RAW squid, eaten alive, squelching from the mouth of heavy-drinking businessman Oh Dea-Su (Choi Min-Sik) - this is the grotesque movie image of the year, and one in the eye for the pulchritudinous Nigella Lawson.

Raw squid? Well, he is hungry. He has been held prisoner for 15 years, mysteriously kidnapped and equally mysteriously suddenly released after mind-game experiences to rival The Naked Lunch.

His squid chomping impresses a sushi-bar hostess so much, they form a relationship.

At last his former captor reveals his hand: if Oh Dea-Su can solve the puzzle of why he was abducted, the kidnapper will offer himself for revenge. If not, the girl will be human sushi.

If revenge is a dish best served cold, then this nutty Korean revenge thriller has just escaped from the deep freeze. Chan-Wook Park goes even further over the top than Quentin Tarantino in his Kill Bill double bill: more bloody violence, more fantastical leaps, more extreme Asian action...and more squid.

Park makes Alfred Hitchcock, Robert De Niro and Tarantino look like mere wimps and if you like to suffer for your arthouse, then here you will be in good company with that squid.

Updated: 15:38 Thursday, October 28, 2004