'Colony' (2026) Movie Review

As much as I love zombie movies, there are so many of them, and many of those are formulaic and forgettable as all hell. Yet, on a regular basis we get offerings that remind us there is still life in the undead. 2016’s Train to Busan was one of these. Director Yeon Sang-ho followed that up with 2020’s Peninsula, set in the same world as Train. Now he’s back in zombie-adjacent territory with Colony. While this doesn’t necessarily do anything entirely new, it’s a reminder why filmmakers return to this subgenre, what makes it an effective storytelling vehicle, and adds enough unique tics to keep things fresh enough to entertain.

'The Roundup: No Way Out' (2023) Movie Review

By the time you get to the third installment of a franchise, you often know what to expect. Sometimes that can be repetitive and stale, but when it comes to The Roundup: No Way Out, the sequel to 2022’s The Roundup, itself a follow up to 2017’s The Outlaws, the filmmakers know exactly what audiences want—star Ma Dong-seok punching dudes very, very hard and being droll and hilarious as he does—and delivers a substantial amount of that. And it is good.

'Project Wolf Hunting' (2022) Movie Review

“How come you’re always covered in blood?” This single line of dialogue between characters accurately encapsulates Project Wolf Hunting, the new action movie from writer/director Kim Hong-sun (The Chase). The answer is also relatively simple: because there is so, so much blood in which to be covered. Not only is the movie over-the-top violent, but every last wound is an absolute gusher, just nonstop blood spurting out of heads and necks and severed limbs of all varieties. Everything is some combination of slippery and sticky and showered in red.

Fantasia 2022: 'Special Delivery' Movie Review

As a concept, writer/director Park Dae-min’s Special Delivery plays like a riff on stories like Drive or The Transporter. A solitary, hot-shot driver, against their personal rules, gets personally and emotionally involved in a job, which upends their life. Though a familiar set up, full of high-speed chase scenes, an escalating mean streak, and a fantastic performance from Parasite star Park So-damn, the film offers up a throttle-cranking action blast.

Fantasia 2022: 'The Roundup' Movie Review

Ma Dong-seok, also known as Don Lee, just wrecking dudes, is a true thing of beauty. That single fact is more than enough reason to watch a movie; I’ve watched movies for far, far less. If that wasn’t enough to get The Roundup to pop on my radar (it certainly was), the fact that director Lee Sang-yong’s film is a follow up to 2017’s The Outlaws, which prominently features Ma running amok through the Seoul underworld. And while this new chapter may not quite live up to its predecessor, it’s still a more than worthy successor. 

'The Witch 2: The Other One' (2022) Movie Review

Park Hoon-jung’s The Witch: Part 1—Subversion is a deliberately paced, gradual build toward a brutal, bloody action/horror/sci-fi hybrid. It takes its time to lay the groundwork and establish the emotional stakes to that violence, toying with audience expectations along the way. The second chapter in this proposed trilogy, The Witch 2: The Other One, is a jumbled, tedious misfire that fails to accomplish much of any note.

NBFF 2021: 'Slate' Movie Review

Orphan Cha Yeon-hee (Ahn Ji-hye) has spent her entire life wanting to be a heroine. If you’re not a heroine, you’re useless and of no value to anyone. So she believes. In her late-20s, living an aimless life, she lands a role as a stunt double in an action movie. Only when she arrives on set, she’s transported to a parallel world where she must become an actual heroine. The only question is: is she ready to face actual danger and do what she must to become a real heroine? So goes Slate, the latest from Gang director Jo Ba-reun.

'The Witch: Part 1-The Subversion' (2018) Movie Review

Koo Ja-yoon (Kim Da-mi) looks like a normal teenage girl. Sure, she’s exceptionally bright and talented, and extraordinarily devoted to her aging parents and their failing farm, but by most measures, she’s an average kid on the cusp of adulthood. Except in Park Hoon-jung’s The Witch: Part 1—The Subversion, she’s also an escaped child soldier with telekinetic powers on the run the government agency that genetically created her in a lab,  and she may or may not remember all of that. The result plays like an action-heavy sci-fi/horror version of The Long Kiss Goodnight, with Dark Angel flourishes thrown in for good measure. (And yes, I mean the James Cameron/Jessica Alba show from the late 1990s, and yes, I mean that in a good way.)

'Peninsula' Trailer: This 'Train To Busan' Sequel Promises Bloody Zombie Action

2016’s Train to Busan is one of those zombie movies that comes along every few years and reminds everyone how good the genre can be. The South Korean horror film was a big international hit and now the sequel, Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula, is on the way, with another new trailer as proof.

'Train To Busan Presents: Peninsula' Trailer: This Sequel Promises Gnarly Zombie Survival Action

Movie new has been pretty dead as of late, what with most of the movie industry worldwide being shut down due to COVID-19. Still, there were plenty of movies on the way, and a bunch remain en route. One we’re looking forward to around these parts is the South Korean zombie film Peninsula, a new horror set in the world of Train to Busan and now titled Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula. We finally got a look at trailer and damn, this is the stuff we’ve been waiting for.

'The Witch: Subversion' Trailer: This Brutal South Korean Action Movie Hits Home Video Soon

Now that the Oscars are in the rearview (yay, Parasite), we can return our attention to our regularly scheduled programming: ultra-violent international genre cinema. To that end, here is the trailer for South Korean director Park Hoon-jung’s The Witch: Subversion. (Or The Witch: Part 1—The Subversion if you prefer.)

The Latest 'Parasite' Trailer Sings Bong Joon-Ho's Praises

When people toss around the word “masterpiece,” I usually tune out, especially when it comes to new movies—that’s a term that, to truly apply, I feel needs sit and simmer and have some perspective and distance. That said, when I hear it applied to a Bong Joon-ho movie, while I have to see it for myself, it gets me all revved up because the South Korean filmmaker is a non-stop hit machine. As you might imagine, I’m rather excited for his latest, Parasite, which has been collecting rave reviews, is almost here, and dropped this new trailer.

'Parasite' Trailer: Bong Joon-Ho Returns With A Dark, Funny Tale Of Class Conflict

Any time Bong Joon-ho makes a movie, it tops the list of things I need to see like right this damn minute. That’s just a fact. Since it debuted at Cannes earlier this year, folks have hailed his latest, Parasite, as one of the best of the year, which I find entirely plausible. We don’t know much about it, nor have we seen a ton of footage, but distributor NEON just dropped a new U.S. trailer and, also not a shock, it looks great and dark and weird in that particular way Bong does so well. Watch it below.

'The Divine Fury' (2019) Movie Review

If you haven’t been waiting for a South Korean MMA exorcism movie, Kim Joo-hwan’s The Divine Fury is here to inform you that you need to get your priorities in order. It deftly blends horror and action and is sure to call to mind the likes of Blade at times, while grappling with weighty themes of loss, faith, loss of faith, and evil.

Fantasia 2019: 'The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil' Movie Review

This is an updated version of an earlier review.

To lump all South Korean cinema together and paint the industry with a singular, this-is-what-they-do brush is to do it a disservice. It cuts across genre boundaries, topics, and subsets, with standouts in each category along the way. But goddamn, do the South Korean filmmakers do dark, thoughtful crime thrillers really well. Oldboy, I Saw the Devil, The Yellow Sea, the list goes on. The latest addition to this canon is Lee Won-tae’s The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil.

'The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil' (2019) Movie Review

To lump all South Korean cinema together and paint the industry with a singular, this-is-what-they-do brush is to do it a disservice. It cuts across genre boundaries, topics, and subsets, with standouts in each category along the way. But goddamn, do the South Korean filmmakers do dark, thoughtful crime thrillers really well. Oldboy, I Saw the Devil, The Yellow Sea, and many more. The latest addition to this canon is Lee Won-tae’s The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil.

UPDATED: 'The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil' Trailer: Check Out The Cannes-Bound South Korean Thriller

UPDATE: There's another new version of the trailer for The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil. It's slightly longer and still in Korean, but it comes complete with the Cannes logo, so...cool.

Watch The First Trailer For Bong Joon-Ho's 'Parasite'

UPDATED: Now there's a new poster, too!

ORIGINAL POST: Over the course of his career, South Korean director Bong Joon-ho has rarely made two movies that are even remotely the same. He’s done black comedy (Barking Dogs Never Bite), crime thrillers (Mother, Memories of Murder), and a post-apocalyptic actioner (Snowpiercer). Even his two creature features, The Host and Okja, couldn’t be more different in tone, style, and aesthetics. Now he’s back with another new film that looks nothing like anything he’s ever done. Check out the first trailer for Parasite.

'Burning' (2018) Movie Review

Burning is an apt title for South Korean director Lee Chang-dong’s new film. Not only does fire form a pivotal plot point, at 148 minutes, it’s a long, languid, slow-burn of the highest order, which is sure to put off some viewers. If you can sit through the stillness, however, the movie has much to offer, an oblique, shifting thriller with echoes of Hitchcock.

Kim Jee-Woon's 'Jin-Roh' Adaptation 'Illang: The Wolf Brigade' Finds A Home At Netflix

It hits South Korean theater in just over a week, but we’ve been wondering when the rest of us might see Illang: The Wolf Brigade, Kim Jee-woon’s live-action adaptation of Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade. While we don’t have a precise date, it now has a home outside of its native land, as Netflix acquired the international rights, or at least most of them.