South Korean auteur Bong Joon-ho earned international popularity when he won multiple Oscars for his movie, Parasite. However, he has had an unbeaten record with his entire filmography, garnering both critical and public acclaim. He has carved his niche in the thriller and sci-fi genres, subverting familiar tropes and playing with eerily suspenseful storylines.
Thrills aside, the director's characters are often grounded in reality. Hence, fans of his work may also share a fascination for other introspective and philosophical thrillers.
Se7en (1995) - Available On Showtime
Bong Joon-ho's breakout hit Memories of Murder dealt with an endless investigation behind South Korea's first serial killer. At the center of the plot are two detectives who are mentally affected in their quest to solve the mystery.
One of the best ultraviolent neo-noir movies, Se7en similarly stars Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as detectives pursuing a series of gruesome murders fashioned after the Seven Sins in the Bible. Both David Fincher and Joon-ho don't shy away from incorporating dark themes to the extent that both play out like horror films.
Prisoners (2013) - Available On Hulu
Prisoners start off with the disappearance of Keller Dover's (Hugh Jackman) daughter. As Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) steps onto the scene, the case gets more complicated, prompting Dover to take justice into his own hands.
There are several themes in Prisoners that will resonate with fans of Bong Joon-ho's filmography. The perplexing mystery is, of course, similar to Memories of Murder, and even the mental pressure that Loki goes through is similar to Song Kang-ho's protagonist in the Korean film. Dover's relentless pursuit of finding his child is similar to Bong Joon Ho's Mother, which deals with a mother's attempt to find a killer in order to free her own son who's accused of murder.
Shin Godzilla (2016) - Available On Vudu
Bong Joon-ho offered his own take on the monster genre with The Host. While the film might seem like a creature feature at first glance, it is actually a thought-provoking survival tale with environmental themes.
Similarly, Shin Godzilla is arguably the most profound of the recent Japanese Godzilla movies. And while it features action sequences on a grand scale involving the thermonuclear lizard, the film also bears socio-political undertones. A major subplot to the film is around the Japanese government's efforts at containing such damage and saving humanity.
The Platform (2019) - Available On Netflix
Snowpiercer and The Platform are pretty similar in terms of their dystopian setting, and Bong Joon-ho's Snowpiercer is one of the best modern social sci-fi movies. The premise revolves around a train that perpetually circles a world plagued with the Second Ice Age. The Platform, on the other hand, is set in a multi-storied prison. While the prisoners in the upper levels get the first share of their food, the ones below are forced to survive on scraps.
These allusions to class struggle are also present in Snowpiercer, as the train is similarly divided into compartments for the elite and the poor. And naturally, themes of revolution are imminent in both these narratives.
A Taxi Driver (2017) - Available On Amazon Prime Video
Inspired by real events, A Taxi Driver finds its titular character (Song Kang-ho) traveling with a journalist in the middle of intense clashes between student protestors and the military in the 1980s.
The political turbulence offers a glimpse into a history of which Bong Joon-ho himself was a part. Apart from the ideological stances of his cinema, Joon-ho has himself never shied away from his past as a student protestor, as mentioned in the Daily Mail. Further, Song Kang-ho (who also starred in Parasite, Memories of Murder, The Host) in the lead role is sure to be another point of interest for viewers.
Guilty (2015) - Available On Netflix
One of the best Hindi-language thriller movies, Talvar (released internationally as Guilty) is based on a real-life murder case that shook the entire nation. After a teenage girl was found murdered in her room, her parents, as well as a domestic helper, are seen as the culprits.
By incorporating the "Rashomon effect," Guilty offers the nuances of each side of the story as well as the tumultuous police investigation that followed the crime. The multiple perspectives and the atmospheric tension resembles Memories of Murder, which again took inspiration from a series of actual murders that plagued South Korea.
Train To Busan (2016) - Available On Hulu
If Bong Joon-ho's The Host humanized the monster genre, Train to Busan is a Korean horror that humanized the zombie genre. It was definitely a much-needed step to counter the overused cliches in zombie fiction.
The zombies arise out of a viral outbreak, just like other films in the genre. In its attempts to depict the early hours of the zombie apocalypse, Train to Busan takes place entirely on a violent train ride. With fast-paced action and heartbreaking emotion, the film overcomes post-apocalyptic cliches for a story that's more grounded in the real world.
Children Of Men (2006) - Available On Showtime
Children of Men is a dystopian movie with a frightening Orwellian message. The narrative is set in a world where widespread infertility is driving human society to extinction. When a refugee is found to be fertile, a disgruntled bureaucrat, Theo (Clive Owen), ensures her safety in the face of authoritarian forces.
In this sense, the film's bleak visuals and gritty survival story are perfect for fans of Snowpiercer. Not only do both films deal with a real-world crisis, but they also deal with class inequalities and the issues that arise out of it.
Lady Vengeance (2005) - Available On Hulu
The final chapter of South Korean crime maestro Park Chan-wook's Vengeance Trilogy, Lady Vengeance is a violent revenge drama with psychological thriller elements.
Similar to the central character in Bong Joon-ho's Mother, the titular heroine of Lady Vengeance is a woman who's wrongly convicted for a murder she didn't commit. After serving her sentence, she is hellbent on finding the ones who wronged her. And to add a familial angle like Mother, Chan-wook's film adds another subplot involving finding the ex-con's daughter that she had to leave behind.
The Wailing (2016) - Available On Amazon Prime Video
The Wailing's small-town setting is similar to that of Memories of Murder, as a middle-aged policeman (Kwak Do-won) investigates a series of brutal crimes. But as the crimes connect to an ominous stranger, a series of unnatural events are set in motion.
While Bong Joon-ho has not experimented with supernatural horror, Na Hong-jin's film incorporates multiple genres with endless twists that deserve multiple explanations. The tonal shifts are so drastic and shocking that it's easy to compare The Wailing to the second half of Parasite.