10 Greatest South Korean Zombie Films Ranked11 min read

South Korea’s rising film business covers a variety of genres together with horror, resulting in plenty of nice South Korean zombie films. Hitting the mainstream within the Nineteen Sixties with George A. Romero’s The Evening of the Dwelling Useless, zombie films are a secure of the horror style. The zombie style as a complete hasn’t misplaced reputation because the years have gone on, with TV reveals like All of Us are Useless and The Strolling Useless holding zombies on the display. Nevertheless, South Korea can also be taking part in an enormous position in displaying there may be nonetheless life within the subgenre on the massive display.

Contemplating a lot of Korean horror is predicated on mythology and folklore, the perfect South Korean zombie films usually have a unique spin on the undead than the everyday zombie fare that comes out of the West. Nonetheless, this leads to some actually terrifying movies with imagery that can follow audiences lengthy after viewing. From anthologies to complete epic options, there could also be extra examples of South Korean zombie films than most followers might essentially notice.

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There are many guidelines established in zombie horror films, however when a film subverts these tropes, it makes for a recent and thrilling change.

10 Horror Tales (2012)

A Zombie Entry In This South Korean Horror Anthology

One of the underrated horror anthology films, Horror Tales saves essentially the most horrifying story for the ultimate entry with its zombie story. Following a house invasion story, an escaped convict story, and a cautionary parable about cosmetic surgery, the movie ends with a mortifying zombie onslaught.

Directed by Kok and Solar Kim, Ambulance on the Demise Zone options a little bit woman who morphs right into a mouth-foaming zombie after succumbing to an unknown an infection. The little woman’s mom and the paramedic she calls confront the little monster with harrowing outcomes. The horror anthology film was so well-received by audiences that it obtained two sequels, every with its personal distinctive horror tales and finally turning into a franchise that lives as much as its namesake.

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9 Seoul Station (2016)

An Animated Prequel To Prepare To Busan

Directed by Prepare to Busan‘s Sang-ho Yeon and launched the identical yr, Seoul Station is an animated feature-length zombie film that serves as a prequel to the live-action horror hit. Set sooner or later previous to the occasions depicted in Prepare to Busan, Seoul Station imagines downtown Seoul being overrun by legions of zombies.

A lot of the plot revolves round Suk-Gyu (Ryu Seung-Ryong), a father desperately trying to find his lacking daughter, Hye-Solar (Shim Eun-Kyung), previous to the zombie pandemic. It is an fascinating chapter within the story of recent South Korean zombie films that audiences who loved Prepare to Busan undoubtedly want to take a look at, taking a refreshing strategy to the set-up and including extra lore to Sang-ho Yeon’s sprawling story.

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8 Rampant (2018)

A Korean Interval Horror Film

In Sung-Hoon Kim’s period-set zombie movie Rampant, dynastic Korea finds itself beneath a ruthless assault from a military of blood-thirsty ghouls. The story revolves round Lee Chung (Hun Bin), the Prince of Joseon who’s kidnapped by the highly effective Qing household with plans to nominate him the brand new Crown Prince.

As Lee Chung spars with Kim Ja-Joon, the Joseon Minister of Battle, a relentless assault of gory “night time demons” threatens to annihilate your complete area. Although the film wasn’t as large successful as its bold scale implied it will be, it stays an epic instance of how South Korea has put its personal distinctive spin on zombie fiction. The movie completed first place on the field workplace for its opening weekend, proving {that a} mix of the perfect historic Ok-dramas and high-stakes horror is a match made in heaven.

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7 The Cursed: Useless Man’s Prey (2021)

An Extension Of A Ok-Drama

The Cursed: Useless Man’s Prey is an prolonged model of the horror Ok-drama The Cursed. Seeing a number of the solid from the unique sequence, the occult thriller opens with a stunning homicide. What’s worse, the physique of the perpetrator is discovered subsequent to the sufferer: and he is been useless for 3 months. Whereas a journalist tries to comply with up with somebody claiming to be the actual killer, it turns into clear that sinister forces are at work.

The person claiming to be the assassin prophesies that the undead will commit three extra grisly murders, it turns into a high-stakes race in opposition to the clock to determine precisely what is going on on, and why zombies are strolling among the many residing. The movie options placing visuals and nail-biting sequences of pursuit by zombie assailants. The visuals alone are sufficient to offer any viewer nightmares upon watching.

6 The Odd Household: Zombie On Sale (2019)

A Comedy About Zombies And A Dysfunctional Household

Shaun of the Useless has made zombie comedies an enormous a part of the style and one among South Korea’s greatest makes an attempt at that is The Odd Household: Zombie on Sale (typically merely titled Zombie for Sale), directed by Lee Min-Jae, which provides a memorable diploma of quirkiness into the combination. The Odd Household revolves across the Park household as their lives are upended when the aged patriarch suffers a sudden zombie chew.

When the household learns the zombie was created attributable to an unlawful experiment performed by a corrupt pharmaceutical firm, the Park household makes an attempt to make use of the experiments for their very own monetary achieve. With a excessive ranking from critics, it sits above most South Korean zombie films to relaxation slightly below the actual masterpieces of the style.

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5 #Alive (2020)

An Motion Film About Isolation Throughout An Outbreak

Launched in South Korea on June 24, 2020, Il Cho’s action-packed zombie outing #Alive shortly began turning heads and profitable hearts, with Netflix choosing the film up for international distribution fairly shortly. The story finds a densely populated constructing beneath siege from a vicious zombie incursion borne from an unknown virus and follows Oh Joon-Wo (Ah-In Yoo), a secluded gamer who should stay hunkered down in his residence and fend off droves of home-invading zombies.

The very optimistic critics’ consensus on Rotten Tomatoes praises the performing, the horror, and the comedy, displaying that Prepare to Busan wasn’t a one-off. Actor Ah-In Yoo’s efficiency was a specific spotlight of the movie, and his portrayal of gamer Oh Joon-Wo garnered essential consideration. As a result of this, he was given the Greatest Actor Award on the 2020 Cine 21 Awards.

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4 Doomsday E book (2012)

A Zombie Story Inside A Satirical Horror Anthology

A viral zombie pandemic is given a satirical edge in a single chapter of Doomsday E book, a three-part horror omnibus from administrators Kim-Jee Woon and Pil-sung Yim. In Yim’s story, A Courageous New World, a nerdy scientist throws a contaminated apple within the rubbish disposal, which in flip makes its means into the feeding trough for native cows.

The meat turns into contaminated and eaten by a person at a barbecue, setting off an infectious chain of violent zombification. It is value noting that standard Korean filmmakers similar to Bong Joon-Ho have cameos within the movie, so it is a must-see for die-hard followers of recent Korean films, not simply zombie fans. Doomsday E book gained the Cheval Noir award on the 2012 Fantasia Competition and was additionally nominated for a Visible Results accolade on the Asian Movie Awards.

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3 Peninsula (2020)

A Sequel Inside The Prepare To Busan Universe

Regardless of large curiosity from film followers, Peninsula is rated decrease than its breakout predecessor, Prepare to Busan. Each movies are directed by Sang-ho Yeon, however this sequel did not reside as much as the requirements set by the primary movie. That being stated, it is nonetheless probably the greatest South Korean zombie films.

Jung Seok (Dong-Received Gang) is an ex-soldier who accepts a mission to steer his squadron into the wastelands of the South Korean Peninsula to acquire a truck full of money solely to be greeted by hordes of the film sequence’ terrifying undead. Audiences who preferred the unique will welcome the return of the zombie motion. Peninsula was nominated for 5 accolades on the Chunsa Movie Arts Awards, profitable Greatest Technical Award for the movie’s manufacturing designers.

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2 Prepare To Busan (2016)

Passengers Battle For Survival Aborad A Zombie-Infested Prepare

Prepare to Busan was a runaway smash hit that reached a large worldwide viewers and have become one of many style’s hottest entries lately. Along with being critically acclaimed, the movie at the moment holds a 94% Licensed Contemporary ranking on Rotten Tomatoes and a 72/100 Metascore. The movie follows a father desperately making an attempt to guard his younger daughter on the titular overrun practice as a zombie outbreak unfolds.

The distinct characters, emotional performances, and breakneck motion made it an prompt hit with horror audiences internationally and earned it very excessive marks from critics. The South Korean zombie flick has obtained a lot consideration that the USA has determined to do a remake, titled The Final Prepare to New York. As well as, Prepare to Busan has garnered 10 awards, together with accolades on the Blue Dragon Movie Awards, the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, and the Baeksang Arts Awards.

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1 The Wailing (2016)

A Small-City Thriller With A Zombie Edge

Whereas Hong-jin Na’s masterful horror/thriller The Wailing has much more happening in it than simply zombie film influences, there isn’t any denying the fear conjured by the zombified, demonically-possessed ghouls within the movie. Extra within the vein of darkish cop thrillers like Se7en than a zombie romp by George A. Romero, The Wailing tracks a sequence of supernatural occurrences that plague a small fishing city after the arrival of a mysterious stranger, and it is probably the greatest South Korean zombie films of all time.

A viral sickness begins to unfold all through the hamlet, regarded as a results of an evil spirit within the area. It is as much as native police officer Jong-goo (Do-wan Kwak) to unravel the thriller with the story’s eye-watering combination of sturdy cultural and style components making for an unforgettably daring cocktail. The Wailing sits above not simply most trendy zombie films, however most trendy horror films normally. The horror movie has 30 awards to its title, garnering accolades from the Blue Dragon Movie Awards, the Fantasia Worldwide Movie Competition, and the Asian Movie Awards (amongst many others).

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