Korean disaster films can literally catch the viewers’ breath.
The international film industry has been strengthened by the best movies from South Korea. The country, where K-pop music and renowned K-dramas came from, also can release the best films about outbreaks, natural disasters, and apocalypses.
As Korean movies continue to adapt to new genres, flicks about catastrophes continue to dominate the world with their scripts, unique plotlines, and thrilling scenes. Among those releases, here are the top 5 Korean disaster films that are still buzz-worthy even years have already passed.
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Pandora
This Kim Nam Gil-led film can surely bring viewers to tears. The Through the Darkness actor plays the role of Jae Hyeok, a middle-aged man who works at a local power plant. He wants to leave his job and start working on a fishing vessel outside South Korea to make money for his family, but they all disapprove of his desire to start a new life.
One day, a member of the plant named Pyeong Seok urges the president to shut down the power plant as soon as possible due to the impending catastrophe. However, the president and the members of the government believe nothing will happen.
An earthquake then hits the small town that triggers the nuclear reactors to overheat. The disaster then begins following a full nuclear meltdown that exposed the powerplant workers to radiation.
Tunnel
Starring Lee Jung Soo, Tunnel tells the story of a car salesman who gets trapped inside a poorly constructed tunnel. He waits for weeks with only two water bottles and his daughter’s birthday cake as his only food. After the rescue team completes the first digging, they find that they excavate the wrong place as the blueprint they first referred to is not updated.
The public then loses hope and vote to continue the building of the second tunnel nearby instead of rescuing the man.
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Ashfall
An active volcano in the China-North Korea border, Paektu Mountain, suddenly erupts. It leads to severe earthquakes that rock both North and South Korea. Experts try to prevent another disaster by following the theory Professor Kang Bong Rae (Ma Dong Seok) made when he studied Mount Baekdu and its future eruptions.
Haeundae
Often referred to as South Korea’s first disaster film, Haeundae explores the damaging tidal wave that strikes in the Haeundae district of Busan, where millions of visitors go every year. The film’s geologist notices that the Sea of Japan starts displaying a similar activity to what the Indian Ocean showed after an earthquake in 2004.
A megatsunami suddenly forms and devours Haeundae in a snap.
Sinkhole
The latest Korean disaster film on the list, Sinkhole, became the fastest South Korean film in 2021 to reach 1 million admissions within six days of its release. The Kim Ji Hoon-directed film is about a family who moved into a house after 11 years of working on getting it. They throw a party and invite his friends, but an overnight downpour leads to an enormous sinkhole that engulfs the house and the people inside it.
They have to find a solution to get out of the sinkhole before the rainwater fills the place.
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