fears of countryside horror.[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/inFocus.jsp?blbdComCd=601018&mode=VIEW&pageIndex=1&pageRowSize=10&seq=234) Reviewers also note its kinship with the "urbanoia" (horror genre where city visitors face rural violence) tradition in which a city protagonist finds that rural law and order do not apply, while the film muddies that convention by making the island woman the initial victim rather than the threat.[14](https://www.heroic-cinema.com/reviews/bedevilled-2010/)
In a 2014 study in *Acta Koreana*, Michelle Cho of McGill University argues that the film's closest generic frame is not the auteurist Korean revenge film but the rape-revenge film, and that it critiques the gender politics of both the slasher and rape-revenge traditions.[10](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/landing/article.kci?arti_id=ART001881801) Cho reads the film as an intertextual response to the colonial-era naturalist writer Kim Tong-in, citing his short stories "Potatoes" ("Kamja," 1925) and "The Seaman's Chant" ("Paettaragi," 1921) and the 1987 film adaptation *Kamja* directed by Byun Jang-ho, and argues that the film presents patriarchal oppression as a pervasive social disease rather than attributing gendered violence to nature.[10](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/landing/article.kci?arti_id=ART001881801) The island's name itself is read ironically: "mu" signifies negation, so Mu-do is at once "Mu Island" and a "non-island," a non-place that mirrors the social relations of Seoul rather than standing apart from them.[10](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/landing/article.kci?arti_id=ART001881801)
**Social reading.** Several reviewers treat the film as a critique of Korean society rather than of an isolated backwater. The SBS review argues that the film suggests male brutality against women is a problem not only on remote islands with backward communities but also in the city, since the opening assault Hae-won ignores takes place in Seoul.[15](https://www.sbs.com.au/whats-on/article/bedevilled-review/0f7dohp90) The Electric Sheep review places the film alongside Yang Ik-joon's *Breathless* (2009) as a strong response to an acutely unfair and brutal state of affairs in Korean society, and credits it with creating an original horror heroine in Bok-nam.[16](https://www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk/reviews/2011/03/01/bedevilled/)
## Reception and legacy
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an 89% Tomatometer from 9 reviews and an 82% audience score from more than 250 ratings; it scores 7.2/10 on IMDb and an average of 77/100 across six tracked review aggregators.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bedevilled_2010) • [6](https://thehorrormovietracker.com/movie/59421) Critics singled out the film's gradual suspense-building by a first-time director, its cinematography by Kim Gi-tae, and Kim Tae-seong's score.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bedevilled_2010) Dread Central gave it 4.5/5, warning that the film will make viewers angry but calling the payoff "cinematic gold."[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bedevilled_2010)
Despite a low production budget, the film swept director and best-actress awards at ceremonies including the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards, the Grand Bell Awards, and the Korea Movie Awards; Jang Cheol-soo received new-director prizes from the critics' association and the 8th Korea Movie Awards.[8](https://www.akls.kr/uploaded/board/reference01/27639fd8f2d42aa5614142dedaf76d83b87ce54.pdf) • [7](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=20728) In 2015 a sequel was reported to be in production, based on a real case involving a female teacher.[17](https://tvreport.co.kr/repot/article/624441/) The film remains available on streaming services including Prime Video and Apple TV internationally, and Tving and Coupang Play in Korea.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bedevilled_2010) • [18](https://kinolights.com/season/8296)
## References
1. [김복남 살인사건의 전말, Korean Film Archive (KOFA) video library record](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/55321)
2. [김복남 살인사건의 전말 official film page, KoreaFilm.co.kr](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/movie/kimboknam/kimboknam_main.htm)
3. [BEDEVILLED, Korean Film Council (KOFIC), In Focus by Pierce Conran (2018)](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/inFocus.jsp?blbdComCd=601018&mode=VIEW&pageIndex=1&pageRowSize=10&seq=234)
4. [Korean Movie Reviews for 2010, koreanfilm.org](https://www.stats.koreanfilm.org/kfilm10.html)
5. [Bedevilled (2010), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bedevilled_2010)
6. [Bedevilled (2010), Horror Movie Tracker](https://thehorrormovietracker.com/movie/59421)
7. [장철수 profile, 씨네21 (Cine21)](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=20728)
8. [돌아보기: 법은 안중에도 없는 복수의 화신들, AKLS reference PDF](https://www.akls.kr/uploaded/board/reference01/27639fd8f2d42aa5614142dedaf76d83b87ce54.pdf)
9. [<새영화> 김복남 살인 사건의 전말, Yonhap News (2010)](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20100819089000005)
10. [Michelle Cho, "Beyond Vengeance: Landscapes of Violence in Jang Chul-soo's Bedevilled," Acta Koreana 17.1 (2014)](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/landing/article.kci?arti_id=ART001881801)
11. [김복남 살인사건의 전말, MOVIST](https://www.movist.com/movist3d/note.asp?mid=42349&op=)
12. [영상서울 27호, Seoul Film Commission](https://www.seoulfc.or.kr/data/briefing/027.pdf)
13. ["[BD Review] 'Bedevilled' Is Riveting And Intelligent," Bloody Disgusting (2011)](https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3195267/bd-review-bedevilled-is-riveting-and-intelligent/)
14. ["Review: Bedevilled (2010)," Heroic Cinema (2011)](https://www.heroic-cinema.com/reviews/bedevilled-2010/)
15. ["Bedevilled Review," SBS What's On](https://www.sbs.com.au/whats-on/article/bedevilled-review/0f7dohp90)
16. ["Bedevilled," Electric Sheep magazine (2011)](https://www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk/reviews/2011/03/01/bedevilled/)
17. ["'김복남 살인사건의 전말' 속편 제작…여교사 사건 실화," TV Report (2015)](https://tvreport.co.kr/repot/article/624441/)
18. [김복남 살인사건의 전말 다시보기, KinoLights](https://kinolights.com/season/8296)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Horror thriller films*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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