Today’s quick review: Bluebeard. Dr. Byun Seung-hoon (Cho Jin-woong) works at a clinic in a part of town once known for its serial killings. When his landlord (Shin Goo) describes a grisly murder while under anesthesia, Byun suspects that he and his son Jung Sung-geun (Kim Dae-myung) were responsible for the killings. But when Byun tries to prove his suspicions, he becomes trapped in a dangerous conspiracy with no clear answers.
Bluebeard is a Korean psychological thriller about a doctor who believes his neighbors are serial killers. Already under pressure from his debts and his divorce from Jo Su-jung (Yun Se-ah), Byun’s sanity frays as his suspicions grow. Bluebeard is a slow burn that gradually turns a mundane setting into a surreal nightmare. Contradictory clues and an ominous atmosphere make the movie a suitably disturbing watch.
Bluebeard has a knack for taking a bad situation and twisting it to make it worse. Early on, Byun has only his suspicions, but when people around him start to go missing, he becomes convinced that his neighbors are responsible. There is a strong sense of danger, even if its exact source is hard to pin down. And although the puzzle pieces may seem scattered, the movie does have a striking ending that it is preparing for.
Bluebeard’s approach has its drawbacks. The mystery takes a long time to get going, and in the meantime, the audience has to spend time with Byun, a character who is only moderately interesting. Incidents that are deliberately unclear and an unreliable perspective character can make the story hard to follow. Finally, Bluebeard includes a few too many plot threads, making its progression less streamlined than it could have been.
Bluebeard is a solid pick for fans of the unsettling and the macabre. The mundane slant to the early part of the movie may be too much to ask for some viewers, but the payoff is a dark mystery with plenty of twists and turns. Exactly how successful Bluebeard is will depend on your taste in murder mysteries and your tolerance for stray plot threads, but there is enough going on to make it worth a watch for the curious.
For a psychological thriller that deals with similar themes, try The Machinist. For another crime drama where something is off in an otherwise mundane setting, try The Man Who Wasn’t There. For a Korean crime drama that starts out lighter and takes a similarly dark turn, try Parasite. For a much lighter story about a mild-mannered dentist who gets in over his head, try The In-Laws or The Whole Nine Yards.
[6.4 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6599340/). I give it a 6.5 for an ominous atmosphere and a disjointed story.