Psychologically Disturbing, Round One: The Untold Story vs. Oldboy

[Cena's Little Helper]

The Untold Story (1993, Directed by Danny Lee and Herman Yau)

Synopsis: Dismembered body parts found on a beach in Macao lead Hong Kong police to the Eight Immortals Restaurant, an eatery with a new owner and a recent surge in popularity due to their to-die-for pork buns.

Why This Film Was Chosen: I love Category III films, and Anthony Wong is probably Hong Kong's most gifted actor after Tony Leung.

Key Disturbing Moment: The new owner of the Eight Immortals Restaurant violently shoves a bundle of chopsticks up a woman's coslopus.

vs.

Oldboy (2003, Directed by Chan-wook Park)

Synopsis: After being privately imprisoned for 15 years, a Korean man is freed and asked to find out the reasons for his captivity.

Why This Film Was Chosen: It's an amazing film that everyone needs to see once.

Key Disturbing Moment: Although not as unsettling as the similar scene in Ichi the Killer, the main character's decision to cut off his tongue in entreaty to his captor is something that will stay with me for a long, long time.​

 

[jmt225]

Oldboy is the far, far superior film. No doubt about it.

However, it's nowhere near as disturbing as The Untold Story.

Oldboy is a brilliant film, no doubt, but nothing about was truly disturbing to me. The tongue cutting scene is brutal, and the thoughts of incest of course creeps you out, but it's all more shocking than it is disturbing, in my opinion.

The Untold Story, on the other hand, is so gritty that it doesn't feel like you're watching a movie, but a documentary of sorts of this unbelievably crazy individual. There is a scene in this movie where said individual kills an entire family, including 3 little girls, that is so fucked up that words could never give it justice. It's a very, very tough image to get out of your head after you witness it.

So, yeah... The Untold Story undoubtedly gets my vote here.