The Parasite movie won the award-winning original screenplay Oscar and became the first Oscar-winning Asian movie in this category. It is a significant movie and a reflection of 21st-century society. Throughout the movie, the dark side of society is depicted, like a parasite that causes many desires within a host. These are protozoa, helminths, etc. In this movie, we can observe how poor people live in this society and how this difference often results in crimes that are difficult to forget.
There are some references for those who already watch Parasite and love to watch other movies like Parasite. Here are 12 movies like Parasite explained:
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Movies Like Parasite – 12 Parasite-Like Movies To See Next
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Train to Busan
Director: Sang-ho Yeon
Writers: Joo-Suk Park, Sang-ho Yeon
Stars: Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok
Genres: Action, Horror, Thriller
This 2016 movie is a famous South Korean action horror movie. This movie starts with a cute little girl named Su-an who lives with her divorced father and wants to celebrate her birthday with her mother. To reunite her with her father, Seok-Woo and Su-an board the KTX 101 at Seoul Station to reach Busan, where her mother lives. Along with them, Sang-Hwa and his pregnant wife Seong-kyeong, other passengers are seated in their seats. A young woman who was ill ran onto the train just before it started, and the train started.
A few moments later, she turns into a zombie and attacks a train attendant. The infection spreads rapidly, and every injured person turns into a zombie. Luckily, a group of people escaped into another car and locked the door. There is evidence on the internet that this epidemic is spreading throughout South Korea. When the train stops at Daejeon Station, it tries to rescue all the passengers, but the whole city is turned into zombies, so they return to the train.
Seok-woo later discovers that his company was indirectly involved in this disaster. Sheok-woo separated from her daughter, but luckily Sang-Hwa and a baseball player helped him find her. Ultimately, they can save themselves by entering another car. Still, passengers prevent that from happening, and Sang-Hwa sacrifices himself to save the others.
However, the rest of the passengers turn into zombies. Finally, Sheok-woo and Sang-hwa’s wife reach an engine room where Seok-woo also turns into a zombie, but before he does, he teaches Su-an how to operate the train. In the end, the Snipers save Su-an and Sang-hwa’s wife.
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Burning
Director: Lee Chang-dong
Writers: Jungmi Oh, Lee Chang-dong, Haruki Murakami
Stars: Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yeun, Jeon Jong-seo
Genres: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Here we have the 2018 South Korean psychological thriller movie. The story begins with a young novelist Lee Jong-su who does odd jobs in Paju. During a promotion, he visits his childhood neighbor Shin Hae-mi. Jong-Su didn’t remember her because of her plastic surgery. Jong-Su gave her a pink watch, and she later told Jong-Su about her trip to Africa and asked him to feed her cat. When Jong-su visits his father’s farmhouse, he is instructed to feed the cat.
Jong-Su regularly feeds her pet cat, but he never sees it. Hae-mi returns with Ben, a wealthy man. After Hae-mi sleeps, the three go to Jong-su’s farm for dinner. Ben confesses that his hobby is burning an abandoned greenhouse every two months. Jong-Su keeps watching all the greenhouses. When Hae-mi misses, he suspects Ben and finds out when he sees the pink watch, and his pet cat is Boil. Jong-Su stabs Ben to death, douses Ben’s car and body in gasoline, and sets fire.
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Memories of Murder
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Writers: Bong Joon Ho, Kwang-rim Kim, Sung-bo Shim
Stars: Song Kang-ho, Kim Sang-kyung, Roe-ha Kim
Genres: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Another 2003 South Korean crime thriller movie is here to entertain you. This movie begins in October 1986 when two women are found raped and murdered. Park Doo-man, a local detective, starts investigating this murder case when he questions a mentally disabled boy, Baek Kwang-ho. Seo Tae-Yoon, a detective from Seoul, joins the case.
They discover that Baek cannot commit such a crime, and they discover more murders this way. On rainy nights, killers commit this crime when their victims wear red. They realize that the radio station plays a song during this crime. Story move to 2003, when the murder case is still unsolved.
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Panic Room
Director: David Fincher
Writer: David Koepp
Stars: Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whitaker
Genres: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Panic Room is a top-rated American thriller movie released in 2002. In this movie, we can see Meg Altman and her eleven-year-old daughter Sarah who moved to a brownstone in New York City after Meg divorced. The previous owner installed a panic room to protect his family. Also, they have multiple surveillance cameras and a public address system.
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On the first night, three men broke into the home. After Meg finds out, they rush to the panic room. And the main plot of the movie starts. They used propane gas in the room, and Sarah covered herself with fireproof blankets. One of them burned. Meg tries to contact her ex-husband, but someone cuts the phone line. Then they continue the robbery. The thief misled Meg, but Meg managed to save them both. Meg bravely fights three thieves and saves her daughter.
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Okja
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Writers: Bong Joon Ho, Jon Ronson
Stars: Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Seo-hyun Ahn
Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
This movie is another masterpiece that shows the dark side of our society. Okja is a 2017 adventure action movie. The movie begins in 2007 with environmentalist Lucy Mirando who becomes CEO of the Mirando Corporation. They plan to breed a special kind of pig and distribute them to farmers worldwide.
In South Korea, a movie was made about a young girl named Mija in 2017. She lived with her grandfather and a super pig, Okja. Dr. Johnny Wilcox declares Okja as the superior super pig and takes away from Mija. Mija goes to find her friend Okja and is saved by the ALF. They planned to expose Mirando Corporation. But they failed. Mija offers a gold pig in exchange for Okja, and finally, Nancy agrees, and they leave the place.
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Monster
Director: In-ho Hwang
Writer: In-ho Hwang
Stars: Lee Min-ki, Kim Go-eun, Seo-hyun Ahn
Genres: Action, Drama, Thriller
Monster is a psychological thriller about a serial killer, released in 2014. The story starts with Bok-soon, an independent and aggressive young lady. She is well-known as a psycho bitch for his weird behavior. But she is pleased in her life with her little sister Eun-Jeong and runs a street stall. Their peaceful life is disrupted when Tae-soo enters her life. He murders Bok-soon’s younger sister.
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With the help of Na-ri, a little girl who also lost her sister, Bok-soon plans revenge against that psycho killer. Tae-soo loves his family but kills for no reason. Tae-soo was adopted, and his mother knows about his mental state. His mother and elder brother plan to kill Tae-soo, but the gangsters fail, and Tae-soo kills everyone. In the hide-and-seek game, Bok-soon saves Na-ri, but when she sees Tae-soo trying to kill Na-ri with anger and revenge, Bok-soon kills the psycho killer. And after that, both lived happily.
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Mother
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Writers: Bong Joon Ho, Eun-kyo Park
Stars: Hye-ja Kim, Won Bin, Jin Goo
Genres: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Mother is the story of a widowed mother and her mentally challenged son, released in 2009 in South Korea. A widowed mother lives with her son and sells medical herbs in a small town. Her son, Yoon Do-Joon, is shy but attacks those who mock his disability. He and his friend attack the car driver and passengers for revenge after nearly being hit by that car. The mother has to pay for the damage to her car.
According to police, Do-Joon followed a high school girl late one night, and the next morning she was dead. Her mother was convinced that her son was innocent, and she tried to prove it. His mother teamed up with his friend Jin-Tae.
The mother finds out that that girl is in a relationship with a boy named Jong-pal. Do-Joon’s mother discovers the truth about the girl’s murder. The police arrest the girl’s boyfriend and release Do-Joon. Mother feels guilty for Jong-pal when she knows about his intellectual disability.
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The Handmaiden
Director: Park Chan-wook
Writers: Sarah Waters, Chung Seo-kyung, Park Chan-wook
Stars: Kim Min-hee, Ha Jung-woo, Cho Jin-woong
Genres: Drama, Romance, Thriller
In 2016, a South Korean film, The Handmaiden, was released as a disturbing psychological thriller. It has three parts. The first part of the movie is about Japan-occupied Korea, where a con man plans to seduce a Japanese heiress Lady Hideko. He hires Sook-hee as a maid so that she will convince Hideko to marry him so he can steal her inheritance.
Hideko and her uncle double-cross Sook-hee.In the second part, we can see the fear in Hideko’s eyes for her uncle, who killed his wife. Hideko sees Sook-hee as her savior, and both destroy her uncle’s library. Now turn to the last part, where Sook-hee and Hideko can save themselves from a con man and celebrate their freedom on a ferry to Shanghai.
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Oldboy
Director: Park Chan-wook
Writers: Garon Tsuchiya, Nobuaki Minegishi, Park Chan-wook
Stars: Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jeong
Genres: Action, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Oldboy is a South Korean neo-noir action thriller movie released in 2003. In 1988, a businessman named Oh Dae-Su was kidnapped; where he learns that his wife was murdered and attempts to commit suicide, but he lives and practices shadow boxing. The story moved to 2003, when he was suddenly released.
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Later, Woo-jin reveals to Dae-su that Mi-do is his real daughter. After knowing that Dae-su is the reason for Woo-jin’s sister’s death, he apologizes and requests not to tell the truth to Mi-do. Later Mi-do finds Dae-Su lying in the snow, and Mi-do confesses her feelings for him. Dae-su breaks with a wild smile and turns into an ambiguous expression.
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The chaser
Director: Na Hong-jin
Writers: Won-Chan Hong, Na Hong-jin, Shinho Lee
Stars: Kim Yoon-seok, Ha Jung-woo, Yeong-hie Seo
Genres: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Another action thriller movie was released in 2008. Joong-ho is an ex-detective turned pimp. After two of his prostitutes disappear, he investigates the case with the help of his customer, Mi-jin, to find the truth. Many secrets about the customers are revealed in this investigation. Mi-jin has a daughter Eun-ji. After her mother’s death, Eun-ji follows Yeong-min’s house, where Joong-ho finds clues. When police arrest Yeong-min, he reveals nine murders. But without any evidence, he was released. Joong-ho killed Yeong-min and saved Eun-ji after many plots.
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Shoplifters
Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
Writer: Hirokazu Koreeda
Stars: Lily Franky, Sakura Andô, Kirin Kiki
Genres: Crime, Drama, Thriller
It is a Japanese drama movie released in 2018. In Tokyo, a family used to shoplift and communicate by hand signals to steal things. In the night, Osamu and Shota find Yuri and feed her dinner. They decide not to return to her after finding out about her abuse case. Yuri’s disappearance has been investigated for two months, but her birth parents have never complained about her disappearance. Police rescued Yuri, and the adorable family vanished. The father is in jail, and Shota is sent to an orphanage. Yuri was poorly treated in her house.
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The Housemaid
Director: Im Sang-soo
Writers: Kim Ki-young, Im Sang-soo
Stars: Jeon Do-yeon, Lee Jung-jae, Youn Yuh-jung
Genres: Drama, Thriller
Last but not least, The Housemaid is an erotic psychological thriller released in 2010. The movie starts with a young woman committing suicide. Eun-Yi, who previously worked in a restaurant, was hired as an au pair for Hae-Ra and her wealthy husband, Hoon. Eun-Yi was the caretaker of her young daughter, Nami.
Hoon and Eui-Yi have an external relationship. Hae-ra gives Eui-Yi poison as herbal medicine after she refuses to have an abortion. Eui-yi committed suicide and set herself on fire after she had an abortion from the poison. Afterward, everyone celebrates Nami’s birthday, and Hae-Ra gives birth to twins.
Conclusion
The theme of all of these movies relates to parasites. Most of them portray the dark side of our society and how some people play with the lives of others while depending on others. All of them are diseases that are destroying humanity. Children are prohibited from watching these movies because they are sometimes disturbing. After watching Parasite, if you want to explore movies as an adult, you should check out these movies.
