Top 5 Best Korean Movies to watch on a first date

Surprisingly, this modern vampire movie was inspired by a novel about murder and adultery by 19th-century French novelist Emila Zola that was considered scandalous at the time. Acclaimed director Park Chan-wook’s take on the dramatic tale is about a Catholic priest who falls in love with a friend’s wife. If that situation wasn’t stressful enough, he volunteers for a medical experiment searching for a vaccine for a deadly virus. At first, he discovers new powers, his congregation assuming he has been gifted with a heaven-sent miracle. But the truth is more sinister. He has developed an insatiable taste for human blood! This multi-layered take on the familiar story of nasty bloodsuckers will have you on the edge of your seats.

This feature might be considered a little heavy for a first date, focusing as it does on the depiction of a real-life event when a child was kidnapped and raped by a 57-year-old drunk. You could choose to watch a romcom, forgotten about as soon as the final credits have played. Or you could get involved in this tragic but life-affirming story of So-won (played by Lee Re) as she overcomes her deep psychological scars. Experiencing challenging movies can be harrowing, but also uplifting.

After real crime and fantasy, this movie will bring you back to a safer, more grounded place. Director Kim Ki-Duk, known for character-driven arthouse cinema rather than blockbusters, wrote and directed this simplistic but heartfelt story of a 60-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl living on a boat. The man intends to marry the girl, who has been estranged from civilization when she turns 17. When a sweet-natured student boards the boat, the dynamic changes. There are no flesh-devouring monsters in these waters, just the ebb and flow of gentle currents, forming the perfect backdrop to the twisting emotions of the characters.

We’ve had fantasy, crime, and a thought-provoking film with hardly any dialogue at all. The last suggestion for your date night is an example of what Korean cinema is renowned for – an all-guns-blazing thriller! This will have you both on the edge of your seats for its entire duration, as explosive action scenes unfold, each crashing straight into the next. But what makes this feature even better for a romantic get-together is that the core of the story concerns a hitman who falls in love with his gangster boss’s mistress after being ordered to execute her lover.

Directed by Bong Joon-ho, a respected director who received a cult audience for his debut feature Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000), this might be a horror film about a mysterious tentacled aquatic creature, but it bears his hallmark themes of social justice and black humor. You can enjoy this film on many layers. On the surface, it’s a monster movie about a mutant lifeform spawned by industrial waste and wreaking havoc along the Han River. But it’s also a satire on consumerism, with a dysfunctional family at the heart of the story.