The movie ‘Target’ delivers intense horror that unfolds in everyday life

On the 21st, the press screening and distribution event for the movie ‘Target’ was held at Megabox COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. After the screening, a press conference was held with the attendance of actors Shin Hye-sun, Kim Sung-kyun, director Park Hee-gon, and Lee Joo-young.

‘Target’ is a thriller that depicts suspense unfolding in the daily life of Soo-hyun (Shin Hye-sun), who becomes a target of crime through secondhand transactions. Thrilling incidents occur due to scams in secondhand transactions, and the movie meticulously investigates real incidents to build a solid sense of reality.

On this day, Shin Hye-sun said, “Aren’t you getting more and more oppressed?” and expressed her thoughts on filming, “We had to show the gradual infiltration of torment into everyday life. It was difficult to determine how scary and how disturbing it should be. Personally experiencing it and feeling it through the media felt different. Before filming, if I thought that being harassed by messages from strangers would be difficult, when actually faced with even just messages from unknown people, I realized how terrifying it could be.”

She continued, “How terrifying it is,” and added, “I wanted to make people feel how frightening and uncomfortable it is for one’s daily life to be slowly invaded by others.”

Taking on her first thriller challenge with ‘Target,’ Shin Hye-sun confessed about the filming experience, “There was no element of ‘soda’ or ‘vengeance’ at the end, so the script felt even more realistic. The more the movie progressed, the more I had to think about ‘what kind of reaction will I show,’ which was a concern.”

Regarding her character Soo-hyun, she said, “Among the characters I’ve played so far, this one is closest to being colorless, so that aspect was also appealing. As it progressed, I was concerned about ‘what kind of reaction will I show.'”

When asked about the reason for producing the scenario, Director Park said, “In January 2020, there were programs on SBS’s ‘I Want to Know That’ and JTBC’s ‘Newsroom’ that dealt with the ‘That Guy’ in secondhand transactions,” and added, “Actually, I thought of secondhand transactions as a heartwarming act of sharing between neighbors, but I was shocked after watching those programs. ‘That Guy’ was shocking and organized. There were some secondhand users who resisted or rebelled against themselves, and they harassed those people until they went mad or committed suicide.”

Furthermore, he said, “Until we started filming, we referred to him as ‘That Guy.’ The reason is that he wasn’t caught yet,” and continued, “From the beginning, we based the story thoroughly on reality. ‘That Guy’ was captured in the Philippines during filming. However, the ‘That Guy’ who was caught in another program is still at large. We created the movie by intertwining real cases.”