# The Closet (클로젯)
**The Closet** (클로젯) is a 2020 South Korean horror-mystery film directed by Kim Kwang-bin, in which a widowed father searches for his young daughter after she vanishes through the closet of their new home, a doorway to the realm of the dead. It stars [Ha Jung-woo](https://www.edgepedia.org/ha-jung-woo) as the father Sang-won, Kim Nam-gil as the exorcist Kyung-hoon, and Heo Yul as the daughter Ina, and it was released in South Korea on February 5, 2020.[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/newfilm.jsp?mode=VIEW&seq=386) • [2](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=54160)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director | Kim Kwang-bin, feature directorial debut; he previously made the award-winning shorts Modern Family (2011) and How to Pick a Lock (2016)[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/newfilm.jsp?mode=VIEW&seq=386) |
| Cast | Ha Jung-woo (Sang-won), Kim Nam-gil (Kyung-hoon), Heo Yul (Ina)[2](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=54160) |
| Release | February 5, 2020, South Korea; rated 15[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20182447) |
| Genre | Listed as mystery and drama by the Korean Film Council database, and as horror, mystery and thriller by Rotten Tomatoes[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20182447) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_closet_2020) |
| Box office | 1,270,907 admissions on 1,197 screens; total gross $8,021,752[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20182447) |
| Production | Moonlight Film and Perfect Storm Film; distributed by CJ ENM[2](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=54160) |
| Critical score | 89% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 9 reviews; 55% Popcornmeter[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_closet_2020) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Sang-won (Ha Jung-woo), an architect, loses his wife in a sudden accident, leaving him alone with their young daughter Ina (Heo Yul). Their bond becomes strained, and he moves them to a new home to mend it. His efforts fail until Ina tells him she has made a new friend and begins to laugh again. The peace does not last: strange sounds come from the closet in her room, Ina begins behaving oddly, and after Sang-won himself starts having strange dreams, she disappears without a trace.[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/newfilm.jsp?mode=VIEW&seq=386) • [2](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=54160)
While searching for her, Sang-won meets a mysterious man named Kyung-hoon ([Kim Nam-gil](https://www.edgepedia.org/kim-nam-gil)), who claims to know where she is and points to the closet. Kyung-hoon has spent the past 10 years tracking the whereabouts of missing children and believes the key to finding Ina lies inside the closet. Desperate, Sang-won reaches out to open the forbidden closet.[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20182447)
The supernatural premise carries a human story. Reviews describe the closet as a connection to the underworld, occupied by the spirit of a girl named Myung-jin (Kim Si-ah) who drags other children in, and note that the film's victims are children who were neglected or abused by their parents, giving the horror a socially critical dimension.[5](https://www.cinemaescapist.com/2020/02/review-the-closet-korean-movie/) • [6](https://www.asianmovieweb.com/en/reviews/the_closet.htm)
## Production and cast
The film marked the first screen pairing of Ha Jung-woo and Kim Nam-gil, and it was Ha Jung-woo's first horror film, following his hit disaster film Ashfall (2019). Kim Nam-gil had approached the genre the year before in the comedy horror The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale (2019).[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/newfilm.jsp?mode=VIEW&seq=386)
Cine21 credits Kim Kwang-bin with the screenplay, with an adaptation by Kwon Seong-hwi; Rotten Tomatoes lists Kwon Seong-hwi as screenwriter. Cho Young-wuk composed the music and Choi Chan-min was the director of photography.[2](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=54160) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_closet_2020) The supporting cast includes [Shin Hyun-been](https://www.edgepedia.org/shin-hyun-been) as Seung-hee, Kim Soo-jin as Myung-jin's mother, and Park Sung-woong as Myung-jin's father.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_closet_2020)
## Release and box office
The Closet opened in South Korea on February 5, 2020 on 1,197 screens and sold 1,270,907 admissions for a gross of $8,021,752, according to the Korean Film Council database.[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20182447) Its release coincided with the early disruption of Korean cinema-going by the COVID-19 pandemic; one Korean viewer noted the near-empty weekday theater as evidence of the outbreak's impact.[7](https://theqoo.net/dyb/1313583459) The film later screened internationally, including a special screening at the 15th Paris Korean Film Festival, and reached streaming services in several countries.[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20182447)
Reported runtimes differ slightly by database: 97 minutes in the Korean Film Council database, 98 minutes on Cine21, and 1 hour 38 minutes on Rotten Tomatoes.[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20182447) • [2](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=54160) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_closet_2020)
## Reception
Professional reception was warmer than audience reception. Rotten Tomatoes recorded 89% on the Tomatometer from 9 reviews against a 55% Popcornmeter audience score.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_closet_2020) James Mudge of easternKicks called it a rare horror that is both frightening and genuinely moving, while Jennie Kermode of Eye for Film gave it 2.5 out of 5, judging that K-horror fans would feel they had seen the material before.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_closet_2020) The South China Morning Post was more negative, giving 1.5 out of 5 and finding that after a strong, unsettling opening the film lost its way as characters behaved implausibly.[8](https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3050959/closet-film-review-korean-horror-starring-ha-jung-woo) Cinema Escapist's Richard Yu took the opposite view, arguing that the absence of jump scares and gore and the focus on Sang-won's growth as a father made the film accessible even to viewers who avoid horror.[5](https://www.cinemaescapist.com/2020/02/review-the-closet-korean-movie/)
Korean critics on Cine21 were divided in the same way: Park Pyeong-shik called the film an international-grade bundle of clichés at 4 out of 10, while Kim Sung-hoon at 7 described it as a requiem for failed fathers and abandoned children.[2](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=54160) Several reviews, Korean and international, singled out the craft: AsianMovieWeb praised the sets, direction, and especially the lighting, and Dwight Brown of the National Newspaper Publishers Association credited the vision of the realm of the dead to the film's technical crew.[6](https://www.asianmovieweb.com/en/reviews/the_closet.htm) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_closet_2020)
## References
1. [Pierce Conran (February 10, 2020). "THE CLOSET". Korean Film Council, New Films.](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/newfilm.jsp?mode=VIEW&seq=386)
2. [클로젯 (The Closet) 상세정보, Cine21.](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=54160)
3. [The Closet (2020), Korean Film Council film database.](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20182447)
4. [The Closet (2020), Rotten Tomatoes.](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_closet_2020)
5. [Richard Yu (February 14, 2020). "Review: Ha Jung-woo's 'The Closet' Offers Surprisingly Heart-Warming Horror". Cinema Escapist.](https://www.cinemaescapist.com/2020/02/review-the-closet-korean-movie/)
6. ["The Closet (South Korea, 2020) - Review". AsianMovieWeb.](https://www.asianmovieweb.com/en/reviews/the_closet.htm)
7. [클로젯 후기, TheQoo (viewer account).](https://theqoo.net/dyb/1313583459)
8. [James Marsh (February 17, 2020). "The Closet film review: Korean horror, starring Ha Jung-woo, is flimsy and implausible". South China Morning Post.](https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3050959/closet-film-review-korean-horror-starring-ha-jung-woo)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Supernatural horror films › 2020s supernatural horror films › Titles symbols to L*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license