10 Spooky Kdramas to fit every mood
Do you like your spooky season mild, medium, or full scare? Last month in our #Kdramachat we asked you what your favourite scary Kdramas were. Not everybody is really into the hardcore scares, so we got some nice variety to share with you all. So if you’re looking to get cozy and start something scary tonight, hopefully you can find something here to suit your taste.
Scare Level: Ghosts 👻
So, you’re not too into the spooky stuff. Like me, you enjoy a little jump scare now and then, maybe something dark coming out of the corner. You don’t mind some mild ghosts or maybe even a monster or two, but you need everyone to mostly come out on the other side okay and you don’t want to have to sleep with the lights on every night for the next two weeks. Don’t worry, our KdramaChatters have got you covered.
1. Bring it on Ghost!
Bring it on Ghost! or Let’s Fight Ghost! is a classic ghost story Kdrama. The story follows a college student who can see and touch ghosts. He makes money by battling the ghosts and expelling them from people’s homes. The fun really starts up when he comes across the ghost of a high school girl with amnesia. Together they take on an evil ghost and in the process accidentally kiss. In that moment, the amnesia lifts for a second and the girl ghost gets a glimpse of her former life. She follows the boy home in the hopes of finding out more about herself.
What ensues is a sometimes scary (there is a creepy killer in the story as well as animal deaths and ghosts) but mostly hilarious forced cohabitation story between a ghost and her boy. Throw in a old Shaman and a couple of ghost hunters from school (think Shane and Ryan, only goofier) and you really round out the whole Scooby Gang vibe of the show. I won’t say that it’s never scary or creepy, but it’s a lot more fun than it is terrifying.
2. Hotel Del Luna
Hotel Del Luna is another drama that popped up a few times in our chat last month. It’s a gorgeous drama with beautiful costumes and wild special effects. It’s not a light drama, but the scare factor isn’t very high either. It tells the story of a ghost who runs a hotel for the dead. Spirits who aren’t quite ready to pass on spend their time in the hotel getting to do the things that they missed out on in life, such as eating good food or reading great books. The humour centres around a young human manager who gets hired on at the hotel to be the real world go between.
While the story does have some creepy and tense moments, the show runs more to sadness than it does to jump scares. People don’t wind up at the hotel because they’ve lived happy, fulfilling lives. Not the guests, not the staff.
3. The School Nurse Files
The School Nurse Files is another ghost story, but this one is short and weird and a lot more brightly coloured that most ghost stories. It’s the story of a school nurse who can see ghosts. She battles them with an assortment of toy weapons that have been blessed with charms and holy waters. One day a new teacher arrives at the school and our nurse discovers that when she touches him, her blessings get a burst of extra energy. This is extremely helpful because the school they work at is basically built on a hellmouth and things are busting out all over the place.
This drama is really odd and quirky. Most of the “ghosts” appear as little brightly coloured jelly blobs. Our heroine fights them off with a plastic light saber and water guns. That is not to say that this drama is silly or light. The first episode especially ended with a very intense creepy scene that I did not fully expect. The best thing about this drama is that it is a short 6 episodes and available on Netflix, so it’s perfect for a little All Hallow’s Eve binge watch.
4. Sell Your Haunted House
Sell Your Haunted House is another ghost story with just the right level of creepy to funny ratio. It centres around a woman who runs a real estate agency that specializes in selling haunted houses for fair market value. She is a trained Shaman just like her mother was, who banishes the ghosts from the premises before selling them. One day she encounters a scam artist who uses technology to set up fake hauntings and then charges money to remove the ghosts. She needs to work in partner with a medium during her exorcisms, and it just so happens that this scammer is a very strong medium.
The story has some very creepy aspects to it, there is a faceless ghost thing that was not fun, but on the whole the story is fun and sad more than it is heavily scary. Highly recommended by all four of the Certified Noonas, you can check out the episode where Sky, Natalia, and Jessie gushed about the first few episodes and easily convinced me to give it a go.
Scare Level: Monsters and Zombies 👹🧟
Looking for something a little more intense? A little bit creepier, a little more scary? These next couple of dramas fall into that category for me. Dramas that aren’t usually what I would consider “my thing” but that I was able to watch, or still have on my plan to watch list, because I think that I will be able to handle them when the mood catches me. These dramas might be less funny than the previous dramas, but they are no less fun to watch. And of course… monsters.
5. Sweet Home
Sweet Home is the story of an infection that turns people into monsters. It’s not zombies, it’s straight up monsters. And there is blood and there is terror and this will definitely not be for everyone. BUT for me, this series falls into that classic monster horror genre. It is somehow more watchable and less all around scary for me because I know it’s not real. For me, the really scary parts in this drama came from the human on human violence. The monsters were creepy and weird, but they didn’t scare me the way some of the people did. Don’t get me wrong, I watched it during the day with the lights on, but the point is, I watched it.
The story takes place in a locked down apartment complex where the residents are trying to band together to survive until they can get some help from the outside world. One of them is infected in a way that allows him to fight the other monsters. The storytelling is excellent and the show uses a masterful combination of stop motion, costumes, make up, and CGI to create a really wide variety of monsters.
6. Happiness
Full disclosure, I have not watched Happiness yet. But I still have it on my plan to watch list and it comes highly recommended from everyone I know that has watched it. It’s another story about an apartment complex during a infectious disease lockdown. It’s tagged for zombies, so I think we can all guess what the infection does to people. A lot of people I know who are not at all into zombies or monsters really loved this drama for the human interactions. Especially between the main pair, a couple of police officer friends who are in a fake marriage situation so that they could live in this nice apartment building.
Unfortunately, people suck… and as with a lot of zombie stories we learn that people and prejudice are the real monsters that we need to be afraid of.
7. All of Us Are Dead
All of Us are Dead is another zombie story. This one takes place at a high school which is ground zero for the zombie outbreak. While I have heard good things about this one, and again it comes highly recommended from our KdramaChat, this is one that I definitely won’t be watching. I don’t do violence against children or school bullying, and it is my understanding that this drama has a lot of both. It is rumoured that there is a second season or maybe a prequel planned for this drama. So if you like zombies, maybe there will be more to come
8. Kingdom
Kingdom is another zombie drama that I have yet to watch. I did watch the prequel film Ashin of the North and really enjoyed it. I’ve also listened to the good folks over at K Bae Podcast as they recapped both seasons of Kingdom, so I feel like I watched it without actually watching it 😅 Set in the past, Kingdom is a zombie story with an historical twist. Or is it a political sageuk with a zombie twist? It could go either way really. It tells the story of a kingdom caught in a succession war whilst a zombie problem plagues the commoners. If you dig costumes and zombies and palace intrigue and Bae Doona… this drama is for you!
Scare Level: People
This is the worst one for me, and I’m going to be honest here, I have not watched any of these. I am not one for watching real people be terrible to other people in this way. But I know that this is the kind of scare that a lot of people love.
9. Voice
Voice is a bit of an honourable mention here. The first season villain featured heavily in our Kdramachat ask about scariest villains last month. Highly recommended by everyone who has seen it, this series has been given four seasons so far. It tells the story of a voice profiler with exceptional hearing who tries to track serial killers through their voice. The creepy factor is high as is the quality of the story telling.
10. Strangers from Hell
Last but definitely not least, Strangers from Hell was our most recommended drama when it comes to watching something scary. Even the people who said they couldn’t watch scary stuff made a point of saying how much they were too scared to watch this drama 😅 The story centres on a young man who moves to the big city for a job and winds up living in a hostel with a lot of residents who put the hostile into hostel. The story is dark and creepy and the scares are psychological in nature. The neighbours are weird, especially the dentist who lives in the room next door. I have only seen the odd clip here or there, but it is enough to let me know that Lee Dong Wook did an incredible job in this drama and that I will never, ever see him in it. If you’re looking for a good psychological scare, this drama is the top of the line.
Join Us Next Month
This list only covers 10 of the many dramas mentioned in October’s KdramaChat. If you would like some more recommendations, you can go check it out. There are some good suggestions in the thread about scariest villains that I didn’t want to link here just in case I spoiled the drama for someone.
If you have a Twitter account and would like to meet and chat with more Kdrama fans, join us on the first Monday of every month when we get together to chat. You can follow us at @DramaCurrent or follow the hashtag #KdramaChat
The next KdramaChat will take place on November 7th at 8pm EST
