15 Korean Movies on Netflix Right Now That Deserve Your Full Attention

15 Korean Movies on Netflix Right Now That Deserve Your Full Attention

Korean cinema has exploded onto the global stage with powerful storytelling that blends action, emotion, and social commentary in ways Hollywood rarely attempts.

Netflix has become a treasure trove of these incredible films, offering everything from zombie thrillers to heartwarming comedies.

Whether you’re a longtime fan or just discovering Korean movies, these fifteen films represent the best of what’s streaming right now and will leave you thinking long after the credits roll.

1. Silenced (2011)

Based on a devastating real-life scandal, this film tackles one of Korea’s darkest chapters with unflinching honesty.

A new art teacher arrives at a school for deaf children and quickly discovers horrifying abuse happening behind closed doors.

What makes this movie extraordinary is how it sparked actual legal reform in South Korea.

The public outcry after its release led to the reopening of criminal cases and new legislation protecting disabled students.

It’s not an easy watch, but it’s an essential one that shows how cinema can create real-world change.

The performances are raw and heartbreaking, especially from the young actors who bring authenticity to their roles.

2. Miss Granny (2014)

Imagine waking up one day and discovering you’re twenty years old again, with all your memories intact.

That’s exactly what happens to Oh Mal-soon, a cantankerous 74-year-old grandmother who mysteriously transforms after visiting a mysterious photo studio.

Suddenly blessed with youth, beauty, and a killer singing voice, she reinvents herself as the glamorous Miss Oh Doo-ri.

She joins a band, catches romantic attention, and rediscovers dreams she’d long forgotten.

This charming fantasy comedy balances laugh-out-loud moments with genuine emotional depth about aging, regret, and second chances.

It became such a phenomenon that multiple countries created their own remakes, proving its universal appeal.

3. Train to Busan (2016)

A mysterious virus outbreak turns most of South Korea’s population into ravenous zombies within hours.

Seok-woo, a workaholic fund manager, boards a train to Busan with his young daughter, hoping to reach safety in the only city still uninfected.

What follows is two hours of pulse-pounding tension as passengers fight for survival in cramped train cars.

Director Yeon Sang-ho masterfully uses the confined space to create claustrophobic horror while exploring themes of sacrifice, class division, and redemption.

The emotional father-daughter relationship grounds all the zombie chaos in genuine human stakes.

It’s become a modern classic that redefined what zombie movies could achieve.

4. Okja (2017)

For ten years, Mija has lived peacefully in the Korean mountains with Okja, a massive genetically-engineered super-pig who’s her best friend.

Their idyllic life shatters when the Mirando Corporation comes to take Okja to New York for a grand unveiling.

Determined to save her companion, Mija embarks on a dangerous rescue mission that exposes the dark reality of corporate greed and factory farming.

Bong Joon-ho crafts a genre-bending adventure that’s part action thriller, part environmental fable, and entirely unforgettable.

Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal deliver wildly eccentric performances as corporate villains, but newcomer Ahn Seo-hyun steals every scene with fierce determination and heart.

5. Steel Rain (2017)

When a North Korean coup attempt goes catastrophically wrong, elite agent Eom Chul-woo barely escapes with the unconscious North Korean leader.

Severely wounded, he crosses into South Korea and collapses in front of Kwak Chul-woo, a former security official now working as a policy advisor.

With both Koreas on the brink of nuclear war, these two men must work together despite their differences.

The clock is ticking as rogue military factions threaten to launch missiles that could destroy millions.

This political thriller feels disturbingly plausible, exploring the nightmare scenario both nations fear most.

The action sequences are spectacular, but the film’s real strength lies in examining the complex brotherhood between North and South.

6. Believer (2018)

Detective Won-ho has spent years obsessively hunting Mr. Lee, Korea’s most elusive drug kingpin who operates like a ghost.

Nobody knows what he looks like, where he hides, or even if he truly exists—but his empire keeps growing.

When a small-time dealer named Rak gets caught in a police raid, Won-ho sees his chance.

He forces Rak to become an informant, plunging both men into Seoul’s brutal criminal underworld where betrayal means death.

The cat-and-mouse game intensifies as Won-ho gets closer to his target, but nothing is quite what it seems.

This remake of a Hong Kong classic adds distinctly Korean flavors to the crime thriller formula with explosive results.

7. Psychokinesis (2018)

Seok-heon is a deadbeat dad who abandoned his family years ago to avoid responsibility.

One day, after drinking water from a mountain spring contaminated by a meteor, he wakes up with genuine telekinetic powers—he can move objects with his mind.

Instead of becoming a traditional superhero, he decides to use his abilities to reconnect with his estranged daughter and help her fight against a construction company threatening her fried chicken restaurant.

It’s a superhero origin story filtered through family dysfunction and Korean social issues.

Director Yeon Sang-ho brings the same humanistic touch from Train to Busan to this quirky comedy.

The superpowers are fun, but the real story is about a father earning redemption.

8. The Call (2020)

Seo-yeon returns to her childhood home in 2019 and discovers an old cordless phone that somehow connects her to Young-sook, a young woman living in the same house—but in 1999.

At first, their cross-time friendship seems like a miraculous gift.

Young-sook uses information from the future to escape her abusive mother, while Seo-yeon learns secrets about her own past.

But when Young-sook’s actions in 1999 start creating horrifying ripple effects in 2019, their connection becomes a deadly nightmare.

This time-travel thriller keeps twisting in unexpected directions, building to a genuinely shocking climax.

Park Shin-hye and Jeon Jong-seo deliver powerhouse performances as women caught in an impossible temporal war.

9. Peninsula (2020)

Four years after the zombie outbreak that devastated Korea in Train to Busan, the entire peninsula remains a quarantined wasteland.

Jung-seok, a former soldier who escaped to Hong Kong, is recruited for a dangerous mission: return to Seoul and retrieve a truck loaded with millions in abandoned cash.

What he finds is worse than he imagined—survivors have formed brutal factions, using captured zombies for twisted entertainment.

Jung-seok teams up with a family of survivors, including two young sisters who’ve become expert drivers in this hellish landscape.

While it shifts from claustrophobic horror to Mad Max-style action, Peninsula delivers spectacular set pieces and high-octane thrills that expand the Train to Busan universe in exciting ways.

10. Ballerina (2023)

Ok-ju spent years as a professional bodyguard, trained in lethal combat but living a quiet existence.

When her only friend Min-hee dies by suicide after being victimized by a powerful criminal, Ok-ju discovers a final request: exact revenge on the man responsible.

What unfolds is a beautifully choreographed ballet of violence as Ok-ju systematically dismantles the criminal organization.

Her background in protection becomes the perfect foundation for destruction, and she moves through enemies with dancer-like precision.

The film pairs stunning cinematography with bone-crunching action sequences that rival any Western action movie.

Jeon Jong-seo brings cold fury to the role, creating an unforgettable character driven by loyalty and grief rather than typical revenge motivations.

11. The Match (2025)

Long before esports became mainstream, Korea had its own intellectual sporting heroes: Go masters whose matches captivated millions.

This biographical drama chronicles the legendary rivalry between two of Korea’s greatest players during the game’s golden era.

Beyond the strategic battles on the board, the film explores their complex relationship—simultaneously competitors and brothers, enemies and friends.

Their matches became proxies for national pride during a turbulent period in Korean history.

Even if you’ve never played Go, the film makes every move feel like life or death.

The performances capture the mental warfare and psychological pressure of championship-level competition, making this as thrilling as any sports movie.

12. Good News (2025)

In 1971, a small-time crook hatches what seems like the perfect plan: hijack a domestic flight and demand a ransom. What could possibly go wrong?

Absolutely everything, as it turns out, in this darkly hilarious crime comedy based on an actual incident.

The hijacker’s elaborate scheme immediately starts falling apart in the most absurd ways possible.

Passengers don’t react as expected, the crew improvises wildly, and authorities on the ground prove equally incompetent.

Set against Korea’s turbulent 1970s backdrop, the film uses period-perfect details and deadpan humor to transform a serious crime into a farcical disaster.

It’s a reminder that sometimes real life is stranger and funnier than any fiction writers could imagine.

13. The 8th Night (2021)

Thousands of years ago, Buddha sealed away a powerful evil by separating it into two red and black eyes, hiding them at opposite ends of the earth.

Now, someone has released the red eye, and it’s killing its way across Korea toward reuniting with its counterpart.

Jin-soo, a former monk who left his order after a tragedy, is reluctantly pulled back into the spiritual world.

He has eight nights to stop the ancient force before it becomes unstoppable and plunges the world into eternal darkness.

This supernatural horror thriller blends Buddhist mythology with modern terror, creating something uniquely Korean.

The atmospheric dread builds slowly, culminating in a race against time with apocalyptic stakes.

14. Lost in Starlight (2025)

Two souls meet and fall deeply in love, but fate has cruel plans—they exist in different corners of the galaxy, separated by impossible distances.

This animated science fiction romance uses breathtaking visuals to explore whether love can truly transcend space and time.

As they communicate across the cosmos, each message takes years to arrive, creating a relationship built on hope and patience.

The animation style blends traditional Korean aesthetics with futuristic designs, creating worlds that feel both familiar and alien.

It’s a meditation on connection, loneliness, and the human need for companionship that works on multiple levels.

The emotional core remains grounded even as the story soars through spectacular cosmic landscapes.

15. Wall to Wall (2025)

Ji-hoon moves into what seems like an ordinary apartment complex, but strange sounds from the neighboring unit keep him awake at night.

At first, he assumes it’s just thin walls and inconsiderate neighbors—nothing unusual in crowded Seoul.

But the sounds grow increasingly disturbing, and when he investigates, nothing makes sense.

The walls themselves seem to shift and change, and other residents either can’t hear what he hears or refuse to acknowledge it.

This claustrophobic psychological thriller uses the familiar fear of urban apartment living and amplifies it into genuine nightmare fuel.

As Ji-hoon’s sanity unravels, the audience questions what’s real and what’s paranoid delusion in this unsettling exploration of isolation.