Ten Reasons You Should Watch Less Hollywood Trash and More Korean Masterpieces (Starting with The Chaser)

*BONUS: WE INCLUDED THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK PLAYLIST AT THE BOTTOM

VERY SAMPLEABLE. SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — In an increasingly saturated cinematic landscape dominated by beige blockbusters, CGI soup, and multiverse fatigue, a growing number of film viewers are finally asking themselves: What if I just watched Korean movies instead?

That epiphany often begins with a single, jarring moment of realization — usually around the 18-minute mark of Na Hong-jin’s 2008 noir-sledgehammer The Chaser — when you realize you’ve felt more genuine tension from a man running in flip-flops than in the last seven Marvel phases combined.

Here are ten airtight reasons why you should toss the popcorn at Chris Pratt and press play on something with subtitles and actual soul:

1. Korean films don’t ask for your attention — they demand it at knife-point.

The Chaser doesn’t ease you in. It throws you face-first into moral rot, institutional failure, and high-stakes sprinting. And you love every minute of it.

2. Hollywood villains twirl mustaches. Korean villains just quietly ruin your life.You won’t get CGI demons here. Just a guy who looks like your cousin but happens to be a sociopath with a claw hammer.

3. The cinematography is so good it makes your retina feel underdressed.Every frame: a painting. Every lighting choice: a thesis. Every alley: somehow damp.

4. Subtitles will improve your brain, unlike The Rock’s IMDb page.

5. Korean films contain something called pacing.That thing where the movie escalates in tension without needing explosions, three fake endings, or a raccoon in a mech suit.

6. You might cry. You might flinch. You’ll definitely stop texting halfway through You haven’t paid this much attention to a screen since your last breakup.

7. The Chaser is based on a real story. Which makes you even more upset.Seriously. The guy sold the victim’s cellphone and kept the money. What are you doing watching Bullet Train?

8. Korean movies know how to end.None of this “setting up the next 8-part streaming spinoff” crap. Just emotional devastation and a long stare out your window.

9. Hollywood actors are too busy selling gin. Korean actors are too busy acting like their lives depend on it.And they do. Because the third act of any Korean thriller is a full-body audition for the next five years of your career.

10. You get to be That Friend who recommends films that change lives.Yes, you’ll become annoying. But you’ll be correct.

Suggested Follow-Ups to The Chaser (For When You Need to Emotionally Recover By Spiraling Deeper):

• Mother (2009) – A mother’s love, a murder mystery, and zero safety rails.

• Memories of Murder (2003) – Bong Joon-ho pre-Parasite, and twice as devastating.

• I Saw the Devil (2010) – The most polite revenge film ever to rip your soul out.

• Burning (2018) – Nothing happens. And it ruins you.