Erotic thrillers are back in the genre scene the past few years. There’s documentaries and festivals doing retrospectives, and also restorations of classic titles. But in the majority of them, a large area of the world is being mostly neglected – Asia. There are many Asian countries that have their own amazing flavour of Erotic/Sexy thriller. So it is not surprising that South Korea has you covered when it comes to combining suspense and sexy. From teasing to ‘full-on’ madness, the peninsula does not hold back.
Within this list, there is a clear split in two distinct ways the sexualisation feeds the plot. In the movies taking place in modern times (1950s till now), you see clear patterns of affairs and scandals with different motives. Lovers conspiring to kill their partners, people torn between two or more lovers, boredom of people who otherwise cannot escape a relationship due to the conservative culture of the country. Fairly standard erotic thriller plotting. In the movies set in older periods of the peninsula’s history, you see a different pattern. Women and queer people using their bodies and sex to influence their lives. Often even using politics in a society that at that time deemed them property of either their family, their husband, or worse their ‘owner’ (in cases of sex work and/or slavery)
Bad Guy
Nappeun Namja, aka Bad Guy, is a k-cinema classic of a cautionary tale to women. A young woman falls for a ‘bad guy’ who turns out not just to be a walking red flag, but also forces her into sex work. Kim Ki-Duk is known for extreme allegorical writing and directing. This will not be the only title by him in this list.
The Housemaid (2010)
Both the original and the remake of The Housemaid are claustrophobic, infuriating, and maddening. It makes you question why you started, but it’s too intriguing to make you stop. A rich husband hires a housemaid to help out his pregnant wife around the house. He, as the man of the house in a very conservative and patriarchal society, uses every one of the women, brutally, and pushes them to their breaking point.
Moebius
Another Kim Ki-Duk. A mother goes to extremes in mutilating her own son in an act of hate towards her husband. This movie is not here to make things sexy, but is a highly psychosexual film. It almost did not get a release in its home country because it could not pass the Korean Media Ratings board. Mind you this is the same country that released Oldboy. Many trigger warnings for this one.
The Taste of Money
Im Sang-Soo (who also directed the 2010 remake of The Housemaid) captures with this film how bigger closets hold even bigger and more dangerous secrets. If you liked Parasite and its messaging, The Taste of Money might be up your alley. But add more sexuality. Affairs, secrets, psychological warfare, it has it all.
Untold Scandal
To start off our period pieces, we start with a South Korean adaptation of Dangerous Liaisons. Lady Cho sets out her web of intrigue by enlisting a playboy to seduce her husband’s incoming and very virgin young concubine. Both women have no other means other than their bodies and mind games to influence their lives. Lady Cho employs exactly that to change her situation.
Hwang Jin Yi
In Hwang Jin Ye, played by the gorgeous Song Hye-Kyo, a girl from noble upbringing gets tossed aside by her family. However, she finds a clever way to use her intellect and beauty to become an influential and famous Gisaeng (courtesan). Even though it is not a life she wanted per se, she uses her hard-earned position to influence politics in favour of the people. That is until tragedy strikes.
The Concubine
What do you do when your body is the only weapon and tool you can use to survive? How far are you willing to go? Everyone wants the immensely beautiful Hwa-Yeon. The poor woman turned king’s concubine has now become several men’s object of desire. How can she secure her future? And who must she betray to get to the highest position in the land?
The Treacherous
A tyrant king is holding auditions for new concubines. After committing so many heinous crimes, though, karma has come for him. It’s here in the form of a desirable woman who is prepared to debase herself completely to get what she wants: revenge. The Treacherous does not hold back on the massive orgies and intense scenes. Maybe watch this one with headphones on. Fun fact, the director also made 1999’s Memento Mori.
The Handmaiden
Last, but certainly not least, Park Chan-Wook’s The Handmaiden. With colonialism and sapphic relations in secrecy, The Handmaiden almost feels like soft acknowledgement of all the women who had, or still do, suffer in the closet in this very conservative culture. But if you’re just here for the sexy times, then I have one word for you – anal-beads.
I’d say grab those headphones, lock your room, and good luck!
For even more Korean Erotic Thrillers, check out my Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/rpish/list/korean-cinema-w-spice/
