Do you know why people love any kind of horror entertainment?
This phenomenon triggers the fight-or-flight response, simultaneously boosting adrenaline, endorphins, and dopamine.
After that, the brain can process surroundings and realise that the whole thing is not a real threat.
This knowledge of personal safety is one of the reasons why horror fans always come back for more.
Speaking of horror entertainment, there is always a good number of horror dramas and movies coming out from South Korea.
It is not the end of the year yet, but here at KajoMag we have found the ultimate horror K-drama to watch in 2023.
Revenant (2023) follows the story of Gu San-yeong (Kim Tae-ri). During the day, she is busy with her part time job and studying to become a civil servant at night.
After the death of her estranged father, San-yeong receives some mysterious objects from her father.
She does not think too much about the items until she is approached by Yeom Hae-sang (Oh Jung-se).
Turns out that Hae-sang is a folklore professor who has the special ability to see ghosts and he can see that San-yeong is being possessed by one.
When Hae-sang confronts San-yeong about it, she – like many normal people do – refuses to believe him.
That is until she notices there are mysterious deaths happening around her.
If you want to know whether this series is worth watching, here are three reasons why Revenant is the horror K-drama to watch in 2023:
- Impressive acting from the cast, especially Kim Tae-ri
Let us start by talking about Kim Tae-ri’s performance as Gu San-yeong who is slowly being overtaken by the demon that is possessing her.
The real Gu San-yeong is like any regular young adult struggling to make ends meet. She has no time for any kind of conflicts and dramas, focusing only on her civil service examination. All she wants is to live a simple life with her mum.
Ever since she becomes possessed, however, conflicts begin to stir in her life that even the police come knocking on her door.
Meanwhile, the possessed Gu San-yeong is well, evil. Along with her demonic laugh and creepy smile, viewers cannot help but impressed by Kim’s take on the character.
Other cast members such as Oh Jung-se and Hong Kyung are also worth mentioning.
Oh has always been a versatile actor and famous for being a scene stealer. Viewers can expect nothing less from this award-winning actor.
While Hong still has plenty of space in his resume, the 27-year-old actor manages to pull his own weight in the drama as he works among his senior colleagues.
- 2. Engrossing storyline
Another good reason to catch up on Revenant is because of the wonderful brain behind its script-writing.
Kim Eun-hee has several masterpieces under her belt including Phantom (2012), Three Days (2014), Signal (2016) and Jirisan (2021).
Perhaps her most famous work is Kingdom (2019), a period horror series which is also Netflix’s first original Korean drama.
She has built her career delivering scripts with psychological thriller, mystery, horror and suspense genres.
With Revenant, one can say it is Eun-hee’s area of expertise as she navigates viewers through suspenseful storyline, shocking plot twists and a good amount of jump scares in between.
In the drama, the main question circles around San-yeong’s possession.
Who is the ghost that possessed her and why? How can she get rid of it before more people around her die?
- 3. Not so cliched jump scares
Sometimes we can judge a good horror show by its jump scares.
A good horror movie or drama has to have a good amount of jump scares; not too many that it gets annoying and not too cliched that the story becomes predictable.
And Revenant delivers just that so be ready to get scared when you least expect it.
Apart from the jump scares, the creepy scenes in this drama are also chilling.
Only 12-episodes long, K-drama fans must not miss it.
Revenant is available for streaming on Disney+.
