9 Korean thriller movies to watch on Prime Video: From Exhuma to Concrete Utopia

Koreans know how to do thrillers really well! With some of the most mindboggling releases to come out of the country having been thrillers, we’re taking you on a spin to check out some of the best ones. 

1. Exhuma

Korean shaman Hwa Rim and her protégé, Bong Gil, enter a conglomerate to figure out the mysterious illness of the family's newborn son when they learn of a vengeful spirit in their presence. They are joined by a feng shui master and a funeral owner cum undertaker as they battle long lost spirits.
 

• Cast: Choi Min Sik, Kim Go Eun, Yoo Hae Jin, Lee Do Hyun
• Director: Jang Jae Hyun
• Language: Korean
• Genre: Supernatural, Horror, Thriller
• Release date: February 22, 2024

2. Train to Busan

A KTX from Seoul to Busan ends up with a zombie outbreak as an infected woman enters and threatens the lives of everyone on board. Among the many passengers on the train, a fund manager, his daughter, a couple of others, and a pregnant woman try to survive, while one by one, everyone around them gets infected and turns into a zombie. 

• Cast: Gong Yoo, Jung Yu Mi, Ma Dong Seok, Kim Su An, Choi Woo Shik, Ahn So Hee, Kim Eui Sung
• Director: Yeon Sang Ho
• Language: Korean
• Genre: Action, Horror, Thriller
• Release date: July 20, 2016

3. Oldboy

An abducted man escapes after 15 years of being held captive and discovers his captor was a past classmate whom he had unknowingly troubled. What follows is a strange turn of events as he develops an intimate relationship with a woman and tries to fight off his enemy Woo Jin, while learning secrets of their past. 

• Cast: Choi Min Sik, Yoo Ji Tae, Kang Hye Jung, Yoo Yeon Seok, Kim Byeong Ok
• Director: Park Chan Wook
• Language: Korean
• Genre: Action, Thriller
• Release date: November 21, 2003

4. The Divine Fury

Yong Hoo is a martial arts champion who suddenly gains the power to fight off a strong evil force and ends up joining hands with a priest to rid the world of negative beings. They come together to fight against Ji Shin and 

• Cast: Park Seo Joon, Ahn Sung Ki, Woo Do Hwan, Park Ji Hyun
• Director: Kim Joo Hwan
• Language: Korean
• Genre: Action, Horror, Thriller
• Release date: July 31, 2019

5. A Taxi Driver

A taxi driver, greedy to make some good cash, ends up stealing a high-paying client of a fellow driver and heads into Gwangju, unaware of the customer’s identity and the unrest in the area. As he and the client build a bond while protests take charge around him, he is left to save his life and that of those around him, while his country’s turmoil ends up on the news. 

• Cast: Song Kang Ho, Thomas Kretschmann, Yoo Hae Jin, Ryu Jun Yeol
• Director: Jang Hoon
• Language: Korean
• Genre: Political, Action, Drama, Thriller
• Release date: August 2, 2017

6. Dark Nuns

A spin-off of the 2015 film The Priests by Jang Jae Hyun, it follows the story of two nuns who are tasked to save the life of a boy who has been possessed by an evil spirit. They learn of their Church’s secrets and undertake forbidden rituals while battling their own beliefs.

• Cast: Song Hye Kyo, Jeon Yeo Been, Lee Jin Wook, Moon Woo Jin, Hun Joon Ho
• Director: Kwon Hyeok Jae
• Language: Korean
• Genre: Supernatural, Thriller
• Release date: January 24, 2025

7. The Witch: Part 1 - The Subversion

Ja Yoon is a young woman with superpowers she has no idea where she got, and she uses them to audition for a song contest to earn some money to save her adoptive mother. She discovers the people who injected her with a serum in the past and fights them to steal some, unaware that she needs more of those to save herself. This follows a long battle between her and the doctors who made her this way. 

• Cast: Kim Da Mi, Jo Min Su, Park Hee Soon, Choi Woo Shik
• Director: Park Hoon Jung
• Language: Korean
• Genre: Science Fiction, Action, Horror, Thriller
• Release date: June 27, 2018

8. The Witch: Part 2. The Other One

A young girl, Ark 1, escapes a laboratory’s Witch program and is chased by many greedy people who are hungry for her superpowers until she meets a woman who saves her by providing shelter. They try to evade all evil thinkers and hope to come out alive.

• Cast: Shin Si Ah, Park Eun Bin, Jo Min Su
• Director: Park Hoon Jung
• Language: Korean
• Genre: Science Fiction, Action, Horror, Thriller
• Release date: June 15, 2022

9. Concrete Utopia

Set in the 1970s, a man wakes up to learn that his apartment building has collapsed amid torrential rain, and all residents have to now seek shelter inside from the rapidly collapsing society outside. What ensues is a power struggle and the rule of another man who has long been hiding a secret to save himself and rule the residents. As it becomes apparent that everyone’s on their own, fights break out, dismantling the utopian structure built. 

• Cast: Lee Byung Hun, Park Seo Joon, Park Bo Young, Kim Sun Young, Park Ji Hu, Kim Do Yoon
• Director: Um Tae Hwa
• Language: Korean
• Genre: Disaster, Thriller
• Release date: August 9, 2023

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