<MURDERER REPORT>: The Interview You Can’t Escape

A New Kind of Thriller Arrives This Fall

Hitting theaters on September 5, 2025, MURDERER REPORT delivers a bold twist on the thriller genre: the “intimate interview thriller.” Set entirely within a sealed hotel suite, the film traps a veteran journalist in a face-to-face encounter with a self-proclaimed serial killer, turning words into weapons and dialogue into a deadly game.

 

 

Film Information

Title: MURDERER REPORT (살인자 리포트)

Director/Writer: Cho Youngjun

Cast: Cho Yeojeong, Jung Sungil, Kim Taehan

Producers: WithA Studio, MIK Studio, Pluto Story Group

Distributors: Sony Pictures Entertainment Korea, AtoZ Entertainment

Runtime: 107 minutes | Rating: 18+ | Release Date: September 5, 2025

The Premise: Stop Talking, Someone Dies

Veteran reporter Baek Sunjoo (Cho Yeojeong) is desperate for a headline-making scoop. Enter Lee Younghoon (Jung Sungil), a psychiatrist who claims to have murdered 11 people—and offers her an exclusive interview. His chilling ultimatum is simple:

“If you walk out of this room, someone else will die.”

What begins as a career-defining opportunity spirals into a psychological standoff, where every question cuts deeper and every answer hides a darker truth.

The Suite as a Silent Character

Unlike conventional thrillers that move across cities and crime scenes, MURDERER REPORT confines its narrative to a single hotel suite. Through shifting light, meticulous set design, and suffocating atmosphere, the room itself evolves into a character—closing in on both the protagonists and the audience, frame by frame.

The Cast: A Duel of Performances

Cho Yeojeong (Baek Sunjoo)

Following her acclaimed turn in Parasite, Cho embodies a journalist balancing composure and desperation. Her performance captures the razor-thin line between professional instinct and raw fear.

Jung Sungil (Lee Younghoon)

After electrifying global audiences in Netflix’s The Glory, Jung transforms into a psychiatrist with a terrifying calm. His unflinching stillness and sharp delivery anchor the film’s psychological tension.

Kim Taehan (Han Sangwoo)

Making his feature debut, Kim plays Sunjoo’s lover and a detective shadowing the interview from below, adding another layer of suspense as he monitors every second from the outside.

The Director’s Vision: A Swordfight of Words

Director Cho Youngjun (Chae-bi, Midnight Sun) reimagines the thriller as a verbal battleground.

“I wanted to explore the fear of being locked in with a murderer,” he explains. “It’s a swordfight fought with words—where logic and persuasion become the sharpest weapons.”

By distilling the story into dialogue, tension, and space, Cho creates a claustrophobic and hypnotic thriller that channels echoes of The Silence of the Lambs while carving out its own identity in Korean cinema.

Why It Matters

MURDERER REPORT is more than a crime thriller—it’s an exploration of truth, manipulation, and survival. With powerhouse performances from two of Korea’s most acclaimed actors, a bold single-location concept, and direction that pushes dialogue to its breaking point, the film promises one of the most gripping theatrical experiences of the year.

The interview begins September 5, 2025—only in theaters.