Loved Boon Jong-ho’s Parasite? Watch 5 more twisted Korean movies that are just as good

The Academy Award-winning movie Parasite has given us all a glimpse into the breathtakingly vivid, rich and complex world of Korean cinema. With director Boon Jong-ho recently winning not one but four Oscar categories, including Best Picture, he has diverted the world’s attention onto Korea’s long-standing love of class tension and revenge stories. Apparently, Parasite isn’t the only film to have visually narrated these subjects in subtle yet nuanced storytelling. Below are five other outstanding Korean movies whose climax points will have your jaws dropping.

1. The Handmaiden (2016)

Directed by Park Chan-wook, The Handmaiden is, in simple terms, an erotic version of Parasite. It tells the tale of poor Sook-hee (played by Korean actress Kim Tae-ri) who bears the front of a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress (Kim Min-hee) but is secretly involved in a dark plan to overthrow her and take over her wealth. The film is loosely based on Sarah Waters’ novel Fingersmith, but instead of being set in Victorian England, the story takes place in a Japanese-ruled Korea.

What’s simultaneously great and disarming about The Handmaiden is the fact that you may think you know what’s going on, but you don’t. The film is woven by macabre meanings that are uncovered by the realisation of one deception after another, right to the very end. But to discuss Park’s storytelling style is to also reveal the very essence of the story. So we’ll leave it to you to get to the bottom of it.

2. The Wailing (2016)

This is one of the most bone-chilling Asian horror movies to have arrived in the previous decade. The Wailing (which is Na Hong-jin’s third film) revolves around a rural village struck by a mysterious illness and a series of vicious murders following the arrival of a stranger (Chun Woo-hee). Suspecting foul play involving black magic, officer Jong-goo (Kwan Do-won) investigates the situation and later relies on the help of a shaman (Hwang Jung-min) after her daughter is affected by the same spell.

Again, in a typically Korean dark twist, not all is not what it seems. The movie’s beautiful sceneries and comic reliefs are genius tools to distract you from the looming sense of dread you’ll feel throughout but try your hardest to suppress. An effective ploy, indeed, since there will be no stopping you from jumping in your seats when you discover the story’s brutal truth in its final scenes.

3. Old Boy (2013)

This movie marks another golden delivery from Park Chan-wook and proves the director’s penchant for super discombobulating plots. In Old Boy, Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) is suddenly free after being imprisoned in a windowless room for 15 years without a clue as to why he was put in there in the first place. But as always, there’s a catch: he must find his captor in five days. Yup, only five days – after 15 years of not knowing what happened to his wife and daughter throughout his unwarranted disappearance.