It’s Friday the 13th – Ten Horror films for the hell of it…

Well that’s a fairly self explanatory title – today is Friday the 13th so that’s as good an excuse as I need to list ten Korean horror films with some brief reasoning why they’re worth a look. They’re not even necessarily the best ten Korean horror films you can see, and I’ve also used term ‘horror’ in the loosest sense. So, for absolutely no reason whatsoever other than the fact that sometimes we all need a little horror in our lives, here’s ten horror films that you just might find are worth hunting down…

Bunsinsaba a.k.a Witchboard (Ahn Byung-ki / 2004)
Yu-jin moves to a new school and befriends two girls who are tired of being bullied by schoolmates. They decide to try and place a curse on their tormentors, so they write a list of their names and using a makeshift oujia board they attempt to contact a spirit. They very next day they arrive at school to find that one of the girls – whose name was first on the list – has died in an apparent suicide. Although the police suspect no foul-play, the three friends fear that this is just the beginning of something terrible…

Possibly the most forumlaic horror film on this list but certainly none the worse for it, what BUNSHINSABA loses in complete originality it more than makes up for in its slick and solid pacing and scares. Director Ahn Byung-ki obviously likes his horror films and he usually utilises familiar (tired?) themes and ideas – in that respect there’s nothing different about BUNSHINSABA, it’s just that this is his best attempt at doing so. Sometimes you just want a film that entertains rather than particularly challenges, and it’s here that BUNSHINSABA scores highly.

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The Ring Virus (Kim Dong-bin / 1999)

Following the mysterious death of her niece and three other similarly aged teenagers at the exact same time on the same day,  journalist Sun-ju investigate the deaths as she refuses to believe that they were naturally caused heart attacks. Her investigation leads her to a resort and a mysterious videotape which was watched by the teenagers exactly one week before their deaths as she tries to link the activities of the teenagers together in order to explain the bizarre circumstances in which they have died…

If you’re not sick of the whole ‘RING-thing’ by now – after the numerous remakes, sequels and rip-offs – then you can do worse than to check out this version. Although fairly close to the Japanese movie, THE RING VIRUS also incorporates details from the original novel that just manage to separate it enough from the J-horror original and the American remake. Starring MY WIFE IS A GANGSTER’s Shin Eun-Kyung in the lead role, it’s an interesting adaptation worth seeking out.

Someone Behind You (Oh Ki-hwan / 2007)
High school student Ga-in witnesses the brutal murder of an Aunt while being repeatedly told by a strange school friend to ‘trust no-one, not even yourself’. Her strange dreams and paranioa aren’t exactly helped when the people nearest and dearest to her start trying to take her life…

A slick slasher that doesn’t necessarily make the most sense but which cuts through its running time swiftly and with plenty of bloodiness and twists, SOMEONE BEHIND YOU is a lot of brutal fun. A refreshing throwback to some of the more bloodier horror films of the past rather than the slow, moodier flicks that have flooded the market over the last few years it’s worth a look if you want something to get the heart racing…

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Say Yes (Kim Sung-hong / 2001)
Celebrating a publishing deal and their first wedding anniversary, young couple Jeong-hyun and Yun-hie decide to take a few days away to spend some time together. Their journey is interupted by an incident with a drfiter who asks to them to give him a lift to their destination – at which point the journey takes a dark turn as the couple find that they might not be able to rid themselves of the guy just by dropping him at the side of the road…

Essentially a remake of U.S. flick THE HITCHER but with elements of DUEL and a couple of other big name horror films (unnamed so to avoid spoilers), SAY YES is another formulaic horror flick but one never pulls its punches and with an unhinged performance from Park Joong-hoon it has more than its fair share of intensity, blood and all-round nastiness.

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To Sir, With Love (Im Dae-woong / 2006)
Retired teacher Ms Park is suffering from a debilitating illness. She is cared for by one of her former students who decides that as a gift for her old teacher she will arrange a reunion of some of her now adult students. As the guests arrive it appears to be a fun occasion, however as the evening moves on the students start to reveal that Ms Park may not have been the perfect teacher that she appears to be and their anger threatens to become more than just a minor upset…

A brutal old-school style slasher with touches of Dario Argento and plenty of nastiness – including razor blades – TO SIR, WITH LOVE (also widely known as BLOODY REUNION) is a pretty efficient little film with some very grisly special effects and one of those ‘love it or hate it’ conclusions which is ballsy enough to risk dividing viewers.

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A Tale of Two Sisters (Kim Ji-woon / 2003)
Sisters Su-mi and Su-yeon arrive home after time away for treatment of an illness. The girls have a very close and happy relationship with each other but are united in their dislike of their stepmother, a problem that their father seems content to ignore. Enjoying the comfort of a big old house, the peace and quiet is soon disrupted by some very strange occurrences…

Don’t be fooled by the image of long-haired girls which might make you assume that A TALE OF TWO SISTERS belongs to the average J-horror camp of films. This is a haunting psychological horror film that is as beautiful as it is creepy, one of those films that just demands a rewatch fairly swiftly after it’s initial viewing and which sticks in the memory for a long time after you’ve finished watching it. Highly recommended.

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Thirst (Park Chan-wook / 2009)

Sang-hyun is a priest who volunteers to be involved in trials for a vaccine development project which is being held in an attempt to find a cure for a deadly virus. Sang-hyun nearly dies, but then makes a miraculous recovery, after which he finds his body and senses changing as well as a craving for blood…

Park Chan-wook. Song Kang-ho. Vampires. What’s not to like? With powerful performances – especially from Kim Ok-bin – an intelligent and multi-layered script and the most polished production values that you would expect from one of the most impressive directors in the world, THIRST is quite simply a must see. It’s the film on this list that you must seek out first if you’ve not yet caught it. The part where I mentioned Park Chan-wook, song Kang-ho and vampires is the point you should’ve been sold at…

The Quiet Family (Kim Ji-woon / 1998)
The Kang family have moved from the city to the countryside to start a family business by opening their own lodge. When the very first guest at the house seems to commit suicide, the family panic over what to do. Fearing that the death of their guest will bring bad luck and a bad reputation to their business, they decide to hide the body themselves. Unfortunately for them this is just the first of a series of misfortunes to fall upon them…

A black comedy that has horror elements, THE QUIET FAMILY is the second film from director Kim Ji-woon on this list – the other being A TALE OF TWO SISTERS – but the two couldn’t be more different. THE QUIET FAMILY is a minor classic, mixing laugh out loud moments with a very dark plot, it’s slick and surprisingly involving with great performances from its cast (including Song Kang-ho, Choi Min-sik and Na Mun-hee) who make the most of its beautifully crafted script.

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The Chaser (Na Hong-jin / 2008)
Jung-ho is a pimp with a problem – his girls seem to be running away. Struggling to maintain his ‘business’, he sends one of his remaining girls to see a client. Realising that there’s something not quite right about the situation and that this client may be involved in the disappearance of his girls, Jung-ho tries to use the situation to his advantage, but things don’t go according to plan…

Admittedly others may well class THE CHASER as a thriller rather than a horror film, but this is such an effectively tense and gruesome ride in so many different ways that I’m happy to include this serial killer flick with more than a twist in this list. A good story, a brilliant cast and a bunch of filmmakers willing to live up to both, THE CHASER is one of the freshest grim thrillers in recent years.

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Tell Me Something (Chang Yoon-hyung / 1999)
Detective Cho is on the case of a particularly horrific serial killer – victims are found chopped into pieces which are mixed up with other victims and then left to be found by members of the public. As the limbs are collected they seem to form a pattern which suggests who the next victim will be and Detective Cho finds that he must sort his way through this evidence as well as deal with accusations of wrongdoing from his office, protect a potential victim and plough through a string of unconvincing redherrings to uncover just who the killer is…

It’s a case of atmosphere over gruesomeness in TELL ME SOMETHING (okay, there are a handful of very bloody scenes including a nightmare journey in a lift) in director Chang Yoon-hyung’s serial killer flick. With no hurry to run through the story at a hundred miles per hour TELL ME SOMETHING is a slow burner with a noticeable polish to the cinematography and performances.

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Need some other suggestions? How about:
Whispering Corridors (1998)
The Uninvited (2003)
The Guard Post (2008)
The Wig (2005)
Spider Forest (2004)
Black House (2007)
Chaw (2009)