Note: Contains spoilers! Anyone interested in seeing this movie that has not seen it yet should proceed with caution.

Originally, before I began Parasite, I was convinced that it would be a supernatural horror picture of some sort. Based on the few clips I had seen of the movie featured in short edits on Instagram, I was enthralled as to what kind of possible possessive entity or object would cause people to go into such complete and utter chaos, killing each other in the midst of a massive celebration, right in the open.

However, I soon learned that was not the case at all. Far from that, the “parasite” of the movie is in fact a characteristic we all horrifyingly enough have the tendency to let get to us: the power of greed and the very real havoc it can wreak if we let it linger and consume us.

The beginning of the movie takes place in a crude and impoverished below-street-level tenement, housing a dirt-poor family barely able to make ends meet. This family proceeds to deceitfully attempt to all get house staff jobs at the lavish house of a wealthy family by assigning each person to intricately play a carefully scripted role, pose as a different identity, and most importantly work together to fabricate their elaborate plan. They stop at nothing to infiltrate the house, acting quite literally as parasites by slowly but surely earning the trust of the wealthy family through carefully engineered and executed set-ups and lying through their teeth.

The suspense that builds up as the family pushes their limits and the terrifying possibility of getting caught hanging precariously in the air are sure to have everyone on the edge of their seat.

Just when the family thinks they have successfully evicted all previous house staff, their greed comes back to bite them with a vengeance. An unexpected visit from the previous housekeeper throws absolutely everything out of control when the family finds that her husband has been hiding in a secret bunker room in the basement of the house for years, stealing from the wealthy family to provide for him. She is hell-bent on setting him free and exposing them. After living in the basement for all those years, never seeing the light of day, her husband is deranged and everything goes downhill from there when he finally escapes. Corrupted minds and twisted motives ultimately lead to the downfall of the poor family of con artists.

It is practically impossible to categorize Parasite under just one genre, as it encapsulates certain aspects of a comedy, thriller, and horror. With its captivating and beautiful cinematography, well-executed, riveting plot, and thought-provoking (but disturbing) message about social inequality, Parasite is well-deserving of its Oscar for Best Picture and will leave you thinking about and questioning the ending of the movie many days later.