Some Korean action movies are built around elaborate fictional conspiracies. Ransomed starts with something much closer to history: the 1986 kidnapping of a South Korean diplomat in Lebanon.

Directed by Kim Seong-hun, the filmmaker behind A Hard Day, Tunnel, and Netflix’s Kingdom, the 2023 film follows diplomat Lee Min-jun (Ha Jung-woo) as he takes on an unofficial mission to rescue a colleague who has been missing for nearly two years. What starts as a diplomatic operation quickly becomes a fight for survival after Min-jun arrives in Lebanon and finds himself relying on Kim Pan-su (Ju Ji-hoon), a Korean taxi driver living there.

But Ransomed doesn’t simply recreate the hostage crisis. It uses the real event as its foundation and builds a fictional action story around it.

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A Real Kidnapping Inspired the Story

The film’s starting point was the 1986 abduction of South Korean diplomat Do Chae-sung, who was working at the Korean embassy in Beirut. He was kidnapped at gunpoint in January 1986 and remained missing for roughly 20 months. In October 1987, he was released after efforts to secure his freedom, although some details surrounding the ransom negotiations remain classified.

Ransomed changes the names and circumstances of the people involved, but keeps the basic idea of an unofficial Korean rescue mission.

That distinction matters because the film isn’t trying to present every event on screen as historical fact. Director Kim Seong-hun has described the movie as a combination of factual events, perspective, and fiction. The fictional elements gave him room to turn a diplomatic crisis into a more traditional action-adventure story while still keeping the real kidnapping at its center.

Then It Becomes a Buddy Action Movie

This is where Ransomed takes its biggest creative turn.

Min-jun is a relatively inexperienced diplomat whose motivation isn’t entirely selfless: he hopes a successful rescue mission will help him earn a coveted posting in the United States. After arriving in Lebanon, he ends up escaping in the taxi of Pan-su, a Korean expatriate who has no intention of becoming involved in an international hostage rescue.

Pan-su is fictional, and his presence changes the movie considerably. Instead of following a lone diplomat through a grim rescue operation, Ransomed becomes a mismatched two-man adventure. Min-jun is trying to complete the mission; Pan-su is primarily trying to survive it.

That gives the movie its central source of humor. Their relationship starts with mutual distrust and gradually develops into an unlikely friendship, with Ha Jung-woo and Ju Ji-hoon’s chemistry doing much of the work. The two had already appeared together in Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds and Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days, and director Kim specifically cited their previous collaboration when explaining why he paired them again.

The Action Was Built Around the Setting

Even though the story takes place in Lebanon, most of Ransomed wasn’t actually filmed there.

Around 70% of the movie was shot in Morocco, with the production also filming in South Korea and Italy. Morocco was chosen because its scenery and atmosphere could stand in for Lebanon, while also offering established production infrastructure.

That decision was especially important for the film’s action sequences. The production team prepared extensively for the car chases, including sequences through narrow streets, while the film’s climactic escape involved actors jumping from a building using wires.

The result is a movie that spends a surprising amount of time moving: cars, gunfights, escapes, and improvised plans keep pushing Min-jun and Pan-su further into trouble.

Why Ransomed Works as a Buddy Movie

The interesting thing about Ransomed is that its strongest relationship isn’t between a hero and a villain. It’s between two men who probably wouldn’t have chosen each other under normal circumstances.

Min-jun begins the story seeing the rescue as an opportunity to advance his career. Pan-su wants to protect himself and his livelihood. Neither one is particularly prepared for what happens after they meet, and neither completely trusts the other.

Their priorities gradually change as the mission becomes less about getting something for themselves and more about getting another person home.

That gives the movie a human center beneath all the car chases and shootouts. Reviews of the film frequently singled out the chemistry between Ha Jung-woo and Ju Ji-hoon, with Yonhap also noting that their previous work together helped give the movie its comedic energy.

A Korean Action Movie With More History Behind It

Ransomed ultimately sits somewhere between a historical drama, hostage thriller, and buddy action comedy. It takes a little-known chapter of South Korean diplomatic history and reshapes it into a much more accessible adventure.

The real kidnapping gives the story its foundation. The fictional Pan-su gives it its personality. And the Morocco-shot action sequences give the movie its momentum.

For viewers who like Korean action movies that aren’t confined to the usual settings, Ransomed is an easy one to add to the list.

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What happens when a country’s second attempt to send astronauts to the Moon goes wrong?

That is the setup for The Moon, Kim Yong-hwa’s 2023 Korean sci-fi disaster film. Set in 2029, the movie follows astronaut Hwang Sun-woo (Doh Kyung-soo), who becomes stranded on the lunar surface after a solar storm causes a catastrophic problem during South Korea’s second crewed lunar mission. Back on Earth, former Naro Space Center director Kim Jae-guk (Sul Kyung-gu) is brought back to help get him home. Kim Hee-ae plays Yoon Moon-young, a NASA official with her own connection to the failed mission that came before.

Directed by Kim Yong-hwa, the filmmaker behind Along with the Gods, The Moon was built around a very specific ambition: make a Korean space movie that could put the audience directly into the experience of being on the Moon. The production invested heavily in visual effects and virtual production to create the lunar landscape, spacecraft, and mission-control sequences.

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A Korean Mission Goes Wrong on the Moon

The movie begins with South Korea’s first crewed lunar mission ending in disaster. Five years later, the country launches another mission, hoping for a different result.

Sun-woo is one of three astronauts aboard the spacecraft Uriho. The mission initially appears to be progressing successfully, but a powerful solar wind causes the spacecraft to malfunction. Sun-woo eventually becomes separated from his crewmates and is left alone on the lunar surface.

His survival depends on people thousands of miles away.

Jae-guk, who had stepped away from the space program after the earlier catastrophe, is called back to the Naro Space Center. His job becomes increasingly difficult as the team tries to communicate with Sun-woo and figure out how to bring him back.

That gives the movie two locations to work with: the vast, isolated lunar landscape where Sun-woo is fighting to survive and the increasingly frantic control room where Jae-guk and his team are trying to find a way to reach him.

D.O. Plays an Astronaut Alone on the Moon

Doh Kyung-soo, better known as D.O. from EXO, takes the lead role as Hwang Sun-woo.

The role required a very different kind of performance from his work as a K-pop performer. Much of the movie puts Sun-woo alone inside a spacesuit, with his interactions with the other characters happening through communications equipment.

D.O. said he focused on the physical reality of wearing a heavy spacesuit as well as Sun-woo’s fear, panic, and loneliness. He also described seeing a Korean film attempt this scale of space story as an indication of how far the country’s film industry had developed.

That isolation is important to the movie’s tension. There are long stretches where Sun-woo has no one physically beside him, leaving D.O. to carry scenes through movement, facial expressions, and conversations over radio communication.

Sul Kyung-gu and D.O. Spend Most of the Movie Apart

One of the more unusual aspects of The Moon is the relationship between Sun-woo and Jae-guk.

The two leads rarely share the screen because Jae-guk remains on Earth while Sun-woo is trapped on the Moon. Their relationship develops through communications between the spacecraft and the control center.

Sul Kyung-gu discussed the challenge in an interview with Korean Film Biz Zone, explaining that the actors had a completed CGI image of Sun-woo available on large monitors while filming. That gave the Earth-based actors something concrete to react to instead of forcing them to perform toward an empty space.

The setup also gives the film an interesting emotional divide. Sun-woo is dealing with immediate physical danger, while Jae-guk has to make decisions from a control room and live with the memory of the previous mission’s failure.

The Moon Was Built With Virtual Production

A major part of The Moon is the technology behind its visuals.

Kim Yong-hwa had already worked extensively with visual effects through his previous films, including Mr. Go and the Along with the Gods series. For The Moon, Dexter Studios developed its virtual production capabilities further, using an LED-panel studio to display CGI environments in real time while the actors and cameras were filming.

That technology was particularly useful for a movie where much of the action takes place somewhere impossible to film conventionally.

Instead of creating every lunar environment after the actors had finished shooting, the production could show completed CGI environments on large screens during filming. Sul Kyung-gu specifically said being able to see Sun-woo’s spacecraft on the monitors helped him understand the scenes and respond to what was happening around his character.

Kim also shot the film with IMAX and 4K cameras, aiming for an image that would hold up in large-format theaters. His stated goal was for viewers to feel as though they had landed on the Moon alongside the characters.

The Lunar Surface Was Designed Around Real Science

The film takes plenty of dramatic liberties, but its production put significant effort into making the lunar environment convincing.

Yonhap reported that experts from the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute were consulted on scientific aspects of the movie. The spacecraft and spacesuits were also designed with NASA’s human-spaceflight program as a reference.

The result is a very different visual environment from the brightly lit interiors of the space center. Sun-woo moves across a barren lunar landscape where even a small mistake can become a life-threatening problem.

The movie’s estimated production budget was around 28 billion won, or roughly $21.8 million at the time. That is a fraction of the budgets associated with major Hollywood space blockbusters, making the production’s VFX ambitions particularly notable.

Kim Yong-hwa’s Follow-Up to Along with the Gods

The Moon came from a director who already had experience making Korean films on a massive scale.

Kim Yong-hwa directed both Along with the Gods films, which each surpassed 10 million admissions in South Korea. He had also developed a close relationship with Korea’s VFX industry through earlier productions, making a space survival movie a natural next challenge for him.

He has said that his fascination with space and the Moon goes back to childhood. By the time he made The Moon, he believed Korean VFX technology had reached a point where he could finally attempt the kind of lunar movie he had imagined.

That ambition is visible throughout the film. The spacecraft, lunar terrain, spacewalks, and mission-control sequences all receive considerable visual attention.

A Space Thriller Built Around Survival

At its core, The Moon keeps returning to one problem: Sun-woo needs to survive long enough for Earth to find a way to bring him home.

His situation becomes increasingly dangerous as his oxygen supply, spacecraft systems, and the lunar environment work against him. The movie uses those physical problems to create its biggest action sequences, while the control center tries to respond to each new crisis.

The emotional side of the story comes from the history connecting Sun-woo’s mission to the disaster five years earlier. His father, Hwang Gyu-tae, was involved with the first mission, giving Sun-woo a personal reason for wanting the second attempt to succeed. The rescue effort also forces Jae-guk to confront the failure that led him away from the space program in the first place.

The film’s reviews were mixed on how successfully the human drama worked. Yonhap praised the visual effects and the realism of the lunar setting while criticizing the predictable story and heavy use of familiar disaster-movie conventions.

That makes The Moon an especially interesting watch for anyone curious about the technical side of Korean blockbuster filmmaking. Its biggest selling point is the scale of what the production attempted.

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Set in 1951, during the Korean War, Swing Kids follows Ro Ki-soo (Doh Kyung-soo), a North Korean prisoner at the Geoje POW camp who becomes fascinated by tap dancing. After watching U.S. Army sergeant Jackson (Jared Grimes) dance, Ki-soo joins a new troupe being assembled inside the camp.

The idea came from the original musical Ro Gi-su, which caught director Kang Hyeong-chul’s attention because it connected two subjects he wanted to explore: the division between North and South Korea and his longstanding interest in music and dance.

That combination gives Swing Kids a distinctive setting. The film spends as much time with rehearsals and performances as it does with the political tensions surrounding the prisoners, while the characters have to navigate a camp shaped by the Korean War’s ideological divisions.

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The Real History Behind the Geoje POW Camp

The film’s setting is based on the real Geoje POW camp, established in February 1951 by the U.N. High Command. At its height, the camp held roughly 150,000 North Korean and 20,000 Chinese prisoners. Conflicts between pro-communist and anti-communist prisoners became increasingly violent, making the camp one of the most tense environments of the war.

The camp was closed after the 1953 Armistice and eventually became the Historic Park of Geoje POW Camp. Today, the site preserves barracks, military equipment, and other records from the period.

That history gives the dance troupe a very different environment from the usual movie rehearsal room. Ki-soo and the other prisoners are practicing tap steps while living inside a camp where political loyalties could have serious consequences.

Director Kang was particularly interested in that contradiction. He described ideology as the film’s ultimate villain and said he wanted to examine why people could become divided in the name of political beliefs.

D.O. Plays a North Korean Soldier Who Falls for Tap Dancing

Doh Kyung-soo, better known as D.O. from EXO, plays Ki-soo.

For viewers who know D.O. primarily from K-pop, Swing Kids offers a very different showcase for him. He was already an established singer and actor when the movie was made, but director Kang said he actually did not know D.O. was EXO’s vocalist when he first considered him for the role. What mattered to Kang was whether he could physically handle tap dancing and embody Ki-soo.

D.O. learned the tap choreography quickly enough that he did not need a stand-in, including for the film’s more difficult movements. The cast trained for a year, with Kang drawing the dance movements individually into the storyboards.

D.O. has also talked about learning tap dancing for the film, describing the experience as enjoyable despite the difficulty of learning a style that was unfamiliar to him.

That preparation matters because the dancing carries a lot of the film. The performers aren’t simply moving between dramatic scenes; the choreography is part of how their relationships develop and how the movie communicates its changing tone.

How the Swing Kids Troupe Comes Together

Jackson is tasked with creating a five-person tap troupe inside the POW camp for a Christmas performance. The group brings together people who have very little in common.

Ki-soo joins after becoming fascinated by Jackson’s dancing. Yang Pan-rae (Park Hye-su) becomes part of the troupe while supporting herself through dance. Kang Byung-sam (Oh Jung-se) is searching for his wife, while Xiao Fang (Kim Min-ho), a Chinese prisoner, also joins the group.

Jackson has his own challenges. Played by Broadway dancer Jared Grimes, he is an African-American U.S. Army sergeant with professional dance experience. Grimes was already well known in the Broadway dance world when he joined the film, although he had relatively little on-camera experience.

The troupe’s rehearsals gradually become the center of the film. Everyone arrives with a different reason for being there, and the Christmas performance becomes an increasingly important goal as the story develops.

The Dancing Took a Year to Prepare

Kang Hyeong-chul put considerable effort into making the tap sequences convincing.

The director said he storyboarded the dance movements one by one and had the cast practice for an entire year. He also emphasized that the actors needed to act while dancing rather than simply execute choreography correctly.

The result is especially noticeable in the larger dance sequences, where the performers have to maintain character while keeping up with complicated footwork.

The film’s cinematography was designed around the period setting as well. Cinematographer Kim Jee-yong aimed for the appearance of old color photographs, while later commentary on the film’s cinematography noted the use of older lenses and a deliberately aged visual texture.

That visual approach helps the musical numbers sit naturally within a 1950s setting rather than making the movie feel like a contemporary dance production dressed in period costumes.

The Soundtrack Goes From Bowie to Benny Goodman

The soundtrack gives Swing Kids another connection between its modern energy and its historical setting.

The film features songs including David Bowie’s “Modern Love,” Benny Goodman’s “Sing Sing Sing,” The Beatles’ “Free as a Bird,” and Jung Su-ra’s “Joy.”

“Sing Sing Sing” fits naturally into the film’s swing-era atmosphere, while Bowie’s music gives some of the dance sequences a much more contemporary pulse.

The music also helps explain why the film can move so quickly between comedy, dance, and much heavier material. Kang wanted to approach the Korean War through dance, arguing that dancing and singing are instinctive forms of human expression.

When the Christmas Performance Becomes More Complicated

The troupe’s Christmas performance gives the characters something to work toward, but the political situation around them keeps getting worse.

Ki-soo’s interest in American tap dancing already creates suspicion among other prisoners. He is also given a secret order to join the troupe and assassinate the camp’s commander during the performance.

That changes the meaning of the rehearsals. The characters are preparing for a public performance while carrying private loyalties and personal problems that could put everyone in danger.

The movie’s early sections have a strong comedic streak, particularly as the inexperienced dancers struggle to become a functioning troupe. As the story moves toward its final performance, however, the Korean War’s violence and ideological divisions become increasingly difficult to escape.

Why Swing Kids Is Such an Unusual Korean War Movie

The premise alone makes Swing Kids unusual: a North Korean prisoner discovers tap dancing inside a POW camp and ends up performing alongside an American soldier and prisoners from different backgrounds.

Kang’s approach was deliberate. He said the movie revolves around the Korean War while keeping dance as its main subject.

That gives the film two very different rhythms. The dance scenes are energetic and often funny, while the historical setting constantly reminds you that these characters are living through a devastating war.

The contrast becomes particularly effective in the later parts of the movie, when the troupe’s excitement about performing runs directly into the realities of the camp around them.

Swing Kids was released in South Korea on December 19, 2018, and opened in North America on December 21. The film runs 133 minutes and was directed by Kang Hyeong-chul.

The cast includes Doh Kyung-soo (D.O.), Park Hye-su, Jared Grimes, Oh Jung-se, and Kim Min-ho.

For fans of D.O., Korean War films, musicals, or movies built around dance, Swing Kids offers an unusual combination of all four. Watch Swing Kids on Amasian TV.

Looking for a Korean movie with a little more adrenaline?

Korean cinema has no shortage of action, but the genre can take some pretty different forms. One movie might send you into a historical martial arts epic, while another throws you into a world of superpowered experiments. Then there are the revenge stories, crime thrillers, and brutally efficient assassins.

With that in mind, we’ve rounded up five Korean action movies. Each one brings something different to the table, so whether you’re looking for sword fights, superpowers, or a good old-fashioned revenge story, there’s a movie here worth adding to your watchlist.

1. Memories of the Sword

If elaborate sword fights and historical revenge are your thing, start here.

Memories of the Sword takes place during Korea’s Goryeo era and follows three swordsmen who once joined forces in an uprising against a corrupt king. Their alliance falls apart when one of them, Deok-gi, betrays the others, leading to the death of Poong-cheon and the disappearance of Seol-rang and Poong-cheon’s young daughter, Hong-ee.

Eighteen years later, Hong-ee sets out on a path of revenge.

The movie stars Lee Byung-hun, Jeon Do-yeon, and Kim Go-eun, bringing together three major Korean actors for a story filled with complicated loyalties and spectacular martial arts.

What makes Memories of the Sword stand out is its combination of period drama and action. The revenge story gives the swordplay an emotional purpose, while the historical setting gives the movie a sweeping, almost epic quality.

Best for: Fans of martial arts movies, historical dramas, and revenge stories.

2. The Witch 2: The Other One

Want something a little stranger?

The Witch 2: The Other One moves away from traditional martial arts and into science fiction, horror, and superpowered action.

The sequel follows a mysterious girl who survives a violent attack on a secret facility connected to the “Witch” program. After escaping, she becomes the target of multiple groups determined to find her.

Directed by Park Hoon-jung, the film stars Shin Si-a, Park Eun-bin, Seo Eun-soo, Jin Goo, and Jo Min-su.

There’s a lot more going on beneath the surface, especially if you’ve seen The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion. But even with all the mystery surrounding the characters and the program, the movie knows when to let the action take over.

And when it does, things get intense.

Expect superhuman abilities, brutal fights, mysterious organizations, and plenty of questions about exactly what the Witch program has created.

Best for: Fans of sci-fi action, supernatural thrillers, and The Witch series.

3. Unstoppable

Sometimes you don’t need superpowers or an elaborate historical setting.

Sometimes you just need to make the wrong person angry.

That’s essentially the premise behind Unstoppable, the 2018 action thriller starring Ma Dong-seok and Song Ji-hyo.

Dong-chul was once a legendary gangster, but he’s left that life behind and is trying to settle down with his wife, Ji-soo. His quiet existence falls apart when Ji-soo is kidnapped by a human trafficking ring.

The criminals make one major mistake: they don’t realize who they’re dealing with.

Dong-chul sets out to find his wife, drawing on the violent skills he thought he’d left in the past.

Ma Dong-seok is perfectly suited to this kind of role. There’s something particularly satisfying about watching a seemingly ordinary man gradually reveal that he’s considerably more dangerous than anyone expected.

The movie combines hard-hitting action with a straightforward rescue mission, making it one of the easiest picks on this list to jump into without needing much setup.

Best for: Fans of Ma Dong-seok, revenge-driven action, and relentless rescue thrillers.

4. Revolver

Not every action movie needs to be nonstop explosions.

Revolver takes a slower, more controlled approach, building its tension around revenge, corruption, and a promise that turns out to be worth considerably less than expected.

The film stars Jeon Do-yeon as Ha Soo-young, a police detective who takes the fall for a corruption scandal after being promised a substantial reward. When she gets out of prison, however, she discovers that the compensation she was expecting isn’t waiting for her.

So she goes after it herself.

Directed by Oh Seung-uk, Revolver also stars Ji Chang-wook and Lim Ji-yeon, with the three actors at the center of a story where trust is in short supply.

This is the pick for anyone who likes their action with a little more crime thriller and revenge noir mixed in.

Instead of constantly escalating into bigger set pieces, Revolver lets its characters and their shifting relationships create the tension.

Best for: Fans of crime thrillers, revenge stories, and morally complicated characters.

5. The Old Woman with the Knife

And then there’s The Old Woman with the Knife, which might have the most immediately intriguing premise of the group.

The film follows Hornclaw, a legendary assassin in her sixties who has spent decades eliminating criminals. Her routine changes when she encounters Bullfight, a young and ambitious killer who wants to work alongside her.

But Bullfight isn’t simply an admirer.

He has a connection to Hornclaw’s past, and as their relationship becomes more complicated, old memories and unresolved feelings turn into a much more dangerous confrontation.

Directed by Min Kyu-dong and starring Lee Hye-young and Kim Sung-cheol, the film mixes action with mystery and drama. It is also based on Gu Byeong-mo’s novel of the same name.

What makes this one particularly interesting is its central character. Hornclaw isn’t a young assassin discovering her abilities for the first time. She’s an experienced professional whose age has become part of the challenge.

That gives the action a different kind of edge.

Best for: Fans of assassin thrillers, character-driven action, and unconventional protagonists.

Which Korean Action Movie Should You Watch First?

It really depends on what kind of action you’re looking for.

For sword fights and historical drama: Memories of the Sword

For superpowers and sci-fi: The Witch 2: The Other One

For a straightforward revenge mission: Unstoppable

For crime and revenge: Revolver

For something completely different: The Old Woman with the Knife

That’s also what makes this group worth checking out. “Korean action movie” can mean a lot of different things, and these five films show just how much variety there is within the genre.

From Goryeo-era swordplay to secret experiments and aging assassins, there’s no shortage of ways to get your next adrenaline fix.

Ready for Some Korean Action?

Whether you’re in the mood for a historical sword fight, a superpowered showdown, or a revenge thriller, Amasian TV has plenty of Korean action movies to explore.

Add these five to your watchlist and see which one becomes your next favorite.

Watch Korean movies on Amasian TV and discover your next action-packed movie night.

A possessed boy. Two nuns. One exorcism they’re not supposed to perform.

Most exorcism movies put a priest at the center of the story. Dark Nuns takes a different approach, following two nuns who are willing to break the rules when a young boy’s life is at risk.

Released in 2025, Dark Nuns is a Korean occult thriller directed by Kwon Hyeok-jae and starring Song Hye-kyo, Jeon Yeo-been, Lee Jin-wook, and Moon Woo-jin. The film follows Sister Junia and Sister Michaela as they attempt to save Hee-joon, a young boy believed to be possessed by a powerful evil spirit.

The film is also a spin-off of the 2015 Korean supernatural thriller The Priests, bringing a new story and two new protagonists into the same supernatural world.

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What Is Dark Nuns About?

Hee-joon is a young boy suffering from a mysterious condition. Sister Junia, played by Song Hye-kyo, becomes convinced that the evil spirit possessing him is one of the 12 Manifestations.

With an exorcist priest unable to arrive in time and Hee-joon’s life clearly at risk, Junia decides to break a sacred rule: an unordained nun cannot perform an exorcism.

But Junia isn’t the only person trying to determine what is happening to the boy.

Father Paolo, played by Lee Jin-wook, is Hee-joon’s attending physician as well as a priest and psychiatrist. He believes medicine can save the boy and strongly opposes the idea of an exorcism.

Junia eventually turns to Sister Michaela, played by Jeon Yeo-been. Michaela is a student of Father Paolo, and Junia discovers a secret about her that leads her to ask for help getting Hee-joon out of the hospital.

The two nuns don’t exactly see eye to eye, but Michaela feels a connection to Hee-joon and ultimately decides to help Junia.

Together, they prepare for a dangerous ritual with one goal: save the boy at all costs.

Two Nuns Take on an Exorcism

The most interesting thing about Dark Nuns is also its simplest idea: what happens when the people trying to perform an exorcism aren’t supposed to be doing it?

Junia believes Hee-joon’s condition is supernatural and that time is running out.

Michaela takes a different path. She’s initially at odds with Junia, but her connection to Hee-joon eventually brings the two nuns together.

Father Paolo provides the opposing viewpoint. He sees Hee-joon’s condition through the lens of medicine and believes the boy can be treated without an exorcism.

That gives Dark Nuns a conflict beyond the usual battle between good and evil. Junia, Michaela, and Paolo all want to save Hee-joon, but they disagree about how it should be done.

Meet the Dark Nuns Cast

Song Hye-kyo as Sister Junia

Song Hye-kyo plays Sister Junia, a determined nun who refuses to give up on Hee-joon.

It’s a darker role for the actress, who is known for major Korean dramas including Descendants of the Sun and The Glory. Junia’s willingness to break the rules puts her at the center of the film’s supernatural conflict.

Jeon Yeo-been as Sister Michaela

Jeon Yeo-been plays Sister Michaela, a younger nun and student of Father Paolo.

Michaela initially clashes with Junia, but she develops a connection with Hee-joon and eventually agrees to help with Junia’s dangerous plan.

Lee Jin-wook as Father Paolo

Lee Jin-wook plays Father Paolo, a priest and psychiatrist who is also Hee-joon’s attending physician.

Unlike Junia, Paolo believes the boy’s condition can be treated medically. His opposition to the exorcism puts him directly at odds with the two nuns.

Moon Woo-jin as Hee-joon

Moon Woo-jin plays Hee-joon, the young boy at the center of the story.

His mysterious condition brings Junia, Michaela, and Paolo into conflict and sets the film’s events in motion.

How Is Dark Nuns Connected to The Priests?

If Dark Nuns sounds familiar, there’s a reason.

The film is a spin-off of The Priests, the 2015 Korean supernatural thriller starring Kim Yun-seok and Kang Dong-won. While The Priests follows two priests dealing with a mysterious possession, Dark Nuns shifts the focus to two women attempting an exorcism themselves.

You don’t need to watch The Priests first to understand Dark Nuns. The newer film introduces its own characters and story, making it accessible to viewers who haven’t seen the original.

For fans of The Priests, however, the connection adds another reason to check it out.

5 Things to Know About Dark Nuns

1. It Was Released in 2025

Dark Nuns was released in South Korea on January 24, 2025, and has a runtime of 114 minutes.

2. It’s a Spin-Off of The Priests

The movie continues the supernatural world introduced in The Priests, but tells a new story centered around Junia and Michaela.

3. Song Hye-kyo Takes on a Very Different Role

Song Hye-kyo steps into the world of Korean occult cinema as Sister Junia, a determined nun willing to break the rules to save a child.

4. Faith and Medicine Collide

Junia believes Hee-joon is possessed, while Father Paolo believes medicine is the answer. Their opposing views become one of the film’s central conflicts.

5. It Was a Box Office Hit in Korea

Dark Nuns opened at No. 1 at the Korean box office during its opening weekend and went on to reach more than 1.67 million admissions in South Korea.

Is Dark Nuns Worth Watching?

If you enjoy Korean supernatural thrillers, Dark Nuns takes a familiar exorcism premise and gives it a different perspective.

Add it to your watchlist if you enjoy:

• Korean horror and supernatural thrillers
• Exorcism and possession movies
• Religious and occult stories
• Mystery-driven horror
• Song Hye-kyo or Jeon Yeo-been
• The Priests and similar Korean thrillers

You also don’t need to watch The Priests first, making Dark Nuns an easy entry point for viewers who are new to the series.

Watch Dark Nuns on Amasian TV

Two nuns. One possessed boy. And an exorcism they’re not supposed to perform.

If you’re looking for a Korean supernatural thriller that mixes mystery, religious themes, and horror, Dark Nuns is now streaming on Amasian TV.

Watch the Dark Nuns movie now on Amasian TV

A mysterious family curse. A grave hidden in an ominous location. Four experts who discover that some secrets should never be unearthed.

Exhuma, Korea’s highest-grossing domestic movie of 2024, is coming soon to Amasian TV.

Starring Choi Min-sik, Kim Go-eun, Yoo Hae-jin, and Lee Do-hyun, this supernatural thriller combines Korean shamanism, geomancy, burial traditions, historical mystery, and occult horror.

If you enjoy atmospheric Korean movies such as The Wailing and The Priests, get ready to uncover what lies beneath the ground.

Exhuma is coming soon to Amasian TV.

What Is Exhuma About?

When a wealthy Korean American family is troubled by a mysterious illness affecting its newborn son, they hire renowned shaman Lee Hwa-rim and her protégé Yoon Bong-gil to investigate.

Hwa-rim believes the family is being haunted by the spirit of an ancestor—a phenomenon known as “Grave’s Calling.”

To end the curse, she seeks help from veteran geomancer Kim Sang-deok and mortician Yeong-geun. Together, the four experts locate an isolated ancestral grave in a disturbing and unnatural location.

Despite Sang-deok’s warnings, the family insists that the grave be opened and the remains relocated.

But the exhumation releases something far more dangerous than they expected.

Meet the Exhuma Cast

Choi Min-sik as Kim Sang-deok

The acclaimed star of Oldboy plays an experienced geomancer who studies the relationship between the land, graves, and the people buried within them. He immediately senses that something is deeply wrong with the burial site.

Kim Go-eun as Lee Hwa-rim

Kim Go-eun portrays a confident young shaman hired to identify the source of the family’s supernatural affliction. Her intense exhumation ritual became one of the movie’s most memorable sequences.

Yoo Hae-jin as Yeong-geun

Yoo Hae-jin plays a skilled mortician who understands the traditions and procedures surrounding burial and cremation.

Lee Do-hyun as Yoon Bong-gil

Lee Do-hyun appears as Hwa-rim’s tattooed protégé, who assists her during rituals and protects her from dangerous spiritual forces.

Together, the four characters approach the supernatural from different areas of expertise—but none of them are prepared for what they uncover.

Why Exhuma Became a Korean Box Office Phenomenon

Exhuma attracted nearly 12 million moviegoers in South Korea, becoming the country’s highest-grossing domestic film of 2024.

Its success is especially notable because it is not a conventional action blockbuster or lighthearted comedy. Instead, the movie builds suspense through rituals, burial customs, geomancy, history, and the growing feeling that the grave is hiding something unnatural.

Rather than relying only on jump scares, director Jang Jae-hyun creates horror from the land itself—and from the consequences of disturbing a past that was deliberately buried.

Five Fun Facts About Exhuma

1. Its Korean Title Literally Refers to Digging Up a Grave

The Korean title, Pamyo (파묘), refers to the act of exhuming or relocating a grave. The title immediately points to the ritual at the center of the story.

2. It Was the First Movie of 2024 to Reach 10 Million Admissions in Korea

Exhuma crossed 10 million admissions only 32 days after its theatrical release, an exceptional achievement for an occult horror movie.

3. Kim Go-eun Worked with Real Shamans

To prepare for her role as Hwa-rim, Kim Go-eun observed professional shamans and studied their movements, rituals, and behavior. Her performance earned her Best Actress honors at both the Baeksang Arts Awards and Blue Dragon Film Awards.

4. Lee Do-hyun Filmed Exhuma Before Beginning Military Service

Although Lee Do-hyun was serving in the South Korean military when the movie reached theaters, his portrayal of Bong-gil became one of the film’s major talking points—especially his character’s tattoos and ritual scenes.

5. The Director Preferred Practical Filming

Director Jang Jae-hyun used real locations and physical props whenever possible instead of relying heavily on studio sets and CGI. This practical approach helps give the rituals, graves, and landscapes their unsettling realism.

More Than a Conventional Horror Movie

Exhuma works as supernatural horror, but it also explores Korean beliefs about ancestors, burial sites, spiritual energy, and the relationship between people and the land.

As the mystery develops, the grave reveals connections to a darker chapter of Korean history. The threat is not simply a ghost haunting one family—it represents something much older that was buried but never truly disappeared.

This combination of cultural detail, historical meaning, and occult suspense distinguishes Exhuma from a typical ghost story.

Is Exhuma Worth Watching?

Add Exhuma to your watchlist if you enjoy:

• Korean horror and supernatural thrillers
• Shamanism and traditional rituals
• Historical mysteries
• Slow-building atmospheric suspense
• Stories about curses and haunted families
• Choi Min-sik, Kim Go-eun, Yoo Hae-jin, or Lee Do-hyun
• Movies such as The Wailing and The Priests

Exhuma Is Coming Soon to Amasian TV

Do not disturb the wrong grave.

Experience the Korean box office phenomenon that turned an ancestral curse and a forbidden burial site into one of the country’s biggest cinematic events.

Exhuma is coming soon to Amasian TV. Stay tuned for the release date.