''Deranged'' () is a 2012 South Korean science fiction thriller film starring

Kim Myung-min Kim Myung-min (, born October 8, 1972) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his leading roles in the television series '' Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-shin'' (2004), '' White Tower'' (2007), ''Beethoven Virus'' (2008), ''Six Flying Dragons'' ...

Kim Dong-wan Kim Dong-wan (; born November 21, 1979) is a South Korean entertainer, known as a member of South Korean boy band Shinhwa. He has been acting since 2002, and has starred in television dramas such as ''A Farewell to Sorrow'' and ''Children of He ...

Moon Jung-hee Moon Jeong-hee (born January 12, 1976) is a South Korean stage, film, and television actress. She has won Blue Dragon Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in '' Deranged'' (2012) and Best Supporting Actress award in Buil F ...

and

Lee Ha-nui Lee Hanee (; born March 2, 1983), also known as Honey Lee, is a South Korean actress, model, classical musician as well as beauty pageant titleholder where she represented her country at Miss Universe 2007. She has acted in several films and te ...

. It is Korea's first medical thriller on an infectious disease epidemic (another related film, ''

Flu Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptom ...

'', was released the next year in 2013). The film was directed by

Park Jung-woo Park Jung-woo (born 1969) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. Park is a screenwriter turned director, and probably ranks as South Korea's most well-known screenwriter for his famous stories such as ''Attack the Gas Station'' (19 ...

and produced by Lim Ji-young and Oz One Film. Distributed by

CJ E&M CJ E&M (Hangul: 씨제이이앤엠, an initialism for CJ Entertainment & Media) is a South Korean entertainment and mass media company created by CJ Group in 2011. As of July 2018, CJ E&M is a division of CJ ENM. History CJ E&M was established a ...

, the film was released on July 5, 2012 and runs at 109 minutes.

Plot

Jae-hyuk (

) is a former professor with a doctorate in

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

who is currently working as a pharmaceutical sales representative after losing his life savings and his job due to a bad investment he made in the stock market on the advice of his younger brother. When a series of dead bodies are found floating in the Han River, the public is shocked to discover that the deaths are related to a fatal outbreak of virus-infected

mutant In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It ...

parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has c ...

horsehair worm Nematomorpha (sometimes called Gordiacea, and commonly known as horsehair worms, hairsnakes, or Gordian worms) are a phylum of parasitoid animals superficially similar to nematode worms in morphology, hence the name. Most species range in size ...

s, called ''Yeongasi'', that can control the human brain. Those infected show symptoms of increased hunger without appropriate weight gain and excessive thirst when the worms are mature and ready to reproduce. Hence, they jump into the river to allow the worms to come out of the body. While the authorities work to find a cure, Jae-hyuk and his brother Jae-pil (

), a detective who is agonized with guilt for squandering Jae-hyuk's money in the stock market, struggle to save Jae-hyuk's family when they exhibit similar symptoms to the infected. Starting with Seoul, dead bodies with similar signs of malnutrition are found every morning in rivers all across the country. The police have trouble understanding the cause of the sudden deaths, as all the victims don't show any physical symptoms but look gruesome as soon as they jump into the water. One victim is found dead in his bathtub, but there are also unidentifiable worm-like organisms swimming next to his dead body. Officials at the Ministry of Health find out that these organisms are parasitic horsehair worms that normally use insects as hosts but became mutated into a new form that allows them to infect human bodies as well. The sudden change in appearance that was seen consistently in all victims was caused when the parasites escaped the bodies in the water. As soon as the news gets out and the government makes a public announcement urging people who have been in or near water and show symptoms of hunger and thirst to get checked out, countless people rush to hospitals. Pharmacies are crowded with people desperate to get

anthelmintic Anthelmintics or antihelminthics are a group of antiparasitic drugs that expel parasitic worms (helminths) and other internal parasites from the body by either stunning or killing them and without causing significant damage to the host. They may a ...

s. Matters become worse when more people jump into rivers overnight and dead bodies float around every morning. Then it is discovered that using any type of

actually causes more excruciating pain and eventual death. Chaos ensues and worsens until one patient claims that he was cured by a specific type of drug calle
Windazole
The country goes insane in order to get a hold of the drug, but pharmacies run out of supply in less than a day. Government officials contact the pharmaceutical company in charge of making Windazole
ChoA Pharmaceuticals
and demand that they increase supply. However, ever since being acquired by an investment company, the devices involved in creating the drug were poorly managed and the company fails to make a single pill. Public hearings follow as the government requests the company to reveal the drug's composition, but the CEO says that the company's major stockholders refuse to do so, and the government has no legal grounds to force the company to disclose the drug's "recipe" either. Jae-pil then discovers evidence that this was all planned out by workers at ChoA Pharmaceuticals. He finds someone who used to work at the research team at ChoA and threatens him to tell the truth. The researcher confesses the entire story. A few years back, the researchers at ChoA learned about the parasite Yeongasi and thought that finding out the protein involved in controlling the brain might help with finding a cure to other brain diseases such as

Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As t ...

. The team was successful in making a mutant version that used mammals as hosts and seemed to be on the way to success with their research when the company was sold, and the research team was disbanded. Some of the researchers who were angry about the whole incident came together and agreed to take part in a collective

stock manipulation In economics and finance, market manipulation is a type of market abuse where there is a deliberate attempt to interfere with the free and fair operation of the market; the most blatant of cases involve creating false or misleading appearances ...

scheme in which they bought a bunch of stocks and released the parasite after storing away 100,000 packets of the drug. Consequently, hundreds of thousands of tourists became infected over the summer as they went to rivers for vacation. One of the researchers then acted as if he had been treated by the drug in order to raise stock prices. Given this information, Jae-pil calls Jae-hyuk, and the two go to the storage the researcher admitted to having kept away the rest of the drugs. When Jae-hyuk finally is about to get a hold of the medicine, someone locks the door to the storage and sets the building on fire. The two survive, but the researcher who had been giving Jae-pil the information is murdered by a mysterious man (who later turns out to be the researcher to claim that Windazole worked), and all of the drugs burn down. Jae-pil then finds out that the murdered researcher had actually been the head of the research team and was a close friend to the CEO. Jae-pil learns that the other researchers had already run away overseas and that the head of the team was just staying behind to see how things panned out. Thus, the entire plan was premeditated and taken out by the CEO and the researchers from the beginning. Meanwhile, the CEO suggests that the government buy the company in its entirety, which would then allow them to find out the drug's composition and make more of it for the rapidly increasing number of patients. The price the CEO offers is completely unreasonable at 5 billion won and most government officials are against the idea, but the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

says there is no other option and is about to sign the contract. In the nick of time, he is informed of the whole scam and the CEO is arrested. Jae-hyuk is in despair when he suddenly realizes, based on his knowledge of chemistry, that as long as he is able to create a drug with the same

active ingredient An active ingredient is any ingredient that provides biologically active or other direct effect in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease or to affect the structure or any function of the body of humans or animals. T ...

as Windazole, he should be able to treat his family—he does not necessarily need Windazole itself. Other people join in on the plan and pharmaceutical companies hastily create an effective drug that treats everyone. The movie ends with Jae-hyuk and his family spending time at an amusement park. Jae-hyuk suggests the family go on vacation overseas all together, preferably to a place with many drugstores. His wife laughs and asks if Jae-hyuk is worried that there might be ''Yeongasi'' in other countries as well. Jae-hyuk smiles but suddenly freezes and whips around as the film suddenly transitions to a scene with a dead body floating in

New York Harbor New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in t ...

Cast

- Jae-hyuk *

- Gyung-seon *

- Jae-pil, a police investigator and younger brother of Jae-hyuk *

- Yeon-joo, Jae-pil's fiancé * Eom Ji-seong - Joon-woo * Yeom Hyun-seo - Ye-ji *

Kang Shin-il Kang Shin-il (born November 26, 1960) is a South Korean actor. Kang graduated from Kyung Hee University with a degree in electronic engineering, but he soon put aside his studies and spent most of his time in Daehangno, Seoul's theater district, ...

- Doctor Hwang * Jo Deok-hyeon - Tae-won /Yhengmorada * Jeon Kuk-hwan - Prime Minister *

Choi Jung-woo Choi Jung-woo (born February 17, 1957) is a South Korean actor. He began his acting career in theater, then became active as a supporting actor in film and television, notably in the sitcom '' Standby'' and the procedural dramas ''Quiz of God ...

- Minister of Health and Welfare *

Lee Hyung-chul Lee Hyung-chul (born February 19, 1971) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his supporting roles in television dramas, notably in ''Scent of Man'' (2003), '' Sisters of the Sea'' (2005), '' On Air'' (2008), '' City Hall'' (2009), ''Pas ...

- James Kim *

Jung In-gi Jung In-gi (born September 12, 1966) is a South Korean actor. Jung made his acting debut in 1990, and has remained active in mainstream and independent film as well as television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunic ...

- Sales Office Manager * Song Young-chang - Doctor Kim *

Choi Il-hwa Choi Il-hwa (born May 9, 1959) is a South Korean actor. He joined the Madang Sesil Theatre Group in 1983, and has since continued acting in Korean theater, television and film. Filmography Film *'' No Tomorrow (2016) *'' Wonderful Nightmare'' ...

- South Korean president * Kim Se-dong - Production Director

Reception

On the first day of its theatrical release, ''Deranged'' sold 190,953 tickets, making it number one on the daily box office chart (beating Hollywood film ''

The Amazing Spider-Man ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' is an ongoing American comic book series featuring the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man as its main protagonist. Being in the Earth 616, mainstream continuity of the franchise, it began publication in 1963 as a bim ...

'' which sold 149,170 tickets). The film grossed a total of after only five weeks of screening, with 4,515,665 total tickets sold nationwide."Korean Weekend Box Office 2012.08.17 ~ 2012.08.19"
'' Hancinema''. 20 August 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-26.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * * {{hancinema film, Deranged, Deranged 2010s science fiction horror films 2012 horror thriller films 2012 films 2012 horror films Films about viral outbreaks Films set in Seoul South Korean horror thriller films South Korean science fiction thriller films Films directed by Park Jung-woo 2010s South Korean films