This Halloween, we're exploring the dark corners of Korean cinema with a selection of six genre-bending titles that will transport you to the world of gut-wrenching fear! The world of ghosts, wicked stepmothers, psychopathic serial killers, and webtoons that predict murder! The nihilistic and violent world where revenge is the only purpose of existence and a dish best served often with copious amounts of blood! Featuring canonical thrillers of Korea's top auteurs Park Chan-wook (STOKER) and Kim Jee-woon (THE LAST STAND) and the pure horror films of directors Kim Yong-gyun and the Jung brothers, this program puts the spotlight on a generation of filmmakers with a taste for intense.

Curated by Subway Cinema and co-presented with The Korea Society.

THURSDAY - SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30-NOVEMBER 2, 2014

Museum of the Moving Image
35th Avenue at 37th Street, Astoria
The Museum of the Moving Image

Directions:
From Midtown, 10 min. taxi from The Korea Society or N/Q Train outbound to 36th Avenue

KILLER TOON (104 min) 2013
더 웹툰 : 예고살인     

Thursday, October 30 | 7:00 PM
Redstone Theater

South Korea. Dir. Kim Yong-gyun. 2013, 104 mins. With Lee Si-young, Um Ki- joo. A blockbuster hit in South Korea, this pulse-pounding thrill ride follows a successful web-comic artist (Lee Si-young) who becomes a prime suspect when her cartoons start to prefigure a series of gruesome real life murders. Bursting with out-of-left-field plot twists and imaginative visual flourishes—including dazzlingly inventive transitions from manga-style animations to flesh-and-blood crime scenes—Killer Toon is Korean horror at its most creepily atmospheric.

I SAW THE DEVIL (120 min) 2003
악마를 보았다     

Friday, October 31 | 7:00 PM
Redstone Theater

South Korea. Dir. Kim Jee-woon. 2010, 141 mins. With Choi Min-sik, Lee Byung-hun. Splatter maestro Kim Jee-woon pushes K-horror to its limits in this shock-to-the-senses thriller. Hell bent on revenge, a government intelligence agent (Lee Byung-hun) hunts down the psychopath (Oldboy star Choi Min-sik) who murdered his pregnant wife—only instead of killing him outright, instigates a grisly game of cat and mouse, which drags them both through the darkest realms of depravity. This utterly berserk chamber of horrors is leavened by Kim’s wickedly twisted sense of humor and cool, ultra-stylish eye for violence.

SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE (112 min) 2003
친절한 금자씨     

Saturday, November 1 | 2:30 PM
Redstone Theater

Dir. Park Chan-wook. 2005, 112 mins. 35mm. With Lee Yeong-ae, Choi Min-sik, Kim Shi-hoo, Kwon Yea-young. The third and final film of Park’s Vengeance Trilogy, Lady Vengeance follows the story of Lee Geum-ja, a woman imprisoned for a crime she did not commit. Lee seeks revenge on the true murderer, who blackmailed her to take the blame for his crime and kidnapped her daughter. Lady Vengeance features a breakout performance by Lee Yeong-ae in the title role (an American remake starring Charlize Theron has been announced).

EPITAPH (98 min) 2007

Sunday, November 2 | 2:30 PM
Redstone Theater

South Korea. Dir. Jung Beom-sik and Jung Sik. 2007, 98 mins. With Jin Goo, Kim Tae-woo, Kim Bo-kyung. Three bewitching tales of ghosts, medical horrors, and necrophilia comprise this uniquely unnerving horror anthology. Set in 1942, it chronicles mysterious goings-on at a hospital, where a young doctor falls in love with a corpse, a girl is haunted by spirits, and physicians are involved in a series of murders. Packed with breathtaking imagery (including a recurring, creepy crawly motif involving snails), this elegantly moody omnibus film from up-and-coming auteurs the Jung brothers is a supernatural brainteaser that maintains a carefully controlled sense of unease.

SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE (129 min) 2002
복수는 나의 것     

Sunday, November 2 | 5:00 PM
Redstone Theater

Dir. Park Chan-wook. 2002, 129 mins. 35mm. With Song Kang-ho, Shin Ha-kyun, Bae Doona, Lim Ji-Eun. The first film in Park’s Vengeance Trilogy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance trails a punky deaf-mute who desperately attempts to secure money for a kidney transplant his ailing sister badly needs. Because his blood type is incompatible and no donors are available, he turns to a group of black-market organ dealers who offer to find a matching kidney in return for one of his, plus ten million won. When the dealers rip him off, Ryu conspires with his girlfriend, a political activist, to kidnap his former boss’ young daughter and ransom her for the ten million won.

A TALE OF TWO SISTERS (115 min) 2003
장화, 홍련     

Sunday, November 2 | 8:00 PM
Redstone Theater

South Korea. Dir. Kim Jee-woon. 2003, 115 mins. With Im Soo-jung, Moon Geun-young, Yeom Jeong-ah. This harrowing psychological thriller set a new standard for Korean horror in its hauntingly dreamlike evocation of sustained dread. Based on a Korean folktale, it follows two teenage sisters, just released from a mental institution, whose dysfunctional relationship with their icy stepmother manifests itself in a series of horrific incidents, which blur the line between fantasy and reality. The highest grossing K-horror film of all time, A Tale of Two Sisters unleashes a nonstop torrent of blood-splattered, retina-searingly surreal imagery up until the final twist.

This retrospective is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.