First Trailer for ‘The Ugly’ – Very Mysterious Thriller Film from Korea

First Trailer for ‘The Ugly’ – Very Mysterious Thriller Film from Korea

by Alex Billington
August 7, 2025
Source: YouTube

“He raised you on his own, right?” Another intriguing thriller to watch out for. The first promo trailer for a Korean mystery thriller film titled The Ugly is out. It’s premiering at the 2025 Toronto Film Festival next month. And also happens to be the latest feature from prolific Korean filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho, known for the films Seoul Station, Train to Busan, Peninsula, JUNG_E, Hellbound. He also has another thriller film out this year called Revelations in addition to this showing at TIFF. Acclaimed director Yeon Sang-ho trades spectacle for intimacy with a haunting tale of memory & moral ambiguity, about a son’s search for truth and a past that refuses to stay buried. “Ugly things are scorned.” Based on director Yeon’s 2018 graphic novel of the same name, the film stars Park Jeong-min and Kwon Hae-hyo. It traces the journey of Im Young-gyu, a blind yet extraordinarily skilled seal artisan, and his son, Im Dong-hwan, as he unearths long-buried truths surrounding the mysterious death of Dong-hwan’s mother — which was kept a secret for 4 decades. Looks like there will be some weighty emotions when he figures out what happened with his mother & father.

Here’s the first official trailer (+ poster) for Yeon Sang-ho’s modern film The Ugly, direct from YouTube:

Dong-hwan (Park Jeong-min), having inherited his blind artisan father Yeong-gyu’s seal engraving studio, persuades his father to star in a documentary about his life as a master of the craft who has overcome the limits of his disability. But the shoot takes an unexpected turn when the remains of their wife and mother are discovered after forty years. As Dong-hwan uncovers long-buried family secrets, he also unravels the story of a woman whose face has been erased from collective memory and remembered solely as an “ugly monster.” The Ugly, also known as 얼굴 in Korean, is written and directed by acclaimed Korean filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho, known for sparking the global K-zombie frenzy with the films The King of Pigs, The Fake, Seoul Station, Train to Busan, Psychokinesis, Peninsula, continuing on with the films JUNG_E, Hellbound, The Bequeathed, and Revelations, plus the series “Parasyte: The Grey”. Based on director Yeon’s 2018 graphic novel of the same name. Produced by Wow Point. This is premiering at the 2025 Toronto Film Festival as a Special Presentation. No final release dates are set – stay tuned. First impression? Looks good?

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