Memories of Murder (2003)

Memories of Murder rating: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic

IMDb8.1/10· 262K votes

Metacritic82%

TMDb8.058/10· 5K votes

With 8.1/10 on IMDb and 82/100 on Metacritic, this film is well-rated across multiple platforms.

About Memories of Murder

A sadistic serial rapist and murderer of young women terrorizes a small province in 1980s South Korea. To prevent further crimes, three increasingly desperate detectives with conflicting methods race against time to unravel the violent mind of the killer in a futile effort to solve the case.

Cast of Memories of Murder

• 

  Song Kang-ho

  as Detective Park Doo-man

• 

  Kim Sang-kyung

  as Detective Seo Tae-yoon

• 

  Kim Roi-ha

  as Detective Cho Yong-koo

• 

  Song Jae-ho

  as Sergeant Shin Dong-chul

• 

  Byun Hee-bong

  as Sergeant Koo Hee-bong

• 

  Go Seo-hee

  as Officer Kwon Kwi-ok

• 

  Ryu Tae-ho

  as Jo Byung-soon

• 

  Park No-shik

  as Baek Kwang-ho

• 

  Park Hae-il

  as Park Hyeon-gyu

• 

  Jeon Mi-seon

  as Kwok Seol-yung

• 

  Seo Young-hwa

  as Woman from Hill

• 

  Woo Go-na

  as Kim So-hyun

Memories of Murder facts

Original title

살인의 추억

Budget

$2.8M

Box office

$26M

Our take on Memories of Murder

Bong Joon Ho's 2003 crime drama is set in 1980s South Korea, where a serial rapist and murderer of young women terrorizes a small province. To stop further killings, three increasingly desperate detectives with clashing methods race the clock, trying to make sense of the killer's violent mind in what becomes an agonizing, seemingly futile effort to crack the case. It's a bleak, masterfully controlled procedural as interested in the investigators' frustration and a wounded society as in the crimes themselves. It suits viewers who prize atmosphere, moral weight and slow-burning tension over tidy resolution. Those wanting a neat whodunit may find it heavy, but admirers of serious, character-rich crime cinema will be riveted.