Top Korean Horror TV-Series

The last few years, K-dramas has certainly taken over much of the media the world consume today and that goes for the Korean horror TV-Series as well.

Although it is largely remembered from the overly romantic dramas with umbrellas in the rain and watching over people with a cold like they are on their deathbed, some more darker series has caught on. In fact one of the more famous k-drama must certainly be the zombie driven historical drama Kingdom that entered as Koreans first entry to the Netflix family. And since then, the gems keeps on coming. Here are ten of the more darker k-dramas out there.

Revenant |악귀 (2023)

This slow burn ghost story is based on Korean folklore. It follows a professor in folklore (Oh Jung-se) who can see ghosts that teams up with a young woman (Kim Tae-ri) after her father dies in what seems to be a suicide. But strange things starts to happen to her and it turns out she is possessed by a vengeful ghosts, and that the string of mysterious suicides that happens around them is something much more horrifying.

Strangers From Hell | 타인은 지옥이다 (2019)

With a top stellar cast of Im Shi Wan (Run On) and Lee Dong Wook (Goblin), this had to be an iconic duo. The series is a trippy Korean horror TV-Series quest for a poor writer to distinguish between what is and isn’t real as well to figure out his true friends he can trust is. When he moves into a cheap hostel, Eden Gosiwon, he has to deal with the truly creepy residents he has to share kitchen and bathroom with. But although he hates it, he endures it to he has enough money saved up to move to something better in Soul. But then he starts fearing for his life when strange occurrences keeps happening around him.

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All Of Us Are Dead | 지금 우리 학교는 (2022)

This is another zombie series for Netflix that rose to the top streaming, even more so than the hit series, Squid Games. It is an adaptation of the popular webtoon of the same name and are now one of the biggest Korean horror TV-Series. A seemingly normal day at school that ends in an international disaster as a rabid zombie outbreak starts from the schools science lab. The student quickly learn that they are all on their own and must escape so not turn to one of the living dead. This is a gory series that doesn’t shy away from blood, violence and deeply flawed human beings with a twist on the zombie lore.

NB! Confirmed for more seasons!

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Hotel Del Luna | 호텔 델루나 (2019)

A series that managed to balance the campy romantic side of classic k-dramas with the gory horror of ghost is Hotel Del Luna and not purely a Korean horror TV-Series. Although the plot is not that terrifying, some of the characters and ghosts in the hotel definitely are. Super Idol K-Pop star IU stars as the greedy CEO, Man Wol, for a hotel that only caters to the dead to help them cross the bridge to the afterlife. Chan Sung is forced to manage the hotel as his father sort of sold him of to Man Wol as a child. And together they have to manage the hotel together as well as solve the mystery as to why Chan Sung keeps reminding Man Wol of her ex that betrayed her many years ago.

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Sell Your Haunted House | 대박부동산 (2021)

If nothing else, this is a great business idea. Ji Ah runs the company, Deabak Realty, specialising in selling haunted houses. A handy thing as she got her exorcism abilities from her mother (who btw haunts her daughter). She needs an assistant and meets the conman In Beom. He specializes in selling stuff that apparently exorcises ghosts, although it’s mostly junk. But together they team up to sell houses, exorcise vengeful spirits and deal with their pasts filled with sorrow in this action packed Korean horror TV-Series.

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Bring It On, Ghost | 싸우자 귀신아 (2016)

The cuter entry on the list is Bring it on, Ghost. Although it contains its fair share of ghosts, gore and dead cats so it falls into the Korean horror TV-Series. The series certainly hit its audience, and there is already a Thai adaption of the series. A college boy works as an exorcist part time. On a job he faces a teenage ghost that he accidently kisses, making her regain some part of her memory she searches for in the afterlife. Together they try to piece together the mystery behind her death as well as the strange stuff happening around the college he attends.

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Kingdom | 킹덤 (2019)

The mega series helped turn the tide for Korean horror TV-Series and certainly the interest in Korean zombies. A mysterious illness has befallen the king in a fictionalized version of Korea in the Joseon area. The illness of zombification is spreading throughout the kingdom and the crown prince travels out from the castle to solve the mystery behind his father’s ailment. Out there he finds a kingdom in disarray and hoards of zombies threatening the whole kingdom he was born to protect. With its two season wrapped story it looks like this is the whole of it, but with sidequel/prequel like movies like Kingdom: Ashin of the North, and the original cartoon with its specials, who is to say this is the end of the franchise?

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Sweet Home | 스위트홈 (2020)

This monster flick is truly on testosterone with the most crazy characters and designs for monsters roams freely in this damp and shabby residential building. This Korean horror TV-Series is based on the famous korean webtoon. A strange virus that turns humans to monsters has taken over the world. In a residential building a reclusive teen lives in isolation. But as the dangers of the virus threathernes everyone around him, he must come out of his shell and help fight back for the human survival.

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The Guest | 손 (2018)

A young shaman, Yoon Hwa Pyung, learns about the demon named “son”, (meaning guest) in this Korean horror TV-Series from 2018. The demon is a danger to everyone and leaves a trail of corpses. The young shaman meets up with a catholic guy and the daughter of a detective when their families are killed by a demon. Twenty years later they meet up again when the killings start once again. This time, to work together to bring down the demon.

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Possessed | 빙의 (2019)

A classic detective meets a medium to hunt down criminals in this Korean horror TV-Series. They meet when the detective is working a case and he immediately takes an interest in her. With both of their abilities, they start to solve cases together. One of the more divisive shows as many watchers found the k-drama way to dark for their expectations and for some it was right up their alley. Decide for yourself.

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Missing: The Other Side | 미씽: 그들이 있었다 (2020)

This is one of those rare cases were a k-drama actually gets a sequel with a second season confirmed. The first season started with a small village named Duon Village, that holds the spirits of missing and deceased people were they gather. A group of a fraud man, detective, a hacker and a mysterious man teams up to solve the mysteries behind the strange village and to find the missing people.

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Night Watchman’s Journal | 야경꾼일지 (2014)

One cannot complete a k-drama list without a historical drama on the list from the Joseon period, that is the law! And here comes the Night Watchman’s Journal in as a ghostbuster story in hanbok in this Korean horror TV-Series. With the backdrop of the royal palace, a group of guys spends their time fighting demons and vengeful spirits as well as dealing with the living trying to usurp the king.