From creepy folklore to gory boat-rides, K-horror cinema had a few stellar highlights in 2022. But what lies ahead for Korean genre cinema and the Korean movie industry itself? We discuss all this with K-drama and film critic Pierce Conran. 

Guest: Pierce Conran, Drama Critic for South China Morning Post

Fear Has a New Face: Five Korean Horror Movies to Watch in 2022

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Produced by Joe McPherson, Shawn Morrissey, and Mia Roncati

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MOVIES

  • Urban Myth – Hong Won-ki
    • A horror anthology of 10 short stories featuring real k-pop and k-movie stars
    • Modern representation of classic ghost stories (lady in red, tooth worms, necromancy) 
    • Mainly focuses on culture of Korea and just abject terror 
  • The Witch: Part 2 (aka The Other One)- Park Hoo-jung
    • Action, sci-fi horror- a gifted girl escapes and hides from a research facility 
    • Fourth highest grossing korean film of 2022
  • Seire- Park Kang
    • Based on the 21 day superstition that a newborn shouldn’t go outside except the death of an ex-girlfriend causes bizarre events
    • Debuted at Busan International Film Festival in 2021
    • It seems to take a cliche horror genre and subverts through the breaking of cultural taboos and the blurring of real and unreal
  • Umma-  Iris K. Shim (American Production
    • A mix of Korean and English
    • Wanting to live away from electronics, a korean immigrant and her daughter, yet their life is turned around when the woman receives the ashes of her mother
    • Following the trend of intergenerational trauma turned to horror?
  • Carter- Jung Byung-gil
    • A seemingly new mix of horror and action
    • A zombie movie with crazy stunts and athletic prowess by the main actor, extremely violent
  • New Normal- Jung  Bum- shik 
    • A record 4 days in Seoul, 2022 of chaos that has never been recorded in mankind before
    • It shows the “every day fears” and anxieties of both gen-z and millennials hidden in common spaces
    • Might be more of  a “black comedy” than “true” horror
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