Horror films, once regarded as little more than a niche genre filling gaps during the summer vacation peak season, are emerging as a new box-office pillar of Korean cinema. In a theater market long dominated by blockbusters, horror films have succeeded one after another at the box office, prompting assessments that the genre has moved beyond being a "dark horse" to serving as the backbone of the film market.
This year, horror films have achieved consecutive box-office successes in an unusual trend. "Salmokji" drew 3.23 million viewers, surpassing "A Tale of Two Sisters" (2003) to claim the top spot in the all-time box-office ranking for Korean horror films. It marked the first change in the No. 1 record for Korean horror films at the box office in 23 years. "The Backrooms," which opened on the 27th of last month, is an American film with a production budget of $10 million (about 14 billion won) and is on a successful run, recording a cumulative 810,000 viewers in Korea. It has also created a major stir in the global market, recording cumulative revenue of $212.97 million (about 323.6 billion won).
The two films share a common trait: their box-office success was driven by the sensibilities of young creators and "eye-level direction." Director Lee Sang-min (born 1995), a former horror film enthusiast, and director Kane Parsons (born 2005), a former digital creator, grafted online meme culture and the sensibilities of younger generations onto traditional horror grammar, drawing voluntary word-of-mouth from viewers in their teens to 30s. The analysis is that, whereas in the past younger generations consumed horror films made by older generations, recently a trend has emerged in which the same generation actively consumes films made by young creators.
Amid this trend, new horror films are also showing confidence. Even as major anticipated releases are lined up—including director Yeon Sang-ho's "Gunche," which is nearing 5 million viewers, the Hollywood blockbuster "Disclosure Day," and Pixar's "Toy Story 5"—two horror films have confirmed their releases.
"Shrine: The Whisper of the Evil Spirit," which hits theaters on the 17th, is an occult horror film combining Korean shamanism and Japanese-style horror. It depicts the story of Myeong-jin (Kim Jae-joong), a male shaman who tracks the trail of three university students who went missing after setting off to survey an abandoned shrine in Kobe, Japan, and ends up confronting a bizarre evil spirit. Japanese director Kazuyoshi Kumakiri took on the direction, presenting the differentiation of combining K-occult and J-horror. The blending of shamanism subject matter with Japanese horror sensibilities is drawing the interest of younger audiences.
"Nundongja," opening on the 24th, is a suspense thriller focused on more realistic horror. It portrays the process by which Seo-jin, who is losing her eyesight to a hereditary disease, tracks down questions surrounding the death of her twin sister and comes face to face with a shocking truth.
The competitiveness of horror films lies in their relatively low production costs and a clear core audience. Unlike blockbusters that invest production budgets on the scale of tens of billions of won, horror films can be made at relatively low cost while still promising high profitability. In particular, the spread of social media (SNS) culture that parodies horror scenes or consumes them as memes—drawing voluntary viral effects from younger generations—is also cited as a box-office factor.
Indeed, "Salmokji" and "The Backrooms" also built their box-office momentum as word-of-mouth spread mainly through online communities and short-form platforms. "In the past, horror was a genre whose box-office performance was difficult to predict, but recently it is establishing itself as a stable genre that can secure audiences above a certain scale," an industry official said. "Combined with the participatory culture of younger audiences, it is serving as the pivotal backbone of the Korean film market."
