# Deliver Us from Evil (다만 악에서 구하소서) (2020 film)
**Deliver Us from Evil** (다만 악에서 구하소서; *Daman Akeseo Guhasoseo*) is a 2020 South Korean crime-action film written and directed by Hong Won-chan, starring [Hwang Jung-min](https://www.edgepedia.org/hwang-jung-min) as a hitman whose final job entangles him in a kidnapping case and [Lee Jung-jae](https://www.edgepedia.org/lee-jung-jae) as the killer pursuing him for revenge.[1](https://weekly.khan.co.kr/article/202008071524311) • [2](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=55346) Produced by Hive Media Corp. and distributed by CJ ENM, it opened in South Korea on August 5, 2020, running 108 minutes with a 15-and-over rating.[2](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=55346) It finished as the second-highest-grossing Korean film of 2020, drawing about 4.36 million admissions.[3](https://www.stats.koreanfilm.org/kfilm20.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | August 5, 2020 (South Korea); 108 minutes; rated 15 and over[2](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=55346) |
| Principal cast | Hwang Jung-min as In-nam, Lee Jung-jae as Ray, Park Jeong-min as Yui[2](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=55346) |
| Key crew | Cinematography Hong Kyung-pyo; music Mowg; produced by Hive Media Corp., distributed by CJ ENM[4](https://www.biff.kr/eng/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=49686&pyear=2020) |
| Box office | About 4.36 million admissions and 38.6 billion won in South Korea, second among 2020 Korean films behind *The Man Standing Next*[3](https://www.stats.koreanfilm.org/kfilm20.html) |
| Locations | Shot on location in Korea, Japan, and Thailand[5](https://asianwiki.com/Deliver_Us_From_Evil) |
| Awards | Blue Dragon Film Awards Best Cinematography & Lighting (Hong Kyung-pyo); Buil Film Awards Best Cinematography and Best Art/Technology (Martial Arts); Korean Association of Film Critics Best Supporting Actor[6](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20197922) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The film follows two men on converging paths. In-nam (Hwang Jung-min) is a Korean hitman living in Japan who completes what he intends to be his final job, killing yakuza targets.[7](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/newfilm.jsp?mode=VIEW&seq=395) When a former lover is murdered in Bangkok and her daughter disappears in a kidnapping case connected to him, he flies to Thailand and begins tracking down those responsible with the help of the expatriate Yui (Park Jeong-min).[6](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20197922) Meanwhile Ray (Lee Jung-jae), whose brother In-nam killed in Japan, learns who carried out the murder and goes to Thailand on a vengeful rampage, closing in on In-nam as both men cut through the criminal underworld.[6](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20197922) • [2](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=55346)
The Busan International Film Festival's program note describes the film as simple but powerful: on the surface a hard-boiled chase thriller, emotionally a melodrama with dense violence, drawing audiences in through a familiar storyline and combinations.[4](https://www.biff.kr/eng/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=49686&pyear=2020)
## Production
**Director and crew.** Hong Won-chan worked as a screenwriter on the adaptations *[The Chaser](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-chaser-2008-film)* (2008), *The Yellow Sea* (2010), and *Confession of Murder* (2012), and directed his feature debut *Office* (2015), which was invited to the Midnight Screenings of the Cannes Film Festival.[4](https://www.biff.kr/eng/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=49686&pyear=2020) *Deliver Us from Evil* is his second feature.[4](https://www.biff.kr/eng/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=49686&pyear=2020) The cinematographer is Hong Kyung-pyo, whose credits include *Parasite*, *[The Wailing](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-wailing-2016-film)*, and *Snowpiercer*; the score is by the composer Mowg.[8](https://www.dnews.co.kr/uhtml/view.jsp?idxno=202007291737317490879) • [4](https://www.biff.kr/eng/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=49686&pyear=2020) Kim Chul-yong served as producer.[4](https://www.biff.kr/eng/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=49686&pyear=2020)
The film was shot on location in Korea, Japan, and Thailand.[5](https://asianwiki.com/Deliver_Us_From_Evil) Hwang Jung-min and Lee Jung-jae had last shared the screen in *[New World](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-world-2013-film)* (2013), so their reunion was a talking point well before release; Hwang called the action sequences ones the director, cinematographer, and martial arts director had fully designed in advance, and named the role among the most difficult he had played.[9](https://www.movist.com/movist3d/read.asp?id=31420&type=13)
**Title.** The director has said the title comes from the closing petition of the [Lord's Prayer](https://www.edgepedia.org/lords-prayer), "deliver us from evil" (다만 악에서 구하소서).[1](https://weekly.khan.co.kr/article/202008071524311)
## Reception and box office
In a depressed 2020 theatrical market affected by COVID-19 outbreaks, the film was one of the few summer signs of box-office life, along with *Peninsula*.[3](https://www.stats.koreanfilm.org/kfilm20.html) It ranked second among 2020 Korean releases with 4,357,803 admissions and about 38.6 billion won in revenue (roughly US$32 million at the period exchange rate the source uses).[3](https://www.stats.koreanfilm.org/kfilm20.html) On its opening weekend it topped the daily box office, taking a 77.6 percent audience share on August 8, 2020.[10](https://t1.daumcdn.net/brunch/service/user/8LX/file/N4t1lOApSheiNWsGAEbY-lQ0IlI.pdf%3Fdownload) The Numbers records a worldwide theatrical total of $33,608,503, essentially all from South Korea.[11](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Deliver-Us-From-Evil-%282020-South-Korea%29) A re-edited version, *Deliver Us From Evil: Final Cut*, opened in South Korea on October 28, 2020.[11](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Deliver-Us-From-Evil-%282020-South-Korea%29)
Critics were broadly favorable on craft and action. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 95 percent Tomatometer from 19 reviews and an 81 percent audience score.[12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/deliver_us_from_evil_2020) Peter Bradshaw of *The Guardian* gave it 3/5, calling Hwang "a very persuasive and impassive action hero" and Lee "creepy and uproariously over the top."[12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/deliver_us_from_evil_2020) Cine21's six professional critics averaged 5.83 out of 10, with praise centered on the cinematography and mise-en-scène rather than the story.[2](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=55346)
## Awards
Hong Kyung-pyo's cinematography was the film's most decorated element: he won Best Cinematography and Lighting at the 41st Blue Dragon Film Awards (held February 9, 2021, after the 2020 ceremony was postponed due to COVID-19) and Best Cinematography at the 2020 Buil Film Awards, and the film also took the Buil award for Best Art/Technology (Martial Arts).[6](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20197922) • [13](https://t1.daumcdn.net/brunch/service/user/8LX/file/N4t1lOApSheiNWsGAEbY-lQ0IlI.pdf) The film received a Korean Association of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor and screened in the Korean Cinema Today - Panorama section at the 2020 Busan International Film Festival, followed by festival invitations including the Asian Film Awards, Udine Far East Film Festival, and Florence Korea Film Fest.[6](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20197922)
## Context in Korean action cinema
The film sits squarely in the Korean hardboiled action cycle of the 2000s and 2010s, alongside pictures such as *A Bittersweet Life*, *The Man from Nowhere*, and *[The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-gangster-the-cop-the-devil)*, built around a capable, damaged male protagonist moving through a criminal underworld.[14](https://sightlines.media/film/581526/deliver-us-from-evil-2020) Reviewers repeatedly read it as kin to *The Man from Nowhere*, another kidnap-rescue thriller with a foreign setting, and the Sightlines analysis notes one notable structural choice: the film declines to give In-nam a redemption speech or moment of self-understanding.[12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/deliver_us_from_evil_2020) • [14](https://sightlines.media/film/581526/deliver-us-from-evil-2020) Released a few months after *[Parasite](https://www.edgepedia.org/parasite-2019-film)* swept the Academy Awards, it was conceived for the domestic theatrical market and reached international audiences mainly through streaming and festival-adjacent channels.[14](https://sightlines.media/film/581526/deliver-us-from-evil-2020) The film's proof that Korean action could work commercially on entirely foreign locations is cited as a precursor to later location-shot hits such as *The Roundup* (2022).[14](https://sightlines.media/film/581526/deliver-us-from-evil-2020)
## References
1. [정용인 (2020). "<다만 악에서 구하소서> 구원을 포기한 두 남자의 대결", 주간경향](https://weekly.khan.co.kr/article/202008071524311)
2. ["다만 악에서 구하소서 (DELIVER US FROM EVIL) 상세정보", 씨네21](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=55346)
3. ["Korean Movie Reviews for 2020", Koreanfilm.org (KOBIS data)](https://www.stats.koreanfilm.org/kfilm20.html)
4. ["Deliver Us from Evil", Busan International Film Festival archive (2020)](https://www.biff.kr/eng/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=49686&pyear=2020)
5. ["Deliver Us From Evil", AsianWiki](https://asianwiki.com/Deliver_Us_From_Evil)
6. ["DELIVER US FROM EVIL (2020)", Korean Film Council / KOFIC film database](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20197922)
7. ["DELIVER US FROM EVIL", KOFIC new films feature](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/newfilm.jsp?mode=VIEW&seq=395)
8. ["[‘영화’로운 나날] ‘다만 악에서 구하소서’", 대한경제](https://www.dnews.co.kr/uhtml/view.jsp?idxno=202007291737317490879)
9. ["MOVIST 보자마자 한마디! 액션, 연기 OK! 정민-정재 브라더스 [다만 악에서 구하소서]", MOVIST](https://www.movist.com/movist3d/read.asp?id=31420&type=13)
10. ["영화진흥위원회 자료 (2020 일별 박스오피스)", Brunch/KOFIC](https://t1.daumcdn.net/brunch/service/user/8LX/file/N4t1lOApSheiNWsGAEbY-lQ0IlI.pdf%3Fdownload)
11. ["Deliver Us From Evil (다만 악에서 구하소서) (2020) - Box Office and Financial Information", The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Deliver-Us-From-Evil-%282020-South-Korea%29)
12. ["Deliver Us From Evil (2020)", Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/deliver_us_from_evil_2020)
13. ["2020년 국내 영화 시상식 주요부문 수상실적", KOFIC-issue compilation PDF](https://t1.daumcdn.net/brunch/service/user/8LX/file/N4t1lOApSheiNWsGAEbY-lQ0IlI.pdf)
14. ["Deliver Us from Evil (2020), dir. Hong Won-chan — analysis, influences and similar films", Sightlines](https://sightlines.media/film/581526/deliver-us-from-evil-2020)
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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 › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Action thrillers, 2020s › Crime, assassin, and vigilante thrillers › Titles symbols to L*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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