Revenant (2023)

Very well written horror story but dark and a little bit depressing

If you're anxious or you suffer from a mental illness or disorder. Please don't watch it.

Don't binge watching either for the emotional stable people out there.

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Great show - coming from someone who doesn't like ghosts stories!

I am so happy I was able to watch this all in one go. I didn't pay any attention to this drama because I couldn't bring myself to watch another show about a ghost - good or bad. This one was so well made and well told that it didn't feel like a ghost story.

This is a show you shouldn't spoil before watching. Don't read too much and dive into the first episode you'll find yourself watching the next one.

What I loved was that the slight romance (that last episode scene when Hongsae held the cup is going on my top 10 romantic scenes), the historical background, and the acting were all in the perfect doses.

Shout out to the drum OST sound that hypes up the horror scenes.

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Kim Eun Hee strikes again!

Yes. Just when 2023 needed a well written horror series Kim Eun Hee released her highly awaited masterpiece.

The writtng was sooooooo good. And i loved how she didnt just wrote superstitious stuff and showed that ghosts and scary but people - they are the worst.

Also we have to talk about the main attraction. The couple!!!! I was fangirling over them the whole time and so were the other viewers. You will find so many edits on TikTok lol. Its great that the writer didnt do much with them and left it to our imagination. The writer even said that she wanted Hongsae to be a reliable friend to Sanyeong. And professor Yeom to be a good older influence.

If youre looking for a well written drama then go for it. Even if youre not a fan of a horror stuff, the writting and acting just makes it so fun.

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The ending we needed to watch.

The review comes from a horror-holic. I have always been enticed by shows and dramas that promise a thriller-horror premise. So be sure I was here to watch the whole series with all my might! I experienced a full range of emotions watching this series, it excited, amused, and sometimes terrified me. The show itself is not scary but some jump scares will get you!

The acting was the strongest part that carried the series and made me watch it till the end. I rarely see a series in which every actor performs so beautifully, regardless of the small role. The characters are also well-written. There is depth and thought put into most characters although we do not explore the intricacies of each character in this 12-episode drama. Just like many others, Kim Tae Ri stole my heart too. She plays the FL who is struggling to survive as she tries to live for the sake of her loved ones and later tries to protect them from her-possessed-self. The family dynamic is complicated and yet I could feel the love between her mother, a justifiably overbearing fearful person, and the FL.

Now, the storyline is where the series leaves a bit to desire. Some parts of the story were not explained well. I am unsure if I could not follow them as I am not a native speaker or if they were just poorly explained. First, the fact that the evil spirit had a brother who was rushed (ep11 49:50) while it was important because it determined that she was the second child. There were also a few more plotholes. But those aside, the storyline was fun and kept me on edge the whole time. Personally, there were not many instances where I was bored or found myself skipping scenes although the pacing is a bit slow. At times it felt like some plots were introduced sparsely but did not develop truly. But if I were to put it simply, I enjoyed the storyline and it was engaging. The continuous mystery of who the evil spirit was and what her past was well written in the script. Many times, I found myself going through comments after watching episodes just to discuss my theories and listen to others.

I will mention this here because I see many people were curious about any romantic sub-storyline. The ML is a professor and is not the FL's love interest. He is helping our female lead to catch the evil spirit who has killed his parents and run havoc on his life in the past. Throughout the series, the 2 ML, who is a detective has shown to have interest in FL. The FL, being busy making a living, never realized his feelings. Although they did not officially end up together, in a beautiful scene the FL looks at the ML like he did in the past.

Unlike what has been a trend in past dramas, this drama does not have a feel-good ending! Rather, the ending hit near home. Even though the FL does the right thing, her life is never going to be the same. She chooses to get rid of the evil spirit and in turn, loses her eyesight. But her journey leads her to want to survive and live for herself.

The direction and production are well done. The small moments sometimes say a lot and I needed to watch the show carefully to see these elegant scenes. All in all, I would recommend watching this series. The emotions are strong and the character has a good dynamic. My takeaway from the series was, to be careful opening and knocking on doors, we never know what's on the other side :p

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No one is going to save you except yourself

The story is okay, the plot is convoluted at some places but the characters are 10/10. I love Sanyoung and Professor Yeom.

The police officer felt like a side character with too much screen time till episode 9, after that I could see his purpose. The trio was formed and the drama was a lot more fun.

Things I liked
- The whole vibe.
- The use of folklore and old stories.
- When they had one subplot story that lasts one or two episodes. (The village, the hungry ghost)
- The scene where Professor Yeom takes Sanyoungs hand and gets saved.
- The scene where the evil ghost goes after the detective and then after the professor.
- The scene where evil ghost hugs Sanyoung and begs to stay.
- The scene where Sanyoung saves herself at the end.
- The mystery about the evil ghost that's unveiling slowly till the end.
- The ending.

Things I thought could be better
- Sanyoungs mother was beyond annoying.
- How did the evil ghost get to Sanyoungs father. They never show that. We can assume it's because he touched the head piece (The same way Sanyoung got the evil ghost).
- Them looking for five things that could seal the evil ghost dragged.
- The older detective dying in the second part of the drama, I feel like it should have happened earlier or plot twist, what if the younger detective died? That would turn everything upside down.
- The younger detective just being there for half of the drama not believing in ghosts.
- Why do Professor Yeom and Sanyoung see ghosts? Is it because they were possessed?
- What happened to the ghost of Sanyoungs father that she saw in the village?
- I didn't like the whole plot where the younger detective has a crush on Sanyoung.

I feel like there's something missing in the story but I don't know what.

I have to say this, I love Professor Yeom and I could watch a whole drama of him going around and teaching about folklore and ghosts.

Overall, I liked it, I had fun watching it, it has a nice message, mystery, good characters and interesting vibes. I would recommend it.

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Glued to my seat from beginning to end

It was intriguing from beginning to end. Kim Tae Ri was phenomenal (she really deserves any and all the awards for this role!) as well as Oh Jung Se.
I felt like the story was very interesting and well-executed. I wouldn't say this was horror, more like thriller, but there were moments that were terrifying (I still made sure to watch this during the day!)
Overall, I loved it through and through. There was nothing that made me feel disappointed or underwhelmed. As I said, it was intriguing from beginning to end. This is definitely a bingeable drama. Highly recommend.

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Both Shadow and light are present in you

It's not spectacular, it's not gonna make your heart stop, okay sometimes yes, but it made me curious. It's this plot, those characters...
First episodes were half half. The atmosphere was heavy, that house, I hate that house and decoration, it added suffocation and on top of that, without being a ghost even her dad freaked me out. But Gu San Yeong and that ghost, what with the hair accessory, and why and why, and there I was calmly addicted to the story.

Gu San Yeong Was not the hero type. But I loved her.
She represents everyone who wish to stand for the right things but could weaken a little whan facing dilemmas, so was HongSae.
After HongSae really had more time screen and understood what really was going on, things got really interesting on a superior level. His encounters with the ghost were always strangely a pleasure to watch, he was the first one miss ghost talked to "normally". And My romance watcher self showed up liking how he cared for San Yeong, subtle romance is so realistic and touching.
Professor Yeom was interesting to guide the plot but maybe lacked a little thing for me to be fully invested in the character, his relationship with Ujin should have maybe lasted more cause it gave him more background and dimension.
Are ghost more frightening than humans,sadly no. A ghost is the symbol of human hidden bad desires. I liked how the writer took care of this side till the end.

A special mention to Kim Tae Ri's incredible interpretation of the ghost, she mastered it. And Oh Jung Se's too, I recognised some expressions of Sang Tae, fear, doubt, from It's okay to not be okay, rare are actors who acts that good in DramaLand.

PS: Can't the main leads be casted again together, pleaaase hh

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This drama was fantastic from beginning to end.

It was super creepy and unsettling, but in a quiet way that built a lot of tension and didn't ruin the whole thing with unnecessary blood and gore. I think fans of horror and casual watchers alike will love that element of it.

The main actress was definitely the biggest stand out. She was insanely good and killed it throughout. And the rest of the cast was also super good, too. Even the more peripheral characters, like the FL's mom and the grandmother.

I loved the twists and turns of the story related to the ghost, it was super interesting and I was kept guessing until the very end. Having to wait between episodes was awful.

Lastly, much as it happened with Jirisan, I wonder at the choice to hint at romance (or at the very least the younger ML being very clearly romantically interested in the FL) when the writing won't really commit to it. I loved how obviously smitten Hong Sae was, but I hated how it was just left at a few teasing scenes. We all know what was being implied (as the Twitter edits abundantly evidence), so why be coy about it? I'm of the mind that a solid romance plot could have been smoothly integrated into the overall story. Romantic horror k-dramas need to become a thing (especially if they include ghost possession).

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Once again, Kim Tae Ri has proven why she's a Rank 1 actor. Special mention was her portrayal of the ghost desperate to live yet Tae Ri's character was forcing her to burn the final key object to banish the spirit.

I played that scene multiple times because I can't get enough of the out of this world acting by Kim Tae Ri. I felt compassion on the ghost in that scene. She only wanted to live because she was wronged when she was still alive. And her very strong desire to live, by trying to fight back San Young (Tae Ri's character), was delivered by Tae Ri in a very powerful way. I think Tae Ri's theater acting training and exposure greatly helped her at that moment. She knew how to act the ghost's desires and desperation to live without overdoing it.

Of course, I also commend the director and the cameraman for perfectly capturing that moment, up close and personal. It magnified what Tae Ri wants the audience to feel: this ghost, she was a victim, while it doesn't justify the ghost's murders, it is us humans who turned her that way.

Which is true. Many of humans only think of their own desires and greed, and doesn't care if another human being turn evil because of their actions and words. Yes, we cannot blame others for our own actions, but we also cannot deny the fact that we are who we are because of our experiences.

For me, the moral of this story is that we should always strive to do good. If you truly want to be selfish, then keep your mouth shut instead of speaking hurtful words behind other people's backs. For example, San Young realised how she was killing herself in the final episode because of how people said hurtful words, like that scene with the convenient store manager. If one did not notice, Tae Ri showed her "evil face" at that time, and she was not yet influenced by the ghost then.

Many of us probably reacted that way too after hearing hurtful words from people. Our faces probably showed how we want "kill" them for looking down on us as if us struggling in life was our fault (when it was just what we're given). Or, like it was a sin to have been born in that situation. And that moment was when San Young, without her knowledge until the final episode, that she started to slowly kill herself.

I've been there, too, without me realising what I'm doing. You gave up. You just try to live every day, but you no longer have any desire to live. You are just waiting for death to collect you, and you'll even welcome death with open arms. And the ghost that possessed San Young, she was right. San Young was wasting her life, and she (the ghost) wants to live.

The show may have been about ghosts and suicide. But if we look deeper into it, it is sending us a message that we should strive to live no matter what. Why? Because there were people whose lives ended not out of their own will, rather, they were forced to it. They were victims.

So, to you and me, this show is a strong and powerful message. Fight to live. It is hard. I know, I am struggling myself. I want to give up. I had enough of this life. But, let's fight to live another day. Let's show this world, let's show this evil society that we have today, that we can. If we know people whose lives ended early, either through suicide or they were murdered, let's live for them. They have desires and dreams, let's live for them, and maybe, through us, our society will become better.

Thank you, Kim Tae Ri, to the cast, the staff, the director, the writer, for this very timely story and message. I hope you'll win awards for this, you 100% deserve to grab all the awards.

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Jealousy and greed attract very unwanted attention.

I thoroughly enjoyed this twisty-turny story, with not a few butt clenching moments ;D
Oh Jung-se really suited the role of Yeom Hae-sang and the more I see of him in such diverse roles, the more I love him (his autistic character in It's OK to Not Be OK is still a favourite).
Kim Tae-ri is always good and I loved Hong-kyung as the young Detective.
The entire cast were actually very good and there are several well known supporting actors I always enjoy watching, which helps!
The characters' journeys to discovering the mysteries surrounding an academic's investigation into crimes with a supernatural base and spanning many decades, are gripping.
There are shocks, tragedies and a very dark and brutal catalyst to everything that happens subsequent.
There are, unfortunately, also the usual issues of characters not listening, acting alone, making decisions for others and just not communicating in instances when 99.999999% recurring, of people would.
It's a drama and the story needs that to move forward I suppose, but the writer could have thought of more engaging alternatives in those instances.
I also found Kim Tae-ri's character's attitude towards Oh Jung-se's, later in the drama, to be utterly ridiculous, given everything they'd gone through upto that point and given her own predicament.
I wasn't scared by this drama (although it takes a lot to frighten me), but, as said, it did have its moments.
Cases of people that are already wicked or bad in some way, attracting angry/hungry spirits to them, seems to be becoming a trope (that's not a complaint).
There are instances of child abuse, however, so anyone for whom that's a trigger, needs to be forewarned.
I probably wouldn't watch it again, but am by no means sorry I picked it.
It is worth watching.

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