Five Korean Horror Movies to Feel the Chills Even During the Summer

Over the past few years, K-pop and K-dramas have gained a lot of traction, and people everywhere are tuning in to listen to the latest K-pop release or watch the most recent K-drama.

Even here in Italy, where I live, a country that seems so far from South Korea, many recent Korean Netflix productions have been among the most-watched series on the platform.

This speaks volumes of how much things have changed since Bong Joon-Ho won his Oscars for Parasite; Korean entertainment is no more a novelty but is slowly becoming stable.

That said, many people still overlook one of the most productive and exciting fields of artistry in South Korea: cinema.

Korean movies are often something just for the avid consumers of auteurs movies, but this industry has so much to offer, especially when it comes to genre movies.

Korean horror movies, often put second after Japanese Horror movies, notorious all around the globe, are indeed a gem you cannot skip!

With that being said, here is a list of 5 Korean horror Movies for those of you who like horror movies and for those who don’t but want to feel the chills during the summer season:

The first story on the list is divided into two different movies, the first came out in 2018, and the second came out a year ago.

In the first part of the story, we meet Ja-Yoon, an average high-school girl who two elders adopted after running away from a mysterious lab.

She lives an ordinary life, dividing her time between her lovely parents and her best friend, until she meets Nobleman, a strange man around her age who seems to know her from before.

From that moment onwards, everything will change for her and the viewers.

An intriguing Korean horror movie with a sci-fi plot about crazy experiments and secret laboratories that will blow your mind and surprise you at every step!

Furthermore, the movie is improved by incredible performances from the cast, particularly from the protagonist, played by Kim Da-Mi, and from Nobleman, played by Choi Woo-Sik, who later rose to fame worldwide thanks to his role in Parasite.

In The Witch: Part 2. The Other One, despite the curiosity sparked in us by the previous movie ending, we don’t follow the story of Ja-Yoon but that of a girl nicknamed Ark 1 who, similarly to Ja-Yoon, escapes from a secret laboratory leaving behind her a trail of blood and destruction.

While running away, she meets Yong-Doo, a dangerous gangster, and his other abductee, Kyung-Hee, and their stories from that moment get inevitably intertwined, bringing the movie to a continuous escalation of events; how is the story going to end?

We will all find out when Part 3 will be released, hopefully with a gap much shorter than the one between the first two parts!

Here too, as for Part 1, the cast is incredible and brings the movie to an even higher level.

Among the actors is Park Eun-Bin, playing the role of Kyung-Hee, who recently got a lot of attention thanks to her performance in Attorney Woo, Lee Jong-Suk, playing director Jang, one of the people looking for Ark 1, played by Shin Si-Ah, who made her incredible acting debut in the movie.

Two Korean horror movies you MUST WATCH!

A mysterious Japanese man and his dog suddenly appear in Gokseong, a tiny Korean village, causing a strange pandemic to spread among the villagers, and the infected ones start to kill their families.

Officers Jong-Goo and Oh Seong-Bok start to investigate what is happening. Still, they get hints from even more mysterious individuals, like the young lady Moo-Myeong.

All the clues point to the mysterious foreigner, but the story is much more complicated than it seems!

In the cast are some great names like Jun Kunimura, in the role of the mysterious Japanese man; Kwak Do-won as Jong-Goo; Hwang Jung-Min playing the role of a shaman called to save the village from despair; and Chun Woo-Hee, the acclaimed actress who here plays the mysterious Moo-Myeong.

One of the most critically acclaimed Korean horror movies on the list, which, for sure, never fails to amaze!

Probably the most disturbing one among the Korean horror movies on the list, A Tale of Two Sisters, is a 2003 film that never ceased to amaze viewers, despite being a 20-year-old production.

The plot is based on a Korean Folk Tale from the Joseon era, Janghwa Hongryeon Jeon, a story that may resemble a much more gruesome version of Cinderella.

The story begins with Su-Mi’s release from a mental institution, after which she returns home to her younger sister, Su-Yeon, her father, and her, not much-beloved, stepmother Eun-Joo.

The relationship immediately gets strained as Su-Mi discovers bruises on her sister’s body, and amidst this state of warfare between the stepmother and the two sisters, strange apparitions and weird dreams start to haunt the protagonist.

In the roles of the two creepy sisters, the fantastic actresses Im Soo-Jung, Su-Mi, and Moon Geun-Young, Su-Yeon, while playing their father, we find the tremendous actor Kim Kap-Soo and in the role of the evil step-mother the amazing Yum Jung-Ah.

Everything seems clear until it isn’t anymore; that’s how this movie gained so much popularity. Trust me, a must-watch among Korean horror movies!

This one is not exactly considered a horror movie but more of a thriller, but I wanted to add it to my list of Korean horror movies for those who do not particularly enjoy stories with ghosts and prefer to be scared of good old humans.

However, The Call is still based on a rather imaginative plot element: a cordless phone that can connect the past with the future.

In 2019, Kim Seo-Yeon found this old disused telephone in her mother's house and started receiving phone calls from Oh Young-Sook, a woman who lived in the same place in 1999.

Seo-Yeon lost her father in a fire years before this moment, and Young-Sook lives with her adoptive mother, who abuses her.

After exchanging information between the two, Seo-Yeon's life improves for the best. However, Young-Sook's situation remains dire, and she grows resentful of the other's luck.

Soon Seo-Yeon realizes Young-Sook has become a serial killer, and the two's destinies get even more intertwined and complicated.

In the cast, the well-known Park Shin-Hye, in the role of Kim Seo-Yeon, and the incredible Jeon Jong-Seo who, in this movie, had the chance to show off her talent in the part of Oh Young-Sook.

Among the Korean horror movies on the list this one will stop you from ever wishing to have the power to change your life as you want to!

This movie was released in 2018 and immediately got much attention as part of the horror subgenre of found footage movies.

The plot is quite simple; a horror web series crew travels to an abandoned asylum (one that exists) to broadcast their live experience; everything is organized by Ha-Joon, owner of the YouTube channel “Horror Times.”

The group comprises six people, three girls, and three boys, plus Ha-Joon, who monitors the others from an off-camp base.

What initially starts as a simple exploration becomes a nightmare with no escape.

In the cast, some well-known names like Wi Ha-Joon, as Ha-Joon, who recently took part in Little Women, Park Sung-Hoon, in the role of Sung-Hoon, who recently got a lot of attention for his role in The Glory, as well as Park Ji-Hyun, Oh Ah-Yeon, Yoo Je-Yeon and Lee Seung-Wook, who all played parts of the same name, and finally Moon Ye-Won as Charlotte.

Despite the typical setting and the seemingly overused plot, this movie was acclaimed by critics and the public for how it manages to unsettle the viewers.

Truly a must-watch among Korean horror movies!

Probably the most famous movie on the list, and for a reason! If you are interested in Korean horror movies, you must watch Train to Busan, considered by everyone a masterpiece of its genre.

The movie starts when a guilty absent divorcee father decides to grant his daughter the wish to visit her mother in Busan for her birthday.

When the train departs none of the passengers is aware that a ‘sick’ woman has boarded and infected one of the train attendants.

Soon the virus starts spreading and not all passengers survive the journey.

Once they finally leave the train the situation is no better, the world they find outside is not the one they left; what will happen to them? Find out by watching the movie!

In the cast, many great actors like Gong Yoo, who plays Seok-Woo, the guilty father, who is known to most people for his role in Goblin, Choi Woo-Sik, who we already mentioned in The Witch: Part 1, who here plays Min Yong-Guk, and Ahn So-Hee, who here plays the girlfriend of Yong-Guk.

Besides them, many, many other wonderful actors complete the cast of this incredible movie.

If you haven't watched it already what are you waiting for? Add it to your Korean horror movies watch-list!

Horror movies might be considered a genre more fitted to Halloween, but they are also a great way to spend your time during the summer; for sure, the ones on the list gave me the chills. If you have any other Korean horror movies you want to let me know, write them in the comments!