"The halfway underground homes of ‘Parasite’ are real spaces"

LAT:

More than 36,000 South Koreans live in semi-basement homes, according to the most recent survey conducted in 2015, the vast majority of them in the greater Seoul metropolitan area. Many were built in the 1970s as bunkers for a potential North Korean attack and later haphazardly modified as stand-alone rental units to meet a surging demand for housing.

As in the climax of the movie, when the Kims wade through rising waters in their home during a downpour, many banjiha homes are vulnerable to flooding and have been submerged during monsoons.