13 Korean horror films to watch this Halloween

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13 Korean horror films to watch this Halloween

Published: 18 Oct. 2024, 16:32 Updated: 18 Oct. 2024, 16:34

TREVOR TREHARNE
trevor.treharne@joongang.co.kr

From left: ″The Wailing″ (2016), ″Train to Busan″ (2016), ″The Housemaid″ (1960), “Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum” (2018) and “Memento Mori” (1999). [SCREEN CAPTURE]

With just 13 days until Halloween, now is the perfect time to explore Korea’s deep, dark well of horror films.

From psychological thrillers to supernatural chillers, the Korea JoongAng Daily has assembled a K-horror watchlist to get you through the spooky season.

R-Point (2004)

″R-Point″ (2004) [SCREEN CAPTURE]

K-horror has long been fascinated with malevolent supernatural forces, particularly the vengeful ghost seeking to settle old scores. There is also a significant library of war-horror films, with inspirations dating back to the 1950-53 Korean War.

It was inevitable then that a film like "R-Point" would emerge, blending supernatural elements with the real-life horrors of war. Yet, "R-Point" feels fresh, building on the "Whispering Corridors" series (1998-) which had sparked a flood of vengeful ghost films not just in Korea, but across Asia and globally.

Set in 1972 during the Vietnam War, a Korean base receives a radio transmission from a missing platoon, presumed dead. A lieutenant is then tasked with leading a squad of eight soldiers to extract the missing platoon from Romeo Point, or R-Point, in one week. Dread-filled and exquisitely shot, the horrors of war provide the backdrop as this group of soldiers marches into a supernatural threat.

Memento Mori (1999)

“Memento Mori” (1999) [SCREEN CAPTURE]

When “Whispering Corridors” was released in 1998, it signaled the start of modern K-horror film, providing a supernatural take on Korea’s often brutally demanding education system. While horror sequels often focus on the concept of more — more deaths, more blood, more gore — “Memento Mori” is a sequel that instead offers a more polished incarnation of its predecessor.

High school students Shi-eun (Lee Young-jin) and Hyo-shin (Park Ye-jin) find that their taboo relationship pushes them to the fringes of school life. Fellow student Min-ah (Kim Gyu-ri) becomes invested in the fortunes of this contentious couple when she discovers a diary the two girls have been keeping. The diary offers insights into their relationship but also triggers a darker series of events in the school.

A supernatural psychological horror brought to life by a host of superb performances, “Memento Mori” is a subtle and festering film. It remains restrained for most of the runtime, building toward a final act with a sharper edge than its setup.

A Public Cemetery Under the Moon (1967)

“A Public Cemetery Under the Moon” (1967) [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Also known as “A Public Cemetery of Wol-ha” or simply “Public Cemetery,” this 60s classic explores several K-horror themes that would be repeated in the coming decades, including the 1910-45 Japanese occupation of the Korean Peninsula, a vengeful female ghost and an evil housemaid.

An impressively gore-filled horror outing for a film from this era, it features scenes of attempted violence against babies, eye-gouging, torture and acid attacks.

Set in the 1930s during Japan’s occupation of Korea, businessman Han-soo falls under the spell of a malicious housemaid who plots with a doctor to slowly poison his wife, Wol-hyang, to take over the household as his new wife.

A star-studded horror smash at the time, this film offers a melodramatic view of domestic decay and fidelity, with enough moments of gore to keep modern horror fans satisfied.

Sorum (2001)

“Sorum” (2001) [SCREEN CAPTURE]

More than 75 percent of Koreans live in coresidential buildings. In “Sorum,” the mainstay of Korean life — the apartment block — serves as the chief instigator of the film’s horror elements.

“Sorum,” meaning “goose bumps” in Korean, is aptly titled, as it evokes horror in a purely atmospheric sense. The film immerses us in the lives of the apartment inhabitants, leaving us to feel we are living in close quarters with them and fostering a bond with their spiraling fortunes.

Taxi driver Yong-hyun (Kim Myung-min) moves into an old apartment building on the verge of demolition, only to learn that the previous inhabitant died in a fire there. His life soon intertwines with that of the other residents, resulting in a slow-burn horror mystery that entangles us in the fortunes of several characters teetering on the brink.

Seoul Station (2016)

“Seoul Station” (2016) [SCREEN CAPTURE]

“If I’d had a place to go, I wouldn’t have lived inside Seoul Station,” pleads one of the many homeless characters caught up in the growing zombie apocalypse sweeping across the city. Soon after, an extended scene unfolds within some still-empty luxury apartments — huge and decadent, but not intended for any of the film's characters.

Released just months after “Train to Busan” (2016) gained momentum as an international hit, “Seoul Station” illustrates the origins of the zombie epidemic. More significantly, it explores how a wealthy society treats its homeless population through their interactions around the train station.

The narrative follows Ki-woong (Lee Joon) as he searches for his girlfriend Hye-sun (Shim Eun-kyung) with the help of her father, Suk-gyu (Ryu Seung-ryong), all while the zombie outbreak engulfs the city. The film delivers high-action drama, but amid the ravaging zombies, it is the uninfected who emerge as the true monsters.

Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018)

“Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum” (2018) [SCREEN CAPTURE]

By 2018, the “found footage” horror genre — presenting stories as if they were discovered recordings — had grown stale nearly two decades after surprise U.S. hit “The Blair Witch Project” (1999) paved the way.

“Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum” breathes new life into the concept with a “livestreamed” horror angle, tapping into the social media and streaming obsession of Korea’s youth. It’s a horror film for the YouTube generation.

After two teenagers disappear in the long-abandoned Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital, the owner of the YouTube channel “Horror Times” decides to explore the building with a group of eager volunteers. In a deeply wired society like Korea, where boot camps exist to cure social media addiction, this modern premise drives the film’s narrative, resulting in more scares than streams.

The Devil's Stairway (1964)

″The Devil's Stairway″ (1964) [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Slick shots, superb cinematography and a busy score give this thriller a layer of genuine horror. Despite the film largely flying under the radar at the time and borrowing from similar works, most notably “The Housemaid” (1960), it still carves out its own identity.

The story follows a chief surgeon with ambitions of running the hospital, who sees an opportunity when the director’s daughter shows romantic interest in him. However, he is in a long-term relationship with a nurse and must confront what he is willing to sacrifice to achieve his professional dream.

Perhaps the most chilling aspect of the film is its score — a creepy and dramatic soundtrack cranked up to maximum intensity. As the doctor's actions become darker and his greed escalates, the score serves as an amplified reminder of the horror of his choices. By the end, this psychological thriller-horror delivers an eerie exploration of greed, guilt and lust.

Epitaph (2007)

“Epitaph” (2007) [SCREEN CAPTURE]

“Epitaph” demonstrates that horror films encompass more than just scares and gore — the film is visually stunning yet disturbingly threatening. It is both cerebral and visceral, offering thematic depth and commentary while incorporating emotional elements, too.

Its narrative structure is fragmented, relying on flashbacks, and weaving together three tales: a doctor who falls in love with a deceased woman, a little girl who is the sole survivor of a car accident and two doctors entangled in a series of murders occurring nearby.

With its memorable visuals, “Epitaph” combines hues of white and red throughout, resulting in a gorgeous and intelligent film that delivers opulent horror with true depth.

Suddenly in the Dark (1981)

“Suddenly in the Dark” (1981) [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Cinematic output in Korea during the '70s and '80s was partly stifled by long-running, draconian film censorship. This makes “Suddenly in the Dark,” also known as “Suddenly at Midnight” or “Suddenly in Dark Night,” all the more remarkable as an early '80s film that is both genuinely scary and expertly crafted.

The story follows Kang Yu-jin (Yun Il-bong), a wealthy professor who encounters Mi-ok (Lee Ki-seon), the daughter of a shaman priestess who recently perished in a house fire. Yu-jin appoints Mi-ok as his new housemaid and brings her home to his wife, Seon-hee (Kim Young-ee), who is immediately suspicious of the beautiful young woman who has mysteriously entered their lives. The film cleverly twists the K-horror trope of the malicious housemaid, brilliantly illustrating the paranoia and jealousy of a wife spiraling into madness.

Often psychedelic and hallucinatory, “Suddenly in the Dark” paints themes of obsession and paranoia in vivid colors, enhanced by its visually stunning cinematography.

A Tale of Two Sisters (2001)

″A Tale of Two Sisters″ (2001) [SCREEN CAPTURE]

“A Tale of Two Sisters” is a psychologically driven chill-fest that twists and turns until its final frame. It gradually builds a shuddering atmosphere, but this minimalistic approach pays off as it unpacks the dynamics of grief, fear and tragedy.

In a mental institution, teenager Su-mi (Im Soo-jung) is treated for psychosis before being released to her family's secluded rural estate, where she lives with her father and younger sister, Su-yeon (Moon Geun-young). Upon returning home, they encounter their stepmother, Eun-joo (Yum Jung-ah), who exchanges frosty words with the sisters. Plagued by nightmares, Su-mi discovers bruises on Su-yeon's arms and angrily confronts Eun-joo about the abuse. From this point, the story delves into painful memories and the escalating tension between the sisters and their stepmother.

Train to Busan (2016)

"Train to Busan" (2016) [SCREEN CAPTURE]

For decades, zombies were depicted as slow and cumbersome in horror films from around the world. However, in the global smash hit “Train to Busan,” rapid-hunt zombies terrorize desperate train passengers in an action-horror mashup filled with social commentary.

While the film itself is a wild ride, its deeper value lies in the moral thought experiments it presents. Concepts such as corporate greed, social responsibility, rapid industrialization, responsibilities toward the elderly, and the pressures faced by Korea’s youth are all unpacked amid the chaos of zombies trying to eat them.

Starring Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok, Kim Su-an, Choi Woo-shik, Ahn So-hee and Kim Eui-sung, the passengers board a train to, you may have guessed, Busan. The enclosed, claustrophobic space of the train carriage provides the perfect battleground against the relentless zombies.

The Housemaid (1960)

“The Housemaid” (1960) [SCREEN CAPTURE]

The film that changed a nation’s cinema forever, Kim Ki-young's masterpiece on morality and lust is a filmmaking tour de force steeped in festering threat. Part domestic thriller, part melodrama, it is undeniably horror through its central confrontations and themes.

Composer Dong-sik (Kim Jin-kyu) and his wife, simply referred to as Mrs. Kim (Ju Jeung-ryu), live with their two children. Due to pregnancy, Mrs. Kim becomes exhausted from her work on a sewing machine, prompting Mr. Kim to hire a housemaid, Myung-sook (Lee Eun-shim). From the outset, the new housemaid behaves oddly, catching rats with her bare hands, spying on the composer and attempting to seduce him. Mr. Kim must resist this toxic temptation, while Mrs. Kim witnesses the potential destruction of her family.

Lee Eun-shim’s portrayal of the dangerous housemaid was so convincing that she barely worked again, as filmmakers and audiences struggled to detach her from this performance. A favorite of U.S. master director Martin Scorsese, “The Housemaid,” which received a remake in 2010, marked the beginning of a new era in Korean cinema, influencing films throughout the 1960s and beyond.

The Wailing (2016)

“The Wailing” (2016) [SCREEN CAPTURE]

A black comedy that turns into a child-possession exorcism drama, ending as a “who is the demon?” mystery horror, “The Wailing” is a brilliantly original film at two hours and 36 minutes that is not easily forgotten.

Directed by Na Hong-jin, it tells the story of hapless rural police officer Jong-goo (Kwak Do-won), who is investigating a series of murders in the wake of a mysterious disease that begins to spread among villagers, causing them to erupt in rashes, murderous hysteria, stupor and finally death. Jong-goo directs his investigations toward a Japanese stranger (Jun Kunimura) who recently arrived to live in a secluded house in the forest, and his involvement becomes increasingly personal as his daughter Hyo-jin (Kim Hwan-hee) falls ill with symptoms that match those of the deceased.

The early chortles of the film’s lighter-hearted opening seem a distant memory by the time “The Wailing” is through with you.

BY TREVOR TREHARNE [trevor.treharne@joongang.co.kr]