Spooky movies to binge-watch this Halloween
Halloween is near and many of us are waiting to be spooked by some blood-curdling films. If you keep your spooky season watches within the bounds of America and the UK, then you’re missing out on some of the scariest horror films. Korean pop culture has been in the news lately for the success of social horror ‘Squid Game’, but the country’s cinema has been effectively creeping us out for decades. Korean movies are able to deliver some serious psychological thrillers and grotesque gore that will linger in your mind for days to come. So if you're not afraid of a little darkness and a little blood, grab some popcorn, and here are the top scary Halloween movies to make you jump.
1. The Closet (2020)
Were you ever scared of monsters in your closet as a kid? Maybe your closet holds more than just old clothes and what if it was a portal to the realm of the dead? That’s the premise of the Korean horror movie The Closet. Following architect Sang-won’s (Ha Jung-woo) wife’s death, he and his daughter Ina (HeoYool) move into a new home out in the country to try to move past the horrific events. The two don’t have a great relationship, but Ina’s mood improves when she makes an imaginary friend that makes her laugh. It turns out that this “friend” isn’t very imaginary at all. It’s actually a spirit from the underworld. Ina begins to behave strangely after the spirit ostensibly possesses her. One day Ina suddenly disappears inside the home in a closet without a trace. With no alternative left, he turns to Heo (Kim Na-Gil) a shady psychic exorcist who claims to be able to help him get Ina back, and once he discovers the true extent of the hauntings the two work together to put a stop to the supernatural hauntings and rescue his daughter.
Although ‘The Closet’ has the trappings of a classic horror movie, the occult merely serves as a backdrop for a much more human story. That closet in Ina’s new room is actually a gateway to a dark and evil supernatural realm where the restless soul of a little girl dwells. She draws other children in to share in her lonely misery. Overall, ‘The Closet’ is at its most powerful as a commentary on the ways we fail our children. Indifference and abuse are already horrifying, but what if something even worse waits for them?
2. Svaha: The sixth finger (2019)
“The day I was born, goats wailed like crazy. And that day, a demon was born with me.” A teenage girl, Geum-Hwa (Lee Jae-in) narrates the opening line of ‘Svaha’ in voiceover. Svaha starts off in 1999 by telling the story of Geum-Hwa’s overly hairy and heavily clawed demonic twin sister, who chewed up Geum-Hwa’s leg in the womb. Their mom died and their dad committed suicide. Geum-Hwa now lives with her grandparents, and her demon sister exists behind a locked metal door in the backyards and no one apart from them knows about her existence. Wherever they go, though, strange events and deaths occur, forcing them to lead a nomadic life.
Meanwhile, the eccentric Pastor Park (Lee Jung-Jae) heads the Far Eastern Religious Research Institute. He’s famous, and a little bit rich, for sniffing out and exposing bizarre cults. He pulls on a thread tied to a group posing as a Buddhist sanctuary but potentially linked to something far more sinister. Pastor Park’s increasingly convoluted investigation crosses paths with Chief Hwang (Jung Jin-young), who’s pursuing leads in the murder of a young girl.
3. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
Based loosely on the Joseon Dynasty folktale ‘Janghwa Hongryeon Jeon’ or ‘Rose Flower, Red Lotus', the film opens with young sisters Su-mi (Im Soo-Jung) and Su-Yeon (Moon Geun-young) returning to their family home after an extended stay in a mental hospital following the death of their mother. With their father (Kim Kap-soo) keeping them at a distance, their care is left to their new stepmother Eun-Joo (Yum Jung-ah), who quickly makes it clear that she’s not exactly glad to have them back. On medication herself, Eun-Joo's behavior towards the girls becomes increasingly hostile. With the memory of their mother still on their minds, there is a palpable tension between the three women.
In the following nights, a number of strange and disturbing events increase the tension between the two girls and Eun-Joo. While the latter suspects the girls to be behind the death of her pet as well as the family pictures with her head cut out, Su-mi finds her sister being constantly maltreated by their step-mother. However, as the events become increasingly more shocking and frightening, the family has to realise there might be another presence in their home.
Originally released back in 2003, the film won a slew of awards at home. Watching ‘A Tale of Two Sisters’ eighteen years later, it’s impossible not to be impressed by the amount of cinematic craftsmanship which went into the film, and it remains one of Kim Jee-Woon's most amazing movies. “A Tale of Two Sisters”, is at its core a deeply moving and quite disturbing family drama about deception, emotional trauma, and repression.
4. The Silenced (2015)
The 2015 film starts with a young girl Ju-ran (Park Bo-young), who also goes by her Japanese name Shizuko, is brought to a girls' school by her mother, which also serves as a sanatorium. Ju-ran has weak lungs but the school is meant to help her get better as it’s a mysterious sanitarium that houses teenage girls reeling from different health issues. With the help of the medicine administered by the sanatorium's head (Eom Ji-won), Joo-ran's bad health soon gets better and she becomes friends with a girl named Yeon-deok (Park So-dam). However, there is a bitter rivalry among the girls at school.
Since the film is set in 1938, Korea is occupied by the Japanese and Tokyo is the center of all hopes and dreams all the girls want to go to the Japanese capital. Yet, there are only two girls chosen from the school who are allowed to go to Japan. The criteria to be chosen are exceptional physical achievements. While Yeon-deok has her ticket almost in her pocket, Yuka (Kong Ye-ji) has to fight for her place in the race since the once fragile Joo-ran suddenly shows extraordinary physical prowess, after her medical condition has improved.
Strange things start to happen however when girls start disappearing without any reason and Ju-ran gets to know that one of the missing girls had the same Japanese name as her, Shizuko. And, eventually she discovers the horrors of the school.
5. The Witch: Part 1 (2018)
A dark and no longer sterile medical facility sees its walls turned red with blood as adult attendees and child wards are slaughtered. Two kids escape into the surrounding woods, but while the boy is caught, the girl makes it to an old couple’s farm before collapsing. The couple decides to adopt her and a decade later Ja-yoon (Kim Da-mi) is a happy high-school student, using her charm and wits to help her adoptive parents’ farm. An opportunity arrives in a televised singing contest held in a nearby city, but while Ja-yoon’s after the prize money, she finds unwanted attention instead.
As the title suggests, is only the beginning of the story of the mysterious and gifted Ja-yoon. The slow-burn suspense of the film's first half is turned on its head in the second hour, which explodes into supernatural violence and out-there revelations. All of this would feel contrived if it wasn't so compelling, helped in no part by Kim Da-mi's transformative performance in the lead. With further twists in the tale, this promises to be the start of an exciting, bloody, and outlandish series.
Get out of your western horror because Korean horror movies are brutal, funny, and in a completely different league. These films are not as concerned with quick cuts and jump scares, but rather digging into the deepest parts of the human subconscious, where dark thoughts grow like poisonous mushrooms.So which of these movies are you going to binge-watch this Halloween?
* Rumaiysa M Rahman is a 10th grader at Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, Dhaka