When it comes to thrillers, no one does it better than the South Koreans. From zombie apocalyptical tales to dystopian narratives, to taut melodrama. The films apart from thrills, chills and tense moments come packed with high production values and pitch-perfect performances. Here is our list of the top 5 Korean thrillers
Exhuma
The story opens in Los Angeles when two shamans Hwa Rim( Kim Go Eun ) and her assistant Bong Gil( Lee Do Hyun) have been summoned by Park Ji-yong (Kim Jae-chul), an influential Korean American man to cure his distressed infant.Hwa Rim discovers the baby like all the firstborns of the family, is surrounded by an ominous presence. The source is the family’s elder, Ji Yong’s grandfather who was an influential man who bore allegiance to the Japanese. The only way out is to exhume his grave, which is in Korea. Hwa Rim enlists the help of renowned geomancer Kim Sang Duk( Choi Min Sik) and funeral director Ko (Yoo Hai-jin). However, they discover the grave which is in a secluded spot on the mountain has inauspicious feng shui as well as strange markings and a plain headstone. Kim Sang Duk warns the team with foreboding that unearthing this grave would bring sinister repercussions for all.
A supernatural thriller Exhuma also highlights layers of S Korea’s traumatic historical past.
Train To Busan
This 2016 film has achieved a cult status of sorts in the genre. An innocent train journey turns chaotic as a strange viral outbreak, starts to infect passengers on board and they turn into zombies. A businessman and father played by Gong Yoo, oblivious to the mayhem needs to save his daughter and himself. As the government declares a state of emergency and martial law, can the humans out-challenge the zombies?
Old Boy
This 2003 Korean film is a classic of all time. Oh, Dae-su (Choi Min Sik) is an ordinary businessman with a wife and daughter. One day after a drunken night he finds himself locked up in a strange, private “prison” for 15 years. As he is kept in this strange facility he realises he has been unlawfully framed for his wife’s murder
Once out Oh Dae-Su is determined to discover who his mysterious enemy is. He gets his first clue when a homeless man hands him a cell phone and a wallet full of cash, and he hears someone challenge him to find the real murderer.
Parasite
A film which created history for the S Korean film industry, Parasite was decorated with International awards as well as honours and bagged the Academy Award for Best Film in 2020. Ki-taek ( Song Kang Ho) is the patriarch of the down-and-out Kim family. Neither, his wife who was a former shot put champ, Chung-sook (Jang Hye Jin) and their adult children, Ki-woo (Choi Woo Shik) and Ki-jung (Park So Dam) can land a steady job. They live in a cramped sub-basement. Their lives take a dramatic turn when Ki-woo gets a job as a private tutor in the home of the rich Park family. This is when the Kims start living off the Kims and wreaking bloody havoc. The film a hard-hitting statement on S Korea’s capitalist ecosystem is a must-watch.
Confession
When Min-Ho’s (So Ji Sub) lover is found dead in a hotel. Min-Ho is the prime suspect due to the room being locked from the inside. With no evidence of an intruder, he flees to an isolated cabin to meet with Shin-Ae (Kim Yunjin) a clever lawyer, who has never lost a case. Throughout the night Shin-Ae prompts Min-Ho to recount the events leading to the victim’s death, it seems Min Ho is hiding several secrets. A psychological thriller Confession delved into the human psyche.
