Yoon Yeong-hwa (Ha Jung-woo), a former TV anchor now demoted to host of
a call-in show on the radio, one day receives a call from a guy
threatening to blow up a bridge - a prank call no doubt ... until Yoon
sees a portion of the bridge next to his channel's building go up in
smoke. The news is of course the news on all the networks, but when
the caller calls again and threatens to blow up more of the bridge, Yoon
knows he's got a story at hand that can re-install him as TV anchor, so
far as to call in an emergency camera team, and he keeps the caller, by
now dubbed a terrorist online no matter what, always giving everyone the
impression of trying to find out what's going on and working out what the
terrorist might want, but it's really just about getting good ratings.
Sure, Yoon does find out a bit about the man, that he's a construction
worker who has lost two of his colleagues working on the bridge two years
ago and now wants an apology from the president. That apology doesn't
come, instead Yoon gets the chief of police on his impromptu show - whom
the terrorist kills via a remote controled bomb in his earpiece. Though
shocked, Yoon pushes on, even after the terrorist blows up another part of
the bridge and encloses a bunch of people, Yoon's ex-wife included, all of
whom later die when the bridge collapses. Ultimately, the terrorist blows
up the foundation of the building next to the building of Yoon's station,
so the building dangerously leans into the station building - and still,
Yoon broadcasts until the terrorist comes after him in person ... The
Terror Inside is in equal parts thriller with an emphasis on a lone
wolf terrorist and biting media satire, and it's fascinating how this
story is focused on just one actor (even if there is a supporting cast)
confined to his studio (thought there are a few outside shots depicting
what's going on in the "real world". That the film never loses
its hold on the audience is made possible thanks to a well-structured
story, interesting camerawork and a very fine cast. Plus, even though this
is a rather intimate small scale movie, the few big scale special effects
(the bridge collapsing, the building losing it's foundation and leaning
into the station building) are pretty amazing without being just
spectacle. Totally worth one's while.
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