The Korean mother in contemporary thriller films: a Monster or just modern?

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the short-lived and easily overlooked cycle of Korean thriller films centring on mother characters in the mid-to-late-2000s. I call these films ‘mother thrillers.’ Through an analysis of the cycle’s key recurrent characteristics, I explore the reasons behind the popularity of this cycle, as well as the social commentary offered by such films. Focus is laid primarily on Bong Joon-ho’s Mother (2009) and Seven Days (dir. Won Shin-yeon, 2007) as examples of the sub-genre, though other films are also referenced. Before offering such analyses, the paper examines a film from the 1980s that can be labelled a direct precedent of contemporary mother thrillers: Park Chul-soo’s Woman Requiem (1985). By first exploring this film, the paper sets a historical precedent for the contemporary cycle, while also bringing awareness to this neglected work.