Like Fritz Lang, David Fincher or Bong Joon Ho before him, talented debut filmmaker Lado Kvataniya uses the concept of police detective vs serial killer for an excitingly stylised, macabre and haunting narrative, that ultimately revolves around the identity of an era: in this case, the late 1980s Soviet Union. With Glasnost and the end of communist rule, the West also learned of the (unsurprising) fact that there were serial killers in Russia too – the most notorious case probably that of Andrei Chikatilo, nicknamed the Rostov Ripper, or the Russian Hannibal Lecter.
Based on these and many other sources, Kvataniya and screenwriter Olga Gorodetskaya constructed an immersive psychological puzzle, jumping back and forth in time, to reveal ever new-possible motives for the actions of all the protagonists. It all starts in 1990, when Detective Issa Davydov is celebrating his promotion and receives a call, reporting a crime that looks precisely like the ones of the serial killer that he famously captured some years before ...
Soo-kyung is a news reporter with a troubled past. Back then when she was a teenager, she and her best friend Min-soo wanted to go to a park, but there Min-soo disappeared without a trace. Soo-kyung felt responsible and decided to become a journalist, to investigate the case on her own. But until now she has found no sign of her friend. One day, she gets a call from her childhood-friend Min-gook who insists that he saw Min-soo. Soo-kyung doesn't believe him at first, but finally she is able to meet Min-soo again. Min-soo in return confirms her identity and also recognizes Soo-kyung, but she behaves totally different. Soo-kyung feels that something is still terribly wrong and everything points to Min-soo's boyfriend Dong-min.
The story of Yeon-Hee who appears to be having a happily married life but is actually experiencing domestic violence. Little by little, Yeon-Hee begins to fall into danger after her SNS account was hacked.
In a luxurious seaside villa, a modest young woman finds herself in the company of a strange family: an unknown and wealthy father, his extravagant wife, his daughter, an ambitious woman, a rebellious teenager, and their creepy maid. Someone is lying. Between suspicions and lies, a mystery grows and the evil spreads.
Follows a tutor who, after being assigned an unexpected task at a mansion, finds himself struggling with the obsessions of his student, who threatens to expose his darkest secrets.
