Barely, 3 out of 10. It's a dark comedy thriller with no jump scares and one violent stretch near the end.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
3 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Medium
The tension stops with the film, but the sadness can last a day.
DOG
Dog: fine
fine, all the dogs make it.
Ruling: Fine for anyone who can sit through one violent scene. The early part is mostly comedy.
Parasite runs two hours and thirteen minutes. A family living in a semi-basement flat in Seoul gets very good at forging a university certificate and very bad at leaving well enough alone. The early part is mostly a comedy.
The premise, briefly
A struggling Seoul family fakes its way into jobs at the home of a wealthy family, one relative at a time, and the arrangement is supposed to stay quiet.
How much do you want to know?
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The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
🐱CUT TO THE CHASE
How it ends
Ki-jung dies, Moon-gwang and Geun-sae die, Mr Park is stabbed by Ki-taek, and Ki-taek ends up hiding in the Parks' bunker. Ki-woo survives brain surgery and promises in a letter to earn enough money to buy the house and free his father.
The scene you're dreading
The garden party, near the end: Geun-sae attacks Ki-jung with a kitchen knife while the guests watch, Chung-sook impales him with a skewer, and Ki-taek stabs Mr Park. It is bloody.
The dog
No dog dies in Parasite. The dogs in the film all survive.
It is a twisty thriller with one burst of violence, and the ending is sadder than it is frightening.
THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
A scholar's rock and a forged degree
The Kims, Ki-taek, Chung-sook, Ki-woo and Ki-jung, share a semi-basement flat in Seoul. Money is tight, so a family friend named Min-hyuk hands over a scholar's rock that is supposed to bring wealth. Before he leaves to study abroad, he asks Ki-woo to take over his job tutoring English for Da-hye, the daughter of the rich and trusting Park family. Ki-jung forges a university certificate, and Ki-woo goes to the Parks' house as "Kevin." Mrs Park hires him by the end of the first lesson. Then he gets the rest of the family in. Ki-jung becomes "Jessica" and is hired to do art therapy with the Parks' small son Da-song, who had a seizure after seeing a "ghost" in the kitchen. Ki-jung frames the Parks' driver Yoon, and Ki-taek replaces him. The Kims then convince Mrs Park that the housekeeper Moon-gwang has tuberculosis, and Chung-sook gets her job. Ki-woo also starts dating Da-hye in secret.
While the Parks are camping, the Kims enjoy the house until Moon-gwang rings the doorbell, saying she left something in the basement. She opens a hidden door to a bunker that the architect built and never told the Parks about. Her husband Geun-sae has been living there to avoid loan sharks, and he is the "ghost" that Da-song saw. Moon-gwang pleads with Chung-sook to let him stay in exchange for regular payments. The other three Kims are listening, and they accidentally reveal who they are. Moon-gwang films them and threatens to tell the Parks. Then the Parks call to say they are coming back early because of a rainstorm. The Kims clean up the evidence and overpower Moon-gwang and Geun-sae down in the bunker, and Moon-gwang is injured in the struggle. They escape, but the storm floods their own flat with sewage, and they spend the night in a gymnasium with other people who lost their homes.
A birthday party with a guest list problem
The scene people dread comes the next day, near the end, at the birthday party Mrs Park throws for Da-song in the garden. The elder Kims work the party and the younger Kims attend as guests. Ki-woo goes down to the bunker with the scholar's rock, and Moon-gwang is already dead from the day before. Geun-sae hits Ki-woo with the rock, knocking him out, then walks out of the bunker and goes after Ki-jung with a kitchen knife as the guests look on. Da-song has a seizure on seeing the ghost again. Chung-sook kills Geun-sae with a barbecue skewer. Mr Park tells Ki-taek to drive Da-song to the hospital instead of tending to Ki-jung. Ki-taek is angry at how little the Parks notice, stabs Mr Park with Geun-sae's knife, and runs. There is blood.
The ending, explained
A few weeks on, Ki-woo is still healing after brain surgery. He and Chung-sook are convicted of fraud and get probation, and Ki-jung has died of her injuries. Ki-taek is a wanted fugitive and has vanished. Police presume Geun-sae was a random homeless man, so the motives for the killings remain unsolved. Ki-woo watches the Parks' old house, which now belongs to a foreign family, and sees a Morse code message in a light. Ki-taek is hiding in the bunker, where he buried Moon-gwang in the garden. He sends messages daily, hoping Ki-woo will notice. Ki-woo is still in the semi-basement flat, living with his mother, and he writes Ki-taek a letter vowing to earn enough money to buy the house and free him.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, all the dogs make it.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Parasite scary?
Parasite is a 3 out of 10. It has no real jump scares and a medium dread. The tension comes from the Kim family getting caught, and there is one violent garden party near the end.
How does Parasite end?
Ki-jung dies, Ki-taek hides in the bunker under the Parks' old house, and Ki-woo survives brain surgery. Ki-woo writes a letter promising to earn enough to buy the house and free his father.
Does the dog die in Parasite?
No dog dies in Parasite. The dogs in the film all survive, and the dog status is fine.
Is there a post-credits scene in Parasite?
No. Parasite has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
Who is the ghost in Parasite?
The ghost that Da-song sees in the kitchen is Geun-sae, Moon-gwang's husband. He has been hiding in a secret bunker under the Parks' house to avoid loan sharks.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of Parasite is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
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