“I’m your mistress now. I deserve to be treated better than a maid.” In Ki-young Kim’s Hanyo (US: The Housemaid), Dong Sik-kim (Kim Jin-kyu) is a loving husband and father who also happens to be a sex object to pretty young women, especially those who take his music class. When his pregnant wife (Ju Jeung-ryu) requires help around the house, the Kims hire a maid named Myung-sook (Lee Eun-shim) who slowly reveals herself to be mentally unstable and manipulative (maybe her catching a rat by hand on her first day should have been a warning sign), ultimately taking over the household by seduction and/or manipulation. Korean cinema was a late bloomer; first under Japanese colonial rule, then split in half, then impaired by the Korean War, it wasn’t until the late 50’s when the country entered anything resembling a “Golden Age” of cinema, and The Housemaid, with its shocking horror elements, was a highlight of this new era. Director Kim inserts raw sexuality into domestic tranquility (in one scene, we’re convinced Ki-young is receiving oral sex until the camera slowly reveals otherwise) and stretches the limits of depravity for the period (like Ellen Berent in 1945’s Leave Her to Heaven, this femme fatale also kills a fetus by throwing herself down a staircase), embellishing the ugly with inventive camera angles (through windows, doors, water glasses) and a dissonant, unnerving score.