South Korean Thrillers/Mystery Films (1990 to Present), a list by DKG

8.5

/1133941/

85

/43995/

85

/19948/

4.5

/4844739/

99

/485/

90

/2503/

97

/56/

4.0

age 16+

All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.

88

8.1

/198228/

82

/7817/

81

/4149/

4.4

/713069/

96

/226/

91

/449/

85

/40/

4.0

1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sookee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to steal her fortune.

87

8.1

/259118/

80

/7538/

80

/4355/

4.4

/860281/

95

/80/

92

/1039/

82

/18/

4.0

age 16+

A sadistic serial rapist and murderer of young women terrorizes a small province in 1980s South Korea. To prevent further crimes, three increasingly desperate detectives with conflicting methods race against time to unravel the violent mind of the killer in a futile effort to solve the case.

86

IMDb 22

7.6

/24783/

75

/835/

77

/389/

4.2

/228999/

98

/172/

94

/26/

85

/39/

4.0

age 16+

Looking for a job? When a happy family man is dismissed after twenty-five years of loyal service at a paper company, he finds the perfect solution to land his next role: truly eliminate the competition.

86

8.0

/26651/

82

/1026/

81

/733/

4.2

/72573/

100

/5/

93

/76/

Based on actual events that took place at Gwangju Inhwa School for the hearing-impaired, where young deaf students were the victims of repeated sexual assaults by faculty members over a period of five years in the early 2000s.

86

8.3

/706418/

83

/17721/

82

/9465/

4.4

/1352385/

82

/160/

94

/11750/

78

/33/

4.0

age 17+

With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate man seeks revenge on his captors.

83

7.4

/84487/

73

/3280/

73

/1750/

4.0

/303820/

95

/197/

80

/209/

91

/39/

4.0

age 17+

Deliveryman Jong-su is out on a job when he runs into Hae-mi, a girl who once lived in his neighborhood. She asks if he'd mind looking after her cat while she's away on a trip to Africa. On her return, she introduces to Jong-su an enigmatic young man named Ben, who she met during her trip. One day Ben tells Jong-su about his most unusual hobby.

83

7.7

/79332/

76

/2262/

77

/1632/

4.2

/179070/

96

/121/

89

/974/

79

/31/

3.5

age 15+

A mother lives quietly with her son. One day, a girl is brutally killed, and the boy is charged with the murder. Now, it's his mother's mission to prove him innocent.

83

7.7

/79697/

78

/3056/

77

/1425/

3.9

/55467/

100

/8/

90

/854/

An ex-special agent is involved in a convoluted drug ring drama. He has to save a drug smuggler's innocent daughter from being the victim of her parents' fight.

80

7.6

/299689/

78

/18569/

77

/8103/

4.0

/1065524/

95

/128/

89

/1380/

73

/17/

3.0

age 15+

When a zombie virus pushes Korea into a state of emergency, those trapped on an express train to Busan must fight for their own survival.

79

7.3

/66578/

73

/2907/

73

/1409/

4.0

/369460/

94

/246/

84

/125/

85

/44/

3.0

age 15+

From a mountain peak in South Korea, a man plummets to his death. Did he jump, or was he pushed? When detective Hae-joon arrives on the scene, he begins to suspect the dead man’s wife Seo-rae. But as he digs deeper into the investigation, he finds himself trapped in a web of deception and desire.

79

7.2

/21873/

76

/1734/

78

/693/

3.6

/58316/

89

/18/

87

/59/

Ja-yoon is a high school student who struggles with memory loss after she endured some unknown trauma during her childhood. While trying to uncover the truth, she is unwittingly dragged into a world of crime and finds herself on a journey that will awaken many secrets hidden deep within.

79

7.8

/79255/

77

/2329/

77

/1448/

4.0

/79003/

82

/33/

89

/873/

64

/11/

3.5

Joong-ho is a dirty detective turned pimp, who's in financial trouble as several of his girls have recently disappeared without clearing their debts. While trying to track them down, he finds a clue that the vanished girls were all called up by the same client, whom one of his girls is meeting with right now.

79

7.4

/96394/

74

/4561/

73

/1955/

4.0

/267435/

99

/87/

81

/394/

81

/19/

3.0

A stranger arrives in a little village and soon after a mysterious sickness starts spreading. A policeman is drawn into the incident and is forced to solve the mystery in order to save his daughter.

78

7.7

/37905/

77

/1200/

78

/777/

4.2

/75825/

88

/25/

89

/605/

58

/7/

Two North Korean soldiers are killed in the border area between North and South Korea, prompting an investigation by a neutral body. The sergeant is the shooter, but the lead investigator, a Swiss-Korean woman, receives differing accounts from the two sides.

78

7.1

/51688/

72

/2450/

75

/921/

3.6

/167745/

100

/12/

79

/114/

age 16+

Connected by phone in the same home but 20 years apart, a caller puts a woman’s past — and life — on the line to change her own fate.

78

7.0

/31927/

74

/1928/

78

/1381/

3.5

/67421/

97

/36/

94

65

/7/

After barely surviving a brutal attack by a sadistic serial killer, crime boss Jang Dong-su is left humiliated. Determined to catch the killer known as K, he forms an uneasy alliance with Jung Tae-seok, a relentless and incorruptible detective who often disrupts his illegal business. However, while Jang Dong-su wants K dead, Jung Tae-suk is determined to bring him to justice. With a deal in place—whoever finds K first will decide his fate—the hunt begins, blurring the lines between crime and law.

78

7.1

/141784/

70

/4943/

70

/3017/

3.8

/297312/

93

/155/

72

/7811/

85

/35/

3.5

age 17+

A teenage girl is captured by a giant mutated squid-like creature that appears from Seoul's Han River after toxic waste was dumped in it, prompting her family into a frantic search for her.

78

7.8

/162672/

78

/5514/

77

/2874/

4.0

/282375/

83

/86/

87

/1737/

67

/19/

Kyung-chul is a dangerous psychopath who kills for pleasure. Soo-hyeon, a top-secret agent, decides to track down the murderer himself. He promises himself that he will do everything in his power to take vengeance against the killer, even if it means that he must become a monster himself.

77

6.9

/27638/

70

/2125/

75

/610/

3.6

/149151/

93

/45/

83

/115/

80

/5/

After tracing the origin of a disturbing supernatural affliction to a wealthy family's ancestral gravesite, a team of paranormal experts relocates the remains—and soon discovers what happens to those who dare to mess with the wrong grave.

77

7.5

/91764/

75

/2725/

75

/1819/

4.0

/184825/

76

/87/

87

/3249/

75

/23/

Released after being wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for 13 years, a woman begins executing her elaborate plan of retribution.

77

7.4

/59197/

75

/2274/

78

/1264/

3.8

/202570/

82

/68/

age 17+

Seoul, South Korea, 1997. When the young but extremely anxious student Jin-seok, his parents and his successful older brother Yoo-seok move to a new home, mysterious and frightening events begin to happen around them, unexplained events that threaten to ruin their seemingly happy lives. Unable to understand what is happening, Jin-seok wonders if he is losing his mind.

77

7.1

/11903/

73

/598/

72

/355/

3.7

/14570/

100

/49/

73

/44/

78

/14/

3.0

Set in the late 1920s, The Age of Shadows follows the cat-and-mouse game that unfolds between a group of resistance fighters trying to bring in explosives from Shanghai to destroy key Japanese facilities in Seoul, and Japanese agents trying to stop them.

77

7.1

/416434/

70

/23033/

69

/10155/

3.7

/817986/

94

/266/

72

/4158/

84

/38/

3.5

age 16+

In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, a class system evolves aboard the Snowpiercer; a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine.

76

7.2

/19123/

72

/705/

71

/463/

3.6

/21227/

89

/9/

82

/98/

A disillusioned Seoul woman visits a remote island to reconnect with a childhood friend, only to find her trapped in an oppressive cycle of physical, mental, and sexual abuse. As tensions escalate, the situation spirals into a harrowing tale of survival and retribution.

75

6.6

/3074/

65

/178/

69

/57/

3.7

/22417/

95

/21/

85

/25/

3.0

age 15+

When hijackers seize a Japanese flight and demand to fly to Pyongyang, a mysterious mastermind hatches a zany scheme to reroute the plane to Seoul.

75

6.6

/7277/

66

/542/

66

/221/

3.4

/37994/

95

/84/

72

/35/

80

/17/

3.5

A pregnant wife who becomes worried about her husband’s sleeping habits. What starts out as some light sleep-talking soon escalates to unexpectedly grotesque behaviour. They consult a sleep clinic without success and as his nightmarish behaviour escalates, they desperately seek help from a shaman.

75

6.6

/8208/

69

/666/

72

/514/

3.3

/14217/

100

/13/

95

/27/

2.5

Detective Ma Seok-do changes his affiliation from the Geumcheon Police Station to the Metropolitan Investigation Team, in order to eradicate Japanese gangsters who enter Korea to commit heinous crimes.

75

6.8

/11866/

71

/856/

72

/631/

3.4

/20578/

100

/15/

81

/47/

68

/6/

A man is on his way home when the poorly constructed tunnel he is driving through collapses, leaving him trapped leaving himself for the unexpected whilst emergency services struggle to help.

75

7.3

/24488/

74

/795/

73

/540/

3.7

/18864/

88

/25/

78

/143/

70

/10/

A Korean man in China takes an assassination job in South Korea to make money and find his missing wife. But when the job is botched, he is forced to go on the run from the police and the gangsters who paid him.

74

7.0

/8349/

72

/442/

71

/185/

3.5

/11130/

95

/44/

87

/17/

71

/9/

2.5

Diplomats from the North and South Korean embassies in Somalia attempt a daring joint escape from Mogadishu when the outbreak of civil war leaves them stranded.

77

74

7.0

/4938/

70

/292/

71

/143/

3.6

/7350/

80

/20/

100

When the investigation of 'Koreagate' takes place, Park Yong-gak, a former KCIA director who knows everything about the government's operations, heads to the United States in exile.

74

7.2

/18204/

72

/790/

70

/477/

3.6

/20036/

82

/33/

77

/31/

76

/9/

3.0

After trying to cover up a car accident that left a man dead, a crooked homicide detective is stalked by a mysterious man claiming to have witnessed the event.

74

7.2

/21636/

75

/1406/

80

/1145/

3.5

/29661/

67

/9/

84

/83/

Having died unexpectedly, firefighter Ja-hong is taken to the afterlife by 3 afterlife guardians. Only when he passes 7 trials over 49 days and proves he was innocent in human life, he’s able to reincarnate, and his 3 afterlife guardians are by his side to defend him in trial.

74

7.1

/73319/

70

/2299/

70

/1291/

3.7

/122748/

86

/65/

83

/2288/

65

/19/

Two sisters return home after a stay in a mental institution, only to face disturbing events and a strained relationship with their stepmother. As eerie occurrences unfold, dark family secrets begin to surface, blurring the line between reality and nightmare.

77

73

7.2

/16130/

73

/928/

76

/498/

3.5

/21531/

91

/11/

80

/25/

In Chinatown, law and order is turned upside down when a trio of feral Chinese gangsters arrive, start terrorizing civilians, and usurping territory. The beleaguered local gangsters team up with the police, lead by the badass loose cannon Ma Seok-do, to bring them down. Based on a true story.

73

6.5

/23583/

69

/1593/

72

/869/

3.3

/145775/

92

/13/

76

/108/

The crew of a horror web series travels to an abandoned asylum for a live broadcast, but they encounter much more than expected as they move deeper inside the nightmarish old building.

76

73

7.0

/7829/

72

/308/

68

/180/

3.6

/7496/

100

/5/

75

/38/

A corrupt customs official joins forces with a vicious gangster to form the most powerful crime partnership in Busan.

74

73

7.2

/8717/

72

/424/

73

/261/

3.6

/8122/

83

/12/

84

/38/

64

/6/

In Japanese-occupied Korea, three freedom fighters are assigned a mission to assassinate a genocidal military leader and his top collaborator. But the plan goes completely awry amidst double-crossings, counter-assassinations, and a shocking revelation about one of the assassins' past.

73

7.1

/54368/

70

/1626/

71

/1033/

3.8

/94496/

81

/119/

74

/1507/

73

/21/

3.0

A respected priest volunteers for an experimental procedure that may lead to a cure for a deadly virus. He gets infected and dies, but a blood transfusion of unknown origin brings him back to life. Now, he’s torn between faith and bloodlust, and has a newfound desire for the wife of a childhood friend.

77

72

6.9

/6314/

71

/392/

71

/181/

3.4

/13308/

94

/16/

94

/26/

Han, a Filipino-Korean boxer hits the final punch against his opponent at an illegal game and returns home with a few dollars to pay for his mother's surgery.

72

6.3

/18434/

68

/1718/

70

/649/

3.5

/110599/

91

/11/

72

/47/

age 16+

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.

72

6.6

/8906/

66

/775/

69

/272/

3.4

/27968/

100

/63/

75

/34/

73

/16/

2.5

age 15+

The world has been reduced to rubble by a massive earthquake. While no one knows for sure how far the ruins stretch, or what the cause of the earthquake may be, in the heart of Seoul there is only one apartment building left standing. It is called Hwang Gung Apartments. As time passes, outsiders start coming in to Hwang Gung Apartments trying to escape the extreme cold. Before long, the apartment residents are unable to cope with the increasing numbers. Feeling a threat to their very survival, the residents enact a special measure.

78

72

7.4

/7173/

77

/410/

73

/207/

3.8

/8614/

100

/21/

83

/18/

69

/6/

South Korea, 1993. An agent of the National Intelligence Service is sent to Beijing to infiltrate a group of North Korean officials with the ultimate goal of obtaining information about their nuclear program.

72

7.5

/28508/

76

/980/

74

/507/

3.8

/22738/

63

/16/

86

/1186/

58

/6/

An undercover cop has his loyalties tested when the boss of the corporate gang he's spent years infiltrating dies.

73

71

6.5

/10104/

69

/506/

72

/299/

3.5

/52481/

100

/19/

62

/34/

A serial killer ruthlessly hunts down a deaf woman through the streets of South Korea after she witnesses his brutal crime.

71

6.9

/21757/

69

/509/

67

/397/

3.5

/21261/

83

/60/

77

/15577/

66

/22/

Features an anthology centred on the experiences of a witch doctor, a film-maker and a disgruntled extra determined to take revenge on him, and a novelist as well as her twin sister.

71

7.5

/80374/

75

/2496/

74

/1594/

4.0

/139817/

53

/58/

84

/2281/