My Top 10 Korean Horror Movies of All Time

When it comes to horror, the scariest horror stories can be most likely found in Asia rather than in any other parts of the world. Asian horror has especially unique sensation. Asian horror movies usually involve with ghosts. Among those, Korean ghosts, similar to its Japanese counterpart and for most of the time, are female ghosts that look raw with white face, white dress, and long hair.

Korean horror movies industry has exploded in Asian market since the start of 21^st century and most of those movies are inspired by Japanese horror.

Here’s the list of my personal top 10 Korean horror movies:

A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)

It is a psychological horror movie that tells a story of two sisters, Soo Mi and Soo Yeon, being harassed by a step mother. They live in a family of four including their father whose wife is already dead not too long ago. The house later experiences strange and scary things. Watch this movie carefully because every scene, there’s always a hidden meaning. This movie was also remade in 2009 in America called “The Uninvited”

The Red Shoes (2005)

A movie inspired by the fairy tale of the same name by Han Christian Andersen. The plot is about a woman who finds a pair of pink shoes by chance and by not knowing that they are cursed. Later, her daughter always takes those shoes from her to dance with and those shoes keeps haunting everyone who wears them.

The Wig (2005)

Soo Hyeon is a young woman suffering from severe cancer and is waiting to die in the next short period of time. She has no more hair on her scalp due to the effect of the cancer medicine. By seeing that, in order to make Soo Hyeon happy before dying, her older sister, Ji Hyeon, who is a mute, buys her younger sister a wig by not knowing what it is made of. After wearing that wig, Soo Hyeon is unusually very healthy but becomes depressed and weak when the wig is off from her head.

Arang (2006)

A veteran detective Soo Young and her rookie partner Hyeon Gi come across a mysterious homicide case. The case is related to the girl named Min Jeoung who died 10 years ago in a salt house. In fact, Min Jeoung had some relationship with Hyeon Gi.

Phone (2002).

After a reporter publishes an article on sex scandals, Ji Won started being menaced by threatening phone calls. She changes her number but somehow the calls keep coming. She also discovers that anyone who has had her number has mysteriously died.

A Table of Four/The Uninvited (2003)

A man named Jung Won is on a subway and he sees two girls that looks asleep. Later, the news announces that the two girls are found dead in the subway. The girls’ ghosts always appear at the man’s dining table. After that, more unexpected events start to happen. Not to be confused with  American's "The Uninvited" mentioned earlier.

Cello (2005)

Mi Joo’s is a music teacher. She buys her autistic daughter a cello. The daughter takes it to play but strange events keep occurring. It turns out that there is a ghost haunting the teacher from her past events.

Cinderella (2006)

Hyeon Soo’s mother is a renowned plastic surgeon that is always surrounded by girls who want beauty consultations from her. But Hyeon Soo’s happiness comes to an end as her friends who have received facial surgery from her mother starts to commit mysterious suicides by cutting out their faces.

Doll Master (2004)

A sophisticated sculptor, Hemi, and 4 other people are invited to a gallery of dolls. They are excited to pose to be a doll model. Superintendents, Mr. Choi and Jae-won, a doll-maker, are the two hosts who invite them to this gallery.

To Sir with Love/Bloody Reunion (2004)

Some alumni and their teacher meet for the first time in 16 years at a small class reunion in a countryside cottage. But the happy reunion turns into a nightmare as they are brutally murdered, one by one. Old grudges and hidden truths from the past surface in a series of unforgettably gruesome murders.