Parasite poster

Parasite (2019)

Film · 2h 13m · Rated R · In Korean

Comedy, Drama, Foreign (non-English), Thriller

A poor family's grift of the wealthy Parks escalates into a darkly comic and bleakly suspenseful class struggle.

Bleak, with dark satire. A full-attention watch at a measured pace. Emotionally it is devastating.

90
Masterpiece
CouchRot Score, from 18 cinephile ratings

Streaming on Paramount+ and Kanopy (free).

Parasite parents guide

It stays inside its R, with moderate sex and nudity, and brutal violence.

Scare
Mildly scary
A few tense or eerie moments.
Jump scares
A couple
One or two sudden jolts.
Gore
Graphic gore
Blood and wounds shown clearly.
Violence
Brutal violence
Our top level for violence.
Sex and nudity
Moderate
Moderate means a sex scene or nudity on screen, even brief, or sexual violence that is described or implied but never shown.
Language
Moderate
Some strong profanity, a few f-words.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

Is Parasite scary?
Only a little. Parasite has a few tense moments, nothing that follows you to bed.
How gory is Parasite?
Graphic gore and brutal violence. If graphic gore is a dealbreaker, skip it.
What is Parasite rated, and is it OK for kids?
It is an R, with moderate sex and nudity, brutal violence, and some strong language. Keep it for adults.
ConfidenceDialing In
18 ratings deep. Getting dialed in.
ConsensusMostly Agree
DividedNear unanimous
How the 18 ratings land
0
Skip It
0
Not Great
0
Decent
3
Really Good
15
Must Watch

What is Parasite about?

All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.

Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)

No. Brace yourself.

Cast and crew

Directed byBong Joon Ho
StarringSong Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam, Lee Jung-eun

More like Parasite

Parasite is on our Most violent, Tearjerkers, Con artists, Dry and witty and Dark lists.

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Five more like Parasite

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Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.