1980s Korean Movies

Sa Bangji was an intersex person who according to historical records lived during Korea’s Joseon Dynasty. Taken in by a kindly benefactor, Sa Bangji lives in a monastery that is one day visited by a young widow, Lee So-sa, who is in mourning following the death of her husband. The pair’s meeting seems predestined, with the erotic attraction between Sa Bangji and Lee So-sa soon evolving into something far more transcendent – and dangerous. While aspects of the film – its stylised depiction of female actors and sex – identify it as a product of its time, Sa Bangji is undeniably a milestone in screen representations of intersex people, a film that refuses to shy away from the horrendous stigmatization faced by its titular character.

A wife starts to suspect her husband's infidelity after the arrival of their new, young housekeeper, who carries a mysterious wooden doll with herself.

Mang-wol, a master of martial arts, has doubts about the life he has led. Taking Yong, the son of Pak who he had nearly killed in a fight, Mang-wol disappears. As time passes, Mang-wol teaches Yong martial arts. Yong becomes an adult. He goes into the city to get medicine for Mang-wol. Yong runs into Nan-si, a woman of the Shaolin training hall, who takes all his gold. Yong is unable to defeat Paeng's fighting skills but Mang-wol saves him from his predicament. Paeng knows that Mang-wol is the enemy who killed Yong's father. Paeng searches out Mang-wol. Yong deceives Mang-wol and goes to see Nan-si. Yong becomes the manager of the Shaolin Hall but Paeng cruelly beats him up and Yong returns to Mang-wol. Mang-wol tells Yong the truth about his past and dies in a fight with Paeng. Yong practices the new fighting technique he's developed and fights Paeng.

The villainous Nekron and his mother, Queen Juliana, plot against the human race from their frigid fortress. Creating mass destruction with huge glaciers, mother and son incur the wrath of Larn, a warrior whose entire village was destroyed by ice. When Nekron's underlings kidnap the beautiful Princess Teegra, Larn sets out to rescue her, assisted by the fierce and enigmatic Darkwolf.

The superhero Sparkman and his friends must prevent an evil Baron from taking over the world.

Dr Yoshimura has been conducting experiments in “facial transplants” to help burn victims. The limited success of his experiments requires him to have a steady supply of face donors--regardless of whether or not they are willing to “donate”.

Kang Dae-woong, a descendant of a fallen family of four generations, is in danger of overturning his sins through the conspiracy of the richest man, but escapes the crisis with the help of Kim Dae-gam, a former leader of Lee Jo.

Accidentally discovering the operations of the Blood Ninja gangsters, a mischievous young man masters the skills of the Drunk Fist and proceeds to fight against them. But the gangsters join forces, vowing to kill him before the young master destroys them all.

A detective searching for the cause of a young man's death uncovers a melodramatic story involving prostitutes and religion.

In a valley village in Hwanghae-do province, there is a legend about an old wolf that has lived there for a thousand years and takes the form of a woman to make trouble. Ok-hwa is the only daughter of Kim Jwa-su. She loses her parents to the plotting of Wol-sun, her stepmother. Unjustly accused of being a 'mad wolf,' Ok-hwa is sentenced to death. The ghost of Ok-hwa's mother, Kang, tries to save her poor daughter. The ghost of Kang punishes the evil Wol-sun and her lover, Choi Si-baek for their sins. However, Buddhist monk Mu-ryang teaches her that the life and death of humans as well as emotions like joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure are transient. He takes Ok-hwa's hand and they leave. Sixty years later, a descendent of Si-baek is at a small Buddhist temple in Mt. Gu-wol when he sees Si-baek and Wol-sun's…

The evil Dong Won has unbeatable kicking legs and proudly travels the land proving his expertise. But when a young man loses his foster parent to Won's deadly kick, he seeks out an old drunken master to learn a way to defeat the Master of the Leg.

When the ruthless Yellow Tigers ascend to the top of the criminal underworld and law enforcement fails to put an end to their violent acts, a martial arts expert organizes his own gang to take them down.

During childbirth, a family sacrifices the life of the mother to save her baby. She returns from the grave and takes possession of another woman to get revenge.

At the 10th year since King Yeon-San came to the throne, Suwon magistrate Yun Dong-Kyun dies a mysterious death. Lee Won-Seok leaves for Suwon as the next magistrate and his wife Kim remains at the home. Man-Dol, who has been admired her, tells a lie to her that her husband indulges himself in woman and it make her blind with avarice. Unreliable incidents continuously happen and one day, Lee Won-Seok is murdered. Man-Dol is turned out to be the murderer and on the day when a prize gate for exemplary woman is bestowed on Kim, a thunder falls on the gate.

Kwang-yeol is placed in the mental hospital for no reason as soon as he comes back to Korea after studying abroad. He manages to escape from the hospital and the continuing mysterious incidents puts him in the train headed to Yeosu. On the train, Kwang-yeol comes across the detective Yu who shows him the picture of his twin brother Bong-yeol on the newspaper. He attends the Bong-yeol's funeral service and goes into Bong-yeol's house to run into Sul-hi, Bong-yeol's wife. Mystery is solved and Hye-young, the committer of all evil deed, commits suicide.

A historical drama about the life of Prince Yeonsan of Joseon,.

Jeong-ho is castrated by an ambitious minister for loving above his station. The minister also happens to be the father of Ja-ok, the girl Jeong-ho loved. He sends his daughter to the king as a concubine in a bid to gain favor, but the king sees through his motives and the instead forces Ja-ok into the position of a lowly kitchen maid. Jeong-ho sole hope in life is to save his former lover.

A general goes on a search for a book that reveals the names of revolutionaries in the area, leading to a showdown at a Shaolin temple where he faces off against the revolutionaries.

A gang leader targets the daughter of an enemy who's been promised to a local fighter. After losing his leg to a poison arrow, the fighter learns to fight again using a metal leg.

Jang-go and Sorimsa go to Seoul in hopes of enrolling in the police academy. However, they are conned by Du-keobi who gets the pigs and dogs they hoped to sell to pay for their tuition. So they end up working at a restaurant run by the sisters Ae-ri and Mal-suk. But, due to the unexpected con by the head of Du-keobi's gang, they find out that Kang Dal-seong and Do-wang are also part of the gang. Dal-seong and Do-wang had killed Jang-go's parents and run off to Japan with their fortune. They are all involved in drug trafficking now. Along with the investigators, Jang-go and Sorimsa use their wits and resources to make a clean sweep of the gang.

Ja-young is a flutist. When her father has a child out of wedlock, her mother regards sex as a sin out of anger towards him. Ja-young grows up under her mother's exceedingly oppressive notions.

A woman is tricked into betraying her lover and her father is slain. She throws herself into a lake, but the legendary spirit inhabiting the lake takes possession of her body.

In-chul, a scholar of botany, is climbing a mountain for some research when he meets Jin-suk who lives in a forest cottage. At the request of Jin-suk's father, Sang-do, In-chul stays and lives with them. One day, a snake catcher falls under the temptation of Sang-do and is used as a body for dissection. While probing dubious action of Sang-do, In-chul is captured and locked in the basement. He is to become the subject of a live dissection. In-chul had been suspicious of their behavior and investigating when he was caught. In-chul is lying on a surgery table when he escapes with the help of a young hiker and Jin-suk. Sang-do confesses that he had been suffering from nightmares ever since he was dragged off by the Japanese and forced to perform live dissections. These nightmares have made Sang-do a murderer. After his confession, Sang-do kills himself. In-chul and Jin-suk leave the cottage.

Won Sa-yong kills his friend to take the latter's girlfriend, Seol-hie. Seol-hie is not happy with this situation and bites her own tongue off and bleeds to death. Ten years later, she reappears as a vampire and attempts to destroy Sa-yong and his family.

Disgusted with the behavior of his young step-mother, Sang-tae does a little digging into her past and discovers, among other things, that she may have killed her former lover.

Valuable scriptures are stolen from the Shaolin Buddist Temple by Eagle Han after he had carried out his orders from the Imperial Court and assasinated the Abbott of Shaolin. A strong force of beautiful oriental girls is assembled to get the scriptures back

Song Ryul returns to the countryside to see his ill father. After his cousin conspires with the Japanese occupiers to sell their crop, Song Ryul is forced to emigrate to Kando (Jiandao) in Manchuria. His family faces numerous adversities there and after a row with a local pharmacist, he is imprisoned. The prison is raided by Kim Il-sung and his guerrillas, who free the inmates, who take revenge on the Japanese by blowing up a railway.

Innocent Bok-nyeo is sold at 18 years old to an elderly widower who sends her to work in the salt mines. There she is raped by the supervisor. Becoming very cynical about life, Bok-nyeo becomes the mistress of a couple of rich men, Choi and Wang. In this way, she becomes accustomed to the high life. However she panics and takes desperate steps when one of her sources of income is about to cut her off.

Mi-ryeong marries Ji-kwang and takes him to live at her mansion. He soon seems to fall ill and he requests that his friend, Yeo-ok be hired on to nurse him. However, Yeo-ok and Ji-kwang are really lovers and together they manage to fake Ji-kwang's death. They next torment Mi-ryeong with visions of his 'ghost'. Mi-ryeong dies of fright and Yeo-ok and Ji-kwang marry--but their happiness is short-lived as their nights are interupted by the vengeful spirit of Mi-ryeong.

A barren noblewoman encourages her husband to take a young peasant as a surrogate to secure the male line.

A man married to a Christian, but from a shamanistic upbringing, attempts to come to terms with the spirit of his mother who visits him in dreams.

Oh Su-bi's husband, Shin Hyun-wu, is in jail for involuntary homicide. For the past two years, Su-bi has visited her husband every week. Though she is anguished by Hyun-wu's affairs, Su-bi is unable to divorce him even though everyone thinks she should. While visiting her husband, Su-bi meets Kim Dong-yub, a student of art, and feels his sincerity. One day, Su-bi runs into an old boyfriend, Kim Mun-ho, who lives in the same apartment complex. They engage in an affair. However, Su-bi is unable to bear the perverted sexual preferences of Mun-ho. She goes to Dong-yub and engages in a pure love. Hyun-wu asks for a divorce. When Su-bi is in the country, Dong-yub comes to her and promises to take her to France. However, the day they are supposed to leave for France, Hyun-wu is released from jail on a special pardon. Though she was on her way to Dong-yub, Su-bi finds herself greeting Hyun-wu, unable to free herself from the shackles of marriage.

Governor Heo, worried over the plague that's sweeping the country, rebukes the Kus who make amulets to ward off evil. Heo castrates the husband when he makes superstitious claims and takes the wife as his mistress. Heo continues to be tormented by hallucinations and nightmares and begins to blame it on the Kus' curse. He kills the couple at their reunion and unable to ward off his bad karma, dies from leprosy.

In 1910, Korea suffers the humiliation of being annexed by Japan. Young patriots form an independence group called Bukrogun Jeongseo. General Kim Jwa-jin as well as freedom fighters such as Lee Bum-suk, Na Jung-jo are burning with nationalistic spirit. Japan takes over Manchuria. In order to destroy the freedom fighters, Japan employs the Manchurian bandit, Jang Jak-rim, and starts plotting their destruction. Risking their lives, the freedom fighters engage in a bloody battle at Chungsan-ri under the extraordinary leadership and burning patriotism of General Kim Jwa-jin. Despite being greatly outnumbered, the freedom fighters are triumphant.

Kim Dong-soo is trying to escape with a list of compatriots who support independence, but is ambushed by a Japanese Sabroo, which takes away the theater and cuts off his son Eung-beom's three fingers. Eung-beom hones his orthodox martial arts with the help of Master Baegun. And he creates a new martial art unique to Chil Ji-soo and grows into a terrifying, high-skilled martial artist. Eung-beom, who has been taught his martial arts, descends in search of his homeland and his father's enemies. Eung-beom goes through all sorts of trials to punish Sabroo, a vicious Japanese. Meanwhile, he meets Kyung-ae, a Korean woman who works as Sabro-oh's henchman. In a confrontation to eliminate Sabro-Oh's subordinates one by one, when Eung-beom is put in jeopardy due to a cunning scheme, her Kyung-ae provides dramatic help. Eungbeom escapes from crisis and becomes angry and punishes his parents and enemies of the nation.

About three monks in a remote monastery; an aging master, a small orphan and a young man who left his city life to seek Enlightenment.

In the middle of the Koryo dynasty, the wealthy man Jo wants So-yah so he kills her husband, Huh Jun. So-yah follows her husband by killing herself. She asks her a cat to avenge them. The cat licks the blood of the dead So-yah. The cat calls forth evil power and finally appears in front of Jo's house. Every night, the cat causes trouble for Jo so he has all the cats in the village killed. However, the evil power of the cat goes to Young-rang, Jo's second wife. At night, Young-rang steals the spirit of Jo. The family elders go to the master Buddhist priest Hye-sung for his advice. Hye-sung subdues the cat's spirit but Jo is already dead. So-yah's soul goes to heaven with her husband's soul.

The lives of a group of women living in a women's shelter in a red light district of Seoul.

A man fails to break up the relationshiop between the girl he loves and her fiance. He decides to prove his love by writing lyrics for the songs she composed and entering them in a contest.

A highschool student arrives in a small village from Seoul but cannot adapt to the attitudes of the country people.