• Director: Chan-wook Park

• Writer (s): Jeong Seo-kyeong & Park Chan-wook

• Producer (s): Cho Young-wuk, Lee Chun-yeong & Lee Tae-hun

• Starring: Lee Young-ae & Choi Min-sek

• Country: South Korea

• Language: Korean

• Preceded by:  Oldboy (2003)
  

'Lady Vengeance's audio is in native Korean language. To fully enjoy the effect of the film--it is highly recommended that you enjoy the original language version with English subtitles--without English voice dubbing.

Lady Vengeance (2005) is the third and final installment of Chan-wook Park vengeance trilogy. Lady Vengeance is preceded by Oldboy (2003), which is preceded by Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002).

Lee Geum-ja (Lee Young Ae) went to prison for the murder of a young boy. Everyone was shocked that someone like her--young and beautiful, could be capable of such a heinous crime. She served nearly 14 years in prison for a crime she did not commit--that is right, she was innocent. While imprisoned, she became the ideal inmate--she generally looked after many of her cell mates--even earning the title "kind hearted Geum-ja" when she came to the aid of her cell mate being bullied by the most horrible woman--who was in prison for killing her husband and lover--then eating them!

Soon, Geum-ja was paroled for good behavior--and so begins the task of righting a wrong. To punish the man who made her a sinner: Mr. Baek (Choi Min-sik). But she could not enact vengeance on her own, that took time and a series of calculated events that included the help from her former cell mates--a place to live, a job--a weapon.  Geum-ja was well on her way to take back what was most dear to her--her daughter & her life. To rid herself of the pure and generous image she gained in prison--she wears red eye shadow, and deadly red high heel shoes.

A little about the villain in this story--Mr. Baek, an elementary school teacher with the personality of a cold and calculated predator. He soon got wind of Geum-ja's release and hired some men to go and deal with her before she reached him. However, a woman hell bent on vengeance is not easily stoppable. Soon after finding and imprisoning Mr. Baek--she finds out he is responsible for the murder of several other schoolchildren. Rather than take out all that vengeance for herself she contacts the parents of the other murdered children--this movie only gets better as the plot thickens.

As with my review of the two vengeance movies--I will leave the rest for you, the viewer to decipher for your own. There is so much more detail involved and it is best when you can experience the mayhem along with the characters in this hellish series. Experience the genius of Chan-wook Park's master trilogy series that should be a part of every horror movie collection--it is a series definitely worth enjoying.

'All she wanted was a peaceful life--and they didn't give it!' (2005)

'Sympathy for Lady Vengeance.' (2005).  Dir. Park Chan-wook.  Chinjeolhan geumjassi (2005). IMDb.