Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

This is in no way up there with films like I Saw The Devil or The Chaser but it had a few moments of suspense. My problem was never really understanding why the killer was doing what he was. It showed a sweet connection between sisters and a father who tried, against all odds, to get to his daughter. I didn't understand the young boy either. This isn't gonna be at the top of the list when it comes to great movies but it wasn't an awful ride. I did want to see it all the way through to the end and although there is room left for a lot of speculation, I'm ok with that. Not the best but I've seen much worse.

The story of a madman who abducts women and taking them to his underground lair via manholes. This was really creepy at times, with some nice effects. The film had the potential to be just as disturbing as 'I saw the Devil' or 'The Chaser', but I didn't find the antagonist all that convincing and found he wasn't given enough to do. In fact, he even seemed passive at times when I expected him not to. There's also too many instances where victims hesitated for no reason while having an opportunity to kill or outwit their assailant. In general this was a very good film, but believe it could have been greatly improved with stronger acting and faster pacing, and without the police being such idiots.

MANHOLE is a serial killer effort from South Korea with the decent idea of having a killer whose den is hidden in the sewers and who pops out of manholes to kidnap his victims before torturing and killing them in his lair. As a film, it's not of the same quality as true classics like I SAW THE DEVIL or THE CHASER, but it's still pretty decent and provides an intense viewing experience for fans of the genre. The first half of the picture is slightly slow and disjointed, but the action picks up in the second half and the film benefits as a whole from the usual Korean two-fer of strong production values and great acting. Watch out for THE MAN FROM NOWHERE's Kim Sae-ron as the kidnap victim.

Korean thrillers are known for their diversity and for their quality. Most of them that is. In this case, this is more like a standard exercise (no pun intended). Still better than the worst we've seen from the West. We know most of the time, where this is going (no pun intended), still it is dragging the viewer down by surprise at points (again sorry for the pun), which is a nice change of pace.It has its moments and I reckon you can argue about the ending (or rather the last frame so to speak), but like it or not: it does its job. The tension is there and the story does evolve the right way. There's also weird characters and strong characters at the same time. It still doesn't completely connect, which make it a bit of a distant experience ... but I've seen worse