The zombie genre fans have waited over a year for their famous drama Kingdom to return with new episodes. Kingdom has garnered a strong viewership by injecting the genre into a historical setting. This popular zombie apocalypse took the world by storm when it aired in 2019, gaining massive viewership in its first week. Here is a list of Korean films to watch if you love Kingdom, which will satisfy your horror cravings.
1. The Flu
The Flu is a medical disaster film released in 0213, directed by Kim Sung-su, starring Jang Hyuk, Park Min-ha, Lee Hee-Joon, Soo Ae, and Yoo Hae-Jin. A single mother with her daughter is trying to survive an airborne virus that is causing people to exhibit signs of high fever and eventually die. With a fireman’s help, they make it to quarantine the virus has already reached there. The mother works in the medical field, trying to save her daughter, who was nearly infected by the strain of H5N1.
2. Deranged
Deranged is a disaster fiction film released in 2012, directed by Park Jung-Woo, starring Kim Dong-wan, Lee Hanee, Kim Myung-min, and Moon Jung-hee. In a shocking turn of events, people find dead bodies floating along the Han River. After an investigation led by the authorities, they discovered that this incident was linked to a viral outbreak that causes people to lose control over their brains. Mutant parasitic horsehair worms, the virus will cause people extreme thirst and hunger, and they will drown themselves in water to get rid of the worm.
3. Seoul Station
Seoul Station is an animated post-apocalyptic film released in 2016, directed by Yeon Sang-ho, starring Shim Eun-kyung, Lee Joon, and Ryu Seung-ryong. The story starts at Seoul Station, where a runaway woman is trying to survive in a world that sees her as disposable. It revolves around three people: Suk-gyu is a father searching for Hye-sun, his runaway daughter, who he gets to know is alive and living as a prostitute. He finds her through Ki-woong, her boyfriend who had tried to pimp her. Just when he is going to reunite with her, a zombie epidemic breaks out.
4. Train To Busan
A father and her daughter had fled their home after a widespread virus that has infected the whole city. They, with their new friends, run for their lives and fight off zombies who are attacking them in their train, that is going to Busan. Busan was the only safe place as it had a military base protection and an adequate supply of food. The movie is a good mix of horror, comedy, and drama.
5. #Alive
#Alive is an action horror film released in 2020, directed by Cho II-hyung, starring Park Shin-hye and Yoo Ah-in. It revolves around a video game streamer struggling to survive as he is forced to be alone in his apartment during a zombie apocalypse. Oh Joon-woo is starting to lose hope but gets hope when he sees Kim Yoo-bin, another survivor who lives in an apartment across the road. He helps Joon-woo by sending him food, and how they two fight for their lives.
6. Rampant
Rampant is an action horror film released in 2018, directed by Kim Sung-Hoon, starring Hyun Bin, Kim Eui-sung, Lee Sun-bin, Jang Dong-gun, and Seo Ji-hye. The film features a Baksh between Kim Ja-joon, Joseon minister of War, and Lee Chung, an exiled prince, with a zombie plague spreading. The film has martial arts sequences, action scenes, and political drama. Lee Chung, along with battling with flesh-eating creatures, must also fight with corrupted members of the empire so that he can save his kingdom.
7. The Odd Family: Zombie On Sale
The Odd Family is a zombie comedy film released in 2019, directed by Lee Min-Jae. It stars Kim Nam-gil, Lee Soo-kyung, Park In-Hwan, Jung Jae-young, Uhm Ji-won, and Jung Ga-ram. The story is about when a pharmaceutical company mistakenly creates a zombie after an illegal experiment. The chaos starts when a strange man appears in the village where his family lives. This story is different, however, when the family takes advantage of this situation and tries to make a profit from it.
8. Zombie School
Chilsung School is for troubled kids. Pigs get buried alive near their school after a foot-and-mouth disease that is going on. These creatures return to take revenge as zombie pigs, first turning their teachers into zombies. The students have no choice but to team up and fight their teachers to save themselves from becoming monsters.
9. The Wailing
It centers around Jong-woo, a policeman who is investigating a sequence of murders that are happening in a small remote village that had recently gotten infected by a mysterious illness. Many people believe the outbreak started when a Japanese stranger visited the town a few days ago. Soon, Hyo-jin’s daughter begins to get a strange disease, and he must race the clock to solve the mystery quickly.
10. Doomsday Book
It is a fiction film released in 2012, starring Ryoo Seung-bum, Song Sae-byeok, and Kim Kang-woo. The film tells three unique stories of the self-destruction of humans in the modern high-tech era while also displaying an alternative form of humanity and compassion. The first part shows the chain of reaction which happens between animals and humans and the process of recycling. When there's a rotten apple, it travels down the water sewerage and becomes a recycled feed for cows. Another man by accident eats toxic beef during the barbecue, from the same cow. This is how the zombie outbreak starts.
