The horror genre is often overflowing with trashy, forgettable movies (there’s nothing wrong with that, we love trashy, forgettable horror movies) but there’s a reason 2004 Cannes Film Festival Jury President Quentin Tarantino fell over himself to heap praise on Oldboy when it won the Grand Prix that year: you will never, ever forget it. Eventually tasting freedom, Dae-su still finds himself trapped in a web of ultraviolence and intrigue that is gently offset by his burgeoning romance with a pretty sushi chef called Mi-do.
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The movie follows Oh Dae-su, who has been imprisoned in a cell that looks a lot like your standard hotel room for well over a decade without knowing who the fuck put him there or why. In that way, it follows in the footsteps of Takashi Miike’s deceptive 1999 flick Audition. But for audiences who have already witnessed its “memorable” ending (replace “memorable” with the word “eurghhhh” as needed) a horror stamp seems pretty damn fitting. Sometimes it’s tough to know where to hit Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy when you’re throwing genre darts at it, as so much of the film plays as a neo-noir action thriller. Whispering Horrors would go on to launch an entire franchise, including 2021’s The Humming, which means if you like this one, there are more Ghost School stories for you to enjoy.
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Set at an all-girls school beset by a series of mysterious deaths, the central mystery is not a particularly surprising one, but that doesn’t really matter, as the story grounds itself in the exploration of grief and pain that comes from real-world bullying and abuse. One of the pioneers of the K-horror genre, this ghost-horror story utilizes some clever, genre-influencing editing and its criticism of the Korean education system to stretch its $600,000 budget so very far.
Whispering Corridors, which came out in the cinematic era following the end of Korea’s military dictatorship in 1987, is one of those movies that is so much better than it probably needed to be. Come for the rat poison, stay for the unexpected fourth wall break that brings the film to a close. The melodrama is horrifying and riveting, giving contemporary viewers some insight into filmmaker’s Kim Ki-young’s perspective on post-war Korea, including the dangers of urban class ascendancy and sexually promiscuous women. Kim (Ju Jeung-ryu), who also works, is pregnant, a housemaid (Ko Seon-ae) enters the home, setting them all on a claustrophobic path to destruction. When Kim’s family decides to hire one of those women to help with the housework while Mrs. The Housemaid tells the story of Kim Dong-sik (Kim Jin-kyu), a piano teacher who gives lessons to young women working at a local factory. The Housemaid (1960)Ĭonsidered one of the best Korean films of all time, it’s difficult to overstate the influence The Housemaid has had on generations of Korean and international filmmakers-this includes Bong Joon-ho, whose Oscar-winning Parasite was inspired by this iconic 1960s black-and-white domestic melodrama. From the monster madness of Bong Joon-ho’s The Host to the unforgettably horrific ending of Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy, here are some of the Korean horror movies you should check out this Halloween season. Korean pop culture has been in the news lately for the success of social horror Squid Game, but the country’s cinema has been effectively creeping us out for decades. Some of the scariest horror films are international. If you keep your spooky season watches within the bounds of America and the U.K., then you’re missing out.