More fun than you can stuff in a duffle bag!
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Directed by Kim Yong-Hoon
Jung-Man (Bae Seong-woo) is an overworked, underpaid sauna employee with an elderly mother to look after, Tae-Young (Jung Woo-sung) is a customs agent in debt to the mob and Mi-Ran (Shin Hyun-bin) is an abused wife who works as an escort to pay the bills. The only string connecting this motley crew is money…the lack of and desperate need FOR money, more precisely. But when Jung-man discovers a Louis Vuitton duffle bag filled to the brim with cash in a locker at the sauna these three become linked in a fast paced and wild crime film.
Set up in 6 chapters: debt, food chain, shark, lucky strike and money bag, your emotions volley between wincing as the characters continue to make bad decisions to pure joy as you realize how the puzzle is being masterfully pieced together. It is hard to believe that Beasts Clawing at Straws is Kim Yong-Hoon’s debut feature. The film is well acted and riddled with wonderful and memorable characters.
Now the elephant in the room…this ain’t horror. What it is is bloody, action packed, very dark and at times, hilarious. There is definitely violence and blood but nothing supernatural or inherently “evil” about the film and if we were voting “horror or not” this is pretty much a “not”. But don’t let that stop you horror fans- you will not regret a second spent in this well crafted and wacky universe!
Beasts Clawing at Straws can be seen as part of the Another Hole in the Head film festival streaming online December 11-27, 2020- get your passes NOW!