THE WOMAN is a new Korean Thriller screening at Fantasia 2025. It offers classic elements of South Korean genre storytelling. However, it also has a vibe that steers in slightly different directions than the norm. Read our full The Woman movie review here!
THE WOMAN is screening at Fantasia 2025, and this thriller from South Korea offers a fascinating and sinister plot. Forget all about supernatural horror or some classic villain. This one hits much closer to home.
Even the opening quote about people seeking knowledge that will serve to confirm their already established beliefs (I’m paraphrasing, but you get the gist) is a teaser for what you’re about to experience.
Continue reading our The Woman (2025) movie review below.
It all begins with a vacuum cleaner and strawberries
When Sun-kyung meets Young-hwan, the two are complete strangers. She meets him because he is giving away his vacuum cleaner for free using an app that serves this very purpose: Secondhand trading.
Young-hwan is a strange man, and Sun-kyung doesn’t feel too comfortable with him. Something is just off. When she brings him strawberries as a thank-you gift, he reacts with something that can only be described as horror.
That simple exchange escalates in a strange way, where they’re fighting over the strawberries. In the middle of this, her old college classmate Ui-jin shows up to protect her, as he also notices the very strange vibe of this man.
Too quick to judge quirky
The next day, a homicide detective reaches out to Sun-kyung because Ui-jin has apparently committed suicide right after this encounter. Immediately, she suspects Young-hwan has something to do with the death of her former college friend.
Not least because he dies in exactly the same way that Young-hwan’s own mother supposedly died. It’s all just too much of a coincidence.
Also, he is weird and quirky, so he must be off. And isn’t he exactly the kind of person who would kill someone?
The Woman offers us a glimpse into the power of suggestion, rumors, and online “sleuths” who want nothing more than to stir up trouble. However, this can lead to real-life consequences. And that is the core subject of this South Korean thriller.
The Woman is screening at Fantasia 2025
Hwang Wook directed The Woman, which is very different from his previous movie, which also screened at Fantasia. That one was a hysterical, neo-Western black comedy titled Mash Ville (2025).
With The Woman, Hwang Wook shows a very different side of his filmmaking talents. This latest movie is a character-driven psychological thriller that will keep you guessing. Even after much is revealed, you will continue to guess about what just might come next.
The entire cast is exceptional, but Han Hye-ji still stands out with her performance as the title character. This is independent filmmaking of exactly the quality you’d expect from a movie screening at Fantasia. I hope to see much more from Hwang Wook in the future.
The Woman is reviewed as part of our Fantasia 2025 coverage.
Details
Director: Hwang Wook
Writers: Lim Dong-min, Hwang Wook
Cast: Han Hye-ji, Byun Jin-su, Kim Hee-sang, Nam Jin-bok
Plot
An exchange of strawberries and a used household appliance turns into a nightmare for Sun-kyung when her partner turns up dead. Now she must follow the trail of a disturbing stranger.
📺 Watch trailer
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