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I Saw the Devil poster

Movies that feel likeI Saw the Devil (2010)

Kyung-chul is a dangerous psychopath who kills for pleasure. Soo-hyeon, a top-secret agent, decides to track down the murderer himself. He promises himself that he will do everything in his power to take vengeance against the killer, even if it means that he must become a monster himself.

If you loved I Saw the Devil, the closest films we have are Martyrs (2008), The Woman in Black (2012) and Revenge (2017). All three share I Saw the Devil's tense and dread feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Thesis (1996).

🍅 83% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Kim Jee-woontensedreadunsettlingrelentless
9 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Hulu

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If I Saw the Devil hit the spot, these will too

Martyrs poster
Martyrs
2008 · dir. Pascal Laugier
🍅 66%★ 7horror · drama · thriller

Two things both keep coming back to: revenge and mercilessness

The difference: Sits closer to drama than I Saw the Devil does

A young woman’s quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tortured her as a child leads her and her best friend, also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.

The Woman in Black poster
The Woman in Black
2012 · dir. James Watkins
🍅 66%★ 6.4drama · horror · thrillerParamount+

Both are built on the same subject: revenge

The story follows a young lawyer, Arthur Kipps, who is ordered to travel to a remote village and sort out a recently deceased client’s papers. As he works alone in the client’s isolated house, Kipps begins to uncover tragic secrets, his unease growing when he glimpses a mysterious woman dressed only in black. Receiving only silence from the locals, Kipps is forced to uncover the true identity of the Woman in Black on his own, leading to a desperate race against time when he discovers her true identity.

Revenge poster
Revenge
2017 · dir. Coralie Fargeat
🍅 92%★ 6.4action · horror · thrillerRent or buy

Both land tension and dread at once

Jen's romantic getaway with her wealthy married boyfriend is disrupted when his friends arrive for an impromptu hunting trip. Tension mounts at the house until the situation culminates in an unexpected way.

The Skin I Live In poster
The Skin I Live In
2011 · dir. Pedro Almodóvar
🍅 81%★ 7.6drama · horror · mystery

Unsettling where it counts, relentless underneath

A brilliant plastic surgeon creates a synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His guinea pig: a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession.

Creep poster
Creep
2014 · dir. Patrick Brice
🍅 91%★ 6.3horror · thrillerNetflixPrime Video

Both are working the same pair: psychopath, serial killer

The difference: Takes it somewhere less relentless than I Saw the Devil does

Looking for work, Aaron comes across a cryptic online ad: "$1,000 for the day. Filming service. Discretion is appreciated." Low on cash and full of naiveté, he decides to go for it. He drives to a cabin in a remote mountain town where he meets Josef, his cinematic subject for the day. Josef is sincere and the project seems heartfelt, so Aaron begins to film. But as the day goes on, it becomes clear that Josef is not who he says, and his intentions are not at all pure.

Thesis poster
Thesis
1996 · dir. Alejandro Amenábar
🍅 86%★ 7.4horror · thriller

One thread runs through both: psychopath

While working on a thesis about audiovisual violence, film student Ángela finds a snuff video where a girl is tortured until death. Soon she discovers that she was a former student in her university, and that the authors of the video are not very far either.

Ma poster
Ma
2019 · dir. Tate Taylor
🍅 55%★ 5.6horror · thrillerHuluPeacock

Tense thriller, and it commits to that

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

Sue Ann is a loner who keeps to herself in her quiet Ohio town. One day, she is asked by Maggie, a new teenager in town, to buy some booze for her and her friends, and Sue Ann sees the chance to make some unsuspecting, if younger, friends of her own.

Thir13en Ghosts poster
Thir13en Ghosts
2001 · dir. Steve Beck
🍅 19%★ 5.7horror · thriller

Both lean on dread more than on horror

Arthur and his two children inherit his uncle's estate: a glass house that serves as a prison to twelve ghosts. When the family, accompanied by a nanny and an attorney, enter the house they find themselves trapped inside an evil machine 'designed by the Devil and powered by the dead' to open the Eye of Hell. Aided by a ghost hunter and his rival, a ghost rights activist out to set the ghosts free, the group must do what they can to get out of the house alive.

Hannibal Rising poster
Hannibal Rising
2007 · dir. Peter Webber
🍅 16%★ 6.1crime · thriller · horrorPrime VideoPeacock

Thriller with a pulse of unease, in both cases

The story of the early, murderous roots of the cannibalistic killer, Hannibal Lecter – from his hard-scrabble Lithuanian childhood, where he witnesses the repulsive lengths to which hungry soldiers will go to satiate themselves, through his sojourn in France, where as a medical student he hones his appetite for the kill and learnt sword skills from his Japanese girlfriend, who happened to have similar fate

I Spit on Your Grave poster
I Spit on Your Grave
2010 · dir. Steven R. Monroe
🍅 32%★ 6.2thriller · crime · horror

Relentless horror in both cases

A beautiful woman from the city, Jennifer Hills, rents an isolated cabin in the country to write her latest novel. Soon, a group of local lowlifes subject her to a nightmare of degradation, rape, and violence.

The Purge: Anarchy poster
The Purge: Anarchy
2014 · dir. James DeMonaco
🍅 58%★ 6.4horror · thrillerPrime Video

Thriller built on tension, twice over

One night per year, the government sanctions a 12-hour period in which citizens can commit any crime they wish -- including murder -- without fear of punishment or imprisonment. Leo, a sergeant who lost his son, plans a vigilante mission of revenge during the mayhem. However, instead of a death-dealing avenger, he becomes the unexpected protector of four innocent strangers who desperately need his help if they are to survive the night.

Friday the 13th poster
Friday the 13th
1980 · dir. Sean S. Cunningham
🍅 50%★ 6.3horrorNetflixParamount+

The same preoccupation in both: serial killer

The difference: 30 years apart, and the 1980s show

Camp counselors are stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant while trying to reopen a summer camp that was the site of a child's drowning.

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The best-reviewed films that share I Saw the Devil’s defining feeling.