John Carpenter about the horror genre writes:
It never dies. It just keeps getting reinvented and it always will. Horror is a universal language; we’re all afraid. We’re born afraid, we’re all afraid of things: death, disfigurement, loss of a loved one. Everything that I’m afraid of, you’re afraid of and vice versa. So everybody feels fear and suspense.
No wonder then, we as humans crave horror. It excites us. It is thrilling. It is scary. Why do you think that every single person in a horror movie goes inside that haunted house knowing that it is a haunted house? Why do you think that every character has to find out where that sinister noise is coming from? Curiosity. We are curious beings and horror feeds our curiosity of the a world beyond. Of the undead. Of hell and hellfire. And well, as they say, curiosity kills the cat!
South Korean movies and kdrama are globally known for being some of the best in the horror genre with thrilling plots and storylines, with bone-chilling special effects. Be it malicious or loveable spirits to bloodthirsty zombies, kdramas have it all! And you just cannot do without some fantastic creepy horror kdrama to keep you up at night now, can you? So, today we are bringing you some of the very best horror kdrama which will spook you into celebrating the dance of the dead!
This list comprises of a bonus section with some of the popular horror korean movies so sit back and enjoy!
27. Strange School Tales
Genre: Supernatural, horror kdrama
Strange Schools Tales are mini stories about particular horror events. It is reminiscent of the act of telling ghost stories to the viewer as people enjoy telling ghost stories to each other. All the stories take place in a high school with different plots. The stories range from murder mysteries to stories of student possession.
26. The Mystery Class (2021)
Genre: Horror kdrama, supernatural, thriller
Have you ever had a ghost for a classmate? No? What if one of your classmates is a ghost? How will you figure out who it is before anything bad happens?
The Mystery Class revolves around the students of a boy’s high school who find out that their class has one extra student. Rumors of a resident ghost start going around. The entire class has a difficult time accepting that one of them is a ghost but who? As they start suspecting each other, the story of the ghost becomes stronger than ever. But the question remains, is there even a ghost? Or are these boys just paranoid? And if there is a ghost, who is it and how to find him? Why is he in the class in the first place? Find out in The Mystery Class!
25. Nightmare Teacher (2016)
Genre: Horror kdrama, supernatural
What if all of your dreams come true? If you wish for money, you get money. If you wish to get good marks without studying, you get them. Anything you wish for comes true. Would you like it?
Nightmare teacher revolves around a normal high school which gets a new homeroom teacher of a particular class after their teacher meets with an accident. But Han Bong Gu, who is he? Is he really their new teacher? He is a mysterious figure who is neither in the staff list nor is he teaching what he ought to teach. Nobody knows him really.
After he becomes the homeroom teacher of 2nd grade 3 class at Yosan Private High School, strange things happen to the students. Kang Ye Rin is the class president and she starts noticing how students’ wishes are mysteriously coming true. But is that a good thing? What are these students doing in a trace like state? Are they even in the classroom? Find out in Nightmare Teacher!
24. The Master’s Sun (2013)
Genre: Horror kdrama, romance, comedy, fantasy
The Master’s Sun is majorly a fantasy romantic comedy with horror elements such as ghosts. It stars a popular cast and is a famous kdrama in this genre.
The story revolves around our female lead Tae Gong Shil played by the veteran Gong Hyo Jin. Tae Gong Shil is a bright and talented person until she tragically experiences an accident. After the accident, she mysteriously gains the ability to see ghosts who torment the living being out of her. The ghosts approach her to make her help them fulfill their last wishes or simply to have fun and haunt her. Due to their terrifying presence she cannot do normal tasks and neither can she sleep. She starts working in a company and meets president Joo Joong Won and hilariously realises that the ghosts somehow disappear after touching the president.
Desperate for a speck of a normal life without the interfacing of menacing ghosts, she pleads with the president and gets a job as his secretary. Has she finally attained her version of nirvana? Find out in The Master’s Sun!
23. Catch The Ghost
Genre: Horror kdrama, crime, comedy, romance
Catch The Ghost stars one of Korea’s sensations actor Kim Seon Ho in the role of Go Ji seok. Can a ghost be a serial killer?
Yoo Ryeong is a police investigator whose sister’s disappearance was not handled well by the police. She ardently believes in the serial killer ghost of the subway station. She is also a person who has a strong sense of justice and would do anything to make it happen, even breaking some rules. Meanwhile, her partner and a star officer, Go Ji Seok is an ardent believer of following rules. Impressed by Yoo Ryeong’s perseverance, he agrees to become her partner and help her solve the case of the subway ghost. But is there even a ghost there? And if yes, will they be able to catch a ghost? Find out in Catch The Ghost!
22. Sell Your Haunted House (2021)
Genre: Horror kdrama, fantasy, romance, comedy
Sell Your Haunted House is one of the kdrama which deals with elements of horror such as ghosts, psychics, malicious spirits who murder ordinary people and a deep dark secret.
The story follows Hong Ji Ah who is a real estate broker and a part time exorcist. She is also the daughter of a powerful exorcist and has inherited this supernatural ability from her mother. On a lookout for a powerful psychic to exorcise the spirit of her mother who died unnaturally and under mysterious circumstances during an exorcism, she meets Oh In Beom.
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Oh In Beom is a fraud who makes money out of people’s fears of spirits. When he meets Hong Ji Ah, he realizes that he is a psychic, a person weak enough to be possessed by spirits. Soon, Ji Ah and In Beom fall under the spell of dark pasts and unraveled secrets. Is In Beom really responsible for Ji Ah’s mother’s death? Find out in Sell Your Haunted House!
21. Bring it on, Ghost!
Genre: Horror kdrama, romance, comedy, mystery
Anybody up for a romance between a human and ghost? Bring it on, Ghost! stars the popular actors Ok Taec yeon of Vincenzo and Love Alarm’s Kim So Hyun as they fight the mysteries of the spirits they come across.
The story revolves around Park Bong Pal who has the ability to see ghosts. Tormented by their presence he works as an exorcist in order to earn money to undergo a procedure which will take away this second sight. On one such exorcism, he meets the ghost of a high school student who had died of an accident and thus, wanders the school. Not knowing the cause of her wanderings, she asks Bong Pal’s help. Will they be able to uncover the secrets behind each other’s past? What about the evil spirit chasing them both? Whose is it and why is it stalking them? Find out in Bring it on, Ghost!
20. Priest (2018)
Genre: Horror kdrama, thriller, medical
Priest is a kdrama which pits religion versus science debate against each other. It revolves around Oh Soo Min who witnessed her mother’s death after being possessed at a young age. He blames his father for not believing in supernatural entities and refusing to carry out an exorcism leading to the death of his mother. As an adult, he becomes a dutiful catholic priest and helping to carry out exorcisms to save people under the wing of 634 Regia, an organization which unofficially performs exorcisms.
Meanwhile, Ham Eun Ho is a doctor who does not believe in god and thus, not in spirits either after a tragic accident where she lost her parents. However, when her patients become possessed and she witnesses a colleague being possessed, she has to work with Oh So Min to cure people. Will they succeed in their endeavor? Find out in Priest!
19. The Ghost Detective (2018)
Genre: Horror kdrama, thriller, mystery, crime
The Ghost Detective is a horror kdrama which boasts of two of the most popular women in the kdrama industry. Park Eun Bin of the Extraordinary Attorney Woo fame sports the character of a cheerful and strong assistant while Lee Ji Ah of The Penthouse transforms into a mysterious woman Sunwoo Hye.
The story revolves around a private detective Lee Da Il. A former military person, he was discharged of his duties after becoming a whistleblower and then assumed the role of a private detective. A detective who catches ghosts. He and his assistant solve various kinds of mysterious including one of his assistant’s sibling’s sudden death. And interestingly, a woman in red called Sunwoo Hye keeps appearing before them in every crime scene. Who is she and what she wants? Find out in The Ghost Detective!
18. The Village: Achiara’s Secret (2015)
Genre: Horror kdrama, thriller, mystery, supernatural
A calm sea hides a ferocious storm, a calm desert hides the dangers underneath the sand, a calm forest hides lurking predators. We can only see the tip of the iceberg while the truth likes buried under the ocean. The village in The Village: Achiara’s Secret, a horror kdrama, is a clam before the storm. This village is a seemingly peaceful place, where nothing ever happens, a boring uneventful place. Until a new school teacher transfers.
Achiara is a unnaturally low crime rate. Nothing ever happens here. Han So Yoon is an English teacher who returns to Achiara after receiving a stranger letter with links to her grandmother’s death. While working there, she stumbles upon a buried corpse! A corpse in a village with low crime rates. Something is fishy. While the villagers are busy identifying the body, Han So Yoon teams up with a rookie police officer to unravel the secrets that the village is hiding. What could it be? Find out in The Village: Achiara’s Secret!
17. Dark Hole (2021)
Genre: Horror kdrama, action, thriller, science fiction
Imagine you are relaxing on a particularly lazy sunday morning only to find out a sudden chaos has broke out in the streets. You go to the window, cursing out the people ruining your perfectly fine day until you see them dying left, right and center and the consequences of a dark smoke engulfing the city. Dark Hole is a horror kdrama where survivors of a mutant disaster must fight for their lives.
The story revolves around Lee Hwa Sun who is a detective. One fateful day, she receives a call from her husband’s murderer asking her to come to Mujishi. Meanwhile, there has been a sinister accident in Mujishi where people have been transformed into monsters after breathing in a mysterious dark smoke.
This is where she meets our male lead, Yoo Tae Han, a resident of Mujishi working as a taxi driver. A righteous person, he left his job as a police inspector due to a scandal. Both of them must struggle for their lives, first not turning themselves into monsters and second protecting themselves from a murderer. Will they be able to get through this disaster? Find out in Dark Hole!
16. Connect (2022)
Genre: Horror kdrama, thriller, psychological, mystery, science fiction
What if you were able to see what a serial killer plans on doing, his every move and action? What if you can stop his actions and save people? Would you do it?
Connect is a science fiction horror kdrama which revolves around a whole new race of humans. This new race is called connect. The individuals of this race are humanoids with an immortal body. One of such humanoids is our male lead, Ha Dong Soo, played by the exceptionally talented Jung Hae In. On a particularly dark day, Ha Dong Soo is kidnapped by a group of organ traffickers and loses one of his eye. Interestingly, a serial killer has been using his eye and Ha Dong Soon can see whatever the serial killer sees. Thus, Ha Dong Soon’s quest to save his potential victims begin.
Will he be able to save people and retrieve his stolen property back? Find out in Connect!
15. The Guest (2018)
Genre: Horror kdrama, supernatural, drama, thriller, mystery
The Guest is one of the well known horror kdrama which has everything from psychics, shamans, malicious spirits, murders you name it. The drama also has good horror atmosphere and is definitly one of the bests in the horror kdrama list. It explores the question, if your murderer is a demon, how will you defeat it? The story revolves around three different people: A psychic, an exorcist and a detective. Yoon
Hwa Pyung is a psychic born into a shamanic family in a certain village. This ability makes him prone to becoming a medium for spirits. On a fateful day, one of the villagers is possessed by a powerful demonic spirit who has the ability to jump from one host to the other. Yoon Hwa Pyung makes eye contact with the possessed villager and the demonic spirit takes over his body. Soon his mother dies mysteriously and his grandmother commits suicide. His father blaming him for their deaths, calls priests to get him exorcised but the demon jumps from Hwa Pyung to the priest in training who later murders his entire family.
This demon then is found out to be “Son” or Guest, a powerful demon who possess vulnerable people, makes them murder their families and stabs themselves in the eye. 20 years after, a series of murders take place in the same way. Will Hwa Pyung with the help of a follow victim turned detective and a talented exorcist stop this powerful demon? or will they all succumb to the Guest? Find out in The Guest!
14. Hellbound (2021)
Genre: Horror kdrama, Supernatural, Fantasy, Drama, Thriller
What if you find out that you are destined for hell? And what if you are going about your day one fine morning and chaos begins? Screaming people, traffic jams, people fleeing out of their cars making way for unknown creatures of smoke. And you start making way for them as well until you figure they are making their way to you. You are bound to hell and these creatures are here to take you away.
This is what happens in Hellbound. A creature known as an “angel” makes itself known to the citizens of South Korea and delivers prophesies which reveal certain people who are bound for hell. These prophecies could take place under seconds, days, months or years but they are bound to come true. Never before seen creatures from Hell make a show of incinerating people’s bodies that are bound for Hell. One of the story arc focuses on investigation to figure out this phenomena while the other focuses on parents who find out that their child is bound for Hell. Will they be able to save their child? Find out in this one of a kind horror kdrama Hellbound!
13. A Korean Odyssey
Genre: Fantasy, romance, horror kdrama, comedy
A Korean Odyssey is a fantasy kdrama filled with malicious spirits, ghosts and zombies. The story revolves around a monkey king who is imprisoned by the dieties for his crime. Meanwhile, Jin Seon Mi is a woman who has the ability to see ghosts and other such supernatural creatures. She has been tormented by her ability since she was a little girl.
On a fateful day, while escaping from a ghost chasing her, she meets a man who exorcises the ghost for her and in return, asks her to retrieve a fan. He also instructs her to ignore anyone she meets on her mission. Upon entering the place, she meets the prisoned monkey king, Son Oh gong and releases him. Son Oh Gong promises her to help her whenever she calls his name in return for freeing him.
Many year later, Jin Seon Mi is a CEO of a real estate company who buys haunted houses in cheap, exorcises them and puts them on the market. Meanwhile, our monkey king is doing good deeds to regain the heaven’s trust and become and immortal again. When the two meet again, its the hunter and the prey. Can they help each other out ? Find out in A Korean Odyssey!
12. Tale of the Nine Tailed
Genre: Fantasy, romance, action, horror kdrama, drama, suspense
Tale of the Nine Tailed is a fantasy romance focused kdrama along with horror elements. It became so popular with its release that a second season is currently under production with most of the cast reprising their roles.
The story revolves around Lee Dong Wook’s character, Lee Yeon, of a 1000 years old gumiho and a former guardian mountain spirit, working with Afterlife Immigration Office in order to protect the moral world from dangerous supernatural beings such as bloodthirsty, human eating gumiho in disguise. On one such fateful case, he is captured by a relentless television producer Nam Ji Ah. Now, with a centuries old secret and a brother’s murderous conspiracies, can Lee Yeon save the world and the one person he is pining for? Find out in Tale of the Nine Tailed.
11. Hotel Del Luna
Genre: Dark Fantasy, Romance, comedy, Horror kdrama
Hotel Del Luna is more of a fantasy kdrama with elements of horror such as malicious spirits running wild. The story revolves around Jang Man Wol, a woman who is cursed to be immortal and run a hotel for ghosts. The staff of the hotel also consist of spirits with unresolved issues in the material world. The hotel staff helps the wandering dead to reach afterlife or help spirits with unresolved grudges to fulfill their last wishes. But there is a deeper secret which is only aggravated by the joining of a human manager of Hotel Del Luna. Can the characters tackle their dark pasts? Find out in this beloved horror kdrama!
10. The Cursed (2020)
Genre: Horror kdrama, thriller, mystery
The Cursed is a horror kdrama with some really fascinating special effects and horror-evoking scenes and moments. The story revolves around the daughter of a shaman, who has the ability to kill anybody when exposed to their name, photo and any object of their belonging. Meanwhile, the traces of the culprit behind her mother’s murder follow to a big IT company, the CEO of which is obsessed with shamanism and help from a supernatural consultancy company.
Amidst all of this, there is something fishy happening in the company. Under these circumstances, she meets a righteous reporter Im Jin Hee, who is on the lookout for the company’s involvement in some major evil. Will Jin Hee and Baek Soo Jin be able to stop the disastrous events from taking place? Find out in The Cursed!
9. All Of Us Are Dead (2022)
Genre: Horror kdrama, coming of age, zombie apocalypse
All Of Us Are Dead is one of the popular zombie kdrama. It takes place around a high school where the zombie outbreak takes place, leaving survivors to fend for themselves.
A group of friends live the nightmare of their lives when a failed science experiments turns everyone into flesh eating zombies. Th zombie outbreak soon spreads to the entire districts with all the help workers tackling this unnatural emergency situation. With no where to turn to, the friends must keep themselves alive without food, water and away from infected zombie-human hybrids who are out on a human hunt!
8. Sweet Home (2020)
Genre: Horror kdrama, drama, apocalyptic
Sweet Home is a Netflix remake of the very popular horror webtoon by the same name. It follows the story of unidentified creatures appearing and killing people.
Cha Hyun Soo has lived through some of the worst times anyone could. After his family succumbs to a tragic car accident, his mental health has taken a toll. Moreover, he has to move to a different building. Right after moving in, mysterious creatures start appearing all over the place. When the residents are trapped in the building, they must struggle to survive or be ready to get killed.
7. Kingdom (2019)
Genre: Horror kdrama, thriller, action, historical
Kingdom is one of the well known and highly popular historical zombie kdrama. The cats is phenomenal, the story is engaging, the action is thrilling.Overall, one of the best kdramas to be made. The story revolves around a disease outbreak owing to the essence of a particular flower that was known to make the dead come back to life. Only, it literally made the “dead” come back to life.
The kingdom of Joseon is filled with chaos with the sudden death of the king due to a life-threatening disease. In a political struggle for the throne, the queen’s father plots a scheme and injects the king’s corpse with the essence of the flower which is supposed to bring him back to life. Only it doesn’t. Meanwhile, the doctor who found out about the flower of the undead and his clinic is ravaged by the zombie virus and soon, the kingdom is in danger. Will the crown prince Lee Chang and the doctor’s assistant Seo Bi be able to save the people? Find out in Kingdom!
6. . Strangers From Hell (2019)
Genre: Horror kdrama, psychological, drama, thriller
Strangers From Hell is an epitome of major creepiness. The music is creepy, the setting is creepy, the overall atmosphere of this kdrama screams horror and creepy. The cast has done an impeccable job at relying the horror aspect of the kdrama to the viewers. It is definitely worth a watch if you like all this creepy.
The story revolves around a man, Yoon Jong Woo, who has recently moved from the quiet countryside to the bustling center city of Seoul in order to begin his new job. Seoul is known for being extremely expensive especially in terms of its house rent. In order to save money, Yoon Jong Woo decides to stay at a gosiwon. Gosiwon’s in Seoul are cheap rental spaces with the smallest of rooms and shared community spaces such as kitchen and sometimes bathrooms. Now, Yoon Jong Woo has picked the cheapest of the cheap even in gosiwons with walls of a murky yellow colour and plaster coming off.
Moreover, there is something creepy about the residents in the place as well. When mysterious events begin happening, Jong Woo can no longer feign ignorance. To find out, watch Strangers From Hell!
Here are some of the most exceptional and popular korean horror films for you to check out:
5. The Divine Fury (2019)
Genre: Horror, action, thriller, mystery
The Divine Fury narrates the tale of a martial arts fighter who has lost his faith in god after the tragic death of his father. One day at a fighting match, an exorcist Priest An recognizes his supernatural abilities after he wakes up with wounds on his hands. Yong Hoo, our protagonist also discovers that he might possibly be able to take revenge on the person who killed his father. But is he the real murderer? Or is there something demonic in the air? Yong Hoo and Priest An join hands to fight evil. Will they be able to accomplish their task? Will Yong Hoo be able to take his revenge? Find out in the Divine Fury!
4. The Wailing (2016)
Genre: Horror, thriller, mystery, supernatural, suspense
The Wailing’s name itself sends a shiver down one’s spine. It is one of the very renowned films in the horror genre. The story revolves around another village which seems peaceful and quite just like Achiara in The Village: Achiara’s Secret. However, not for long. Soon there are cases of people going crazy and murdering their entire families. There seems to be no logical cause to such a disaster. Unable to find an answer, the police puts the blame to a poisonous mushrooms.
The villagers suspect the outsider, an old Japanese man. He is accused of being an evil spirit incarnate. Jong Goo, one of the officers investigating the case of these violent deaths does not believe this rumor until evidence is proved against the old man. When Jong Goo’s daughter begins having the same symptoms, he finally goes in search of the old man. Is he really the culprit? Find out in The Wailing!
3. Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
Genre: Horror, thriller, mystery, supernatural
What if you return home to find someone else living there, someone who wasn’t there before? Someone or well, something which shouldn’t be there. Something uninvited.
Tale of Two Sisters is a story about two sisters who have been hospitalized for a long time. Things haven’t been the same after their mother’s death and their step-mother’s arrival. Their step mother is a nasty woman. She torments them, beats them and makes their life hell. One of the two sisters, Su Mi, the stronger and bolder one promises the timid Su yeon that she will protect her. Their step mother cannot harm them anymore.
One fateful day however, Su Yeon hears someone coming up to her room. The door opens. She is scared. She hides under her blanket but someone pulls the blanket away. Is it her step mother? Why wouldn’t she just leave Su Yeon alone for once! But is it really her step mother? Or something sinister her way comes? Find out in Tale of Two Sisters!
2. The Host (2006)
Genre: Horror, thriller, science fiction, action
Imagine you are on a picnic in near the Han River, the famous picnic spot for many Koreans in Seoul. The sun is bright and the air is lovely. You see a lot of other people beside you – couples, families and children playing near the water. What a beautiful scene, isn’t it? Only the next second to turn into the bloodiest and most gruesome picture ever.
The Host revolves around an incident that takes place in the Han River one fateful day. In the year 2000, a shadow of something in the Han River could be seen. But people were busy with their own lives and nobody really paid attention to what was brewing in the depths of the Han River. In 2005, on a beautiful day when people were enjoying their lives beside the Han River, a strange creature suddenly erupts out of the water, killing anything and everything. Gang Du, the owner of a snack bar, near the Han River witness his daughter becoming monster food in front of his very eyes.
Is she really dead? But the monster only snatched her and dived into the water. When he recieves a strange phone call. Gong Du and his family are forced to battle a creature. Will they be successful? Find out in The Host!
1. Train to Busan (2016)
Genre: Horror, apocalyptic, zombie, action, thriller
Train to Busan is undoubtedly the one of the best zombie movies to be ever created. It went on to have global acclaim and also broke the record of 10 million theatregoers.
What if you are preparing to go on a vacation and the a zombie virus breaks out in your train with nowhere to go? You are trapped. What will you do? Would you save yourself or would you help other people knowing that you could get infected?
A similar dilemma connects the film Train to Busan. The story revolves around a fund manager and a divorced father Seok Woo. He is a workaholic and selfish person which is why his wife leaves him with their daughter. He is also a father who neglects his child. When his daughter, Su An expresses her wish of spending her birthday with her mother in Busan, it is not exactly how Seok Woo has planned. But watching a video of his daughter being a victim of stage fright due to his absence at a school event makes him feel guilty and he decides to fulfil her wish.
On board the train to Busan, under mysterious circumstances, a zombie virus breaks out eventually infecting the people on the train. But being as cynical and selfish as he is, will he save others? Will they survive this disaster and reach Busan which is supposed to be a safe zone? Or will they all succumb to the world ending? Find out in Train to Busan!
Find all the mentioned horror flicks on myasiantv.
We hope you like and enjoy watching the selections from our list. Comment down below which one is your favorite horror flick!
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