Festivals: Pifan
BiFan 2025 Review: I KILL U, Yoo Ha's Action Melee High on Punchy Set Pieces, Low on Narrative Beats
In I KILL U, from director Yoo Ha, taekwondo athlete Kang Sun-woo (Kang Ji-young) reluctantly agrees to pose as the double for an heiress (also Kang) implicated in a hit-and-run scandal. The money is good and the task seems simple...
BiFan 2025 Review: MANOK, Yang Mal-bok Shines in Charming Queer Indie Drama
Yang Mal-bok, who delivered one of the most powerful Korean indie film performances of recent memory in The Apartment with Two Women, is back in the indie realm with the rural-set queer drama Manok, the Korean Fantastic Audience Award winner...
BiFan 2025 Review: SUN WUKONG, Dynamic Early Korean Animated Take on the Monkey King
Sun Wukong (aka 'The Monkey King'), the mischievous protagonist of the celebrated 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West, has been a familiar figure in Far East media for decades. While most of the cinematic adaptations of his exploits have...
BiFan 2025 Review: TEACHING PRACTICE: IDIOT GIRLS AND SCHOOL GHOST 2, Horror-Comedy Reaches Delightful New Heights
A year after their first outing, the "Idiot Girls and School Ghost" return to the Korean competition section of the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan) with Teaching Practice, a bigger and better sequel which builds on the ample passion...
BiFan 29th Edition Looks Back on Lee Byung-hun while Doubling Down on AI
The Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan), Asia's go-to destination for genre film aficionados, this week announced the lineup for its 29th edition, which will open its doors on July 3rd. Kicking off the festivities this summer in the sweltering...
BiFan 2024 Review: DEATH SONG, Colonial-Era Romance Sings a Lush, Eye-Poppingly Melodramatic Tune
Kim Ho-sun, one of the key directors of 1970s cinema, returned to the spotlight in the early 1990s with the sprawling period romantic epic Death Song, about the torrid affair between Korea's first professional soprano and a playwright during Korea's...
BiFan 2024 Review: THE TENANTS, Freaky Korean Real Estate Horror Allegory Lingers in the Mind

Real estate woes, job security anxiety and social inequality, all neatly packed into a metaphorical dystopia. No doubt about it, The Tenants is definitely a Korean film. Yet by providing a novel twist on its elements and staying true to...
BiFan 2024 Review: PIG THAT SURVIVED FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE, Grimy Korean Animation Offers Punchy Eco-Horror Parable
Hur Bum-wook announces himself as a talent to watch with his furious and deranged animated eco-horror parable Pig That Survived Foot-and-Mouth Disease. A cross between early Yeon Sang-ho animation works like The King of Pigs, Bong Joon-ho's Okja and Watership...
BiFan 2024 Review: BASE STATION, Paranoia Reigns in Dystopian Indie Sci-fi from Talent to Watch
After impressing many viewers and critics two years ago with his wildly original debut film The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra, Park Syeyoung returns to BiFan with his second feature, Base Station, which he co-directed with artist and filmmaker Yeon Yeji, who...
BiFan 2024 Review: IDIOT GIRLS AND SCHOOL GHOST: SCHOOL ANNIVERSARY, Lo-Fi Horror Comedy Lovingly Lampoons Far East Asian Horror Tropes
Combining The Ring and the Whispering Corridors series, the giants of J- and K-horror, and stirring the pot with tongue firmly planted in cheek, the low-budget horror spoof Idiot Girls and School Ghost: School Anniversary lovingly pokes fun at the...
LOVE LIES BLEEDING and TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS Bookend 28th BiFan, Festival to Launch AI Film Competition
This year's Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan) in Korea will open with Rose Glass' acclaimed romantic neo-noir thriller Love Lies Bleeding, while Soi Cheang's Cannes-premiered Hong Kong action-drama Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In will serve as the closing...
BiFan 2023 Review: INVISIBLE MAN, 80s Korean Genre Curio Delights with Its Sincere Heart and Cheesy Effects
Mix one part H.G. Wells, one part John Carpenter (Memoirs of an Invisible Man) and about a dozen parts 80s Korean cheese and you'll probably wind up with something resembling the charming Invisible Man, an endearingly lo-fi and utterly forgotten...
BiFan 2023 Review: SANA, Takashi Shimizu Returns with J-Pop-Infused J-Horror
Takashi Shimizu, the mastermind behind the Ju-On series (he also directed the first two American remakes) is back in familiar J-horror surroundings with his second film of 2023. Sana, serving as the closing film of this year's Bucheon International Fantastic...
BiFan 2023 Review: DOOR, Magnificent Home Invasion J-Horror Classic Makes an Impression
A nervous housewife gets a frightful visit in Banmei Takahashi's little-seen psycho-sexual J-horror gem Door. With flashes of giallo inspiration and memorable sound design, this marvellously entertaining 1988 production debuted internationally with a new 4K remaster at BiFan this year....
BiFan 2023 Review: HER HOBBY, Women Band Together in Topical Rural Revenge Drama
Two women band together against the patriarchy in the sun-drenched rural revenge drama Her Hobby, the feature debut of director Ha Myung-mi. Taking a big page out of the playbook of cult island revenge drama Bedevilled, though without the graphic...
BiFan 2023 Review: 2035, Korean Reunification Mockumentary Digs to Creepy Depths after Slow Start
The division of the Korean Peninsula has long fuelled the imagination of Korean cineastes and unlocked the purse strings of local viewers. Yet while we tend to remember the more bombastic titles, such as Joint Security Area and Secret Reunion,...
BiFan 2023 Review: ABROAD, Tourists Take in the Inhospitable Sights in Eerie and Engrossing Mystery
A Korean couple travel to Minnesota in search of the Northern Lights, only to come across eerier sights in the taut and engaging mystery Abroad. This debut feature film from Italian-born ad director Giovanni Fumu offers a smoother cultural cocktail...
BiFan 2023: 6 New Films to get Excited for at the 27th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival
The Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan), Asia's finest bacchanal of genre cinema, is about to raise the curtain on its jam-packed 27th edition, which kicks off this Thursday with Ari Aster presenting Beau is Afraid for the first time...
BiFan Opens Folk Horror-Fuelled 27th Edition with Ari Aster's BEAU IS AFRAID
After weathering the pandemic and its shifting regulations for the past three editions, the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan) returns to full strength this year with its 27th edition, kicking off on June 29 with the local premiere of...
International Genre Focused Hub 'Fantastic Pavilion' to Launch at Marche du Film at Cannes
Variety had the exclusive yesterday, an announcement of the creation of Fantastic Pavilion, "... a significant booth and exhibition space located at the Cannes Marché du Film in the Palais des Festivals". Announced this week during Ventana Sur in...
