Haunters (Korean: 초능력자; RR: Choneungryeokja; lit. "Psychic") is a 2010 South Korean science fiction action film written and directed by Kim Min-seok. It depicts the struggle between a psychic named Cho-in (Gang Dong-won) who can control people with his mind and a man named Kyu-nam (Go Soo) who is immune to the psychic's supernatural power.
Plot[]
Little Cho-in's mother makes him wear a blindfold to suppress his mind control ability. As the two are abused by Cho-in's father, Cho-in compels the man to commit suicide. Cho-in's mother subsequently tries to murder her son, but Cho-in stops her and runs away. He grows up in contempt for the society, making liberal use of his power to steal money from businesses and live in a hotel room.
Kyu-nam works at a scrapyard alongside an international crew, including his best friends Turk Ali and Ghanaian Bubba. He is hit by a car right before his birthday, but makes an unusually quick recovery. However, he loses his job at the scrapyard in the meanwhile. He finds employment at Utopia, a pawn shop owned by Jung-sik, who is concerned about a mysterious loss of money. Kyu-nam befriends Jung-sik's daughter, Yeong-sook, and is visited at his new workplace by Ali and Bubba. Cho-in arrives, paralyzing everyone present and manipulating Jung-sik into giving him money. To Cho-in's surprise, Kyu-nam resists his influence and attempts to stop him. Cho-in uses the others to overpower Kyu-nam; Kyu-nam is stabbed in the back and electrocuted, while Jung-sik gets his head trapped between iron bars at the counter and suffocates. Jung-sik and Kyu-nam are taken to a hospital, where doctors are unable to save Jung-sik, but Kyu-nam recovers almost immediately.
Blaming Cho-in for Jung-sik's death, Kyu-nam resolves to bring the psychic to justice. With the help of Ali and Bubba, he breaks into Utopia's back room to recover the CCTV tape with Cho-in's appearance. The three are forced to flee from a mob of people controlled by Cho-in, and Kyu-nam is separated from the others. He manages to knock Cho-in out and take him to a police station, but the officers ignore his warnings and are mind-controlled. Kyu-nam chases Cho-in to a metro station, where Cho-in commands a mother to throw her infant child against a speeding train. Kyu-nam saves the child, but is struck by the train and left by Cho-in to die. However, he recovers from his wounds once more.
Kyu-nam contacts Ali and Bubba, who agree to help him hunt down Cho-in. Ali modifies an old van and constructs a flare gun with the intent of countering Cho-in's ability. Both Kyu-nam and Cho-in come under investigation by the authorities, who send a team to search Cho-in's hotel room. Cho-in murders the investigators and leaves the apartment, taking with him only a toy figurine of a young man. He robs a bank and visits his mother, who is also being questioned by the authorities; again, Cho-in kills the officers, but is unable to take his mother's life, instead leaving her with a large sum of money. Kyu-nam confronts Cho-in in an apartment complex, where Cho-in mocks him and forces several people into suicide to torment Kyu-nam. Outside, Ali and Bubba attack Cho-in with the flare gun, but it proves ineffective and they are captured.
Back at Utopia, Kyu-nam is ambushed by Cho-in, who then hangs him alongside Ali and Bubba. Kyu-nam escapes, but cannot save his friends in time. Cho-in takes Yeong-sook hostage and causes a large traffic accident to stop Kyu-nam; however, Kyu-nam survives as Ali's and Bubba's apparitions instruct him to activate a speed booster in his van, installed there by Ali. Kyu-nam corners Cho-in on a rooftop, where Kyu-nam is shot but manages to throw both of them onto the street below. Cho-in is killed by the fall while Kyu-nam, once again, lives; he notices Cho-in's toy figurine and reflects on whether in different circumstances, the two of them could have been friends.
At a metro station, a quadriplegic Kyu-nam (who uses a wheelchair) meets up with Yeong-sook, who has fulfilled her dream of becoming a flight attendant. A woman attempts suicide by lying down on the train tracks; she is rescued in the nick of time by Kyu-nam, who seems to have made another miraculous recovery.