H

H is a Korean crime thriller that tries to copy the style of Se7en and The Silence of the Lambs, but it never quite gets there. It starts strong with a shocking murder and a dark mystery, but the story loses focus as it goes on. There are good ideas here, but the film doesn’t dig deep enough to make them really work.

The story follows detectives Kim Mi-yeon and Kang Tae-hyun as they investigate brutal murders of pregnant women. The crimes copy those of a serial killer named Shin Hyun, who’s already locked up in prison. The detectives suspect he’s involved somehow, even behind bars. When they visit him, he taunts them with cryptic remarks and personal details about their lives. The mystery gets darker as the murders continue, and nothing is as simple as it seems.

The setup is interesting, and the first murder is truly disturbing. But after that, it becomes a standard police investigation. The film tries to juggle the crime mystery, the psychological tension with the killer, and the emotional struggles of the detectives.

It doesn’t handle any of them smoothly. Some scenes drag, and the middle section feels slow. By the time the big twist arrives, it feels forced rather than earned. The ending is meant to shock you, and it does to some degree, but it doesn’t fully make sense. It feels more like a stylish trick than something the story built toward.

Visually, the movie looks good. Dark tone, rain-soaked streets, grim atmosphere. The violent scenes are graphic and well-staged, and director Lee Jong-hyuk knows how to create dread. But the emotional depth isn’t there. The detectives feel more like types than real people. Mi-yeon is cold and serious, Kang is impulsive and emotional, but the film doesn’t explore them enough for us to care.

The actors do solid work. Yum Jung-ah brings quiet strength, Ji Jin-hee captures frustration well, and Cho Seung-woo is unsettling as the killer. But his philosophical talk feels overdone, and sometimes it’s hard to take him seriously.

H isn’t a bad film, but it’s not as powerful as it could have been. It’s dark, well-made, and gripping at times, but weak writing and uneven pacing hold it back. It wants to be smart and deep, but it ends up being just another decent serial killer thriller. The title only makes sense at the very end, which is clever but might leave you unsatisfied. Worth watching once for the mood and final twist, but it doesn’t stay with you long.