4 Korean Horror Movies to Stream Now

In this fierce action-horror flick, serial murderer Jang Kyung-chul (Choi Min-sik) chops up a National Intelligence Service chief’s daughter. Secretly, the grieving man sends NIS officer Kim Soo-hyun (Lee Byung-hun)—the girl’s fiancé—to serve righteous justice to the deserving.

The (obviously) highly motivated Soo-hyun takes a two-week leave of absence to find Kyung-chul, jack him up, let him go, and—thanks to a tracking device—repeat the steps.

While delicious, Soo-hyun’s escalating punishment of Kyung-chul (and the murderer’s own violent deeds) may ruin your appetite for revenge. That’s what director Kim Jee-woon (K-horror classics The Quiet Family and A Tale of Two Sisters) and writer Park Hoon-jung (New World) want you to feel by the film’s end: Conflicted.

The Wailing is a long movie, but you’d never notice. Director Na Hong-jin (The Chaser, The Yellow Sea) doesn’t waste a moment of our time as he blends body/plague horror, demons, zombies, ghosts, multiple faiths, and more in an excitingly fresh, extra-freaky horror-mystery.

Jong-goo (Kwak Do-won) is a cop in the village of Gokseong, where people are falling ill, losing their minds, and committing messy murders. Village gossip points to Gokseong’s newest resident: An anonymous Japanese hermit (Jun Kunimura) with a big, black dog. But is the stranger the culprit? Or is he a victim of the Koreans’ anti-Japanese sentiment? When Jong-goo’s daughter falls ill after encountering the stranger, he must race against time to find out.

Easily the scariest movie on this list, The Wailing takes you through dread, panic, suspense, terror, hopelessness, and abject horror before culminating in a typically unhappy K-horror ending. Watch it when you want to be shook.

Oh, fun. Another zombie movie. We don’t have enough of those. But in a world gone mad, movies about humans eating each other are totally topical—and sometimes we get slappers like Train to Busan.

What’s so special about Yeon Sang-ho’s zombie tale? Train to Busan has the urgency, dread, and gore we want from a zombie movie—and the compelling characters and conflict these films tend to lack.

Seok-woo (Gong Yoo, the slap-happy recruiter from Squid Game) works so much that he frequently disappoints his daughter, Su-an (Kim Su-an). For her birthday, she asks to visit her mother in Busan. The pair boards the train just as the zombie outbreak begins. Things unfold as usual: Zombies attack. People fight back, fight each other, die, and get back up. Repeat until scrappy survivors reach safety and settle into a sad, new, temporary status quo. Roll credits.

Train to Busan works because the zombie apocalypse forces Seok-woo to face his parental shortcomings. Su-an’s birthday wish hurt him. Seeing her in mortal danger—and watching another father defend her better than he can—wrecks Seok-woo. Yoo acts with his eyes, so we read Seok-woo’s changes on his face, even as he fights the encroaching chaos.

Finally, he realizes what he’s neglected for his work and becomes the dad Su-an deserves. And we, the audience, are left to ponder what consumes our time and whether or not it’s worthwhile.

Sea Monster Soup

In a large body of water, mix together:

• Lazy, irresponsible corporate boss
• Weak subordinate
• 200 bottles of formaldehyde that’s just takin’ up space
• One marine animal

Simmer for a decade. Add terrified townspeople and bellflower root to taste.

Now take a seat, ‘cause every recipe comes with a story. Just kidding. The tale’s in the ingredients list—and the soup’s for the sea monster.

Bong Joon-ho (Parasite, Snowpiercer, Okja) mixes Godzilla with Jaws in this creature feature where (once again) an underachieving father must rescue his daughter. Frightening but also funny and poignant, The Host is best for fans of popcorn blockbusters but is also an engaging watch for film buffs interested in the early work of a future Best Picture-winning director.

• A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
• Bedevilled (2010)
• Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018)
• Hansel & Gretel (2007)
• House of the Disappeared (2017)
• The Housemaid (1960)
• Killer Toon (2013)
• Kingdom (2019)*
• The Mimic (2017)
• The Medium (2021)

• Mother (2009)
• Parasite (2019)
• Peninsula (2020)
• The Quiet Family (1998)
• R-Point (2004)
• Red Eye (2005)
• Save the Green Planet! (2003)
• Seoul Station (2016)
• Strangers from Hell (2019)*
• Thirst (2009)

• The Uninvited (2003)
• Three (2002)
• Three . . . Extremes (2004)
• Voices (2007)†
• Whispering Corridors (1998)
• White: Melody of Death (2011)
• The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion (2018)
• The Witch: Part 2. The Other One (2022)