Korean Cinema Watchlist
by aaroncathers-98299 | created - 03 Jul 2020 | updated - 2 months ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Oldboy (2003)
R | 120 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
After being kidnapped and imprisoned for fifteen years, Oh Dae-Su is released, only to find that he must track down his captor in five days.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jeong, Kim Byeong-Ok
Votes: 635,724 | Gross: $0.71M
2. Mother (2009)
R | 129 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A mother desperately searches for the killer who framed her son for a girl's horrific murder.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Kim Hye-ja, Won Bin, Jin Goo, Yun Je-mun
Votes: 71,637 | Gross: $0.55M
3. Lady Vengeance (2005)
R | 115 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After being wrongfully imprisoned for thirteen years and having her child taken away from her, a woman seeks revenge through increasingly brutal means.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Nam-mi Kang, Jeong-nam Choi, Hye-Sook Go, Bok-hwa Baek
Votes: 86,099 | Gross: $0.21M
4. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
R | 129 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A recently laid off factory worker kidnaps his former boss' friend's daughter, hoping to use the ransom money to pay for his sister's kidney transplant.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Shin Ha-kyun, Bae Doona, Lim Ji-eun
Votes: 75,132 | Gross: $0.05M
5. The Wailing (2016)
TV-MA | 156 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Soon after a stranger arrives in a little village, a mysterious sickness starts spreading. A policeman, drawn into the incident, is forced to solve the mystery in order to save his daughter.
Director: Na Hong-jin | Stars: Jun Kunimura, Hwang Jung-min, Kwak Do-won, Chun Woo-hee
Votes: 81,947
6. The Handmaiden (2016)
Not Rated | 145 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
A woman is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, but secretly she is involved in a plot to defraud her.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Kim Min-hee, Ha Jung-woo, Cho Jin-woong, Moon So-ri
Votes: 172,668 | Gross: $2.01M
7. Burning (2018)
Not Rated | 148 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Jong-su bumps into a girl who used to live in the same neighborhood, who asks him to look after her cat while she's on a trip to Africa. When back, she introduces Ben, a mysterious guy she met there, who confesses his secret hobby.
Director: Lee Chang-dong | Stars: Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yeun, Jeon Jong-seo, Kim Soo-Kyung
Votes: 76,318 | Gross: $0.72M
8. Peppermint Candy (1999)
Not Rated | 129 min | Drama
Following a man's suicide, time traverses back to reveal six chapters of his life on why he committed suicide.
Director: Lee Chang-dong | Stars: Sol Kyung-gu, Kim Yeo-jin, Moon So-ri, Se-beom Park
Votes: 10,822
9. Oasis (2002)
133 min | Drama, Romance
An irresponsible and childish ex-con befriends a girl with cerebral palsy and develops a progressively stronger bond with her.
Director: Lee Chang-dong | Stars: Sol Kyung-gu, Moon So-ri, Ahn Nae-sang, Ryu Seung-wan
Votes: 10,396
10. Secret Sunshine (2007)
Not Rated | 142 min | Drama
A woman moves to the town where her dead husband was born. As she tries to fit in, another tragic event overturns her life.
Director: Lee Chang-dong | Stars: Jeon Do-yeon, Song Kang-ho, Lee Dong-yong, Lee Hee-joon
Votes: 9,569
11. I Saw the Devil (2010)
Not Rated | 144 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A secret agent exacts revenge on a serial killer through a series of captures and releases.
Director: Jee-woon Kim | Stars: Lee Byung-hun, Choi Min-sik, Jeon Gook-hwan, Chun Ho-jin
Votes: 146,182 | Gross: $0.13M
12. Parasite (2019)
R | 132 min | Drama, Thriller
Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly-formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-sik
Votes: 959,139 | Gross: $53.37M
13. Memories of Murder (2003)
Not Rated | 132 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In a small Korean province in 1986, two detectives struggle with the case of multiple young women being found raped and murdered by an unknown culprit.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Kim Sang-kyung, Kim Roe-ha, Song Jae-ho
Votes: 216,296 | Gross: $0.01M
14. Time to Hunt (2020)
TV-MA | 134 min | Action, Crime, Drama
In the near future, a financial crisis will hit Korea and slums arise. From those areas, a group of young people commit crime to survive.
Director: Yoon Sunghyun | Stars: Lee Jehoon, Ahn Jae-hong, Choi Woo-sik, Park Jeong-min
Votes: 6,862
15. Train to Busan (2016)
Not Rated | 118 min | Action, Horror, Thriller
While a zombie virus breaks out in South Korea, passengers struggle to survive on the train from Seoul to Busan.
Director: Yeon Sang-ho | Stars: Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok, Kim Su-an
Votes: 258,634 | Gross: $2.13M
16. The Host (2006)
R | 120 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A monster emerges from Seoul's Han River and begins attacking people. One victim's loving family does what it can to rescue her from its clutches.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Byun Hee-Bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Doona
Votes: 132,706 | Gross: $2.20M
17. I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006)
Not Rated | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A girl who thinks she is a combat cyborg checks into a mental hospital, where she encounters other psychotics. Eventually, she falls for a man who thinks he can steal people's souls.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Lim Soo-jung, Rain, Park Byeong-eun, Kim Byeong-Ok
Votes: 25,895
18. Joint Security Area (2000)
Not Rated | 110 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
After a shooting incident at the North-South Korean border DMZ leaves two North Korean soldiers dead, a neutral Swiss and Swedish team investigates what actually happened.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Lee Yeong-ae, Lee Byung-hun, Song Kang-ho, Kim Tae-woo
Votes: 34,200
19. Thirst (2009)
R | 134 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Through a failed medical experiment, a priest is stricken with vampirism and is forced to abandon his ascetic ways.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Kim Ok-bin, Choi Hee-jin, Seo Dong-soo
Votes: 51,403 | Gross: $0.30M
20. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
R | 114 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
After being institutionalized in a mental hospital, Su-mi reunites with her sister, Su-yeon, and they return to live at their country home. But strange events plague the house, leading to surprising revelations and a shocking conclusion.
Director: Jee-woon Kim | Stars: Lim Soo-jung, Yum Jung-ah, Kim Kap-su, Moon Geun-young
Votes: 68,262
21. The Housemaid (1960)
Not Rated | 109 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A composer and his wife are thrown into turmoil when a housemaid becomes more than they bargained for.
Director: Kim Ki-young | Stars: Jin Kyu Kim, Jeung-nyeo Ju, Eun-shim Lee, Aeng-ran Eom
Votes: 5,695
22. My Sassy Girl (2001)
Not Rated | 137 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A young man sees a drunk, cute woman standing too close to the tracks at a metro station in Seoul and pulls her back. She ends up getting him into trouble repeatedly after that, starting on the train.
Director: Jae-young Kwak | Stars: Cha Tae-hyun, Jun Ji-hyun, In-mun Kim, Song Wok-suk
Votes: 50,487
23. The Villainess (2017)
Not Rated | 124 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A female assassin leaves a trail of bodies behind her as she seeks revenge.
Director: Jung Byung-gil | Stars: Kim Ok-bin, Shin Ha-kyun, Sung Jun, Kim Seo-hyeong
Votes: 16,795 | Gross: $0.03M
24. Green Fish (1997)
111 min | Drama
Returning home and finding his town drastically changed, a former soldier falls in with gangsters.
Director: Lee Chang-dong | Stars: Han Suk-kyu, Shim Hye-jin, Moon Sung-Keun, Yu-Kyeong Cha
Votes: 2,094
25. The Chaser (2008)
Not Rated | 125 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A disgraced ex-policeman who runs a small ring of prostitutes finds himself in a race against time when one of his women goes missing.
Director: Na Hong-jin | Stars: Kim Yoon-seok, Ha Jung-woo, Seo Yeong-hie, Kim Yoo-jung
Votes: 72,763
26. The Man from Nowhere (2010)
R | 119 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A quiet pawnshop keeper with a violent past takes on a drug-and-organ trafficking ring in hope of saving the child who is his only friend.
Director: Lee Jeong-beom | Stars: Won Bin, Kim Sae-ron, Kim Tae-hoon, Kim Hee-won
Votes: 74,841 | Gross: $0.01M
27. Masquerade (2012)
Not Rated | 131 min | Drama, History
A look-alike commoner is secretly hired to take the place of a poisoned king to save his country from falling into chaos.
Director: Chang-min Choo | Stars: Lee Byung-hun, Ryu Seung-ryong, Han Hyo-joo, Kim In-kwon
Votes: 7,441 | Gross: $0.92M
28. The Drug King (2018)
Not Rated | 139 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Set in Busan, South Korea during the 1970s, Lee Doo-sam builds an empire as a drug smuggler in the Busan underworld, while public prosecutor Kim In-goo attempts to take down Lee Doo-sam.
Director: Min-ho Woo | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Jo Jung-Suk, Bae Doona, Jeon Ah-hee
Votes: 3,781
29. The Truth Beneath (2016)
PG-13 | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
THE TRUTH BENEATH follows a mysterious 15-day scandal of a politician and his wife as their daughter goes missing just before the national elections.
Director: Lee Kyoung-mi | Stars: Son Ye-jin, Kim Ju-hyuk, Han Cheol-woo, Kang Deok-Joong
Votes: 1,669
30. The Beauty Inside (2015)
Not Rated | 127 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A South Korean has a different person's body, changing every morning to a body "borrowed" for a day - man, woman, old, child and sometimes a foreigner. "He" works as furniture designer. He loves a girl. She loves him for the beauty inside.
Director: Jong-Yeol Baek | Stars: Han Hyo-joo, Park Seo-joon, Juri Ueno, Lee Jin-wook
Votes: 7,922 | Gross: $0.11M
31. It's Okay to Not Be Okay (2020)
TV-MA | 80 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
An extraordinary road to emotional healing opens up for an selfish antisocial children's-book writer and a selfless psych-ward caretaker when they cross paths.
Stars: Kim Soo-hyun, Seo Ye-Ji, Oh Jung-se, Park Gyuyoung
Votes: 34,262
32. Kingdom (2019–2020)
TV-MA | 45 min | Action, Drama, Horror
While strange rumors about their ill King grip a kingdom, the crown prince becomes their only hope against a mysterious plague overtaking the land.
Stars: Ju Ji-hoon, Bae Doona, Kim Sungkyu, Kim Hye-jun
Votes: 54,464
33. A Taxi Driver (2017)
Not Rated | 137 min | Action, Drama, History
A widowed father and taxi driver who drives a German reporter from Seoul to Gwangju to cover the 1980 uprising, soon finds himself regretting his decision after being caught in the violence around him.
Director: Hun Jang | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Thomas Kretschmann, Yoo Hae-jin, Ryu Jun-Yeol
Votes: 31,205 | Gross: $1.53M
34. Pieta (2012)
Not Rated | 103 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A loan shark is forced to reconsider his violent lifestyle after the arrival of a mysterious woman claiming to be his long-lost mother.
Director: Kim Ki-duk | Stars: Jo Min-soo, Lee Jung-Jin, Woo Ki-hong, Eunjin Kang
Votes: 15,767 | Gross: $0.02M
35. Sweet Home (2020– )
TV-MA | 52 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Hyun, a loner high school student who lost his entire family in a terrible accident, is forced to leave his home and has to face a new reality where monsters are trying to wipe out all of humanity. Now he must fight against all odds to try and race against the clock to save what is left of the human race before it's too late.
Stars: Song Kang, Lee Jin-wook, Lee Si-young, Park Gyuyoung
Votes: 32,013
36. The Quiet Family (1998)
101 min | Comedy, Crime, Horror
A family opens a mountain inn where their first guest commits suicide. Suddenly all their guests befall horrible fates.
Director: Jee-woon Kim | Stars: Park In-hwan, Na Moon-hee, Song Kang-ho, Choi Min-sik
Votes: 5,998
37. Failan (2001)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama, Romance
A marriage of convenience between a petty gangster and an illegal immigrant he has never met has unforeseen consequences for them both.
Director: Hae-sung Song | Stars: Choi Min-sik, Cecilia Cheung, Son Byung-ho, Kong Hyeong-jin
Votes: 6,219
38. The Call (2020)
TV-MA | 112 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
Two people live in different times. Seo-Yeon lives in the present and Young-Sook lives in the past. One phone call connects the two, and their lives are changed irrevocably.
Director: Chung-Hyun Lee | Stars: Park Shin-hye, Jeon Jong-seo, Kim Sung-ryung, Lee El
Votes: 43,570
39. Han Gong-ju (2013)
R | 112 min | Drama
Han Gong-Ju transfers to a new school to escape her past. It takes a long time for her troubled past to catch up with her but when it does, the revelation is devastating.
Director: Su-jin Lee | Stars: Chun Woo-hee, Jung In-sun, So-young Kim, Yeong-ran Lee
Votes: 2,723
40. The Road to the Racetrack (1991)
138 min | Drama
R returns from studying in France and reunites with J, whom he used to live with in Paris. For some reason, however, J refuses to have sex with R. Angered by her refusal, R travels to his hometown of Daegu.
Director: Jang Sun-woo | Stars: Kim Bo-yeon, Jong-mi Im, Il-jong Kwon, In-ok Lee
Votes: 154
41. Squid Game (2021– )
TV-MA | 60 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
Hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children's games. Inside, a tempting prize awaits with deadly high stakes: a survival game that has a whopping 45.6 billion-won prize at stake.
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Dylan Besseau, Yasushi Iwaki
Votes: 541,987
42. Silenced (2011)
Not Rated | 125 min | Drama
Based on real events, this film depicts the story of a school for the hearing-impaired where young deaf students were sexually assaulted by the faculty members over a long period of time.
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk | Stars: Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Kim Hyeon-soo, Kim Jee-young
Votes: 21,659
43. D.P. (2021– )
TV-MA | 50 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A young private's assignment to capture army deserters reveals the painful reality endured by each enlistee during his compulsory call of duty.
Stars: Kim Seong-gyoon, Son Suk-ku, Koo Kyo-hwan, Jung Hae-in
Votes: 9,158
44. Return to Seoul (2022)
R | 119 min | Drama
A twenty-five-year-old French woman returns to Korea, the country she was born in before being adopted by a French couple, for the very first time. She decides to track down her biological parents, but her journey takes a surprising turn.
Director: Davy Chou | Stars: Park Ji-min, Oh Gwang-Rok, Guka Han, Kim Sun-young
Votes: 8,373
45. Ballerina (III) (2023)
TV-MA | 92 min | Action, Thriller
Grieving the loss of a best friend she couldn't protect, an ex-bodyguard sets out to fulfill her dear friend's last wish: sweet revenge.
Director: Chung-Hyun Lee | Stars: Jeon Jong-seo, Kim Ji-hoon, Park Yu-rim, Shin Se-hwi
Votes: 12,091
46. Past Lives (2023)
PG-13 | 105 min | Drama, Romance
Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrested apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. Twenty years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny.
Director: Celine Song | Stars: Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro, Moon Seung-ah
Votes: 114,542
47. Save the Green Planet! (2003)
Not Rated | 118 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Byeong-gu believes that the world is on the verge of an alien invasion, and sets out to save the world.
Director: Joon-Hwan Jang | Stars: Shin Ha-kyun, Baek Yun-shik, Hwang Jung-min, Lee Jae-yong
Votes: 8,703 | Gross: $0.01M
Tell Your Friends