A Glean movie guide
Beyond the Basement: Films Like Parasite
Eat the rich.
Masterful thrillers and sharp social satires that explore class, deception, and the dark side
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
The Handmaiden
A visually stunning South Korean thriller defined by elaborate deceptions and shocking narrative pivots.
1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sookee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to steal her fortune.
- 02
Burning
A haunting, slow-burn mystery that masterfully explores the simmering resentment between the rich and the working class.
'Burning' is a conversation between two young mothers brought together by strange and cruel social realities, at a funeral ghat in Varanasi
- 03
Snowpiercer
Bong Joon-ho’s high-concept action epic uses a speeding train as a visceral metaphor for a rigid class hierarchy.
In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, a class system evolves aboard the Snowpiercer; a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine.
- 04
Shoplifters
A poignant look at a family living on the margins of society, held together by secrets and survival instincts.
In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows attached to her, buried secrets surface, forcing them to confront the true meaning of love, belonging, and what makes a family.
- 05
The Housemaid
This classic South Korean thriller about a domestic worker’s revenge served as a primary inspiration for Parasite.
Eun-yi is hired as a maid in a mansion owned by a wealthy businessman. He quickly starts seducing his employee who seemingly has little choice but to comply with his sexual advances. Soon the women of the family plot against Eun-yi who must fight an equally devious battle to protect herself.
- 06
The Servant
A tense British drama where the power dynamics between a wealthy man and his manservant slowly and sinisterly invert.
Indolent aristocrat Tony employs competent Barrett as his manservant and all seems to be going well until Barrett persuades Tony to hire his sister as a live-in maid.
- 07
Get Out
A sharp social thriller that uses the horror genre to expose the unsettling realities of privilege and exploitation.
Chris and his girlfriend Rose go upstate to visit her parents for the weekend. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined.
- 08
The Menu
A biting satire that blends dark humor with high-stakes tension as it skewers the culture of the ultra-wealthy.
A young couple travels to a remote island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.
- 09
Triangle of Sadness
A provocative and grotesque comedy that forces a literal reversal of social roles after a luxury cruise goes wrong.
A celebrity model couple are invited on a luxury cruise for the uber-rich, helmed by an unhinged, alcoholic captain. What first appears Instagrammable ends catastrophically, leaving the survivors stranded on a desert island in a struggle of hierarchy.
- 10
Mother
Another Bong Joon-ho essential that mixes dark humor with a desperate, twist-filled search for justice.
Mother compiles clips of mother figures from classic Hollywood cinema and television dramas. The figures range from the Virgin Mary and Mother Courage, to characters from Maude (1972–78), Aliens (1986), Imitation of Life (1959), and American Gangster (2007). The characters play out scenes of care, loss, emotional manipulation, abandonment, and grief. The intense relationships between mothers and daughters are especially prominent.