The Killers Who Changed a Country

Summary

Podcast Summary: Twisted Tales with Heidi Wong Episode: The Killers Who Changed a Country
Date: April 13, 2026
Host: Heidi Wong
Theme: Reality is the real horror

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Episode Overview

In this gripping and chilling episode, Heidi Wong delves into the true stories behind two of South Korea's most notorious serial killers and the dark societal issues their crimes exposed. These real-life horrors inspired the acclaimed revenge thriller I Saw the Devil, prompting questions about justice, vengeance, and how trauma lingers in a nation’s psyche. Wong examines not only the grisly details but also the social failures that allowed these killers to operate, culminating in a nuanced reflection on the true cost of violence.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Raincoat Killer: Yoo Young Chul

[04:12-09:52]

• Background:

  • Yoo Young Chul terrorized Seoul from September 2003 to July 2004, murdering at least 20 people, primarily wealthy elderly couples and female massage therapists.
  • Driven by resentment from a life of poverty, Yoo targeted the wealthy as a form of twisted retribution.

• Modus Operandi:

  • Broke into homes to bludgeon and mutilate elderly couples.
  • Lured massage therapists to his apartment by impersonating a police officer, where he would kill and dismember them—sometimes cannibalizing his victims (“…ate their livers.” [05:17]).

• Police Failings:

  • Fragmented police work allowed Yoo’s spree to continue unchecked; districts operated in isolation and did not share information about unsolved cases.
  • Only after wealthy victims were targeted did the case become a priority, highlighting class-based disparities in media and police response.

• Capture:

  • Not police, but massage parlor owners and workers identified the pattern and helped facilitate Yoo’s capture by tracking incoming calls from missing women’s phones.

• Aftermath & Impact:

  • Yoo confessed to 26 murders (convicted of 20), led police to human remains, and showed no remorse (“…he actually thanked [prosecutors] for [the death penalty].” [07:53]).
  • His crimes reversed public opinion on the death penalty and exposed South Korea's justice system’s inability to handle serial crimes.

2. The Hwasong Serial Murders: Lee Chun Jae

[09:53-13:47]

• A 30-year Nightmare:

  • From 1986-1991, 10 women and girls were raped and strangled with their own clothing in rural Hwasong.
  • The case became South Korea’s largest-ever investigation, involving over two million officers and countless forensic tests, but technological limitations blocked resolution.

• Missteps and Tragedy:

  • Faulty assumptions, e.g., that the killer had type B blood, allowed Lee to evade capture despite being questioned early.
  • Wrongful conviction: Yoon Seung Yeo, disabled and uneducated, was tortured into confessing and spent decades imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit.

• Resolution and Limits of Justice:

  • In 2019, DNA linked Lee Chun Jae (already in prison) to the crimes; he confessed to additional murders and assaults.
  • The statute of limitations had expired, so he couldn’t be prosecuted for the Hwasong murders, leaving victims’ families without closure.

• Systemic Reflection:

  • These failures “exposed massive failures in South Korea's criminal justice system,” with police relying on torture and mishandling evidence. [11:08]

3. Gender-Based Violence and Societal Repercussions

[14:25-19:16]

• Gangnam Station Murder (2016):

  • A man murdered a stranger in a public restroom, claiming, “I did it because women have always ignored me.” [14:42]
  • Sparked nationwide protests ("Gangnam Station generation"), demanding recognition of gender-motivated violence and challenging official attempts to medicalize the crime rather than address misogynistic roots.

• The Spy Cam Epidemic:

  • Secret filming in public and private spaces led to over 30,000 reported spy cam cases between 2013-2018.
  • Massive protests erupted, with women declaring “my life is not your porn.” The government increased penalties and monitoring, but the trauma persisted.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On why Yu targeted the wealthy:

  • “…he lived close to a wealthy family. It wasn’t long before that reminder of everything he didn’t have turned into resentment, then hatred.” [04:32]

• On fragmented police work:

  • “Police departments worked strictly within their districts and hardly ever shared information… Each police district was investigating their own murders without realizing they were all connected.” [05:45]

• On citizens solving what police could not:

  • “The owners of a massage parlor… started noticing a disturbing pattern. Their workers would leave for appointments and never come back… They eventually started keeping track of people’s phone numbers…” [06:46]

• On the Hwasong killer's false sense of immunity:

  • Lee: “I didn’t think the crimes would be buried forever.” [10:56]

• On wrongful conviction:

  • “Police forced a confession out of him [Yoon] through torture and fabricated evidence.” [12:07]

• On women’s response to violence:

  • “Thousands of women gathered at the subway station, covering the walls with Post it notes expressing their grief and anger. And that exact location mattered.” [14:47]

• On the spy cam crisis:

  • “This is voyeurism as social sickness. A weaponization of technology to violate and shame.” [18:03]

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The Cinematic Response: I Saw the Devil

[20:48-27:31]

Plot Summary

• The film’s protagonist, Soo Hyun, is a Secret Service agent whose fiancée is murdered by a sadistic killer, Jang Kyung Chul.
• Instead of seeking justice through legal means, Soo Hyun tracks, tortures, and repeatedly releases the killer, longing for retribution that mirrors his own loss.
• Each confrontation grows increasingly brutal, blurring the moral line between hunter and prey.

Philosophical Underpinnings

• Nietzsche's Warning:

  • “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process, he does not become a monster … if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” [Traditional Nietzsche, paraphrased at 24:27]

• René Girard’s Theory:

  • “Violence spreads like a disease … the only way ancient societies could stop cycles … was through sacrifice.” But Soo Hyun’s quest is solitary, thus cannot heal—only destroy.

The Film's Social Commentary

• The killer’s character is an amalgamation of real figures like Yoo and Lee, echoing societal trauma and systemic failure.
• The cycle of violence leaves Soo Hyun hollow, underlining the danger and futility of personal revenge.
• I Saw the Devil weaponizes audience complicity, forcing viewers to interrogate their own appetite for vengeance and justice.

Heidi’s parting reflection:
“But it’s also an essential viewing for anyone who wants to understand the dark psychology of revenge, the cost of violence, and the danger of becoming the thing that you hate. Because in the end, the film's title isn’t just about the killer, it’s about the hero too. They both saw the devil, but only one of them recognized it was staring back from the mirror.” [27:15]

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Important Timestamps

• [04:12] – Introduction of Yoo Young Chul, the Raincoat Killer
• [09:53] – The Hwasong serial murders and wrongful conviction
• [14:25] – Gangnam Station murder and the feminist awakening
• [16:30] – The spy cam epidemic and mass protests
• [20:48] – Introduction to I Saw the Devil and analysis
• [22:50] – Philosophy behind vengeance and violence
• [27:15] – Final reflection on the film’s meaning and impact

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Final Thoughts

Heidi Wong delivers a haunting, meticulously researched look at how real-life horrors shaped one of South Korea’s most unflinching films. By weaving together the cases of Yoo Young Chul and Lee Chun Jae, the Gangnam Station murder, and the spy cam epidemics, Wong not only recounts crime history but also challenges listeners to face uncomfortable truths about justice, vengeance, misogyny, and the power of storytelling in the face of trauma.

Transcript

[Heidi Wong]

Hi listeners, it's Heidi Wong.

[Katie Ring]

Real quick, before today's episode of Twisted

[Heidi Wong]

Tales, I wanted to tell you about

[Katie Ring]

another show from Crime House that I know you'll love. America's Most Infamous Crimes. Hosted by Katie Ring. Each week, Katie takes on one of the most notorious criminal cases in American history. Serial killers who terrorize cities, unsolved mysteries that keep detectives up at night, and investigations that change the way we think about justice. Listen to and follow America's most infamous crimes Tuesday through Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

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[Heidi Wong]

I'm Heidi Wong and this is Twisted Tales. Each week we uncover the true stories that inspired horror's darkest legends. Subscribe if you dare and share your own twisted tale below. This week I'll tell you about some terrifying killers in a history of violence that inspired a gruesome revenge thriller. A killer taking his hatred out on innocent victims, another who attacked women with their own clothing and a train station with a legacy of violence on their own. These stories are terrifying enough, but taken altogether, they're an epidemic of death. Welcome to Twisted A Crime House Original. I'm Heidi Wong. Every week I'll take you deep into humanity's darkest stories and how they influence some of the world's biggest horror movies. If you've had a haunted moment or a twisted tale of your own, I want to hear about it. Drop it in the comments. The creepier the better. And for early access and ad free listening, subscribe to our Crime House plus community on Apple Podcasts. Today I'll tell you about two terrifying South Korean killers and a dark history of violence. Fair warning, this episode has a lot of violent content that could be triggering, so please listen with care. First, a man known as the Raincoat Killer. Then a series of serial murders that had the entire country in a panic. And a chain of disturbing crimes that highlighted deep societal issues in the heart heart of South Korea's capital. They inspired a gruesome revenge thriller that has you asking where do you draw the line when it comes to justice?

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[Heidi Wong]

In the early 2000s, a serial killer was terrorizing South Korea. His name was Yoo Young Chol, but the media called him the raincoat killer. Between September 2003 and July 2004, Yoo murdered at least 20 people in Seoul. Most of them were either wealthy elderly couples or female massage therapists. And he had a very specific reason for going after them. Growing up in rural South Korea, Yoo experienced extreme poverty. His situation seemed even worse because he lived close to a wealthy family. It wasn't long before that reminder of everything he didn't have turned into resentment, then hatred. Obviously, it doesn't justify murdering anyone, but it explains why he liked to kill rich elderly couples. His methods were horrifying. With the elderly couples, he would break into their homes, bludgeon them to death with a hammer, and then mutilate their bodies. When it came to the massage therapist, he posed as a police officer, using fake handcuffs and an ID card to lure them to his apartment. Once inside, he would kill them in his bathroom, dismember their bodies, and in some cases, eat their livers. For months, Seoul was gripped by terror. The murders seemed random at first. Different victims different locations. But as the body count rose, the patterns emerged and the police were struggling to keep up. Part of the problem was that in 2004, South Korea's police weren't equipped to handle a serial killer. See, police departments worked strictly within their districts and hardly ever shared information with other forces. When they did talk to each other, it was only about successful arrests, never about unresolved cases, which were seen as failures because they couldn't coordinate with each other. That meant you could operate across different parts of Seoul without drawing attention to himself. Each police district was investigating their own murders without realizing they were all connected to the same killer. Meanwhile, Yoo was getting bolder. From May to July 2004 alone, he murdered at least 11 women. But their deaths didn't get much attention from the authorities or the media. It was only when the wealthy, elderly victims started piling up that the case became a priority. This disparity in how victims were treated led. Wealthy versus marginalized became a big part of the national conversation that followed Yu's arrest. It exposed the exact same class divisions that Yu himself was exploiting. And in the end, it was the people society had written off who actually caught him. The owners of a massage parlor where Yu found his victim started noticing a disturbing pattern. Their workers would leave for appointments and never come back. It's not clear how many disappeared before the owners caught on, but they eventually started keeping track of people's phone numbers when they called to request services, hoping to find a lead. And one day, they got it when someone called using one of the missing women's phones. The owners alerted the police, who sent an officer to the motel where Yu had arranged to meet. But for some reason, he left before Yu got there. So the parlor owners and their employees went to the motel themselves. Themselves and caught him. When police interrogated him, Yu confessed to killing 26 people, although he was ultimately convicted of only 20 murders. But Yu didn't just confess, he cooperated. He brought the police to where he buried the victims, even drawing pictures to explain how he committed some of the crimes. During one of these expeditions, he wore a yellow raincoat. That's how he got his nickname in the media, the Raincoat Killer. It was a surreal moment. This plain, ordinary looking guy revealed as one of the worst killers in Korean history. At his first trial in September 2004, Yoo showed no remorse. If there was anything he was sorry for, it was that he didn't get to keep killing. The 20 murders that he committed, that was nowhere near his goal. He claimed that he had planned to kill 100 people. But now that he'd been caught, he was giving up. During his trial, prosecutors requested the death penalty, and you actually thanked them for it. He was sentenced to death on December 13, 2004. Although South Korea has informally ended the death penalty, so Yoo is still alive, sitting in a prison cell more than 20 years later. Before his arrest, support for the death penalty was so low that it was on the verge of being outlawed. But after Yoo's crime, public opinion shifted hard. In 2018, a survey found that nearly 80% of South Koreans supported the death penalty. Yoo Yong Chol's reign of terror became a defining moment in Korean criminal history. And he's not the only serial killer whose shadow looms large over the country. There's another case, one that haunted South Korea for decades. The Hwasong serial murders. Just a trigger warning that there will be some mentions of Sa in the next story. So please skip ahead if that is uncomfortable for you. Between 1986 and 1991, 10 women and girls between the ages of 13 and 71 were sexually assaulted and murdered in the rural city of Hwasong, just south of Seoul. The killer would sneak up on his victims at night, assaulting them and then strangling them to death, typically using their own clothing, like stockings or socks. The case became the largest criminal investigation in South Korean history. More than 2 million police officers and investigators worked on it. They Cross referenced approximately 40,000 fingerprints and conducted 570 DNA tests and 180 forensic hair tests. But at the time, the technology just wasn't sophisticated enough. South Korea didn't even have a lab capable of advanced DNA analysis when the murders started. So none of the samples the police collected could ID the killer. The investigation wasn't entirely a bust, though. In a case of dark irony, Police arrested over 1,500 offenders for other crimes discovered during the hunt for the Hwasong killer. They just couldn't find the guy that they were actually looking for. For over 30 years, the Hwaseong murders remained unsolved. It became a lingering nightmare, a reminder that justice isn't always served. Then, in 2019, everything changed. Police announced that they finally identified the killer through DNA evidence. His name was Lee Chun Jae. Lee had been in prison since 1994, serving a life sentence for the rape and murder murder of his sister in law. And when he was questioned about the Hwasong murders, he confessed. Along with four additional killings that hadn't been connected to the original case, he also admitted to sexually assaulting 30 women. Although police could only confirm nine of them. In court, Lee said something. I didn't think the crimes would be buried forever. Let that sit with you for a minute. He thought that he was going to get caught because Lee had actually been questioned during the initial investigation in the 1980s. He even had a watch belonging to one of his victims on him at the time. But the officers had to let him go because he didn't have his ID card. And another big reason that he was never identified. The police thought that the killer had type B blood. But they were wrong. Turns out Lee Chun Jae is type O. That single error may have allowed him to sleep slip through the net. The Hwasong case exposed massive failures in South Korea's criminal justice system. The police were so desperate, they'd torture suspects to extract false confessions. And one of them paid a horrible price for it. In 1989, 22 year old Yoon Seung Yeo was arrested for the murder of 14 year old Park Sang Hee, the 8th Hwasong victim. Yoon had a limp from childhood polio and hadn't finished elementary school. Police forced a confession out of him through torture and fabricated evidence. The case against Yoon was shaky from the start. Hair samples from the crime scene showed just a 40% match with Yoon's. But that, along with a confession, was enough to convict him, and he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Yoon maintained his innocence for decades. He was released in 2008 after serving his time. But the conviction stayed on his record. In July 2019, once the real killer was caught, Yoon finally got a formal apology. But he was only exonerated in 2020 after Lee Chun Jae confessed to being the real killer. A retrial cleared Yoon of all charges 11 years after he finished serving time for a crime that he didn't commit. But here's the most frustrating. Lee Chun Jae can't actually be prosecuted for the Hwasong murders. The statute of limitations expired in 2006. 6. So even though he confessed, and even though there's DNA evidence, he can't be charged. Sure, he'll spend the rest of his life in prison for killing his sister in law, but the families of his other victims will never see justice. Unfortunately, they're not alone. The Raincoat Killer and the Hwasong murderer didn't exist in a vacuum. They were symptoms of deeper societal issues, specifically around men's treatment of women. And one train station in Seoul is tragic evidence of that.

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[Heidi Wong]

On May 17, 2016, a 34 year old man stabbed a 23 year old woman to death in a public restroom near Gangnam Station in Seoul. When the killer was arrested, he said he'd never met the victim before, that she was just a complete stranger. When the police asked him why he killed her, he said, I did it because women have always ignored me. Less than 24 hours after the murder, thousands of women gathered at the subway station, covering the walls with Post it notes expressing their grief and anger. And that exact location mattered. This wasn't some random subway stop. Gangnam is a wealthy, trendy district. It's full of fancy restaurants, shopping and entertainment. A lot of young women go there for work, for school, or just to hang out. The fact that such a brutal murder happened there in a public restroom in broad daylight in one of the busiest parts of the city made it feel like nowhere was safe. But not everyone agreed with how the case was being characterized. At first, the police said that the murder wasn't a hate crime. They said the killer had schizophrenia, so it was a mental health issue. Not everyone agreed with that explanation, though. One psychiatrist argued that even if the killer's delusions were influenced by mental illness, those delusions were shaped by the misogynistic society that he lived in. And that would be accurate. And a law professor said that the case wasn't about killing anyone, it was about killing anyone who is a woman. It was clearly fueled by hatred. The Gangnam Station murder became a turning point for feminism in South Korea. Women started identifying themselves as the Gangnam Station generation. It completely changed the conversation around violence against women in the country. And it wasn't just street violence. There was another epidemic happening. It wasn't murder, but it was invasive. I'm talking about spy cams. In South Korea, tiny cameras were being installed in public restrooms, changing rooms, hotels, even private homes. The footage from these spy cams was uploaded to porn sites without the victim's consent. And once the videos were online, they were pretty much impossible to remove. Between 2013 and 2018, more than 30,000 cases of spy cam filming were reported to police in South Korea. One of the most horrifying cases came in March 2019, when police arrested four men who'd installed cameras in 42 rooms across 30 motels. They live streamed the footage 24 hours a day to a subscription website hosted on an overseas server. More than 800 couples were filmed over three months, mostly having sex without knowledge or consent. The crimes became so widespread that the government created a task force force to conduct daily inspections of public restrooms in Seoul. Teams of women in navy blue vests patrolled the city three times a week, checking for hidden cameras in restrooms, subway stations and changing rooms. And since 2020, when private detectives became legal in South Korea, private agencies have started helping out too. Women also started taking matters into their own hands. When using public restrooms, they would seal up suspicious looking holes in the walls, door hinges and fixtures with tissue paper and stickers. But you can only live in fear for so long before that fear turns into rage and rage turned into action. In 2018, tens of thousands of women took to the streets of Seoul, protesting under the slogan my life is not your porn. These rallies became some of the biggest fans feminist demonstrations in Korean history. And in May 2018, the President of South Korea called for greater punishment for spy cam offenders. Because this is way more than just a privacy issue. In September of 2019, a 26 year old woman took her own life after her colleagues secretly filmed her in the changing room of the hospital where they worked. Her case became known as the country's first first reported spy cam death. This spy cam epidemic reflects a culture where women's bodies are seen as objects to be controlled, watched and consumed. It's voyeurism as social sickness. A weaponization of technology to violate and shame. This is the world that a movie called I saw the Devil emerged from. A world where violence against women is routine. Where killers like Yoo Young Chul and Lee Chun Jae can operate for years. Where a man can murder a woman in a public restroom simply because he feels ignored.

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[Katie Ring]

as Directed I'm criminal psychologist Dr. Michele Ward, and on season nine of Mind

[Heidi Wong]

of a Monster, we're bringing you the

[Katie Ring]

case of serial killer Michael Gargiulo.

[Heidi Wong]

He either charms him because he needs him to do something, or he stalks him because he's going to kill him. The repairman with Hollywood good looks who stalked and attacked his female neighbors in their own homes. The jury was shown the photos from her apartment, and it was just covered in blood.

[Katie Ring]

Listen to Mind of a Monster, the Hollywood Ripper wherever you get your podcasts

[Heidi Wong]

to understand how these ideas all came together, let's start with the movie itself. I Saw the Devil opens with a scene that sets the tone for everything that follows. A young woman is driving home one night when her car breaks down on a snowy highway. She calls her fiance, Soo Hyun, to let him know that she's stuck. While she's waiting for help, a stranger pulls up. He seems friendly at first, but within minutes he brutally murders her. So when Soo Hyun finds out what happened, he's devastated. But instead of letting the police handle it, he decides to take matters into his own hands. And this is where the film gets really twisted. Soo Hyun is a Secret Service agent. He has resources, skills, and connections that most people don't. He uses all of them to track down the killer, who turns out to be Jong Kyung Chul. A school bus driver by day, a sadistic serial killer by night. And when Soo Hyun finally finds Jang, he doesn't just kill him. Instead, he beats him unconscious, but plants a tracking device on him and lets him go. Each time Jang thinks that he's escaped, Soo Hyun finds him, tortures him, and releases him. It's a game of cat and mouse where the cat just keeps letting the mouse run, only to pounce again when the mouse thinks that it's safe. Soo Hyun wants Jang to suffer the way that his fiance suffered. He wants him to feel hunted, terrified, helpless. The violence goes further, further. With each encounter, Soo Hyun's methods become more brutal More personal, more unhinged. And the longer this goes on, the harder it becomes to tell who the real monster is. In a strange way, we almost start to feel something for Jeong. Not sympathy exactly, but maybe recognition. He's being tortured by someone who's supposed to be the hero. Each encounter is more brutal than the last. Soo Hyeon's father in law warns him that he's going too far. But Soo Hyun can't stop. The revenge has consumed him completely. Director Kim Ji Won made something special here. The film is stunning to watch. It's got this big dramatic mix of horror and noir. But underneath all of that beautiful cinematography, there's something really dark going on. It's asking what revenge actually does to you. The movie is extremely violent. When asked about it, Kim said that he wasn't interested in gore for its own sake. He was focused on the emotions behind the violence. What drives someone to inflict such cruelty and what it cost them. But why did this film hit so hard in South Korea? And why did it feel so personal, so raw? Because the monster at its center wasn't just a figment of the imagination. He was inspired by the real cycles of violence we've covered today. And he turned it into something that's horrible and fantastic, fascinating at the same time. Something you can't look away from. And that's the point. At its core, I Saw the Devil is about what happens when someone decides to take justice into their own hands in a world where justice doesn't seem to exist. Kim Ji Woon wasn't interested in making a typical revenge thriller. He wanted to explore something darker. The idea that revenge doesn't heal you, it destroys you. The movie draws heavily on philosophy. Kim was influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche, who wrote, whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process, he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. Or to put it another way, you can't wrestle demons without getting dirty. But there's another philosopher whose work illuminates what's happening in this film. Rene Zirard, who wrote about violence and human behavior. He argued that violence spreads like a disease. We see someone do something violent, then we copy it. So the only way ancient societies could stop cycles of revenge from destroying everyone was through sacrifice. Picking one person to receive all the community's rage. But here's the sacrifice only works when the whole community participates together. It's supposed to heal everyone. In I Saw the Devil, Soo Hyun is doing this alone, in secret.

[Katie Ring]

Secret.

[Heidi Wong]

So it can't heal anything. It just destroys him. He turns Jeong into his scapegoat. Someone he can pour all of his rage and grief into. But instead of finding peace, Soo Hyun starts copying exactly what Jang does. He uses the same brutal methods, the same cruelty. But the more Soo Hyun tortures Jeong, the more he starts to resemble him literally. His face becomes vacant, his actions become ritualistic. It's not about closure anymore. He's trapped in a cycle of pain that he can't escape. The final scene in the film drives this home. After finally killing, Jang, Soo Hyeon breaks down sobbing. He's completed his revenge, but it means nothing. His fiance is still dead, and he's been hollowed out by the process. That hopelessness is what makes this different from a lot of western revenge films. In most movies, the hero usually gets closure. They kill the villain, find peace, and move on with their lives. Kim Ji Woon doesn't give us that. The hero doesn't heal by killing. It destroys him. But here's the uncomfortable the movie makes us complicit. We're watching, we're invested. And parts of us wants the violence and the storyline to escalate. The gorgeous cinematography and artistic lighting makes the brutality feel. Feel almost sacred. But it's not entertainment. It's an indictment. When you watch I Saw the Devil, you're forced to confront your own relationship with violence. Are you cheering for Soo Hyun as he tortures Jeong? Do you feel satisfied when he finally kills him? And if you do, what does that say about you? These are uncomfortable questions to sit with. But the film demands that you do. I Saw the Devil is a lot of things. A revenge thriller, a psychological horror film, and a meditation on morality. But more than anything, it's a warning about what happens when justice fails. When rage consumes us, when we stare too long into the darkness. The real life killers who inspired the film, Yoo Young Chul, Lee Chun Jae, are still out there in a way. Not just in prison cells, but in the cultural trauma that they left behind in the film. Fear that they instilled in the questions they raised about who we are and what we're capable of. Kim Ji Woon took that trauma and turned it into brutal, unflinching art that refuses to look away from the ugliest parts of human nature. And in doing so, he created one of the most disturbing films ever made. So if you haven't seen I Saw the Devil, I'll leave you with this. It's definitely not an easy watch. It's violent it's bleak and it will stay with you long after the credits roll. But it's also an essential viewing for anyone who wants to understand the dark psychology of revenge, the cost of violence, and the danger of becoming the thing that you hate. Because in the end, the film's title isn't just about the killer, it's about the hero too. They both saw the devil, but only one of them recognized it and was staring back from the mirror. Foreign. Thanks so much for joining me on this episode of Twisted Tales, a Crime House original. I'd love to hear from you. What did you think of today's stories? Anything you're dying for me to COVID Leave a comment or review wherever you're tuning in. And be sure to follow Twisted Tales so we can keep building this community together. I'll be back next week with another unbelievable true story. Until then, stay curious and remember, there's no reason to fear the dark unless you try to hide from it.

[Vanessa]

A mother is on trial for allegedly luring her own son in law to his death and her search history may have given away everything. This is Vanessa, the host of Crime House 24 7. Right now in a Utah courtroom, 60 year old Tracy Grist is standing trial for murder, accused of masterminding a family plan plot to kill her son in law, Matthew Restelli. Prosecutors say Matthew was lured from California under the pretense of picking up his wife and kids. What he didn't know he was walking into a trap. Within seconds he was shot seven times, three of them in the back. And months before the killing, investigators say Tracee sent a text to one of her daughters that read quote Matt made it so I want to kill him. He straight up lied. I'm gonna kill him. End quote. Hear the rest of that story and never miss another on crime house 24 7, where we cover breaking true crime news daily. Follow crime house24.7 wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss a story as it breaks.

[Katie Ring]

Thanks for listening to today's episode of Twisted Tales. Not sure what to listen to next? Check out America's Most Infamous CR Crimes, hosted by Katie Rain. From serial killers to unsolved mysteries and game changing investigations, each week Katie takes on a notorious criminal case in American history. Listen to and follow America's most infamous crimes now wherever you listen to your podcast.