The highest rated Korean thriller on IMDb is indeed a horror story with no comedy elements, but it’s not always about supernatural horror.
The true horror genre can be divided into many different subcategories, including horror, mystery, supernatural, gore, and comedy. All bring their own uniqueness and the evaluation depends on the tastes of each object.
But if you look at the ratings on IMDb, here are the 7 Korean horror movies with the highest ratings
I Saw the Devil (2020)
This movie has received a rating of 7.8 from 130k IMDb users. The story follows agent Soo-hyun seeking revenge after her fiance is killed by a psychotic serial killer named Kyung-chul.
The main stars are Lee Byung-hun and Choi Min-sik. The director is Kim Jae-woon (A Tale of Two Sisters, A Bittersweet Life), and the screenplay is Park Hoon-jung (The Unjust).
Train to Busan (2016)
This globally popular movie has received a rating of 7.6 from 217 thousand users. The story follows the struggle of father and son and the passengers on a train to Busan to save themselves from a zombie apocalypse.
Two famous Korean actors, Gong Yoo and Ma Dong-seok, play the main roles in this movie, along with Jung Yu-mi.
The Wailing (2016)
Another highly rated Korean thriller on IMDb is The Wailing. Rated 7.4 out of 68,000 users.
Na Hong-jin ( The Chaser ) is directing and writing the screenplay for the film. He also wrote the highly successful Thai horror film, The Medium. The players are Kwak Do-won, Hwang Jung-min and Chun Woo-hee.
The Wailing tells the story of a disease outbreak that emerged after the appearance of a mysterious person in Gokseong village. A police officer then tries to solve this mystery to save his son.
Bedeviled (2010)
The rating for this horror movie has reached 7.3 out of 15 thousand users. This film became one of the best-selling films in Korea the year it was released.
Bedeviled tells the story of a woman who is a victim of physical, emotional, and sexual violence trying to save herself from a deserted island. The stars are Seo Young-hee and Ji Sung-won.
The Empty Dream (1965)
This is a Korean historical drama adapted from a Japanese film. The story is about a woman and a man who meet at a dental clinic and are sedated. They then experience some kind of dream or hallucination related to a love triangle with the dentist at the clinic.
The film stars Sung-il Shin, Su-jeong Park and Am Park. The director is Yu Hyun-mok. Rated is 7.2 out of 44 users.
The Host (2006)
This movie, directed by Bong Joon-ho, has a rating of 7.1 out of 121 thousand users. Like Joon-ho’s other films, The Host is also a work of social criticism wrapped in a macabre horror story, this time through the emergence of a monster from the sea.
The film stars Song Kang-ho, Byun Hee-bong and Park Hae-il.
The Call (2020)
This film stars Park Shin-hye and the Tokyo cast of Money Heist Korea, Jeon Jong-seo. The rating on IMDb is also 7.1 out of 32k users.
The Call is adapted from the British and Puerto Rican film released in 2011. The story is about two women from different times who can connect through phone calls. They can change their destiny thanks to this ability.
Besides The Call, other Korean horror films that also received the highest rating of 7.1 from IMDb are Thirst (2009), A Tale of Two Sisters (2003), and The Ceiling Under the Moon (1996).