The 40 most popular 2010s korean movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Parasite
2019 · 2h 13m · KR
All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.


The Handmaiden
2016 · 2h 25m · KR
1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sook-hee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to steal her fortune.


Train to Busan
2016 · 1h 58m · KR
When a zombie virus pushes Korea into a state of emergency, those trapped on an express train to Busan must fight for their own survival.


Obsessed
2014 · 2h 12m · KR
A secret, passionate affair happens in the summer of 1969 between Colonel Jin Pyeong, trapped in a loveless marriage with Soo Jin, and Jong Ga Heun, the Chinese-Korean wife of Captain Kyung Woo Jin.


The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil
2019 · 1h 50m · KR
After barely surviving a brutal attack by a sadistic serial killer, crime boss Jang Dong-su is left humiliated. Determined to catch the killer known as K, he forms an uneasy alliance with Jung Tae-seok, a relentless and incorruptible detective who often disrupts his illegal business. However, while Jang Dong-su wants K dead, Jung Tae-suk is determined to bring him to justice. With a deal in place—whoever finds K first will decide his fate—the hunt begins, blurring the lines between crime and law.


The Wailing
2016 · 2h 36m · KR
A stranger arrives in a little village and soon after a mysterious sickness starts spreading. A policeman is drawn into the incident and is forced to solve the mystery in order to save his daughter.


Snowpiercer
2013 · 2h 7m · KR
In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, a class system evolves aboard the Snowpiercer; a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine.


Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum
2018 · 1h 35m · KR
The crew of a horror web series travels to an abandoned asylum for a live broadcast, but they encounter much more than expected as they move deeper inside the nightmarish old building.


I Saw the Devil
2010 · 2h 24m · KR
Kyung-chul is a dangerous psychopath who kills for pleasure. Soo-hyeon, a top-secret agent, decides to track down the murderer himself. He promises himself that he will do everything in his power to take vengeance against the killer, even if it means that he must become a monster himself.


Scarlet Innocence
2014 · 1h 51m · KR
A university professor gradually succumbing to blindness is entranced by an obsessive love, in this modern-day adaptation of a classic Korean fairy tale.


Hope
2013 · 2h 3m · KR
After 8-year-old So-won narrowly survives a brutal sexual assault, her family labors to help her heal while coping with their own rage and grief.


Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds
2017 · 2h 19m · KR
Having died unexpectedly, firefighter Ja-hong is taken to the afterlife by 3 afterlife guardians. Only when he passes 7 trials over 49 days and proves he was innocent in human life, he’s able to reincarnate, and his 3 afterlife guardians are by his side to defend him in trial.


Burning
2018 · 2h 28m · KR
Deliveryman Jong-su is out on a job when he runs into Hae-mi, a girl who once lived in his neighborhood. She asks if he'd mind looking after her cat while she's away on a trip to Africa. On her return, she introduces to Jong-su an enigmatic young man named Ben, who she met during her trip. One day Ben tells Jong-su about his most unusual hobby.


Buddy's Mom
2015 · 1h 41m · KR
20-year-old Kyeong-soo is a man who's full of assumptions. He learned about sex from Internet porn, but nothing about the real thing. He's only had crushes and has never even kissed before. He got embarrassed when he confessed his feelings to Ji-yeon, his crush. He comforted himself from the shame with Japanese girls in his room with his right hand. One day, he has a fight with his father and remembers his friend Baek-hyeon had invited him over to Gangwon-do. There he falls in love with his friends' mother.


The Concubine
2012 · 2h 2m · KR
A tragic love triangle story between Hwa-yeon, a daughter of a nobleman, her true love Kwon-yoo, a servant and the man who will be King, Prince Sung-won.


The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion
2018 · 2h 6m · HK
Ja-yoon is a high school student who struggles with memory loss after she endured some unknown trauma during her childhood. While trying to uncover the truth, she is unwittingly dragged into a world of crime and finds herself on a journey that will awaken many secrets hidden deep within.


The Treacherous
2015 · 2h 13m · KR
The story of Joseon's tyrant king Yeonsan who exploits the populace for his own carnal pleasures, his seemingly loyal retainer who controls him and all court dealings, and a woman who seeks vengeance.


The Servant
2010 · 2h 4m · KR
A servant falls in love with a girl whom his master also desires. Although the girl loves the servant, she also longs to improve her station in life.


Love Lesson
2013 · 1h 20m · KR
Korea's most popular song writer Hee-soo runs into a nineteen-year-old boy in the elevator. Hee-soo is inspired by a new song watching him shake at her figure. She starts to tell him about women under the excuse that she's teaching him music. They fall for each other but things get complicated when her life teacher, Joon-ho who taught her about life and music comes back.


The Story of Ong-nyeo
2014 · 1h 34m · KR
Ong-nye had a world of men wrapped around her finger, until, one day, a horrific injury leaves her handicapped, and she retreats to the mountains. But one man may break her loneliness.


The Outlaws
2017 · 2h 1m · KR
In Chinatown, law and order is turned upside down when a trio of feral Chinese gangsters arrive, start terrorizing civilians, and usurping territory. The beleaguered local gangsters team up with the police, lead by the badass loose cannon Ma Seok-do, to bring them down. Based on a true story.


The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature
2017 · 1h 31m · CA
When the evil mayor of Oakton decides to bulldoze Liberty Park and build a dangerous amusement park in its place, Surly Squirrel and his ragtag group of animal friends need to band together to save their home, defeat the mayor, and take back the park.


Extreme Job
2019 · 1h 51m · KR
A drug squad attempts to take down a criminal organization and they must go undercover to do so, so they begin working at a chicken restaurant, that becomes famous for its delicious chicken. Due to the unexpected popularity, the detectives find themselves in a situation they never expected.


Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days
2018 · 2h 21m · KR
As the deceased soul Ja-hong and his three afterlife guardians prepare for their remaining trials for reincarnation, the guardians soon come face to face with the truth of their tragic time on Earth 1,000 years earlier.


The Man from Nowhere
2010 · 1h 59m · KR
A reclusive pawnshop owner goes on a brutal rampage to rescue a young girl kidnapped by a criminal organization.


Forgotten
2017 · 1h 48m · KR
Jin-seok, 21-year-old, moves into a new house with his family. He suffers from a slight schizophrenia but he carries an ordinary life under the warm care of the family. His older brother Yu-seok is a decent college student, a mentor, and role model for Jin-seok. One night, his beloved brother is kidnapped by unidentified assailants before Jin-seok's eye. Jin-seok can’t recognize their faces, but can remember only the VIN that matches with no car. After long silence of 19 days, suddenly Yu-seok returns home, but remembers nothing which had happened in the meantime. And soon Jin-seok feels Yu-seok is a total stranger.


A Taxi Driver
2017 · 2h 18m · KR
May, 1980. Man-seob is a taxi driver in Seoul who lives from hand to mouth, raising his young daughter alone. One day, he hears that there is a foreigner who will pay big money for a drive down to Gwangju city. Not knowing that he’s a German journalist with a hidden agenda, Man-seob takes the job.


Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs
2019 · 1h 32m · KR
Princes who have been turned into Dwarfs seek the red shoes of a lady in order to break the spell, although it will not be easy.


High Society
2018 · 2h · KR
The story of the journey of married couple up the social latter. The husband is professor at Seoul National University who is running for the National Assembly, and his wife is a painter.


Ashfall
2019 · 2h 8m · KR
A group of unlikely heroes from across the Korean peninsula try to save the day after a volcano erupts on the mythical and majestic Baekdu Mountain.


Sex: A Relationship and Not Marriage
2016 · 1h 49m · KR
The life story of a woman who doesn't want to settle for one man. Her mom nags at her to get married, her superior grills her to bring results and her boyfriend turns out to be married. Soo-kyeong comforts herself with some spicy food. One lonely birthday, she ends up having sex with the chef of the spicy food restaurant. They fit well mentally and physically so they get closer but Soo-kyeong rejects the chef's marriage proposal. The chef gets married with someone else and asks her, "I got married with someone else like you said. Now will you have a relationship with me?"


The Flu
2013 · 2h 2m · KR
A case of the flu quickly morphs into a pandemic. As the death toll mounts and the living panic, the government plans extreme measures to contain it.


Silenced
2011 · 2h 5m · KR
Based on actual events that took place at Gwangju Inhwa School for the hearing-impaired, where young deaf students were the victims of repeated sexual assaults by faculty members over a period of five years in the early 2000s.


An Affair: My Friend's Mom
2017 · 1h 12m · KR
A young mother takes interest in her friend's son. Her interest in him makes her forget herself and drives her to pursue him.


Sex Plate 17
2017 · 2h 1m
A woman who can make all of one man’s fantasies come true moves in next door .


New World
2013 · 2h 14m · KR
An undercover cop has his loyalties tested when the boss of the corporate gang he's spent years infiltrating dies.


My Way
2011 · 2h 17m · KR
During the invasion of Normandy the photograph of a slim Korean man in German uniform was found. It transpired that the man had served as a soldier in the Japanese, Russian and German armies. His incredible story inspired director Kang Je-Gyu to create this epic war drama.


Young Mother
2013 · 1h 23m · KR
Nineteen-year-old, Jin-goo enjoys an erotic moment to himself while thinking about his pretty English tutor. Then one day, he is caught in the middle of an embarrassing moment and becomes awkward with her. However, this becomes an opportunity and she starts teaching him sex. Their replationship becomes an uncontrollable romance. However, she quits the tutoring and the relationship to get married. Time goes on and Jin-goo is a grown up. He's used to thoughtless sex. However, his partner of benefit gets pregnant so he meets his future-mother-in-law to talk about marriage. However, she's so beautiful and sexy. He moves in with the in-laws but soon breaks out of the marrige due to his wife's fling. The mother-in-law doesn't know how to make it up to him for what her daughter has done. Jin-goo suggests something dangerous...


The Yellow Sea
2010 · 2h 36m · KR
A Korean man in China takes an assassination job in South Korea to make money and find his missing wife. But when the job is botched, he is forced to go on the run from the police and the gangsters who paid him.


Veteran
2015 · 2h 3m · KR
When an old collaborator gets severely injured, a veteran policeman tries to figure out the way to bring to justice the ultimately suspected aggressor, a spoiled young executive, heir to a mega corporation, who believes he is above the law.
The 2010s belonged to the franchise: shared universes, legacy sequels, and a superhero cycle at peak cultural saturation. It was simultaneously a strong decade for independent film, as streaming money found the margins.
South Korean cinema spent the 2000s building a reputation for genre films that refuse to stay in their lane — thrillers that turn into family dramas, revenge stories with slapstick. Parasite's Best Picture win in 2020 confirmed what festival audiences had known for two decades.