10 Best Psychological Thrillers Of All Time
8. Mother (2009)
Psychological thrillers come from all over the globe, and one of the contemporary masters of the genre is arguably South Korean auteur Bong Joon Ho. Although there are plenty of contenders from South Korea that are equally as deserving as a place on this list including Chan-wook Park’s Vengeance trilogy or Hong-jin Na’s The Wailing, Joon Ho’s lesser-known 2009 film Mother is what earns a spot on this list.
Starring cherished South Korean television icon Hye-Ja Kim as the titular mother, the film sees her set out on a personal quest to prove the innocence of her son after he’s accused of the murder of a high school girl, with only circumstantial evidence tying him to the scene.
Like the rest of the Parasite director’s filmography, Mother is just as gripping, beautiful, and meticulously constructed as everything else Joon Ho has created as he shows just how much one parent is willing to go through for their child.
From the opening scene in which we see the mother dancing alone in a field, Mother is drenched in mystery. And even when the truth is uncovered, we still don’t learn anything about who these characters really are.