Howling (2012 film)

Mapo district, Seoul. Middle-aged police detective Jo Sang-gil (Song Kang-ho), a single father with a young son and daughter, is assigned the seemingly straightforward case of a man, Oh Gyeong-il, who set fire to himself inside a car. Chafing at his lack of promotion after so long on the police force, but under pressure from his boss-cum-friend (Shin Jung-geun), he also grudgingly agrees to work with rookie detective Cha Eun-young (Lee Na-young), a 30-year-old divorcee who has just been transferred from motorcycle patrol duty. The dead man, who had drugs in his system, has a large dog-bite on his thigh but no fingerprints. The police discover the immolation was not suicide but was triggered by a timer in the victim's trouser belt. Sang-gil traces the sex club the victim had visited but bawls out Eun-young when she makes an amateurish error during a fight. Against protocol, Sang-gil omits to file reports on the progress of the case, as he wants to earn all the kudos himself and thereby a promotion. His boss finds out, just as a second victim, Nam Sang-hun, is found bitten to death by a large dog or wolf. After talking to dog-trainers, the police learn the man they need to see is Min Tae-shik, a retired police dog trainer who lives with his drug addict daughter; during a raid on his house, Min escapes and a wolf-dog subsequently kills a woman in the backstreets. Eun-young starts questioning police-dog trainers, as well as investigating those missing or dead, and comes up with the name of Kang Myung-ho, who supposedly committed suicide a while ago. She sets off to investigate on her own.{{cite web|last=Elley|first=Derek|title=Howling|url=http://www.filmbiz.asia/reviews/howling|publisher=Film Business Asia|date=2 March 2012}}{{cite web|last=Shim|first=Sun-ah|title=Howling resonates with fringe emotions|url=http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/culturesports/2012/02/09/95/0701000000AEN20120209001500315F.HTML|publisher=Yonhap|date=9 February 2012}}{{cite web|last=Lee|first=Jin-ho|title=Howling Held Up By Song Kang Ho and Lee Na Young|url=http://enewsworld.mnet.com/enews/contents.asp?idx=3454|publisher=enewsWorld|date=13 February 2012}}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite web|last=Kim|first=Kyu Hyun|title=Howling|url=http://koreanfilm.org/kfilm12.html#howling|publisher=Koreanfilm.org|accessdate=4 July 2012}}

After 4 people fell victim to the dog, Eun-young investigate Tae-shik's home. From the house she discover he has been training his dog, Jil-Po, to kill 6 targets, including a police named Bae. She found Jung-ah in a hospital and gather more information where found that Jung-ah was used as prostitute by the 5 victims. We then switch to a corrupt cop and Min, a businessman who paid him to kill Oh Gyeong-il before. Their deal went awry and the businessman kill him, make it look like a suicide and left a fake last will. Police Department freeze the case after their death but Eun-young still bothered by the unknown 6th man.

Police Department later declare that they will start a hunt to kill the dog. Eun-young and Sang-gil use this information to then convince Young-jin to tell them who is the final target, which is revealed to be a minister. Noticing that all 5 of his henchmen are dead, the minister remember that Jung-ah used to tell him about his dad who was a dog trainer. He then plot his escape using boat. Eun-young later demoted to patrol police by their chief.

The police department then set up an ambush using Jung-ah's cloth in their old house. The ambush fail and Eun-young follow Jil-Pong to an old house where the minister prepare to escape. During the ensuing fight Sang-gil shoot and kill Jil-Pong while he bites the minister, which he later explain that he missed. The movie end with Sang-gil rewarded for the case and Eun-young help to rehabilitate Jung-ah.

• Song Kang-ho ... Detective Jo Sang-gil{{cite web|last=Lee|first=Hyo-won|title=Song reprises detective role in Howling|url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2012/06/141_102725.html|publisher=The Korea Times|date=12 January 2012}}{{cite web|last=Lee|first=Jin-ho|title=Song Kang Ho Says He Won't be Embarrassed of Howling|url=http://enewsworld.mnet.com/enews/contents.asp?idx=3466|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130129061945/http://enewsworld.mnet.com/enews/contents.asp?idx=3466|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 January 2013|publisher=enewsWorld|date=13 February 2012}}
• Lee Na-young ... Detective Cha Eun-young{{cite web|title=Lee Na-young tracking serial killers?|url=http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/html/450/2946450.html|publisher=Korea JoongAng Daily|date=2 January 2012|url-status=usurped|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130128070942/http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/html/450/2946450.html|archivedate=28 January 2013}}{{cite web|last=Lee|first=Claire|title=Howling: Portrait of the minority|url=http://view.koreaherald.com/kh/view.php?ud=20120208001096|publisher=The Korea Herald|date=8 February 2012}}{{cite web|title=Lee Na-young Faces Tough Challenge on New Movie|url=http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/02/11/2012021100355.html|publisher=The Chosun Ilbo|date=11 February 2012}}{{cite web|last=Sunwoo|first=Carla|title=Lee Na-young unfazed by questions about age, marriage prospects|url=http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/Article.aspx?aid=2948783|publisher=Korea JoongAng Daily|date=22 February 2012|url-status=usurped|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130126223006/http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/Article.aspx?aid=2948783|archivedate=26 January 2013}}
• Shin Jung-geun as Chief Detective Seo
• Lee Sung-min as Detective Young-cheol
• Im Hyeon-seong as Detective
• Jeong Jin as Detective
• Jo Young-jin as Jung-ah's father
• Nam Bo-ra as Jung-ah
• Kwon Tae-won as Choi, the racketeer
• Lee Tae-ri as Sang-gil's son - (credit as Lee Min-ho)
• Jung In-gi as Coroner
• Jang In-ho
• Kim Gyeong-ryong
• Kim Dong-yoon as Gangster 1
• Kim Young-hoon as Cha Eun-young's ex-husband

{{reflist|2}}

• {{Hancinema film|Howling|Howling}}
• {{kmdb film|13032|Howling}}
• {{IMDb title|2186819|Howling}}

{{Yoo Ha}}

Category:2012 films

Category:South Korean action thriller films

Category:Police detective films

Category:South Korean detective films

Category:Films based on Japanese novels

Category:Films directed by Yoo Ha

Category:2010s South Korean films