Korea – Land of the Twisted Imagination
If you didn’t already know, Halloween is not as big a deal in Korea as it is here in the States. However, it is gaining in popularity with pub crawls and zombie runs.
But I’m kind of amazed that Halloween didn’t hit it big in Korea earlier because they have some seriously scary movies. I mean, that’s where the internationally famous psychological thriller Old Boy came from! I wouldn’t call it classic Halloween movie gore but it definitely showcases a twisted imagination. That kind of creativity can really let loose for Halloween, you know what I mean?
So along those lines, I thought I’d share my top choices for Korean scary movies to get into the Halloween spirit!
Top 5 Korean Scary Movies (in my humble opinion)
- Mourning Grave (1h 30m – 2014) – Bullies always get their comeuppances
- A Tale of Two Sisters (1h 49m – 2003) – A dark suspense (literally, it’s so dark it’s hard to make things out sometimes)
- The Silenced (1h 39m – 2015) – Creepy backward bend walking and girl power
- The Wailing (2h 36m – 2016) – Rage virus and the supernatural
- Train to Busan (1h 57m – 2016) – Zombie horror – Can’t go wrong with this one!
Too Many To Choose From
These are in no particular order. And I purposely didn’t include movies that didn’t have some sort of supernatural aspect to it.
Korean film has a ton of great psychological thrillers and mysteries (Oldboy, Snowpiercer, and so very many others). But I wanted to keep the list to the supernatural. That feels more Halloweenie doesn’t it? And any one of these will keep you on the edge of your seat and/or hiding behind a couch cushion.
If you like romantic ghost stories though, check out this post!
Have you seen the above films? Are there any you think I should watch/add? Share in the comments!