For most Western audiences, the renaissance in commercial cinema coming out of South Korea since the late-'90s has been primarily associated with genre films. While the actual output of the country's film industry has remained consistently diverse, the overshadowing fixation has remained consistently upon those works that not only reflect a preference for stylized aesthetics, but also use the thriller, horror, and science-fiction film to give expression to feelings of deep social alienation, mistrust of human nature, and a pessimistic view of political futures. It's no coincidence that the emergence of the "New Korean Cinema" coincided with the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which precipitated the significant scaling back of national film productions by native media conglomerates, but also presented enhanced opportunities to young auteurs with a finesse for fiscally responsible production practices, as well as a vision for a more narratively and formally transgressi...