Major crimes unit detective Seong-jin arrests Tae-sung for petty crimes, but shocked to find out that he is the notorious serial killer. However, Seong-jin becomes doubtful of his identity as the serial murder case is investigated.
Acting
Son Hyun-joo's slow-burn desperation as the walls close in
Direction
Kim Bong-han makes institutional dread viscerally claustrophobic
Production
Busan 1987 recreated as a suffocating pressure cooker
Director
Kim Bong-han
Son Hyun-joo
Kang Seong-jin
Jang Hyuk
Choi Gyu-nam
Ra Mi-ran
Song Jeong-sook
Jo Dal-hwan
Kim Tae-sung
Ji Seung-hyun
Park Dong-gyu
Oh Yeon-ah
Park Sun-hee
Park Ji-il
General manager Lee
Choi Youn-so
Ji-sook
Jong Ho
Reporter
Kim Sang-ho
Jae Jin
Park Kyung-geun
Group leader Yang
Ju Seok-tae
Young prosecutor
Jang Yong-chul
General Manager Ma
Jang Yong-bok
Mr. No
Kim Song-il
Detective Kim
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released during Korea's reckoning with Chun Doo-hwan-era abuses, the film's 1987 setting deliberately echoes real police frame-ups during democratic uprisings. The 'serial killer' panic mirrors how authoritarian regimes manufacture enemies.
Ra Mi-ran's underwritten wife role is actually the film's stealth thesis—she sees through Seong-jin's self-mythologizing before he does, making her final scene's silence devastating.
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