South Korean director Bong Joon-ho started in the industry with various gigs as a cinematographer, lighting technician, and maker of short films before breaking through with his first feature-length movie, Barking Dogs Never Bite, in 2000. Since then, Bong has established himself as one of South Korea’s most talented filmmakers, and his releases have ranked as some of the country’s highest-grossing movies, and eventually, the country's first Oscar win for Best Picture.

Bong’s body of work spans a wide range of genres – from dark comedy and crime thriller to creature feature and action sci-fi — yet his genre-mashing movies often defy easy categorization. He impressed critics with his horror movie The Host and then showed he could create a creature feature that was also a heartwarming sci-fi film in Okja. However, when he won Best Picture for Parasite — the first non-English-language movie to win that honor — he proved why he remains one of Hollywood's most compelling directors.

8 Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000)

Bong Joon-ho's Debut Film

Bong Joon-ho's first film, Barking Dogs Never Bite, is a black comedy that follows a frustrated, unemployed academic (Lee Sung-jae) driven to drastic measures by the incessant barking of a neighbor’s dog. However, when a woman who works at his apartment complex (Bae Doona) begins to get reports about missing dogs, she decides to investigate the matter. It might not be Bong at his very best, but it’s nevertheless an assured and impressive debut.

Fans of Bong might recognize Bae Doona. She returned to work with the director in The Host in 2006 and also starred in Park Chan-wook's Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. The film has the twists and turns that Bong's fans have come to expect while also maintaining its heart and a sense of realism that nothing is ever as good as the characters might have hoped in the end. While a box office failure, it still has an 88% Rotten Tomatoes score.

7 Okja (2017)

A Girl Wants To Save Her Genetically Enhanced Super-Pig

A weird and wonderful tale about the bond between a young South Korean girl and her genetically modified super-pig, Okja, is Bong Joon-ho’s sixth film. The movie mixes fantasy, fairy tale, and satire in a story that sees the Mirando Corporation give farmers genetically-enhanced pigs to raise on their farms, and one will receive the title of best pig. However, when a girl named Mija develops a bond for her pig, only to learn Mirando Corporation will butcher it after the contest, she sets out to find a way to save it.

Unbliuke many of Bong's films, this one was released as a Netflix exclusive in the United States and has a high 87% fresh Rotten Tomatoes score.

There is a lot of social messaging in this film, as a group called the Animal Liberation Front is fighting to save the animals but have been deemed terrorists by the government. Okja boasts big-name talents like Tilda Swinton and Paul Dano but suffers somewhat from a jumbled tone and a wildly over-the-top performance from Jake Gyllenhaal. Unbliuke many of Bong's films, this one was released as a Netflix exclusive in the United States and has a high 87% fresh Rotten Tomatoes score.

6 Snowpiercer (2013)

Post-Apocalyptic Thriller On A Frozen Earth

Sci-fi action flick Snowpiercer is a true international picture. It was Bong Joon-ho’s first English-language film and is based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob. The movie is set in a future ravaged by a second ice age in which the last surviving of humankind have been crammed into a constantly moving train segregated by class. Its message can be a little heavy-handed, but Snowpiercer is still a brilliant contribution to dystopian cinema.

The cast is incredible, with Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer, Ed Harris, John Hurt, and many more. The film also has the social messages that Bong likes to put into his films, as the main storyline sees the "tailies" (the working class) fighting to move forward to receive better treatment and the middle and upper classes fighting to hold them back. The film was a great post-apocalyptic story, but more fans might know the TV show better, which played out for four seasons.

5 The Host (2006)

Bong Joon-Ho's Giant Monster Movie

Released eight years before Godzilla returned to American cinemas, Bong Joon-ho proved that giant monster movies could still work as long as they kept the focus on the people trying to survive. The Host sees a mutated beast emerge from Seoul’s Han River to wreak havoc on the city and follows one father’s attempts to save his daughter from its clutches. The film then follows this father and his family as they try to stay alive as this beast kills and consumes anyone it sees on a path of destruction.

It’s more than just a creature feature, however. Inspired by real-life pollution problems in Seoul, The Host is also infused with plenty of political critique.

It also just so happens to be one of Quentin Tarantino’s favorite movies (via Comcast). The Host was a smash hit in South Korea, one of the highest-grossing movies in the country's history, and it was the first Bong film to receive worldwide attention, helping him become a sought-after director.

4 Mother (2009)

A Mother Searches For A Killer

After setting the world on fire with his giant monster movie, Bong Joon-ho dialed things back for a neo-noir thriller about a widow whose son was accused of murder based on his intellectual disability. She believes he is willing to defend himself but does not believe he is guilty of committing the murder he’s been accused of. As a result, she sets out to find the real murderer to clear her son's name, putting her own life in danger along the way.

This bears a strong similarity to Bong's later movie Parasite, which shows how far a family would go to protect each other, even if it means otherwise good people would do terrible things to hide the truth. With themes of love, acceptance, and protection, there are plenty of twists and turns, although this film lacks the dark humor of the director's other features. Critics praised Mother, awarding it a 96% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes.

3 Memories Of Murder (2003)

A Biopic About Serial Killer Lee Choon-Jae

Bong Joon-ho’s second feature, Memories of Murder, was the movie that really put him on the map, and it’s not hard to see why. Inspired by the case of South Korea’s first serial killer (Lee Choon-jae), the film centers on two mismatched detectives (Song Kang-ho and Kim Sang-kyung) trying to solve a series of grisly murders in a small, rural town. Tense and haunting with stunning cinematography, it’s been described as South Korea’s answer to Zodiac.

This helped it get an international release, making $12 million at the box office, showing that Bog was a rising star behind the camera.

Memories of Murder got its initial release in 2003 in South Korea and quickly received critical acclaim for the screenplay, which Bong co-wrote with Shim Sung-bo. This helped it get an international release, making $12 million at the box office, showing that Bog was a rising star behind the camera. It has since become a cult film and has an impressive 95% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics praising its social satire and comedy.

2 Mickey 17 (2025)

A Sci-Fi Movie About Cloning

Mickey 17 is Bong Joon-ho's follow-up to his Oscar-winning Parasite. However, if anyone thought Bong was going to play it safe, they were sorely mistaken. Robert Pattinson stars as a hapless man on the run named Mickey who signs up for a mission off Earth, but he ends up g up to be an Expendable, which means he will do the dangerous missions, die every time, and then get brought back as a clone. However, when Mickey 17 and Mickey 18 both end up alive simultaneously, they find their lives are legitimately in danger.

Like most of his previous movies, this is a social satire that has very dark humor spread throughout. Critics praised Robert Pattinson's comedic timing in the film, and it might be time for the actor to take on a full comedy role in the future. Praise also went to Bong, who perfectly juggled the comedy, the social messaging, and the action, including creating his first big monsters since The Host, although with a very different outcome.

1 Parasite (2019)

A Poor Family Scams A Wealthy Family With Disastrous Results

Parasite is Bong Joon-ho at the pinnacle of his career — at least for now. Deftly mixing black comedy, social commentary, and suspense, Parasite is an exercise in layered storytelling that follows a lower-class South Korean family as they insert themselves into the lives of a wealthier family with disastrous consequences. While things seem to be going well for the lower-class family, when they discover secrets hidden under the wealthy family's home, murder and deception follow.

Not only is Parasite universally acclaimed, but it’s also the only non-English-language film to win Best Picture at the Oscars. In all, Parasite received six nominations, winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film. It was also a massive box office success, making $258 million on an $11.4 million budget, and it opened the door for Bong Joon-ho to basically choose his next projects for the time being.