What's worse? Most of them are based on real-life events.

South Korean cinema has no short of terrific films that paint a gritty and gruesome reality. Whilst the French have tormented audiences with its New French Extremity films besieged with violence, the contemporary South Korean Extreme Cinema lays bare the ugly truth of its society, a society brimming with brutality and callousness that no amount of glitz and glamour displayed can conceal its looming intensity.

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Be it cat-and-mouse games between police detectives and serial killers, or school bullying cases turned sinister, many South Korean films do not pull punches when it comes to tormenting audiences both viscerally and psychologically.

Part of Park Chan-wook's Vengeance Trilogy, Oldboy both intrigued and terrified movie-goers when it was first released in 2003. The psychological thriller follows Oh Dae-su, an ordinary businessman who gets kidnapped and held captive in a seedy hotel room for 15 years. After he was released, he sets on a journey to find the ones responsible for his abduction, unknowingly entangles in a web of conspiracy and ill-fated romance.

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Teeming with plot twists and brisk sadism, Oldboy has deservingly cemented its unyielding status as one of the great South Korean films with its unapologetic portrayal of humanity when desperate.

Starring Oldboy star Choi Min-sik, albeit this time not as the audience's favorite antihero, but as a detestable psychopathic serial killer/rapist Jang Kyung-chul in Kim Jee-woon's I Saw The Devil (2010).

After the devastating death of his fiancée in the hands of Jang, National Intelligence Service (NIS) agent Kim Soo-hyun decides to take matters into his own hands by playing cat-and-mouse with the serial killer, unexpectedly interrupting Jang's many "personal interests". Unbeknownst to Kim, Jang is not a simple-minded monster and has a few tricks up his sleeves as well.

Han Gong-Ju (2013) is inspired by South Korea's Miryang gang rape case in 2004, which sparked controversy due to the age of the assailants and victims involved in addition to the police's mistreatment of the severity of the case.

Shifting between a series of flashbacks and the present, the film centers around new transfer student Han Gong-ju. As Han is barely adapting to her new school environment by joining a school club and befriending classmates, her troubled past is exposed and now threatens her mere existence.

Another utterly devastating film that is based on a real-life event, Hope (2013) depicts and explores the suffering that haunts its underaged victim and her family for the rest of their lives.

As shocking and distressing as the outcome of the 2008 Cho Do-soon case was, viewers received a film like Hope that calls attention to the serious subject in hopes for legislative changes to provide finer protection for children. The drama also attempts to accentuate the silver lining which emerges from the dark clouds shrouding the victim by showcasing warm community support and familial bonding.

Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018) is one of the lesser-known found footage films that still manages to surprise horror film buffs with plentiful scares despite a cheerful beginning. The horror film's narrative revolves around a horror web series crew that travels to an abandoned asylum for a live broadcast. Expecting to garner greater views and publicity, the crew gets more than they bargained for as they explore the old building.

The title is derived from a real-life psychiatric hospital known as Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital, purportedly one of the most haunted locations in South Korea. The hospital has been demolished since 2018.

One of South Korea's most renowned actors Ha Jung-woo got his big break with his convincing role as a serial murderer. Call him the Korean "Jack The Ripper" if you want.

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Jung-ho is an ex-detective turned pimp becomes financially troubled when two of his girls disappeared without clearing their debts. He decides to put his detective skills to good use by tracking them down and finally pinpointing the primary suspect - a client of Jung-ho's who happens to be a stone-cold killer with a deadly hammer. The antagonist is partly inspired by South Korea's real-life serial killer Yoo Young-Chul.

A loose adaptation of the Spanish horror thriller Sleep Tight (2011), Door Lock (2018) tells its chilling story which contains stalking and home break-in from the perspective of the victim.

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Protagonist Kyung-min lives alone in a one-room apartment until one day, she discovers traces of a stranger trying to break into her room. Realizing that the police are lukewarm about her circumstances, Kyung-min starts investigating on her own. The film is constantly taunting audiences with numerous suspects whilst presenting the genuine horrors of living alone unarmed.

Based on the novel The Crucible by Gong Ji-young, Silenced (2011) is a revolutionary film not solely due to its mastery of storytelling and spine-chilling imagery. The film was responsible for the reopening of investigations related to events that took place in Gwangju Inhwa School for the Deaf in the early 2000s.

Silenced unravels the horrifying treatments young deaf students have received over a period of five years, where they are subjected to repeated sexual assaults by faculty members due to their disadvantaged status and background. In 2011, the Korean National Assembly passed the "Dogani Law", where the statute of limitations for sexual assault against minors is abolished.

Before the release of the groundbreaking film Parasite (2019), Bong Joon-ho's comparatively underappreciated masterpiece Memories of Murder (2003) follows three police detectives as they faced numerous barriers and disappointments solving a serial murder case targeting young women.

Inspired by South Korea's first serial murder cases that took place in the 80s and 90s, thedark mystery thrillerskillfully balances satirical police procedural and nihilist social commentaries. As evident in its iconic ending, the film subtly insinuates that like any unsolved crime, the culprit can be lurking amongst the crowd.

Ending this list and Park Chan-wook's Vengeance Trilogy on a perfect note, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005) takes the perspective of a woman named Lee Geum-ja. Falsely convicted of kidnapping and murdering a 6-year-old boy, Lee is sentenced to imprisonment and even became a national sensation for her angelic exterior and inhumane crime.

Released from prison, Lee vows to retaliate against those who had wronged her, specifically school teacher Mr. Baek who played a significant part in her falsely-accused misdemeanors.

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A recent Monash University graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Media Communication and a Specialisation in Film Studies. She's fresh freelance writer with a passion for international cinema. Her favorite directors are, but definitely not limited to, Martin Scorsese, Wong Kar-Wai, Krzysztof Kieślowski and Juzo Itami. When she's not busy writing or daydreaming, Jia Yee Bridgette enjoys spending her free time watching whatever films she could rummage up, listening to songs mostly released in the pre-2010s era and the ocassional indulgence in the act of beer-drinking. Follow her on Letterboxd for personal reflections and rants: https://boxd.it/1PrwF.

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