Memories of Murder - The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray)

In his breakthrough second feature, Bong Joon Ho explodes the conventions of the policier with thrillingly subversive, genre-defying results. Based on the true story of a string of serial killings that rocked a rural community in the 1980s, Memories of Murder stars New Korean Cinema icon Song Kang Ho as the local officer who reluctantly joins forces with a seasoned Seoul detective (Kim Sang Kyung) to investigate the crimes—leading each man on a wrenching, yearslong odyssey of failure and frustration that will drive him to the existential edge. Combining a gripping procedural with a vivid social portrait of the everyday absurdity of life under military rule, Bong fashions a haunting journey into ever-deepening darkness that begins as a black-comic satire and ends as a soul-shattering encounter with the abyss.

• South Korea
• 131 minutes
• Color
• 1.85:1
• Korean
• Spine #1073
• 2003

DIRECTOR-APPROVED TWO-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

- New 4K digital restoration, supervised by cinematographer Kim Hyung Ku and approved by director Bong Joon Ho, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- Two 2003 commentaries featuring Bong and members of the cast and crew, plus a new commentary featuring critic Tony Rayns
- New interview with filmmaker Guillermo del Toro
- New interview with Bong about the real-life serial killer who inspired the film
- Documentary from 2004 on the making of the film
- Deleted scenes, with optional audio commentary by Bong
- New interview with film scholar Jeff Smith on the use of sound in Bong’s work
- Incoherence, a 1994 student film by Bong, with a new introduction by the director
- Teaser, trailer, and TV spot
- PLUS: An essay by critic and novelist Ed Park

*New cover by Greg Ruth