Korean horror movies you must watch on Halloween

Korean horror movies you must watch on Halloween. If you do not know yet, the best horror movies are not from the West. Japanese and Korean horror take the lead and produce the most brutal, terrifying, disturbing, and awkward moments that every horror movie lover should watch. With a mix of urban legends, famous monsters, human psychology, raging spirits, and lots and lots of blood, South Korea has become one of the most important countries for horror films, with dozens of story-breaking movies featuring all the rest imitating their steps. Because of that, there are several Korean horror movies you must watch on Halloween! Today we present some of those movies for you to enjoy Korean cinema even on Halloween. Are you ready? Stay with us!

8 Korean horror movies every horror lover must watch

Train to Busan

Train to Busan has action, drama, social commentary, and bloodthirsty monsters. It is a different story in a highly exploited genre.

It is not only about the virus that destroys humanity.

The characters have an interesting arc, and the story also focuses on the problems that consume the protagonists. Not for nothing did it become the eighth highest-grossing film in the country.

For that reason, it is part of the Korean horror movies you must watch on Halloween.

Gonjiam

The film is an intense and hair-raising found-footage story.

It follows the team of a horror web series as they travel to an abandoned asylum for a live broadcast.

Things are not what they expect, and they get creepy very quickly, testing their survival instincts and ability to resist fear.

We certainly don’t think you want to miss out on this great movie that is one of the Korean horror movies you must watch on Halloween!

A Tale of Two Sisters

Do you know that A Tale of Two Sisters is one of the best Korean horror movies? It contrasts calm and dreamlike landscapes with psychological horror.

The film follows two sisters. They return home after spending time in a mental institution.

Returning home, they stumble upon a cruel stepmother, vengeful ghosts, and a dark family secret that could destroy them all.

The movie even had a remake called The Uninvited, but the original version is the best.

Thirst

Director Chan Wook Park presents a shocking thriller for vampire fans.

This Korean horror movie is considered one of the sexiest horror movies of all time. The film follows a priest who is resurrected as a vampire!

The film won the jury award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Also, it entered the list of “best horror films” during the 2010 Scream Award nominations.

Thirst is a dark story with a little bit of romance, a lot of blood, and brutal scenes.

The Silenced

This movie isn’t one of the most popular outside of Korea, but it should be.

The story begins when a new student arrives at a boarding school, and several of her classmates disappear.

She wants to reveal the mystery behind the disappearances, but what she discovers puts her own life in danger.

The Silenced takes place in 1938 during the Japanese occupation and has incredible photography. Many describe it as “a silent and mysterious film, with all kinds of horrible twists imaginable from its Japanese colonial period.”

The Wailing, 2016

It is one of the best Korean horror movies. Ridley Scott has even wanted to do a remake for years.

The Wailing is atmospheric and cleverly constructs the mystery.

The story follows residents of a South Korean mountain town who are stricken with a deadly and mysterious disease, so local police recruit a shaman to get to the bottom of the case.

Sounds interesting, right? Therefore, it should not be missing from this list of Korean horror movies you must watch on Halloween.

#Alive

The latest Korean zombie movie hit Netflix last year and was one of the most-watched on the platform.

Alive is the classic zombie story.

But it has an interesting twist that makes it especially relevant in 2020.

The film explores the effects of isolation and what we are willing to do to connect with other people, especially when the situation forces us to stay home to avoid something worse than confinement (aka zombie food).

I Saw the Devil

This movie has one of the most brutal scenes in movie history.

The film follows a secret service agent whose fiancee is brutally murdered and dismembered by a serial killer, leading him to hunt down for revenge with relentless torture. 

4 Korean horror movies inspired by children’s stories

Remember that the initial goal of the “fairy tales” was to become a terrible warning of what would happen to children if they disobeyed, and at the same time, a lesson in what awaited them in the outside world. South Korea tried to return to the original objective of these stories for children, projecting itself to an adult audience. Do you want to know Korean horror movies inspired by children’s tales? Without a doubt, they are also part of the Korean horror movies you must watch on Halloween!

The Pied Piper of Hamelin

This tale is about a village awash in rats desperately asks a charming piper to remove all the rats from the village for the havoc they cause in exchange for a large sum of money. The piper keeps the deal, the villagers don’t, and he takes the children with his magic flute in revenge. Villagers locate the piper and rescue the children. This movie does not agree with a happy ending. 

Maybe you side with our flute player, Woo Ryong, who is a concerned father for his son, Young Nam, who is ill with tuberculosis. They both want to get to Seoul to heal Young. However, the villagers deceive the father, accusing him of being a communist who came to harm them. They turn their backs on him. Our piper returns with the horde of rats, only these rats have a small detail that terrifies the village: they do not devour wood, they devour humans, and now they obey the piper thirsty for revenge.

Hansel and Gretel

This movie takes inspiration from the beautiful tale of Hansel and Gretel.

It is about two siblings who avoid being eaten by a malicious witch who wanted to cook them in her gingerbread and candy hut.

But wait, now let’s talk about the Korean movie. The people lost here are not two small children, but an adult couple who has an accident and takes refuge in the cabin of a couple with beautiful children.

What can go wrong? Well, our little children don’t want sweets. They want to devour travelers.

Red shoes 

Andersen’s original tale mentions an enchanted girl with red shoes, that when she put them on, she couldn’t stop dancing.

They were a curse, but they were beautiful. In the end, since the shoes wouldn’t stop dancing and the girl wouldn’t stop bleeding, they had to cut off her feet.

In the movie, these shoes are not red. They are pink. But they fulfill the curse of the story.

Whoever wears them with vanity will be cursed, and a mother and her daughters will not be exempt from Korean horror movies you must watch on Halloween.

Cinderella

Cinderella in this Korean movie is not looking for a beautiful dress and marrying a prince.

The protagonist of this movie wants to be the most beautiful no matter how many surgeries she has to undergo.

The niece of a plastic surgeon discovers that her friends and her aunt operated on are dying in terrible ways and with disfigured faces.

They all wanted to be beautiful and will pay the price for it.

Why are Korean horror movies so good?

While Korean horror films have been applauded and praised by critics for the past two decades, audiences seem to have started searching in droves for the South Korean country’s films following the success of Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite.

Although fans of terror have had South Korea on their radar for quite some time, many viewers are only now experiencing the nuanced complexity with which the country handles its terror’s elements. A recent example is the Korean series Squid Game, which has also gained much popularity because it is part of the Korean way of dealing with horror themes.

Korean horror movies have received recognition because they provide not only a different narrative than popular American releases. They also employ strategies that feel better in comparison. The horror genre has flourished in many countries and cultures. All of them offer their view of fear. Also, they target the threats in their individual social, political, and economic climate to create a complete and easily identifiable panic.

Is Oldboy a horror film?

Oldboy, the most praised film by Korean director Chan-Wook Park, is an adaptation of the eponymous manga by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi.

This movie focuses on the quest for revenge of a man who spends 15 years alone. He gets locked up against his will in a hotel room without human contact and with a television.

At the same time, he tries to clarify the real reasons for his abduction on a trip that will inevitably lead him to reconnect with his past.

In addition, it is a film that has touches of Kafka and echoes of British paranoia thrillers like The Ipcress File and The Prisoner. But it opens up a sick new frontier of exotic horror. Although it is not a horror film, it is full of scenes that will leave you shocked thanks to the mystery and suspense.

As you can see so far, Korean productions are more than K-dramas. The truth is that Korean cinema has a lot to offer. So much so that the Korean horror movies you must watch on Halloween are already on many people’s lists of movies to watch. Will you also enjoy one of these movies on Halloween? Tell us what you think! See you soon on the next Korean fashion trends blog!