So, you have completed Squid Sport, Halloween is arising, and also you’re in search of one other Korean thriller to sink your tooth into.
Fortunately, there’s lots extra the place that got here from. Whether or not it is horror classics, zombies, or psychological thrillers you are in search of, Korean cinema has one thing for you.
Right here, Newsweek breaks down the highest Ok-horror movies to look at this Halloween season.
1. Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum
The title for Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum makes it apparent what viewers are getting themselves in for: a helluva lot of soar scares! Based mostly on an actual psychiatric hospital that’s supposedly haunted, the movie follows a gaggle of YouTubers who resolve to go to an deserted asylum after two youngsters go lacking. Livestreaming their journey inside per the now-classic discovered footage trope, the seven characters quickly come to remorse their resolution as they’re haunted, chased, and attacked by the ghosts within the constructing. Jung Bum-shik’s horror is ideal for the style; it has soar scares, stunning twists and terrifying ghosts, what extra may you need this Halloween?
Watch Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum on Amazon
2. A Story of Two Sisters
A traditional Korean movie, A Story of Two Sisters is a terrifying horror based mostly on a folktale which has been tailored for the large display screen a number of occasions. Kim Jee-won’s 2003 flick is the latest Korean tackle the story, and it follows a younger lady who begins witnessing unusual happenings after she returns house along with her sister following time in a psychological establishment. Su-mi (performed by Im Soo-jung) can see ghosts and is scared of what she sees and the way it pertains to her stepmother Eun-joo (Yum Jung-ah) and her household’s darkish previous. Stuffed with twists and scares, the movie is awash with terrifying apparitions and horrific happenings that’s certain to ship a chill down any viewer’s backbone this spooky season.
Watch A Tale of Two Sisters on Amazon
3. The Handmaiden
Park Chan-wook’s gripping, horny thriller is as filled with horror as one would possibly anticipate from the creator of Oldboy and Thirst. Set in Japanese-occupied Korea, it tells the story of two ladies, Woman Hideko (Kim Min-hee) and her pickpocket maid Sook-hee (Kim Tae-ri), and their quest for independence from their male oppressors after falling in love with one another. Not solely is it fashionable and superbly shot, however the movie additionally options some stunning twists and surprising, gory violence, as the 2 ladies attempt to escape the clutches of Rely Fujiwara (Ha Jung-woo) and Uncle Kouzuki (Cho Jin-woong). It additionally inexplicably contains an octopus, although given the erotic nature of the movie this will likely make extra sense than it ought to.
Watch The Handmaiden on Amazon
4. Forgotten
Jang Cling-jun’s psychological thriller Forgotten will definitely have you ever questioning actuality as a lot because the movie’s important character Jin-seok (performed by Kang Ha-neul). It follows the younger man as he strikes house along with his brother Yoo-seok (Kim Mu-yeol) and his mother and father, however unusual issues begin to occur after his sibling is kidnapped and returns a very totally different particular person. The drama is filled with stress and nail-biting scenes, particularly between Jin-seok and the modified Yoo-seok, and it additionally has a plot twist that may little question come as a shock. Kang and Kim have an awesome character dynamic onscreen, even when it is of a extra sinister nature, and Jang has created an extremely thrilling storyline that’ll preserve you on the sting of your seats.
Watch Forgotten on Netflix
5. Oldboy
This traditional will little question seem in each record of suggestions regarding Korean cinema, whatever the theme. It’s, after all, an iconic movie and subsequently can’t be handed up by any movie fan. Park Chan-wook’s most influential work stars Choi Min-sik as a person out for revenge, after he was kidnapped and incarcerated for 15 years in a sealed resort room. Determined to know why he was taken, Choi’s Oh Dae-su embarks on a horrific killing spree to seek out his kidnapper and takes down numerous individuals within the course of, whereas additionally falling in love with sushi chef Mi-do (Kang Hye-jung). The movie has, arguably, probably the most surprising twists in historical past which makes the neo-noir thriller much more horrific than first anticipated.
Watch Oldboy on Amazon
6. Zombie for Sale
Okay, this movie is much less concerning the horror and extra concerning the comedy but it surely’s too good to not suggest. Zombie for Sale is just about what it says on the tin; it is a couple of household within the countryside who come throughout a real-life zombie and once they study his bites give the aged their youth again they resolve to money in and generate income off the locals. Nevertheless, as anticipated, the zombie bites come at a value, and shortly they’ve a veritable apocalypse on their arms. The movie is hilarious, particularly because of its extremely witty script and the lead solid, who take the ridiculous idea and simply run with it. It should have you ever in stitches from begin to end.
Watch Zombie for Sale on Amazon
7. Practice to Busan
This zombie thriller with a pulsating time bomb-ticking really feel sees a practice journey take an sudden, lethal flip. Viewers are thrust into the center of the apocalyptic chaos inside the movie’s first couple of minutes, as passengers discover themselves in a deadly struggle towards the strolling lifeless, in addition to one another. Zombie-slaying gore apart, this transferring movie is finally about people—who we’re and what we turn into within the face of nice tragedy. The movie’s star-studded solid contains Gong Yoo, the famed Korean actor seen most not too long ago in Squid Game, Ma Dong-seok from the Marvel film The Eternals and Parasite actor Choi Woo-shik.
Watch Train to Busan on Amazon
8. The Wailing
This bloody cauldron of homicide, demons and a mysterious an infection is ready in a darkish, sleepy village woke up by a string of killings, after the arrival of a Japanese stranger. A police officer decided to guard his daughter from turning into the subsequent homicide sufferer seeks the assistance of a shady shaman and a ghostly lady who claims to know the reality behind the village deaths. The disturbing story from director Na Hong-jin is underscored by unsettling visuals in addition to eerie but lovely countryside backdrops, with cinematography by Hong Kyung-pyo, the cinematographer behind Parasite and different Bong Joon-ho movies.
Watch The Wailing on Amazon
9. The Host
Jaws meets Jurassic Park in The Host, one in every of Bong’s first massive price range Hollywood blockbuster-style monster films, starring Parasite actor Music Kang-ho and Bae Doona from the Kingdom Netflix K-drama series.
The guts-pounding thriller sees an enormous creature with a cavernous shark-like mouth instantly emerge from Seoul’s Han River and stomp round on land in enormous, dinosaur-like leaps, attacking the whole lot in sight together with a younger lady who will get snatched away and hidden away. The movie sees her household try to search out the creature themselves to save lots of the lady, amid a backdrop of presidency conspiracy that unravels the origins of the mysterious monster.
Watch The Host on Amazon
10. Thirst
This erotic story of forbidden love, seduction and deception from Oldboy and The Handmaiden director Park Chan-wook sees a faithful Catholic priest (performed by Parasite‘s Music Kang-ho) be born once more as a vampire, following a failed vaccine experiment. Suffering from his new existence, the troubled vampire is compelled to face hell on Earth, feeding his insatiable thirst for blood and uncontrollable corporal needs that now kind the core of his nature. Falling for his buddy’s spouse, who leads a depressing life chained to an unwell husband, the priest makes an attempt to redeem the spouse from her personal dwelling hell however as an alternative awakens the monster inside her.
Watch Thirst on Amazon
11. Mom
The engrossing homicide thriller from Parasite director Bong opens with the weird, whimsical really feel of many Wes Anderson films, as a lady walks throughout an enormous wheat discipline earlier than instantly transitioning right into a trance-like dance to mushy acoustic guitar music.
This unassuming sequence varieties the quiet preamble to the horrific truths and chaotic turmoil that unfold following the sudden loss of life of a younger lady that is blamed on the girl’s simpleton son. The haunting story traces the extremes of a mom’s primal love—and the surprising lengths she’s keen to go to—in her obsessive quest to clear her son’s title.
Watch Mother on Amazon
12. #Alive
This engrossing motion drama from director Cho Il-hyung provides zombie thrashing galore with loads of blood-pumping suspense, as two individuals try to survive a zombie armageddon from the confines of their flats. A video gamer locks himself in his own residence because the world descends into chaos, with blood-thirsty zombies chowing down on those that are nonetheless alive in addition to one another following the outbreak of a mysterious illness. Amid his strolling lifeless environment, the gamer manages to make a human connection, discovering a lady within the constructing throughout from his place can also be in hiding. The pair are compelled to face the zombies head-on in an try to make an escape.
Watch #Alive on Netflix
Newsweek might earn a fee from hyperlinks on this web page, however we solely suggest merchandise we again. We take part in numerous internet affiliate marketing packages, which suggests we might receives a commission commissions on editorially chosen merchandise bought by our hyperlinks to retailer websites.
