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Sell Your Haunted House korean drama review
Completed
Sell Your Haunted House
6 people found this review helpful
by manicmuse
Jun 20, 2021
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 9.0
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 8.5

A haunted house real estate expert is pretty genius.

"Sell Your Haunted House" is a supernatural thriller with a strong female lead, which for me is the perfect setup for a new drama favorite, but even though I did enjoy watching every episode of this drama I was also slightly disappointed. I loved the whole exorcism world and Jang Na Ra's character being like an angsty superhero. What I didn't love was the anti-climactic relationship between the leads. This drama definitely tells a great and emotional story while still leaving room for humor, but when it comes to the leads this drama seemed to play with my emotions. It does make some sense according to the lore of the show to not have an actual romance fully develop, but I would have enjoyed it more if it did, since it was constantly implied. This is one of the main reasons why, for me, "Sell Your Haunted House" felt like a season one drama. Like an origin story.

Jang Na Ra as bad@ss Hong Ji Ah and Jung Yong Hwa as psychic fraud Oh In Beom definitely work well together in a dynamic duo way. Ji Ah is a psychic Batman, and In Beom is her Robin, and although there is some flirting chemistry, mainly they are there to balance each other out. I did really like the non-traditional gender dynamic with Ji Ah taking the kind of role usually reserved for male leads. She's strong, she's intimidating, she's guarded, but also vulnerable, and as usual Jang Na Ra gives an amazing performance. She rarely disappoints, and I think this is my favorite role I've seen her play. On the other hand, Jung Yong Hwa is an actor I've been pretty indifferent to in spite of liking many dramas he's in. Matching him with such an established older lead could have easily faded him into the background but he holds his own in the story. He also has some fun scenes where he gets to play with variety. I won't overlook him again after this.

For me, the true star of this drama is the story. Yes, It's part melodrama, so there is a haunted by the past element (literally lol) that could have been very cliché but I thought it was extremely suspenseful and interesting. If you've ever lost someone in an unexpected death it'll be hard not to empathize with the storylines, especially the main one, and the themes of guilt and wanting to hold on. The realty angle is also a nice twist on the whole lady ghostbuster theme. The writers really do a good job of marrying suspense with some over-the-top campy moments and characters. The main villian was a little too extreme sometimes but it was also fun to have a character you could absolutely despise 100 percent. It helps that the entire cast is great, although some of the sillier characters made me lower my cast rating. I do have to mention Kang Hong Suk and Kang Mal Geum who help complete the main team, and I really liked them both.

The director was also exceptional and really made this ghost world feel fun like a comic book but still realistic and extremely cool. I'm curious to see what drama he does next.

Would I watch this again? Sure. It would be a little less exciting the second time around, knowing the full story, but it was fun, visually exciting, and touching enough to still be entertaining. I'm more curious about whether or not there will be a season two, which seems very possible by the ending, but I was very satisfied with the ending as is too... aside from the platonic leads.

Overall this is a great supernatural drama that isn't too scary or too silly. It stars such a clever and unique main character and that's enough for me to recommend this drama! Romance fans will probably feel a little disappointed but there are a few cute moments so it's not totally romance-free. It also got me a few times in the feels without being too heavy, although some parts of the story really broke my heart. I can see this show's format having so many possibilities for continuing the story, so if there is a "Sell Your Haunted House: Season 2" I'm Sold!
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