MANHOLE is a serial killer effort from South Korea with the decent idea of having a killer whose den is hidden in the sewers and who pops out of manholes to kidnap his victims before torturing and killing them in his lair. As a film, it's not of the same quality as true classics like I SAW THE DEVIL or THE CHASER, but it's still pretty decent and provides an intense viewing experience for fans of the genre. The first half of the picture is slightly slow and disjointed, but the action picks up in the second half and the film benefits as a whole from the usual Korean two-fer of strong production values and great acting. Watch out for THE MAN FROM NOWHERE's Kim Sae-ron as the kidnap victim.
8 Reviews
Going down
kosmasp22 June 2017
Korean thrillers are known for their diversity and for their quality. Most of them that is. In this case, this is more like a standard exercise (no pun intended). Still better than the worst we've seen from the West. We know most of the time, where this is going (no pun intended), still it is dragging the viewer down by surprise at points (again sorry for the pun), which is a nice change of pace.
It has its moments and I reckon you can argue about the ending (or rather the last frame so to speak), but like it or not: it does its job. The tension is there and the story does evolve the right way. There's also weird characters and strong characters at the same time. It still doesn't completely connect, which make it a bit of a distant experience ... but I've seen worse
It has its moments and I reckon you can argue about the ending (or rather the last frame so to speak), but like it or not: it does its job. The tension is there and the story does evolve the right way. There's also weird characters and strong characters at the same time. It still doesn't completely connect, which make it a bit of a distant experience ... but I've seen worse
Could have been so much more
paulclaassen6 June 2018
The story of a madman who abducts women and taking them to his underground lair via manholes. This was really creepy at times, with some nice effects. The film had the potential to be just as disturbing as 'I saw the Devil' or 'The Chaser', but I didn't find the antagonist all that convincing and found he wasn't given enough to do. In fact, he even seemed passive at times when I expected him not to. There's also too many instances where victims hesitated for no reason while having an opportunity to kill or outwit their assailant.
In general this was a very good film, but believe it could have been greatly improved with stronger acting and faster pacing, and without the police being such idiots.
another cliché thriller from South Korea...
fluffset3 April 2016
Warning: Spoilers
South Korean cinema is famous for its thriller. Just say "Memories of Murder", "I Saw The Devil", "The Chaser" etc. and I'm sure every cinephile in the world would know about this. Its their favorite genre actually, you can see that a lot of this type of movie produced every year in South Korea and its whether a hit or miss. Manhole, got a great premise about a serial killer who have traumatic experience from his childhood and happen to live in the stinky manhole and will randomly kill as many people as he like. This man looks like he got a superpower because he can vanish and appear everywhere without a sound.There is some victim who try to save herself but always fail because he is so fast and great in his field of work. Then here he come the Korean cinema most favorite character, the dumb policemen who always lazy,clumsy,ignorant and always make the usual mistake that make all victim in every South Korean thriller movie get killed. What I can say is if you've watch a lot of Korean thriller, you will really know what will happen next. Its sure a miss this time, and boring too.
Unfathomably boring and so slow paced you'll be pressed to stay awake...
paul_haakonsen30 December 2018
Not everything that makes it out from the depths of the South Korean cinema. This movie was definitely not a shining nugget. One might actually be tempted to say that it would have been better to let this particular movie rest in piece beneath the manhole and not disturb it any further.
First and foremost, it cannot be states enough how very, very boring the storyline is in this South Korean movie. It was just unfathomably slow paced and offered nothing of much interest at any point throughout the course of the movie. I found myself rapidly losing interest in the story a couple of times throughout the course of the movie, but I endured, simply because I thought it might pick up and become more interesting. But it didn't!
It should be said that "Manhole" (aka "Maen-hol") did have a very interesting cast ensemble that performed adequately. Just a horribly shame that they had absolutely nothing to work with in terms of script and storyline. The actors and actresses were cruelly deprived of anything worthwhile to work with on the screen, which restricted their performance on a grievous level.
If you enjoy the South Korean cinema even half as much as I do, then you would be doing yourself a favor by staying well clear of the snoozefest that is "Manhole", unless you are having problems falling asleep, then by all means indulge yourself...
First and foremost, it cannot be states enough how very, very boring the storyline is in this South Korean movie. It was just unfathomably slow paced and offered nothing of much interest at any point throughout the course of the movie. I found myself rapidly losing interest in the story a couple of times throughout the course of the movie, but I endured, simply because I thought it might pick up and become more interesting. But it didn't!
It should be said that "Manhole" (aka "Maen-hol") did have a very interesting cast ensemble that performed adequately. Just a horribly shame that they had absolutely nothing to work with in terms of script and storyline. The actors and actresses were cruelly deprived of anything worthwhile to work with on the screen, which restricted their performance on a grievous level.
If you enjoy the South Korean cinema even half as much as I do, then you would be doing yourself a favor by staying well clear of the snoozefest that is "Manhole", unless you are having problems falling asleep, then by all means indulge yourself...
Script With Poor Logic
lumalvin5 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
The story writer has no logic! There are too many areas in the story without common sense. Here are some examples: When a heap of dead bodies were found by one man, he looked at the dead bodies one by one despite the stench. Even if he find a half dead victim can he do first aid in the sewer (which he didn't)? Wouldn't common sense reaction is to run and get help and not climb deeper in the sewer especially if the serial killer is lurking around? Another poor logical storyline is that the police detective's superior does not allow back up to be send because there is no suspect. What about asking for back up again after finding a victim who escaped up from the manhole? There was 2 policeman and they put the escaped woman in their police car and 1 policeman actually climb inside the manhole and got whacked. The other policeman was pulled inside the manhole by the killer also got whacked. Anyway, later one of the policeman got whacked by the serial killer who only has a crowbar despite the policeman being arm with a gun on a one to one fight. Sure, the 2 policeman can be a hero to go in the sewer but they first need to make a simple call to the base and they also need to rush the injured victim to the hospital. As far as I remembered, the 2 policeman did not even talk to the victim for more infromation, did not give first aid and they did not check the condition victim who has just escaped from the manhole. The victim unsucessfully warned the 2 policeman climbing in the manhole. Yes, there are many stupid actions taken by real people in real life but for the purpose of a movie left the audiences who have common sense feeling very frustrated during the show - resulting in a very poor movie rating and blaming the script writer who made the actors do stupid things.
Fear below the street
flokkiblag22 September 2018
Not so gory, not so original in his diegetic development but certainly not so bad. The story's showing a man frustrated from the life and transformed into a scrupleless deathmaker, a serial killer who inspires also a sort of mercy. His reign is dirty and seems a black hole, only lighted by some little bulbs, another type of world projected to satisfy the insane behaviour of the protagonist (well playing by Jung Kyung-ho). Some jumpscares through the dark lead us towards the end of the tunnel...
Not As Good As Others But Still Has It's Own Moments
Foutainoflife13 August 2018
This is in no way up there with films like I Saw The Devil or The Chaser but it had a few moments of suspense. My problem was never really understanding why the killer was doing what he was. It showed a sweet connection between sisters and a father who tried, against all odds, to get to his daughter. I didn't understand the young boy either. This isn't gonna be at the top of the list when it comes to great movies but it wasn't an awful ride. I did want to see it all the way through to the end and although there is room left for a lot of speculation, I'm ok with that. Not the best but I've seen much worse.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
