Asian Crime, Thriller, Horror Premieres: August '21
Remember when I tried to do those individual posts on premiere days for dramas and movies? I liked them, but I didn’t really like keeping up with them. I had been incorporating them into my Random Asian News posts, but I thought that it really needed its own dedicated spot and so from now on I’ll try to do a monthly roundup of premieres. Not everything listed is something I’m interested in, nor will it be something that is accessible to everyone, but I still wanted to highlight some of the dramas and movies to look out for.
-The tvN kdrama The Road: Tragedy of One starring Jin Jin Hee, Yoon Se Ah, and Kim Hye Eun premieres August 4th. Adapted from the novel One Tragedy by Norizuki Rintaro it tells the story of the rich residents who live at Royal the Hill. Jin Jin Hee plays an investigator out to find the truth and secrets revolving the residents. It looks like VIKI has picked it up.
-August 9th is the premiere for the KBS kdrama, Police Academy. Labeled as a ‘coming-of-age comedy melodrama’, the drama is about a student and teacher (Kang Sun Ho and Yoo Dong Man) who meet in the Police University and join forces to investigate a case. It’ll be available on Kocowa and VIKI.
-The 2019 Japanese horror film, Howling Village, will make its North American release on Friday, August the 13th in select theaters and will be available on VOD August 17. Written and directed by Takashi Shimizu (Ju-On), it is the story of Kanadae, a psychologist whose brother goes missing and has to visit his last known location, the haunted site Howling Village to try to find him.
-The Japanese film, Welcome to Toei Slaughterhouse, premieres August 13th. This one is honestly a little harder to find information for, and will most likely be harder to find for the international audience but wanted to add it to the list in case it becomes available.
“The film follows Saki (Momotsuki), Mei (Kudo), and Kaho (Teramoto), the members of the budding idol group called Wish as they are set to appear in the sequel of Toei's hit movie, Yugami. Toei Movie Studios is a place where a lot of popular movies and dramas are filmed, but this studio also has an untold secret.” - source
-Remember You, the Thai remake of the Korean drama Hello Monster will premiere August 16th. It’s currently scheduled to air on Netflix Thailand, and then make its way internationally on the 1st of November.
-The Korean film Hostage: Missing Celebrity will be in Korean theaters August 18. The action-thriller is about the kidnapping of a top film star (Hwang Jung Min) and his attempts at escape. It was scheduled to be released in 2020, but was postponed because of COVID. It is based on the 2015 Chinese film, Saving Mr. Wu.
-Guimoon: The Lightless Door will make it’s theatrical premiere on the 18th. The Korean horror is the first Korean film to be simultaneously created in three different versions: 2D, Screen X, and 4DX. In 1990 a janitor at a training facility murders guests and commits suicide. Since the event, there have been strange occurances at the training facility which led to it being closed down. A psychic (Kim Kang Woo) goes to the center to look for answers.
-Mikkoku wa Utau, is a Japanese drama produced by WOWOW. Masaki Sara (Masahiro Matsuoka) is a detective whose colleague dies during an investigation. After he transfers to a new department h receives a mysterious letter that could help him solve the case of his dead colleague. It will premiere August 22nd.
-The Korean drama D.P. follows the private soldier Jun Ho (Jung Hae In) who becomes a member of the military defector arrest team. It premieres on August 27th on Netflix. It looks like all 6 episodes will drop at the same time.
-I’m Watching You is a Korean drama produced by TVING and follows a crime through the eyes of CCTV. No date besides a reports that it’ll air someime this month.
-The Hong Kong drama produced by ViuTV, Sometimes When We Touch, stars Kent Tsai, a college student who is a fan of the supernatural when an attempt at trying to get his crush to join a club gets out of hand. Think more teen romcom than scary. All the promo I could find on this one says that it’ll be out on the 7th, but MyDramaList has it as a question mark with their airing calendar says it has already started.
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