Netflix’s The Raincoat Killer: Chasing a Predator in Korea Review: Arresting

The Raincoat Killer: Chasing a Predator in Korea is a docuseries directed by John Choi, from showrunner Rob Sixsmith. The series has three episodes, each around 45 – 50 minutes long.

Netflix describes the series as:

In the early 2000s, Yoo Young-chul hammered his victims to death and cast fear across Seoul. This docuseries recounts the hunt for a prolific killer.

– The Raincoat Killer review does not contain spoilers –

Serial killing is horrible. People losing their lives for no discernible reason other than a person’s whims is a horrible thing to think about, much less be exposed to. The Raincoat Killer is a documentary series on how one of Korea’s most prolific serial killers, Yoo Young-chul, was caught by the police.

From the get-go, the series arrests the viewers with its arresting background music and calm but serious voiceover. As with almost all other docuseries, this one, too, has a lot of reenactments and interviews. However, unlike some, this one does not go overboard with the editing software. It’s nice when documentaries know that they’re not there to showcase visual prowess. Rather, it’s about telling people a story. The Raincoat Killer is nice to watch because it focuses on the story at hand and remembers that real life is much worse than fiction.

However, if you’re not a fan of reenactments, then this one would probably feel a bit much. There’s a lot of that. Nevertheless, we follow the crime spree chronologically without much fuss and it’s easy to follow. It does not point to the fact that there are absolutely no crime scene videos or pictures. There are tons of those. But the reenactments are more in number, along with interview footage.

It is arresting to watch the people close to the investigation talking about the gruesome scene in front of you. It is difficult to think about anything else other than what these innocent people went through. The thought will send chills down your spine. As we start from one case and invariably stumble on to another, and then another, the case just becomes more and more complicated and more horrifying. The Raincoat Killer does a good job at bringing forth the immediacy of the case to the forefront.

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The Raincoat Killer also touches upon the failure of the Korean police at that point to work together and bring the perpetrator to justice sooner. The fact that smaller crimes were not taken seriously and that they used extremely primitive methods resulted in the fact that many cases remained unsolved for a long time, including that of Yoo Young-chul. However, that is solved soon enough.

The Raincoat Killer gets more interesting when the profiler comes in, though. I have always been fascinated with criminal profiling and the expert in the series, who was also a part of the investigation, adds another layer of intrigue in an already interesting case. Plus, the added layer of social issues in Korea at the time is also a nice addition and provides context to a lot of things… but not serial killing, probably. That doesn’t have any rhyme or reason.

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Summing up: The Raincoat Killer: Chasing a Predator in Korea

The Raincoat Killer: Chasing a Predator in Korea is a no-nonsense docuseries about a horrifying serial killing spree that says it like it is. There are no fancy editing to give you a headache, nor does it try to beat around the bush. It says it like it and that’s probably what makes this series such an interesting watch.

The Raincoat Killer: Chasing a Predator in Korea is streaming on Netflix.

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