10 Secret Details That Make Horror Movies Even Creepier
7. The Murderer That Inspired The Film Watched It - Memories Of Murder
At its time of release, the killer upon whom Bong Joon-ho’s Memories of Murder is based had not yet been caught. The film came out in 2003, but it would be another sixteen years before the perpetrator of the Hwaseong serial murders, Lee Choon Jae, admitted to his crimes.
Bong Joon-ho believed from the start that the killer would watch his film, leading him to the create the famous final shot in which Detective Park Doo-man breaks the fourth wall to stare directly at the audience - and also at the killer.
“The person I wanted to talk to the most,” Bong said in a panel marking the film’s ten year anniversary, “was the killer himself.” According to some sources, he got exactly that.
Whilst it seems impossible to verify if this is true, apparently in his 2019 trial Lee claimed he had watched Bong’s movie and that it made him feel nothing. And given the huge audience reach the film gained over the years, this doesn’t necessarily seem unlikely. Still, to watch all your horrible crimes play out in front of you and not feel a thing is absolutely deranged.