Night of the Undead (2020) 

Shin Jungwon, the director known for horror comedies such as To Catch a Virgin Ghost (2004) and last year’s Night of the Undead (2020), has died at the age of 46. He passed away suddenly of acute sepsis related to liver cirrhosis on December 4. He leaves behind him a wife and one son.

Born in 1974, director Shin graduated from the Kaywon Arts High School and University, where he studied film. He directed the short film Ajumma (1997) as his graduation project in university, and following his studies, he directed several music videos for several singers, including Im Changjung. He then worked as a visual supervisor on the JK Youn’s comedy Sex Is Zero (2002), featuring Im in the lead.

After embarking on a career as a feature filmmaker, he quickly drew attention to his talents through his debut film To Catch a Virgin Ghost, an innovative countryside set horror comedy that once again teamed him up with Im as an actor. The film also featured Kwon Ohjung with Kim Yunseok, appearing in an early supporting role. It welcomed over two million viewers to theaters, making it one of the biggest hits of 2004. 

He returned in 2009 with the creature feature Chaw with Uhm Taewoong and Jung Yumi, which was another hit with 1.8 million admissions at the box office. His third film was the Korean shaman-infused Ghost Sweepers with a team of supernatural fighters led by Kim Sooro, released in 2012.

Shin’s final film was the sci-fi-infused horror-comedy Night of the Undead, led by Lee Junghyun and Kim Sungoh, which bowed in theaters during the Chuseok holiday last year.