I often watch movies, late at night. Right before hitting the bed, I switch on my notebook – and go through the list of movies that’d recently been downloaded in all its high-def glory! Being a night person, and someone who watches movies with a certain passion – this routine had always worked out perfectly for me.

But last night I found out, this isn’t always a good idea. Sometimes a movie stays with you longer than you want it to!

I’d wanted to watch the film for sometime now. Having seen the trailer and having heard so many things (not to mention the fact that this South Korean film won the Grand Jury Prize at last year's Cannes Film Festival) But my curiosity reached a certain peek after this little incident few months back. Someone at work asked me whether I’ve seen the movie. I shook my head though I told him I’d been planning to. Right about then, this lady joined our conversation. Now both of them, being fellow countrymen, started talking in their non-English native language. Obviously, I couldn’t make out what they were saying. But I knew they were talking about the movie (which she didn’t see either). I took on the role of an observer: the guy talked fast, excitedly – probably telling her what happens in the movie and then - at one point, I saw this reaction on her face that usually causes from either watching someone pull finger nails with pliers or drinking full-glass shake made from blending live roaches & horse rectums...

Well, it turned out the film contained none of those particular scenarios. This could’ve been a good news for me, personally since I’ve a fairly weak stomach and had always turned into a mad man searching for the remote every time NBC’s Fear Factor would come up on TV.

Unfortunately the film did contain scenes that involve forcible removal of teeth, one that connects a pair of scissors with a tongue and another in which an octopus is definitely harmed during the making of the movie. (For your viewing pleasure, I’ve included the clip below. Warning: Not for the faint of hearts.)

But here’s the thing – those aren’t the things that made this film the most psychotically violent movie of the year. (It sure did help though). By the time the movies finished, it felt like a blow that almost knocked me if not unconscious, emotionally shaky for sure. During the movie, as the time went by - specially the last 20 minutes, which are a gross-out symphony of revelations, humiliations, and mutilations that made the two hours fly by - it got so intense, and hard to take that I felt like I was coming off of a fever through sweating like a pig.

The film could be considered a mystery (it’s full of surprises and shocking revelations), or a bloody revenge thriller, or a twisted romance, or a tale of extreme karma (extreme being the key word) –OR– a tragic tale in the most classic sense (which is how I felt about it in the end). Regardless of how you look at this film, it's unlike anything you are likely to have seen before.

I'd point out - even thought it ventures to emotional extremes, but never without reason. The scenes do not play for shock value, but are part of the whole. And that’s precisely what makes it so hard to shake off. This ingeniously structured, brilliantly shot, and very hard to take tale of revenge is indeed one of the most creative films I’ve ever seen.