This article discusses the 15 Best and Highest Rated Horror K-Dramas you must watch and does not contain any major plot points or spoilers.
K-Drama has picked up market dominance over the last few years, especially with streaming services placing major investments into production. And one thing K-Drama is popular for is its take on horror. However, with so much out there, it can be hard to find the perfect jumping-in point to give you that jump scare or thrill.
Here at Ready Steady Cut, we thought it’d be handy to present the 15 Best and Highest Rated Horror K-Dramas according to the rankings featured in MyDramaList. Ratings are amassed from viewers, so this will give the best indication of what the trusted Korean Drama community loves the most!
So, if you’re looking for a list of horrors that were amongst the most popular amongst the K-Drama community, or if you’re just in need of something new to watch, look no further than here. Alternatively, you can check out our Top 40 Best Korean Dramas Of All Time instead!
15 Best Horror K-Dramas
15. Priest (2018)
Official Premise: Oh Soo Min is a dutiful young Catholic priest, filled with energy. He is a member 634 Regia. The group performs exorcisms unofficially. In the past, his own mother was possessed by a devil. She could not receive an exorcism and she consequently died. After that, Oh Soo Min was taught by Priest Moon Ki Sun on how to perform exorcisms. Moon Ki Sun is the person who formed 634 Regia.
Originally aired: OCN
Rating: 7.9/10
14. The Silent Sea (2021)
Official Premise: Set in the future, when the planet suffers from a lack of water and food caused by desertification. Yoon Jae is a soldier for the space agency. He is selected for a team, including Ji An, to travel to the moon. A scientist joins the mission to recover mysterious samples from an abandoned lunar space station, where an accident killed everyone, including her sister.
Originally aired: Netflix
Rating: 8.2/10
Read our review of The Silent Sea.
13. Bring It On, Ghost (2016)
Official Premise: A cohabitation comedy about a ghost of a high school girl who has been dead for 5 years and an exorcist college boy with the ability to see and hear ghosts. What he’s discovered over the years is that he can touch them and fight them off, so when he’s in need of a part-time job and can’t find one that pays well enough, he starts putting ads online as an exorcist for hire. His ad: “Will face off with your ghosts. Chances of winning: virgin ghosts 80%, bachelor ghosts 40%, child ghosts 97%, the rest 50%.” One night he goes out on the job and faces off with a schoolgirl ghost, and during the fight, they accidentally kiss and sparks fly.
Originally aired: tVN
Rating: 8.2/10
12. Search (2020)
Official Premise: Yong Dong Jin is a conscript sergeant in the South Korean armed forces. He is also the military’s leading sniffer dog handler and is just one month away from receiving his long-awaited discharge. But with just weeks to go until he can rejoin the civilian world, a mysterious case threatens to suck him into a long, troublesome intrigue.
Originally aired: OCN
Rating: 8.2/10
11. A Korean Odyssey (2017)
Official Premise: In 2017, Son Oh Gong and Ma Wang are in conflict with each other as they look for a true light in a dark world where evil thrives. Having made a contract with Seon Mi 25 years ago, entitling her to seek help from Son Oh Gong whenever she calls him in exchange for letting him free, the two meet again in a fateful encounter. From there, Son Oh Gong is bound to his protective role towards Seon Mi, the little girl he had met years ago.
Originally aired: Netflix and tvN
Rating: 8.2/10
10. Tale of the Nine-Tailed (2020)
Official Premise: The mythical nine-tailed fox, or gumiho, Lee Yeon had to settle in the city many centuries ago. Able to transform into human form, he eradicates supernatural beings that threaten the mortal world. His real aim is to find the reincarnation of his lost first love.
Originally aired: tvN
Rating: 8.4/10
9. The Mysterious Class (2021)
Official Premise: Peaceful class 4 of the 3rd grade of Treasure High. Friendship and a mystery thriller while doubting each other. Will they be able to find the ghost?
Originally aired: N/A – Web Series
Rating: 8.4/10
8. All of Us Are Dead (2022)
Official Premise: A high school becomes ground zero for a zombie virus outbreak. Trapped students must fight their way out — or turn into one of the rabid infected.
Originally aired: N/A – Web Series
Rating: 8.4/10
Read our review of All of Us Are Dead.
7. The Master’s Sun (2013)
Official Premise: Joo Joong Won is the stingy and greedy CEO of Kingdom, a conglomerate that includes a major department store and hotel. He meets the gloomy Tae Gong Shil, who started seeing ghosts after an accident. Their lives take a new turn as they work together to deal with the terror and sadness brought about by the spirits, while delving into a kidnapping incident in Joong Won’s past. And unknowingly, they fell in love with each other.
Originally aired: SBS
Rating: 8.5/10
6. Strangers from Hell (2019)
Official Premise: Yoon Jong Woo is a young guy in his 20s who moves from the countryside to Seoul after his college friend, Jae Ho, offers him a job. While looking for a place to live, he stumbles upon Eden Gosiwon, a cheap hostel that shares the kitchen and bathroom with other residents. He is not thrilled about the quality of the place or the other abnormal residents, such as his next-door neighbor Seo Moon Jo, a charismatic dentist. Nevertheless, Jong Woo decides to put up with it for 6 months until he saves enough money to move out. However, mysterious events start occurring in the apartment, causing Jong Woo to begin fearing the apartment’s residents.
Originally aired: OCN
Rating: 8.7/10
5. Hotel del Luna (2019)
Official Premise: Nestled deep in the heart of Seoul’s thriving downtown sits a curious hotel, the like of which no one has ever seen before. Old beyond measure, the building has stood for millennia, an ever-present testament to the fact that things are not always what they seem.
Originally aired: tvN
Rating: 8.7/10
4. Sweet Home (2020)
Official Premise: Following the death of his family in an accident, loner Cha Hyun Soo moves to a new apartment. His quiet life is soon disturbed by strange incidents that start occurring in his apartment, and throughout Korea. As people start to turn into monsters, Hyun Soo and the other residents try to survive.
Originally aired: Netflix
Rating: 8.7/10
Read our review of Sweet Home.
3. The Guest (2018)
Official Premise: Yoon Hwa Pyung, a young psychic born into a shaman family, learns about the powerful demon called “Son” (Guest). The demon has the power to control other demons and allows them to possess weak people. The possessed people then go mad, kill their families, and stab themselves in the eye. Fatefully, Hwa Pyung, Choi Yoon; a young boy born in a religious Catholic family, and Kang Kil Yeong; the daughter of a detective, meet when their families are killed by a demon. Twenty years later, the demon killings started again.
Originally aired: Netflix
Rating: 8.7/10
2. Kingdom (2019)
Official Premise: No sooner does the Joseon King succumb to smallpox, do the rumors of his death begin. The Cho Clan, the clan of the pregnant Queen and her father, Chief State Councillor Cho Hak Joo, declares the Crown Prince a traitor.
Questioning the circumstances surrounding the King’s death, the Crown Prince and his guard, Moo Young, set forth to locate Lee Seung Hui, the last physician to treat his father. But the two end up stuck with Assistant Physician Seo Bi and a mysterious man named Young Shin in a village plagued with a terrifying disease.
Originally aired: Netflix
Rating: 8.8/10
1. Kingdom season 2 (2020)
Official Premise: Following the events in season one, waves of the undead threaten to reach the capital. In an attempt to save the people during the plague and regain his right to the throne, Crown Prince Lee Chang pursues Jo Hak Joo to overthrow him, while the Queen is in a race against time to produce an heir to the throne.
Originally aired: Netflix
Rating: 8.9/10
And there you have it! The 15 Best Horror K-Dramas You Must Watch.
Will you be checking out any of these K-Dramas? Comment below.
