Korean Movie Recommendations

January 31, 2011 2:20 PM

Recently, I saw "I Saw the Devil" and "The Man From Nowhere" and I loved both. What are some similar Korean movies with the same level of intensity?
posted by fizzzzzzzzzzzy to media & arts (8 answers total)

I haven't seen either of those two movies yet, but I found The Chaser to be pretty intense and it seems to be in the same vein (at least by plot summaries of the first two).
posted by sharkfu at 2:26 PM on January 31, 2011

Korean + intense = Oldboy. Warning: this is bordering the realm of "Fucks you up and you can't unsee it," but it's really REALLY good too.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 2:52 PM on January 31, 2011 [5 favorites]

I haven't see those movies, but The Host is terrific if you like horror with a bit of humor.
posted by chairface at 3:01 PM on January 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

The Tale of Two Sisters, from the director of I Saw the Devil, is one of the most famous Korean horror flicks, and it's damn good. I don't remember it being exceptionally brutal, but certainly intense.
posted by eugenen at 3:06 PM on January 31, 2011

Oldboy, and everything Chan-Wook Park did afterwards (except I'm a Cyborg... which is good but a little slower). His bit in Three Extremes is mindaltering. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance and Thirst are especially intense.

And I really like Save the Green Planet, which is nominally a comedy, but pretty intense and horrific in places.
posted by Gortuk at 3:29 PM on January 31, 2011

I watched Bloody Reunion (aka To Sir with Love) last weekend, and while I can't say I loved the twist at the end, it was both Korean and intense. It's described as a horror film, but it's more of a psychological thriller than a slasher.
posted by dortmunder at 4:15 PM on January 31, 2011

Tell Me Something is pretty intense. A Tale of Two Sisters is also really good.
posted by Adridne at 4:38 PM on January 31, 2011

Spider Forest is a mindbending, occasionally brutal and very beautiful weirdyfest in the Lynchian vein.
posted by Kandarp Von Bontee at 10:04 PM on January 31, 2011