Chaw (film)

Chaw
Directed by Shin Jung-won[1]
Produced by Park Kyung-duk
Written by Kim Yung-chul
Shin Jung-won
Starring Uhm Tae-woong
Jung Yu-mi
Jang Hang-sun
Yoon Je-moon
Park Hyuk-kwon
Music by Kim Jun-seong
Cinematography Kim Yung-chul
Edited by Choi Jae-geun
Production
company
Soo Jack Films
Distributed by Lotte Entertainment
Finecut[2]
Release dates
  • July 16, 2009 (2009-07-16)

[3]

Running time
 122 minutes
Country South Korea
Language Korean
Budget US$7 million
Box office US$10.8 million

Chaw (Hangul: 차우; RR: Chau; MR: Ch‘au), released in the United States as Chawz, is a 2009 South Korean film about a mutant killer pig wreaking havoc on a small mountain town, and the ragtag team of five who set out to stop the beast. The feature subverts the monster genre into a witty, suspenseful black comedy mixed with horror, adventure, and a healthy dose of camp.

The Korean title is pronounced "chow", which means "trap" in Chungcheong dialect.

Plot

The quiet town of Sammaeri near Mount Jiri has been crime-free for a decade until now. Bodies of villagers begin turning up, making the village leaders nervous just ahead of an organic food fair expected to be a financial windfall. Chun Il-man (Jang Hang-sun), whose granddaughter was one of the victims, is sure that a man-killing boar is behind the crimes. He joins forces with detective Shin (Park Hyuk-kwon) and Kim Kang-soo (Uhm Tae-woong), a reassigned cop from Seoul whose mother has gone missing in the woods. With Byun Soo-ryun (Jung Yu-mi), a biologist studying wild animals, and glory-seeking hunter Baek Man-bae (Yoon Je-moon) on the team to fight the giant killer beast, the five start up the mountain to face their enemy.[4][5][6][7][8]

Production

Director Shin Jung-won said his film adopted a typical Hollywood B movie monster narrative to tackle environmental issues, particularly the serious destruction inflicted on Korea's ecology.[9] He said Korea had never had a film dealing with real-life killer creatures like Alligator and Anaconda and was "intrigued by the idea of a familiar animal attacking and killing humans and wanted to create something out of this unexpectedness. But most of all, I wanted something funny and unique."[6]

After filming in Seoul, the production crew and the main actors flew to the United States to shoot special effects scenes. The shooting lasted for 40 days in San Francisco. Misunderstandings in interpreting the nuance of a scene or dialogue sometimes arose between the U.S. special effects team and Korean actors due to different cultural backgrounds, but Uhm said, "after the shooting was over, we formed a strong team spirit, as if we battled together in a war."[9]

It took three years and ₩3 billion to design and realize via animatronics, stuntmen with costumes, and CG ― provided by the creative team Polygon Entertainment and Stareast Digital Lab led by Hans Uhlig and Erik Jensen ― a mutated, super-sized pig that develops a taste for human flesh.[10]

After it was well received at the Berlin Film Festival's Film Market, Chaw was released in a total of 15 countries, including Germany, Switzerland, India, Singapore, Thailand, the United States, and Japan.[11]

Cast

References

  1. ↑ "Chaw". Finecut. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  2. ↑ Patrick Frater, Han Sunhee (7 September 2008). "Fine Cut to serve up Shin's Chaw". Variety. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  3. ↑ D'Sa, Nigel (9 July 2009). "Chaw to be Unleashed July 16". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  4. ↑ "2009.7.17 NOW PLAYING". Korea Joongang Daily. 17 July 2009. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  5. ↑ Elley, Derek (30 July 2009). "Chaw". Variety. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  6. 1 2 Shin, Hae-in (9 July 2009). "Full of wit and humor, monster flick draws laughter rather than chills". Yonhap. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  7. ↑ Lee, Hyo-won (9 July 2009). "Chaw Explores Omnivore's Nightmare". The Korea Times. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  8. ↑ Kim, Kyu Hyun. "Chaw". Koreanfilm.org. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  9. 1 2 Yang, Sung-jin (17 June 2009). "Korea's new B-movie star: a CGI pig". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  10. ↑ "K-FILM REVIEWS: 차우 (Chaw)". Twitch Film. 20 September 2009. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  11. ↑ Kim, Hannah (26 June 2009). "Make way for a mutant boar with a bad attitude". Korea Joongang Daily. Retrieved 2012-11-18.

External links

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