Clever and amusing but...

Rating: 7/10 (12 February 2020)

This was a clever and amusing dark comedy until it went way too dark and kooky about two thirds of the way into the film. The first two thirds of the movie very enjoyable if somewhat of a clichÃ© view of the social classes in South Korea. It was much more disparaging of a low class family though. It portrayed them lazy, slovenly, dishonest amateur con artists waiting for their next victim. It was funny if you don't take it seriously. I wonder if the director actually wanted you to believe he is saying that this is a depiction of a typical lower class family in South Korea. His portrayal of the upper class family was also clichÃ© if a bit more muted and of course overly simplistic.
The horror slasher ending segment seemed like a completely separate movie. I think it was totally unnecessary and thrown in for shock value only. I understand that the characters and the plot around the dungeon husband and his enabling wife was also added on to the story s a weird twist. The twist of their predicament was amusing if not pretty far over the top. I suppose was a hint of the really crazy stuff yet to come. It really went downhill for me when they tied up the couple, throwing the former housekeeper down the stairs. It looked like she was dead. And then it really started to go off the rails when the Parasite son went into the dungeon with the rock to do what? Kill the couple in the dungeon??? Come on! From there on it was bloody ridiculous.
It just seems to me that the director was just not satisfied with making a fun dark comedy and had to add a silly teen slasher segment for shock value. Best picture??? It certainly was not a great year for quality movies but there were other films that were overall better than this.