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South Korean cinema has no short of terrific films that paint a gritty and gruesome reality. Whilst the French has tormented audiences with its New French Extremity films besieged with violence, the contemporary South Korean Extreme Cinema lays bare the ugly truth of its society, a society brimming with brutality and callousness that no amount of glitz and glamour displayed can conceal its looming intensity.
Be it cat-and-mouse games between police detectives and serial killers, or school bullying cases turned sinister, many South Korean films do not pull punches when it comes to tormenting audiences both viscerally and psychologically.
Updated on June 15, 2023 by Daniela Gama:
With so many intriguing South Korean movies and TV shows out there, including the Netflix thriller series The Glory (the second season dropped this year), it can be somewhat difficult for viewers to pick what to watch next. Luckily for everyone — especially for those who love unsettling, terrifying media — there is actually a lot to choose from. From A Tale of Two Sisters to the iconic Oldboy, these are some of the best and most disturbing South Korean films that are guaranteed to linger in the audience’s minds.
12 ‘A Tale of Two Sisters’ (2003)
In A Tale of Two Sisters, two girls reunite when returning to the home of their father and stepmother after spending some time in a mental hospital. However, soon enough, strange events start to take place and take a serious toll on their recovery.
While Jee-Woon Kim‘s haunting Korean horror movie is not a masterpiece, it certainly evokes unsettling feelings with its atmospheric ambiance and creepy (but intriguing) narrative. The worthwhile A Tale of Two Sisters is loosely based on a popular Korean fairy tale, “Janghwa Hongryeon jeon” and explores grief and guilt.
11 ‘Thirst’ (2009)
The perfect pick for those who love vampires and disturbing flicks, Thirst centers around a respected priest (Song Kang-ho), who volunteers for an experimental procedure to cure a deadly virus. Needless to say, the experiment goes terribly wrong, and he is brought to life as a vampire.
Park Chan-wook‘s movie is equal parts funny and erotic as it is violent and heartbreaking. While it may not be everybody’s cup of tea given the fantasy elements it features, the 2009 flick still makes for quite the haunting and absorbing watch.
10 ‘Han Gong-Ju’ (2013)
Lee Su-jin‘s movie is inspired by South Korea’s Miryang gang rape case in 2004, telling the Hang Gong-Ju real story which sparked controversy due to the age of the assailants and victims involved in addition to the police’s mistreatment of the severity of the case.
Shifting between a series of flashbacks and the present, the film centers around new transfer student Han Gong-ju. As Han is barely adapting to her new school environment by joining a school club and befriending classmates, her troubled past is exposed and now threatens her mere existence.
9 ‘Hope’ (2013)
Another utterly devastating film that is based on a real-life event, Hope depicts and explores the suffering that haunts its underaged victim and her family for the rest of their lives.
As shocking and distressing as the outcome of the 2008 Cho Do-soon case was, viewers received a film like Hope that calls attention to the serious subject in hopes of legislative changes to provide finer protection for children. The drama also attempts to accentuate the silver lining which emerges from the dark clouds shrouding the victim by showcasing warm community support and familial bonding.
8 ‘Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum’ (2018)
Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum is one of the lesser-known found footage films that still manages to surprise horror film buffs with plentiful scares despite a cheerful beginning. The horror film’s narrative revolves around a horror web series crew that travels to an abandoned asylum for a live broadcast. Expecting to garner greater views and publicity, the crew gets more than they bargained for as they explore the old building.
The title is derived from a real-life psychiatric hospital known as Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital, purportedly one of the most haunted locations in South Korea. The hospital has been demolished since 2018.
7 ‘The Chaser’ (2008)
One of South Korea’s most renowned actors Ha Jung-woo got his big break with his convincing role as a serial murderer. Call him the Korean “Jack The Ripper” if you want.
Jung-ho is an ex-detective turned pimp becomes financially troubled when two of his girls disappeared without clearing their debts. He decides to put his detective skills to good use by tracking them down and finally pinpointing the primary suspect — a client of Jung-ho’s who happens to be a stone-cold killer with a deadly hammer. The antagonist is partly inspired by South Korea’s real-life serial killer Yoo Young-Chul.
6 ‘Door Lock’ (2018)
A loose adaptation of the Spanish horror thriller film Sleep Tight, Door Lock tells its chilling story which contains stalking and home break-in from the perspective of the victim.
Protagonist Kyung-min lives alone in a one-room apartment until one day, she discovers traces of a stranger trying to break into her room. Realizing that the police are lukewarm about her circumstances, Kyung-min starts investigating on her own. The film is constantly taunting audiences with numerous suspects whilst presenting the genuine horrors of living alone unarmed.
5 ‘Silenced’ (2011)
Based on the novel “The Crucible” by Gong Ji-young, Silenced is a revolutionary film not solely due to its mastery of storytelling and spine-chilling imagery. The film was responsible for the reopening of investigations related to events that took place in Gwangju Inhwa School for the Deaf in the early 2000s.
Silenced unravels the horrifying treatments young deaf students have received over a period of five years, where they are subjected to repeated sexual assaults by faculty members due to their disadvantaged status and background. In 2011, the Korean National Assembly passed the “Dogani Law”, where the statute of limitations for sexual assault against minors is abolished.
4 ‘Memories of Murder’ (2003)
Before the release of the groundbreaking film Parasite, Bong Joon-ho‘s comparatively underappreciated masterpiece Memories of Murder follows three police detectives as they faced numerous barriers and disappointments solving a serial murder case targeting young women.
Inspired by South Korea’s first serial murder cases that took place in the 80s and 90s, the dark mystery thriller skillfully balances satirical police procedural and nihilist social commentaries. As evident in its iconic ending, the film subtly insinuates that like any unsolved crime, the culprit can be lurking amongst the crowd.
3 ‘Sympathy for Lady Vengeance’ (2005)
Ending this list and Park Chan-wook’s Vengeance Trilogy on a perfect note, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance takes the perspective of a woman named Lee Geum-ja. Falsely convicted of kidnapping and murdering a 6-year-old boy, Lee is sentenced to imprisonment and even became a national sensation for her angelic exterior and inhumane crime.
Released from prison, Lee vows to retaliate against those who had wronged her, specifically school teacher Mr. Baek who played a significant part in her falsely-accused misdemeanors.
Watch on The Criterion Channel
2 ‘I Saw The Devil’ (2010)
Starring Oldboy star Choi Min-sik, albeit this time not as the audience’s favorite antihero, but as a detestable psychopathic serial killer/rapist Jang Kyung-chul in Kim Jee-woon‘s I Saw The Devil.
After the devastating death of his fiancée in the hands of Jang, National Intelligence Service (NIS) agent Kim Soo-hyun decides to take matters into his own hands by playing cat-and-mouse with the serial killer, unexpectedly interrupting Jang’s many “personal interests”. Unbeknownst to Kim, Jang is not a simple-minded monster and has a few tricks up his sleeves as well.
1 ‘Oldboy’ (2003)
Part of Park Chan-wook’s Vengeance Trilogy, Oldboy both intrigued and terrified movie-goers when it was first released in 2003. The psychological thriller follows Oh Dae-su, an ordinary businessman who gets kidnapped and held captive in a seedy hotel room for 15 years. After he was released, he sets on a journey to find the ones responsible for his abduction, unknowingly entangles in a web of conspiracy and ill-fated romance.
Teeming with plot twists and brisk sadism, Oldboy has deservingly cemented its unyielding status as one of the great South Korean films with its unapologetic portrayal of humanity when desperate.
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