Monster (2025)

Turning a masterpiece into mediocrity

Kaibutsu is guilty of the most egregious sin a remake could commit, it's bad but not bad enough for a hate watch. It's simply a mediocre crime drama, that uses dry storytelling to mask the way it relies on sensationalism. It's dime a dozen in the world of J-drama mysteries.

It's too sad to list all the wonderful qualities of the outstanding original K-drama Goemul/Beyond Evil that weren't utilised in Kaibutsu so let's just focus on the positives. Yasuda Ken creates instantly likeable male lead who is easy to root for; he isn't overacting at all, it's just that the male lead is one of the two characters allowed to emote in the drama (otherwise we might forget that we are watching a Gritty Crime TV™). The other emoting character (Tadokoro, not the second male lead) is charming as well. The OST is really well-made, and the production design is fun if your watched the original (J-dramas and K-dramas portray creepy basements very differently). It has to be said that Kaibutsu does realistic costuming much better, as in unkempt characters do have unwashed hair and ragged clothes unlike Beyond Evil where "unkempt-coding" is used instead.

Sometimes the story is so strong, it shines even through a bad retelling. That's why the episodes of Kaibutsu focused on the plot reveals still manage to be gripping and compelling. But the original is so much more than a who-dun-it with a couple of shocking twists, existence of Kaibutsu all but boggles the mind.

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Lack of Whodunnit, Heavy of Howdunnit

A remake from 'Beyond Evil', South Korean drama. suspense, crime, mystery, revenge. Centered on a 25 years murder case that had never been cleared. Someday, a new case blown up and related to the old case. The police of a small town start to digging down to the case and solving it. They must catch up the murderer.

The pilot episode looks unconvincing, honestly, but as far as the show runs, the tension keep higher and intense. I love the way they serving us whodunnit and wheredunnit but not in a heavy weight. Instead it's heavy on howdunnit, they just blatantly showing the doer to the audience, not letting the audience solving by ourself. Also they serving the way the heroine and the other police officers solving with their unique trap.

I completely mesmerize by how they crafting it. Eventho, they blatantly showing the murderer in the very first second, but they ain't lack of thrilling at all, instead the way we knew the doer, the more we get seize by them, and we feel angry whenever they made a lil wrong decision. The process of how they turn to be a Monster to catch the Big Monster behind, that fits perfectly with the title. This is what makes it different from the original Beyond Evil.

By only ten episodes but still crafting it packed and solid. The layering conflict that neat. The problem solving that typically japan, 'banding together' and 'everyone has a reason of every single thing they did', also 'the atonement despite they did right for the sake of anti-hero stuff'. Oh, the most realistic one.

They broke my perception that this remake gonna be boring and decent. But, a big no. Dare to say this is one of the successful remake, at least for me. Not a totally same story, but the way they crafting it with different screenplay and perspective were utterly magnificent. They stunned by their unique way of remaking. A point plus, this is fast pace, which never boring to watch.

The performance of Mizukami Koshi was surprisingly so good, and he could balancing his acting with Yasuda Ken. Oh, Yasuda Ken, your acting was top notch, sir! Both of them have serving detail acting, some subtle act, no dialogues but their eyes can told. Also, some emotional act with nothing overacting, instead how they control their mimic were chef's kiss. Those smile looks creepy, dude.

Since this is W.O.W.O.W project, so the color grading, scenery, cinematography were all fits in. Especially the color grading, oh It felt cold and creepy whenever they used dark blue with those minim lighting. The angle placement that perfectly precise. Japanese countryside that looks beauty and a bit scary.

All in all, if you want to watch a suspense, mystery, crime drama with few episodes, you might try this one!

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