Korean Horror Movies You Need To See
Korean horror movies tend to live in a league of their own. You'll find some jump scares, sure; you'll find zombies, ghosts, demons and the rest of their ilk. But beneath these common themes that show up in horror films around the globe, Korean productions have a knack for digging deeper into the heart of terror, peeling back layers of the subconscious to deliver violently artful, lingering horror that drives its claws past the skin and into the marrow. With gorgeous cinematography, complex questions about humanity, evil, and existence, and steadily mounting dread, these Korean horror films set the bar high. Here are some of the Korean horror movies you definitely need to see.
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00:00 From Bong Joon-ho's indelible creature feature The Host to the found-footage masterpiece
00:05 Gonjiam Haunted Asylum, here are some quality Korean horror movies you need to see.
00:11 Zombies had their heyday in the 2000s and early 2010s, but eventually oversaturated
00:16 the world of horror to the point where they became more laughable than scary.
00:20 "Oh my god.
00:23 She's so drunk."
00:27 Nonetheless, we here at Slash Film believe the 2016 film Trained to Busan gave zombies
00:34 the kick they needed and made the monsters scary again.
00:38 The movie follows a workaholic father who, despite his best efforts, has a strained relationship
00:43 with his young daughter.
00:44 In an attempt to fix things, he takes her on a trip to Busan.
00:48 But this standard ride quickly turns deadly as an infected person stumbles on board and
00:52 begins spreading the zombie virus throughout the train.
00:56 Cars are turned at an alarming rate, and survivors desperately try to block off cars to protect
01:01 themselves.
01:02 But with such limited space, survival becomes increasingly more difficult as they approach
01:06 Busan.
01:07 The claustrophobia of the train cars make Trained to Busan unique.
01:11 These characters aren't wandering a sprawling city ravaged by the undead.
01:14 Instead, Trained to Busan is a much more focused film that takes the terror of a pandemic and
01:20 focuses it in one place.
01:22 The Wailing is Korea's take on religious horror films focused on Christianity and the battle
01:27 between God and the devil.
01:32 By contrast, the 2016 film is a religious epic about Korean mysticism and ritualistic
01:37 practices that include an elaborate yet futile exorcism.
01:42 In a small rural town, a strange disease is infecting residents, making them go mad and
01:46 commit violent crimes.
01:48 The string of murders are linked to the arrival of a Japanese man who lives on the outskirts
01:52 of town.
01:53 As the body count rises and his daughter becomes infected, a police officer begins digging
01:58 into the truth behind the disease.
02:00 He's desperate for a solution, and his family eventually turns to a shaman for answers.
02:05 But this situation is much more complicated than an exorcism can deal with.
02:09 The Wailing is a story full of ghosts, zombies, and demons that, despite a 156-minute runtime,
02:16 never gets boring.
02:17 It's not only about religious fear, but also about the fear of the outsider.
02:21 Korea was once under Japan's colonial power, and experienced a series of atrocities at
02:26 the hands of the Japanese.
02:27 This, plus actions taken by Japan during World War II, bred animosity between the two countries.
02:33 This deep rift is reflected in The Wailing through the Japanese man's character, as his
02:37 invasion of a small Korean village comes with a historical weight of decades of anger.
02:43 Bong Joon-ho's environmental creature feature, The Host, does what Bong does best - fuse
02:48 great horror with an emotional core and a larger social message.
02:52 An American scientist orders the dumping of formaldehyde into the Han River in Korea, damaging
02:57 the local ecosystem and mutating the wildlife.
02:59 "Oh, oh, oh, there's a goat over there!"
03:03 "But the tail is a little crooked."
03:07 One day, a mutant amphibious creature emerges from the river and wreaks havoc on the riverfront.
03:12 The heart of the story centers on a local merchant and lowlife who runs a snack stand
03:16 with his daughter and father.
03:18 They're separated during the chaos, and his daughter becomes trapped in the sewers with
03:22 the monster.
03:23 Subsequently, the family bands together, despite their dysfunctional dynamic, to save her from
03:28 a terrible fate.
03:29 Bong based The Host on an actual chemical spill from 2000, when the U.S. military disposed
03:34 of formaldehyde by dumping it in the river.
03:36 "If I pour them in the drain, they'll run into the Han River."
03:42 "That's right.
03:44 Let's just dump them in the Han River."
03:46 This event not only damaged the Han River and its wildlife, but also encouraged anti-American
03:51 sentiment in the country.
03:53 Gonjiam Haunted Asylum is easily one of the best and scariest found footage films to be
03:57 released in the last 10 years.
04:00 It follows the creators of a paranormal YouTube channel, who have announced that they and
04:04 a group of six random people are venturing into the abandoned Gonjiam Asylum to try and
04:08 capture a ghost on camera.
04:10 They want to reach one million viewers on their livestream, and they'll do just about
04:14 anything to get it.
04:15 What makes Gonjiam so effective is how it subverts the audience's expectations.
04:20 Yes, as a found footage movie, it's mostly shot from a first-person point of view, but
04:25 the camera is not in the hands of only one person.
04:28 Instead, by giving each character a camera, the film is able to focus on creating more
04:33 horrific set pieces and adding narrative depth.
04:36 Gonjiam effectively mixes sound design, found footage tropes, and real urban legends to
04:41 create a film that is truly scary.
04:43 If you aren't convinced about the effectiveness of found footage as a way to tell horror stories,
04:48 Gonjiam Haunted Asylum may just be the film to change your mind.
04:53 Director Lee Min-jae's feature film debut is an impressive one.
04:56 2019's The Odd Family, Zombie on Sale, has a comedic tone similar to the one in One Cut
05:01 of the Dead, but the film approaches the genre through a very different lens.
05:05 When a pharmaceutical company tests out a new diabetes medication, they unwittingly
05:09 create a zombie virus that is not your typical run-of-the-mill apocalypse starter.
05:14 The movie follows a patriarch who wants to pull his family out of the lower middle class,
05:18 but a spiraling economy keeps him scrounging for scraps.
05:22 His wife is a stern figure, constantly nagging him about finances.
05:26 His two sons and his daughter round out his eccentric, possibly psychopathic clan.
05:31 Early on in the movie, a homeless man in a bathroom gets bitten and turns into a full-fledged
05:35 zombie.
05:36 When the patriarch stumbles across this man soon after and gets a chunk of flesh torn
05:40 from his body, he experiences a much different reaction.
05:44 Instead of turning into a flesh-eater, he transforms into a younger version of himself.
05:49 This sparks a new entrepreneurial idea — convince people to pay to be bitten.
05:54 Zombie on Sale pulses with a tremendous amount of heart while following an unlikely love
05:58 story between the patriarch's daughter and the zombie.
06:01 It's fresh, wild, and an utter delight.
06:04 In the 2019 film Warning!
06:06 Do Not Play, an urban legend circulates about a movie filmed by a ghost.
06:11 At the same time, up-and-coming filmmaker Park Mi-Jung struggles to find inspiration
06:15 for her next project.
06:16 She hears from a good friend that mayhem erupted at the movie's premiere, leading to countless
06:21 deaths, including one by heart attack.
06:23 Problem solved, right?
06:25 However, as she searches for answers, everyone she comes across warns her about the dangers
06:29 of probing any further.
06:31 And yet, Park posts an anonymous message online, asking anyone with information about the movie
06:36 or where it was filmed to reach out to her.
06:38 The film's director responds, but his disheveled appearance and strange behavior only make
06:43 her more curious.
06:44 Incorporating found-footage elements, Warning!
06:47 Do Not Play is made of pure nightmare fuel.
06:49 "Do you know what's more horrible than death?
06:52 That there's a human being, and that it's the scariest horror movie in the world."
06:57 All along the way, the movie messes with your expectations.
07:00 And in the end, you'll come to realize that you experienced a fresh, enthralling take
07:04 on what could have easily been just another ghost story.
07:08 Director Kim Ji-woo delivers a ghost story that's equal parts devastating and terrifying,
07:13 with his 2003 film A Tale of Two Sisters.
07:16 Sumi is a teenage girl who was recently released from a mental institution and has returned
07:21 home to the countryside with her father, younger sister, and stepmother.
07:25 As she tries to settle in an uncomfortable routine with her stepmother, Sumi starts to
07:29 experience strange things happening around their home.
07:32 A ghost girl appears under the sink, Sumi is plagued with nightmares of her dead mother,
07:37 and she suspects her stepmother is abusing her younger sister.
07:40 Make no mistake, A Tale of Two Sisters is not your typical ghost story, and Kim has
07:45 a twist or two up his sleeve.
07:47 It's the quintessential Korean horror film, full of jump scares and tragedy at the same
07:51 time.
07:52 A Tale of Two Sisters doesn't just want to be scary.
07:55 It wants to worm its way into viewers' heads and truly make them feel what Sumi feels.
08:00 A Tale of Two Sisters is more than just a horror movie.
08:03 It's a horror experience.
08:05 Park Chan-wook's 2009 film Thirst is a touching, sexy, and gory vampire tale that provides
08:11 a fresh perspective on the well-worn subgenre.
08:14 The movie follows a priest who is secretly in love with a married woman and is thus doubting
08:18 his faith.
08:19 In an attempt to prove his devotion to God, the priest volunteers to be a test subject
08:23 for a vaccine against a deadly virus.
08:25 But the experiment goes wrong, and he turns into a vampire.
08:28 Quite the nightmare scenario for anyone who signs up for medical studies as a side hustle,
08:32 right?
08:33 The priest tries to avoid his newfound love for human blood, but ultimately cannot resist
08:37 his hunger.
08:38 Song Kang-ho, who wowed the world with his performance in Parasite, absolutely steals
08:42 the show as a vampire full of ennui about his new state of being.
08:46 While he mopes and ponders mortality, the priest is placed in direct contrast with a
08:50 sexual and free married woman who wants to exercise power over those who doubt her.
08:55 It's a domestic drama full of bloodthirsty creatures who are just trying to survive.
08:59 If you're looking for some classic Korean brutality, look no further than Park Chan-wook's
09:04 2003 revenge thriller Oldboy.
09:06 While this movie isn't really a horror movie in any way, it nonetheless contains enough
09:10 horrific sequences to earn a place on this list.
09:13 The movie follows a man who has been imprisoned in the same room for 15 years.
09:17 He has no idea who captured him or why.
09:20 Then, one day, he is spontaneously released, giving him a chance to search for those who
09:24 ruined his life so that he can enact his revenge.
09:27 Oldboy has it all, a live octopus being eaten with disgusting fervor, the iconic hammer
09:32 in a hallway fight, shocking revelations, and a tragic ending that feels like a punch
09:37 in the stomach.
09:38 This is a film full of twists, turns, conspiracies, and lies.
09:42 Just when you think you know where the film is heading, Park subverts your expectations.
09:46 Oldboy is not an easy watch, but if you can stomach it, it's worth it.
09:50 Park is an incredibly talented filmmaker and perfectly captures the nuance and complexity
09:55 of revenge, a theme he also explores in the rest of his Vengeance trilogy, which also
09:59 includes Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Lady Vengeance.
10:03 Importantly, we don't recommend Spike Lee's remake with Josh Brolin.
10:07 In our humble opinion, it waters down what makes Oldboy such a visceral experience and
10:11 misses Park's core message about the destructive power of revenge.
10:15 [music]