Tag: koreanthriller
Review: PARASITE Burrows in Deep, but You Won't Want it Out
For every Host, there must be a Parasite. Since his debut Barking Dogs Never Bite 19 years ago, Bong Joon-ho's works have always resisted easy classification. Within stories that stray from one genre to the next, surprising things tend to...
Cannes 2019 Review: THE GANGSTER, THE COP, THE DEVIL, Ma Dong-seok Pummels His Way through Rip-Roaring Korean Thriller
The gangster drama and serial killer thriller join hands and chow down on steroids in the by-the-numbers but thoroughly enjoyable and gleefully violent Cannes midnight selection The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil. Burly Korean leading man and future MCU actor...
Review: DOORLOCK, Tense Korean SLEEP TIGHT Remake, Goes the Distance
A slow year for Korean thrillers gets a late shot in the arm with Doorlock, director Lee Kwon's tense remake of Jaume Balagueró's Spanish film Sleep Tight. Completely reworking the original narrative, actress Kong Hyo-jin anchors a story rooted in...
Review: THE CHASE Leads Us Down Familiar Path
An intriguing, if admittedly low-key twist on the Korean serial killer chiller never really comes together in the mediocre The Chase, the third film from The Con Artists helmer Kim Hong-sun. Leading man Baek Yoon-sik (of Save the Green Planet...
Review: THE SWINDLERS Cons Viewers Out of Their Time
Stars Hyun Bin and Yoo Ji-tae go toe-to-toe in this month's The Swindlers, a loose and jazzy caper thriller that mines Korea's abundant fascination with grifters. Or at least that's what it attempts to do, as this blatant ripoff of...
Busan 2017 Review: MISSING, a Compelling Women-Led Kidnap Drama
The kidnap thriller is a popular genre in Korea but E.Oni's Missing proves to be a refreshing addition to the crowded genre, buoyed by a pair of fine performances by Uhm Ji-won and Gong Hyo-jin in a story forged by...
Sitges 2017 Review: A SPECIAL LADY, the Wrong Kind of Remarkable
Two years after Coin Locker Girl, Kim Hye-soo returns as a woman gang boss with a bold wig in Lee An-gyu's debut A Special Lady. Unfortunately, the freshness of her earlier gang saga makes way for an abundance of hollow...
Review: MEMOIR OF A MURDERER Forgets to Untangle Its Intriguing Premise
Just two weeks after V.I.P., Korean cinemas are getting another twist on the serial killer story with Won Shin-yeon's new work Memoir of a Murderer, based on a 2013 novel by celebrated writer Kim Young-ha. Its name evokes the greatest...
Review: FABRICATED CITY, Mediocrity Hidden Behind Big-Budget Thrills
Twelve years after the success of Korean War comedy-drama Welcome to Dongmakgol, director Park Kwang-hyun is finally back in theaters with the action-thriller Fabricated City. A tale of gamers and conspiracies in modern Seoul, Park's latest presents itself as a...
Exclusive Interview: Talking THE HANDMAIDEN With Park Chan-Wook
For several decades now Park Chan-Wook has been at the forefront of Korean Cinema that’s finding International audiences. His films are often breathtaking and full of bravado, solidifying sensuality and revenge in equal measure to craft works that both thrill...
Toronto 2016 Review: ASURA: THE CITY OF MADNESS Unleashes Unbridled Machismo in Brooding Noir
It's a man's world in Asura: The City of Madness, and a rotten one at that. Cops, prosecutors and politicians jostle about with unbridled machismo in a noirish caricature of corruption in the latest thriller to balk at the irresponsible...
Review: THE TRUTH BENEATH Unearths Dark, Stylish Mysteries
A great year for Korean genre cinema keeps getting better with the release of Lee Kyoung-mi's long time coming sophomore feature, the riveting The Truth Beneath, a sumptuous and anarchic political thriller, kidnap drama, suspenseful whodunnit and kaleidoscopic descent into...
