15 Best Movies Like Parasite

One of the most widely acclaimed movies of the past decade was 2019’s “Parasite,” which became the first non-English language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Directed and co-written by South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho, the movie featured a financially struggling family getting more than they bargain for when they infiltrate a rich family’s home. Blending dark humor with thriller action and themes of increasingly divided social classes, “Parasite” opened Korean cinema to larger audiences. And for those left on the edge of their seats hoping for more, there are plenty of intense movies, both from Korea and beyond, to keep the thrills coming.

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Long before “Parasite,” Korea has steadily delivered some of the best thrillers in global entertainment, both for cinema and television. But to be clear, this list isn’t exclusively comprised of South Korean thrillers, but they do figure prominently here. Instead, these are dark thrillers, often with a focus on family, and filled with plenty of twists and turns to keep audiences on their toes. Here are the 15 best movies like “Parasite” that everyone should watch.

One of the most foundational movies in the history of Korean cinema, 1960’s “The Housemaid” is a cautionary tale written, produced, and directed by Kim Ki-young. The movie follows a wealthy family headed by Kim Dong-sik (Kim Jin-kyu), who lives with his pregnant wife and two children. As his wife’s pregnancy progresses, Dong-sik hires Myung-sook (Lee Eun-shim) as a housemaid to help around his home. However, Myung-sook gradually manipulates the family, especially Dong-sik, effectively destroying it during her stay with the Kims.

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For 1960, it’s quite surprising what “The Housemaid” shows on-screen, including the sexually twisted lengths Myung-sook inflicts on the Kims. The story quickly grows more disturbing as it advances, which only makes it more of an engrossing watch. Kim Ki-young revisited this tale in his 1971 remake “Woman of Fire,” and “The Housemaid” was remade again in 2010, but the original still packs a wallop. Well worth seeking out over 60 years since its initial release, “The Housemaid” is a morality play about the dangers of familial outsiders that’s still just as haunting today.

Years before bringing darkly funny postmodernism to slasher movies with “Scream,” filmmaker Wes Craven wrote and directed the 1991 horror comedy “The People Under the Stairs.” Skewering Los Angeles gentrifiers, the movie has Fool Williams (Brandon Adams) break into the house of cruel landlords, the Robesons, to obtain money for his mother’s medical treatment. Inside, Fool finds that the Robesons keep a group of impoverished kidnaped children in their basement who have reverted to cannibalism to stay alive. With the Robesons now hunting him, Fool searches for a way to escape their home and expose them for the evil they truly are, if he can survive the night.

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At first glance, the opening premise to “The People Under the Stairs” is quite similar to “Parasite,” but quickly pivots to a more horrific direction. A reaction to Reaganism and the resurgence of American political conservatism in the ’80s, the movie is Craven at his most overtly satirical. And in true fashion to Craven’s other work, this flick is as bloody as all get out, punctuating its pitch-black humor. Arguably the most underrated Craven film, “The People Under the Stairs” is a gory good time.

The modern American filmmaker perhaps most readily associated with and praised for their work in the thriller genre is David Fincher, through hits like “Zodiac” and “Se7en.” Fincher’s 2002 movie “Panic Room” is a literal locked room thriller, with single mother Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) and her daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart) moving into a Manhattan brownstone. This residence contains a sealed panic room, which quickly proves useful when the house is broken into by three men determined to steal bearer bonds left by the previous owner. What follows is a cat-and-mouse game as the burglars try to force Meg and Sarah out, while Meg tries to obtain life-saving medication for her daughter on the outside.

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Compared to most of Fincher’s work, “Panic Room” is tightly focused and claustrophobic, playing out almost entirely from within the Altman’s home. This taut pacing and darkened setting is right inside of Fincher’s meticulously prepared wheelhouse, maintaining a steady sense of suspense. Grounding the whole proceeding is a confident performance from Foster, keeping the movie from jumping the scare, especially in its more action-heavy second half. An underrated entry in Fincher’s extensive filmography, “Panic Room” is a riveting watch from beginning to end.

Bong Joon Ho’s second feature film ever was 2003’s “Memories of Murder,” loosely based on the Hwaseong Murders in the ’80s and ’90s, South Korea’s first documented serial killer case. The movie has a small town rocked by the grisly murder of two women in 1986, with local police detective Park Doo-man (Song Kang-ho) investigating the case. After teaming up with his city-based counterpart Seo Tae-yoon (Kim Sang-kyung), Park’s investigation begins to incorporate more modern forensic methods to identify the killer. However, despite their best efforts, they are unable to stop the murderer, even as they become more obsessed with the case.

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Over 20 years later, “Memories of Murder” remains one of Bong Joon Ho’s greatest films and the start of his fruitful creative partnership with future “Parasite” star Song Kang-ho. In contrast to many crime procedurals, the central investigation in this movie is messy and chaotic, not well-ordered and methodically explored. To solve the case, morality is easily discarded and personal feelings often get in the way, making its melancholy coda all the more bitter. Moodily realized, “Memories of Murder” is a haunting story offering a fresh perspective on familiar crime thriller tropes.

Another major voice in the South Korean film industry is Park Chan-wook, who helped the country’s cinematic oeuvre gain international recognition with his 2003 movie “Oldboy.” Loosely adapting the Japanese manga of the same name, the story has mild-mannered businessman Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) kidnaped by a shadowy figure. Suddenly released after 15 years of captivity, Dae-su searches for the man who completely ruined his life. As Dae-su delves deeper into the dark and violent criminal underworld, he grows close to a young sushi chef Mi-do (Kang Hye-jung).

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“Oldboy” is the centerpiece of Park Chan-wook’s thematic trilogy focused on the concept of vengeance, and it’s one of the best revenge movies of the 21st century. Mercilessly vicious, this lurid tale will keep audiences guessing how the story will unfold right till its closing scene, with no punches pulled in its graphic violence and twisted stakes. The movie gained overseas recognition through several high-profile Americans, including Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino, helping usher Korean cinema to wider audiences. Tautly delivered, keeping the humanist core in sight amidst all of its grueling action, “Oldboy” holds up as one of the greatest Korean movies ever made.

The thematic companion piece to Bong Joon Ho’s earlier work “Memories of Murder,” 2009’s “Mother” involves another small town murder mystery in South Korea. The movie centers on an overprotective single mother (Kim Hye-ja), who cares for her intellectually challenged son Yoon Do-joon (Won Bin). After Do-joon is implicated in the murder of a local young woman, the unnamed mother goes through extraordinary lengths to clear her son’s name. Though initially convinced Do-joon is innocent, the mother gradually discovers her son’s lethal culpability may indeed be behind the killing.

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Bong Joon Ho crafts a gripping murder mystery and searing family drama, with shades of his usual dark sense of humor, all at once with “Mother.” Kim Hye-ja superbly carries much of the movie’s emotional content, as the increasingly desperate mother determined to save her son at all costs. But really, Bong Joon Ho is crafting a story about how violently people can reject the truth, even if it’s presented clearly in front of them. Another standout film from Korea, “Mother” is the kind of intimate crime thriller that the country’s cinema is known for.

Novelist Gillian Flynn teamed up with David Fincher to adapt her 2012 novel “Gone Girl” into a gripping psychological thriller of the same name. The 2014 adaptation has unhappily married Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) become the center of a media frenzy when his semi-famous wife Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike) abruptly disappears. This is juxtaposed with Amy’s journal detailing the history of their relationship before uncovering what actually happened to her. And as it becomes clear that Amy has her own machinations in getting back at Nick, the marital strife eventually takes a gruesome turn.

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From its scathing critique of the media to its sudden pivot into decidedly more suspenseful thriller territory, Fincher and Flynn prove to be a strong collaborative pairing for “Gone Girl.” The movie sets its gloomy atmosphere in its first half before unveiling its true stakes in its back half. Anchoring the whole thing is Rosamund Pike, delivering one of the best villainous performances cinema has seen in years. Melancholic before transforming into a living nightmare by its ending, “Gone Girl” is Fincher at his most effectively deliberate within the crime thriller genre.

While “The Handmaiden” may have a similar title to the classic Korean movie “The Housemaid,” Park Chan-wook’s 2016 period piece thriller tells a completely different tale. Loosely based on the 2002 British novel “Fingersmith” by Sarah Waters, the movie is set during the Japanese occupation of Korea in the early 20th century. Con artist Count Fujiwara (Ha Jung-woo) plots to marry Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee) for her money and then have her committed to a psychiatric hospital. However, Hideko has manipulative plans of her own, complete with her own secret lover and plan to escape her cruel Uncle Kouzuki (Cho Jin-woong).

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A slick and stylish erotic thriller, “The Handmaiden” has players being played in its constant game of calculating figures. The movie is Park at his most deliberately sexual, though that sense of mortal peril is still present throughout the story. And yet, for all its period piece trappings and life-or-death stakes, the movie still finds plenty of places for its dark sense of humor. Another masterpiece from Park Chan-wook, “The Handmaiden” keeps audiences guessing just where its story is going next.

If there’s any contemporary American filmmaker that gets South Korean cinema’s tendency to mix comedy and suspense together so effectively it’s Jordan Peele. Peele’s feature directorial debut, 2017’s “Get Out,” is a psychological horror following black protagonist Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) as he meets his white girlfriend’s parents for the first time. Traveling to her hometown in upstate New York, he finds the entire predominantly white community to be strange. However, as his weekend in the unsettling town continues, he uncovers the disturbing secret about what his girlfriend’s family and their neighbors are really up to.

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“Get Out” took the world by storm, both critically and commercially, earning four Academy Award nominations, with Peele winning Best Original Screenplay. Peele infused his story with sharp social commentary and unsettling psychological horror, but also plenty of improv comedy to keep the movie from becoming overly dour. All these years later, it’s easy to take for granted how sharply written the movie is and how masterfully staged, especially for an inaugural directorial project. Coming out the gate swinging, “Get Out” promised great things from Jordan Peele, a promise he has more than consistently delivered on.

Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos consistently makes provocative films delving into the human condition through the theater of the absurd. His 2017 movie “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” brings those distinct storytelling sensibilities to the realm of psychological horror, without eschewing the deadpan comedy Lanthimos’ work is known for. The movie has heart surgeon Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell) confronted by a strange young man named Martin (Barry Keoghan), claiming that his father died during a procedure conducted by Steven. Martin demands that Steven kill a member of his family in retribution, or else strange symptoms will consume them all.

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Even before Martin’s bizarre threats start to come to fruition, there is a fundamental feeling that something is amiss throughout “The Killing of a Sacred Deer.” Lanthimos stages his story like a bad dream that grows progressively more nightmarish as it proceeds, culminating in its lethal ending. This is the kind of scary story that relies on existential dread and disturbing questions rather than more overt sources for terror. Unsettlingly mixing family drama with coldly clinical detachment, “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” is Lanthimos at his best.

Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda provides his own commentary on how struggling families deal with the widening wealth divide in 2018’s “Shoplifters.” Living in Tokyo, the Shibata family regularly resorts to shoplifting to get by, coordinating carefully between themselves to avoid attention. A neighborhood girl, Yuri (Miyu Sasaki), is brought into the Shibata household when they notice she is being abused by her parents. The Shibata’s adopted son, Shota (Kairi Jo), becomes increasingly conflicted about his parents’ actions and the example they’re setting for Yuri.

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Like “Parasite,” “Shoplifters” paints a portrait of a family on the financial brink, but no less loving and supportive of each other. Hirokazu Kore-eda is less focused on the humor of the family’s situation, but rather the humanist warmth exuding from the Shibata family. Though the Shibatas’ actions become more questionable as the movie proceeds, their affection for each other is still visible. A stirring look at an unconventional family providing a unique look at life in Tokyo, “Shoplifters” is richly realized and beautifully told.

Emerging from an eight-year hiatus from filmmaking, South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong returned with the 2018 psychological thriller “Burning.” The movie starts with aspiring writer Lee Jong-su (Yoo Ah-in) reconnecting with his childhood friend Shin Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-seo) in Seoul. After a vacation in Kenya, Hae-mi returns with a mysterious wealthy man named Ben (Steven Yeun). The trio spend time together at Jong-su’s family farm in the country, when it becomes clear that Ben is concealing disturbing habits.

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All the main characters in “Burning” are unhappy and unsettling in their own way, making an eventual confrontation something of a bloody certainty. To pardon the pun, the movie is something of a simmering slow burn, unveiling its true scope of its mystery towards its final act. One of the things that makes this film so effective is it doesn’t spell out its obvious answers, letting audiences connect the dots for themselves. Chilling and masterfully paced, “Burning” is a strong reminder why Lee Chang-dong is one of Korea’s best filmmakers today.

After coming out the gate with one of the most imaginative horror movies in years, filmmaker Jordan Peele’s sophomore effort was the 2019 home invasion flick “Us.” The movie follows protagonist Adelaide Wilson (Lupita Nyong’o) on a beachside vacation with her husband Gabe (Winston Duke) and two young children. This scenic trip is violently interrupted by sinister doppelgangers of each of the family, led by Adelaide’s double, Red. As the Wilson family tries to evade and defeat their duplicates, known as the Tethered, it becomes clear that this harrowing confrontation is not an isolated incident.

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Compared to the more existential and thematic scares in “Get Out,” Peele crafts a much more conventionally terrifying movie in “Us.” The social commentary elements are still there, but this is Peele at his most physically brutal, with the Tethered the creepiest antagonists he’s introduced yet. Nyong’o gives a commanding dual performance as Adelaide and Red, ushering in all of the movie’s shocking plot twists. Another triumph from Peele, cementing his place as America’s current premier horror filmmaker, “Us” has the successful director really take his gloves off.

The survivalist deconstruction of society’s elite is the subject of Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund’s 2022 movie “Triangle of Sadness.” The movie follows celebrity couple Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean) attend a luxury cruise for social media clout. Things go awry when the party’s yacht is hit by a severe storm and a pirate raid, with the survivors stranded on a seemingly remote island. Left to their own devices, the presumed hierarchy within the group disintegrates as they struggle to survive.

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“Triangle of Sadness” is a sharply shaped satire and one of Östlund’s projects that is the most accessible to watch. The movie brings together a stellar ensemble cast, especially Dolly de Leon as the ship’s cleaning woman Abigail. While the social commentary may seem a bit on-the-nose, watching how this vapid party implodes on itself is a genuine treat. Darkly hilarious, right through its abrupt ending, “Triangle of Sadness” is another spot-on indictment of the laughably overprivileged.

Park Chan-wook is right in his creative element whenever he leans into neo-noir and his 2022 instant classic “Decision to Leave” is prominent evidence of this. The movie follows Busan police detective Jang Hae-jun (Park Hae-il) investigating the suspicious death of a local retired immigration officer. The prime suspect in foul play is the dead man’s much younger widow Song Seo-rae (Tang Wei), an emigrant from China. Despite the clear red flags, Hae-jun not only believes Seo-rae’s claims of innocence, but finds himself obsessively intrigued by her, in spite of his own marriage.

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Meditative, melancholy, and darkly funny all at once, “Decision to Leave” is a romantic thriller that’s hauntingly realized by Park Chan-wook. Jang Hae-jun, normally a methodical professional, completely loses himself in his interest for Seo-rae, even as body count rises and his personal life deteriorates. That makes the movie the cinematic equivalent of watching a friend fall into a terrible relationship, drawn in deeper even as the warning signs become more obvious. Utterly tragic, but with enough murdery mystery thrill and bittersweet laughs along the way, “Decision to Leave” is another Park Chan-wook masterclass in neo-noir.