The Survival movie genre is one of the most popular genres today. Strongly focusing on the horror element, creating a "hair-raising" feeling of suspense every time you enjoy it, the survival genre is a story about people with determination to overcome harsh fate, fighting for life against the odds. natural disasters, epidemics. Most films on this topic often make the most of horror graphics or a dark, scary atmosphere to guide viewers' emotions.
In this article, we will introduce the top 10 best Korean survival movies on Netflix for your reference.
1.Squid Game (2021)
IMDb RATING: 8,0/10
Squid Game is a South Korean television series created by Hwang Dong-hyuk for Netflix. Its cast includes Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Wi Ha-joon, HoYeon Jung, O Yeong-su, Heo Sung-tae, Anupam Tripathi and Kim Joo-ryoung.
The series revolves around a secret contest where 456 players, all of whom are in deep financial hardship, risk their lives to play a series of deadly children's games for the chance to win a ₩45.6 billion prize. The series' title draws from a similarly named Korean children's game. Hwang conceived the idea based on his own economic struggles, as well as the class disparity in South Korea and capitalism. Though he wrote the story in 2009, Hwang could not find a production company to fund the idea until Netflix took an interest around 2019 as part of a drive to expand their foreign programming offerings.
Squid Game was released worldwide on September 17, 2021, to critical acclaim and international attention. It became Netflix's most-watched series and the most-watched program in 94 countries, attracting more than 142 million member households and 1.65 billion viewing hours in its first four weeks, surpassing Bridgerton as the service's most-watched show. It has received numerous accolades, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for O Yeong-su, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series and Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series for Lee Jung-jae and HoYeon Jung, respectively; all three were also the first Korean actors to win in those categories. The first season received 14 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including for Outstanding Drama Series, making it the first non-English-language work to be nominated in this category; Lee won the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama series, the first time an Asian actor won the award for a non-English part.
2.Train to Busan (2016)
IMDb RATING: 7,6/10
Train to Busan is a 2016 South Korean action survival movie directed by Yeon Sang-ho and starring Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok, Kim Su-an, Choi Woo-shik, Ahn So-hee and Kim Eui-sung. The film mostly takes place on a KTX from Seoul to Busan as a zombie apocalypse suddenly breaks out in the country and threatens the safety of the passengers.
The film premiered in the Midnight Screenings section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival on 13 May. On 7 August, the film set a record as the first Korean film of 2016 to break the audience record of over 10 million theatergoers.
The movie successfully launched a titular film series, with an animated prequel film in 2016 and a standalone sequel in 2020. Another installment and an American-produced adaptation are also in development.
Train to Busan grossed $80.5 million in South Korea, $2.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $15.8 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $98.5 million.
It became the highest-grossing Korean film in Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Singapore. In South Korea, it recorded more than 11 million moviegoers and was the highest grossing film of the year.
3.Sweet Home (2020)
IMDb RATING: 7,3/10
Sweet Home is a South Korean web series starring Song Kang, Lee Jin-wook, and Lee Si-young. It is based on the Naver webtoon of the same name by Kim Carnby and Hwang Young-chan, which recorded over 2.1 billion net views. On November 18, 2020, Netflix released a trailer for the series announcing that Sweet Home would premiere on December 18.
Sweet Home is set in an old apartment building, revolving around the story of Cha Hyun Soo, after moving to live in an apartment building and discovering that the people around him have turned into dehumanized monsters.
Hyun Soo himself also gradually showed signs of transformation, but instead, he did not become a monster. On the contrary, he became strong, joining forces with the residents in the apartment to fight monsters.
Sweet Home was the first South Korean series to enter Netflix's Top 10 in the United States, reaching as high as third. Three days after its release, the series ranked first in 8 regions and was within the Top 10 in 42 regions. The show was viewed by 22 million paid subscribers worldwide in the first 4 weeks of its release and appeared in the Netflix top 10 in more than 70 countries.
4.Exit (2019)
IMDb RATING: 7,0/10
Exit is a 2019 South Korean survival action comedy film written and directed by Lee Sang-geun, and starring Jo Jong-suk and Im Yoon-ah. The film follows the story of a grown man who attempts to reconnect with an old crush, but following a chain of events, they end up trying to escape from a mysterious white gas that threatens to engulf the entire Seoul district.
Exit first premiered in South Korea on July 31, 2019. It was considered a box office success earning over US$69.5 million worldwide, becoming South Korea's third highest-grossing domestic film for 2019. Exit was also South Korea's third most-watched domestic film, as it eventually sold more than 9.4 million admissions.
Exit also marks Im Yoon-ah's first leading role in a film and is also the second film in her acting career after appearing as a supporting role in Confidential Assignment in 2017. Exit was a box office success and proved to be a popular film upon its release.
Despite being released alongside The Divine Fury on July 31, Exit managed to take the No. 1 position at the box office on its premiere, recording an opening day total of 409, 026 admissions. Exit then proceeded to break the record for the fastest movie to reach 1 million moviegoers, reaching the milestone just two days after its initial release. Notably, Exit was only the second Korean film to maintain the No.1 spot at the box office for two successive days in 2019; the critically acclaimed Parasite being the first such film to do so. Exit maintained a high number of admission sales over the course of the week, surpassing the 2 million admissions mark and 3 million admissions mark, respectively four and six days after its release. Over the coming weeks, Exit continued to attract a steady number of viewers, reaching the 9 million mark, 36 days after its release.
Eventually, Exit managed to accrue a total of 9,425,294 admissions nationwide, becoming the third highest-selling domestic film in South Korea for 2019, and the sixth highest-selling film for all movies screened in South Korea. Overall, Exit grossed a worldwide total of US$69,501,772, of which US$67,380,750 was earned from South Korea alone.
5.All of Us Are Dead (2022)
IMDb RATING: 7,5/10
All of Us Are Dead is a South Korean coming-of-age zombie apocalypse horror streaming television series. It stars Park Ji-hu, Yoon Chan-young, Cho Yi-hyun, Lomon, Yoo In-soo, Lee Yoo-mi, Kim Byung-chul, Lee Kyu-hyung, and Jeon Bae-soo. The series centers on a group of high school students in the fictional South Korean city of Hyosan, and their struggle to survive amidst a zombie outbreak. It is based on the Naver webtoon of the same name by Joo Dong-geun, which was published between 2009 and 2011. This series was filmed at Sunghee Girls' High School in Andong, South Korea.
The series was released on January 28, 2022, on Netflix. Following its release, the series was watched over 474.26 million hours in its first 30 days on the service. On June 6, 2022, the series was renewed for a second season.
On April 12, 2020, Netflix announced through a press release that JTBC Studios and Film Monster would produce a series called All of Us Are Dead based on the popular webtoon Now at Our School. On April 19, 2020, Yoon Chan-young was confirmed to star in the series as one of the students. Park Ji-hu joined the main cast on April 22. On July 1, they were officially joined by Cho Yi-hyun, Lomon and Yoo In-soo. In selecting the cast, director Lee Jae-kyoo said, "I thought that bringing on actors who were great at acting but still unknown to the public would add to the immersion of the series".
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 88% based on 26 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "While All of Us Are Dead loses some of its bite with an overlong season, its emotional grounding puts plenty of meat on the bone." Metacritic gave it a weighted average score of 67 out of 100 based on reviews from 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
6.The Tower (2012)
IMDb RATING: 6,5/10
The Tower is a 2012 South Korean disaster thriller survival movie about a fire that breaks out in a luxury skyscraper in central Seoul on Christmas Eve after an aviation accident involving a helicopter. The film is directed by Kim Ji-hoon, and stars Sol Kyung-gu, Son Ye-jin and Kim Sang-kyung in the lead roles. It was released in theaters on December 25, 2012.
The content of the movie is about Christmas Eve, wanting to bring a surprise to the "super huge" party, the building owner decided to hire a helicopter to spray artificial snow despite dangerous warnings. danger of strong winds. While everyone was immersed in the exciting and dynamic atmosphere of the party, a helicopter lost control and crashed straight into the building, causing it to explode. The fire quickly spread because the building's fire protection system was always in a state of paralysis due to the subjectivity of the building management team as well as the investor.
On its theater release on December 25, 2012, The Tower drew 431,759 admissions, the second highest opening day ticket sales in the history of Korean cinema (after The Thieves' 436,628). It sold two million tickets in its first week, 3.54 million by its second week, and 4.45 million by its third week. On January 22, 2013, it became the first Korean film in 2013 to reach the five million mark.
7.Deranged (2012)
IMDb RATING: 6,3/10
Deranged is a 2012 South Korean medical disaster thriller survival movie starring Kim Myung-min, Kim Dong-wan, Moon Jung-hee and Lee Hanee. It is Korea's first medical thriller on an infectious disease epidemic. The film was directed by Park Jung-woo and produced by Lim Ji-young and Oz One Film. Distributed by CJ E&M, the film was released on July 5, 2012, and runs at 109 minutes.
In Deranged, the movie revolves around a type of parasite that has the ability to continuously change called "Yeongasi" - "horsehair worm". Just by coming into contact with the host's body, this insect can control the human brain. The Korean government announced an emergency because it could not find effective treatment.
On the first day of its theatrical release, Deranged sold 190,953 tickets, making it number one on the daily box office chart (beating Hollywood film The Amazing Spider-Man which sold 149,170 tickets). The film grossed a total of ₩31,992,014,698 after only five weeks of screening, with 4,515,665 total tickets sold nationwide.
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