Hola! What in “The X-Files” throwback is this layout? Kapjagi wae? Look, it’s past 5 in the morning (a Saturday, too, at that) and I just finished re-watching “The Haunting of Bly Manor.” Also, I just started reading “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” by Shirley Jackson. (Aside: I think I’m in love with the name Mary Katherine and the nickname, Merricat, given to that character.)
Me and my remain two brain cells are struggling as I type this down and, well… *scratches the back of my neck* This is not going well. My mind is not completely working right now. You would not believe all the typos here, if only it wasn’t saved by autocorrect.
Anyhoo. Enough blathering. Let’s dive right into the good stuff.
Currently reading
I’ve finished “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” by the time I picked up where I left off (a week later after the blathering above). It’s good. I felt like I was watching a film where the characters are odd outcasts, and I wonder why they’re like that. As the story unfolds, I catch more and more nuances about their family, the relationship between the sisters, their neighbors, etc.
What horrified me wasn’t just what happened to Mary Katherine and Constance’s family. It was that moment when their house caught fire and their neighbors went to their estate, as if out for blood, as if they’re some lynchers. It was horrifying and terrifying. I felt like I was right there in that scene.
Right now, I’ve also recently finished another horror novella, “Scanlines” by Todd Keisling. It’s short and disturbing. I loved the 90s references, as it was a time that I was also readying myself for adulthood. I’ve never seen a video footage of someone committing suicide during that time (or ever), but just thinking about it makes me shudder. It’s definitely stuff made for nightmares, and that’s what the main character and his two best friends have to go through and live with as 17 year-olds and as adults.
What book should I read next? Hmm… Something scary, for sure. Out of my recent reads, “The Haunting of Hill House” is my favorite. I can see myself re-reading it in the future.
The spooky, the scary, and the terrifying kdramas
What would a blog post of mine be without kdramas? I surmise you’d have slipped into a crack and shot straight through an alternate universe where an Alternate Anna doesn’t watch Korean dramas.
Since it’s spooky season, I’d like to present to you five kdramas perfect for watching during this time. The list contains possessions and exorcisms, ghosts and haunted houses, and all the things that go bump in the night. Good stuff. 😉
“Possessed”
Kang Pil Sung works as a detective. His instincts as a detective are excellent, and he is foul-mouthed. He is both lazy and rough, but he is also soft-hearted.
Hong Seo Jung has excellent psychic mediumship, but she tries to hide her ability. This causes her to keep a distance from other people, and she lives a lonely life.
While Kang Pil Sung investigates a case, he happens to meet Hong SeoJung. He thinks that she is different from others and takes an interest in her. They begin to solve cases together using their special abilities.
This one went from kind of funny to dark and creepy. Watch this is you like your horror with possession and mystery flavors in it.
“Sell Your Haunted House”
Ji Ah, a woman who has inherited exorcism abilities from her mother, is the owner of Daebak Realty, a company that specializes in selling haunted houses. Ji Ah looks perfect and is also brilliant, but her hot temper makes her fists fly before her words. One day, Ji Ah encounters a conman named In Beom who specializes in exorcism fraud. Late at night when Daebak Realty operates, In Beom visits Ji Ah to make an offer. He suggests that they team up to exclusively sell houses that are haunted by vengeful spirits and lingering ghosts. Can the two get along well and deal with house prices, ghosts, and their sorrowful stories?
The female lead here is bad ass and while it did take a while for me to warm up to her, I’d still recommend this kdrama. It’s creepy, it’s scary, it has sad back stories, and the chemistry of the main leads is great.
“The Bequeathed”
A woman inherits a gravesite under mysterious circumstances, just as her family’s history begins to unravel.
This one’s intense! I honestly don’t know who the real villain is anymore as I watched each episode. It kept me guessing and I loved it.
There is definitely more to the story than the blurb it gives us. The plot twist made me rub my eyes and I had to rewind that scene just to make sure I understood it right the first time.
Yoon Seo Ha inherits the family gravesite. One that came attached with a madman of a brother and string of deaths. Don’t forget the bloody vandalism she gets on her front door.
“The Bequeathed” is pretty new, having been released this year. You might enjoy it if you like piecing together the bigger picture of a horrific story.
“Dark Hole”
About a group of survivors who have to fight for their lives against mutants that are created when humans breathe mysterious dark smoke from a sinkhole.
Lee Hwa Sun is a police detective in the Seoul regional investigation unit. Lee Hwa Sun’s life is turned upside down when she receives a phone call from her husband’s murderer, telling her to come to “Mujishi.” However, the people in Mujishi have been transformed into monsters after breathing in a mysterious dark smoke. Lee Hwa Sun must not only fight to survive but also battle her fear in order to capture her husband’s murderer.
Yoo Tae Han is a native of Mujishi and a wrecked car driver. He has a carefree personality and likes to joke around, but he has a strong sense of justice. He quit being a police officer due to a scandal caused by a misunderstanding, but he is proud of his days in the force. When he meets Lee Hwa Sun in the chaos of Mujishi, he devotes his life to saving others from danger.
I highly recommend this horror kdrama if you want some action and drama mixed in. The monsters aren’t the only scary ones here. It seems like humans are scarier.
This kdrama is everything: scary, creepy, sad, horrifying. It shows the vulnerable side of humans amidst troubling, horrific, and supernatural unrest.
It’s about the main character coming full circle about who and what she is. Her ties to the supernatural makes her strong and vulnerable at the same time, and she finds out that there are people willing to protect her and care for her in spite of the darkness, both literally and figuratively.
“Revenant”
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When the door to another world opens, demons exist there. Ku San Young is possessed by one of those demons. Yeom Hae Sang can see the demon which has possessed Ku San Young. They try to figure out the truth behind the mysterious deaths related to the five sacred objects.
Ku San Young is busy working part-time during the day and studying to become a low-ranking public officer at night. One day, she receives some articles left behind by her late father. Since then, mysterious deaths take place around her. She also finds herself slowly changing.
Yeom Hae Sang comes from a rich background. He teaches Korean folklore at a university. Since he was a child, he has had the special ability to see demons in this world. He even saw his mother get killed by a demon in front of him when he was young. Yeom Hae Sang meets Ku San Young and he faces the demon which killed his mother.
Lee Hong Sae is a lieutenant in the violent crimes investigation team. He only cares about advancing his career in the police department. Due to Ku San Young and Yeom Hae Sang, he gets involved in mysterious cases.
And that’s it for me! I feel like this post went longer than I anticipated. I hope you enjoyed my kdrama recommendation! If you’re also a kdrama fan, I have a Substack Newsletter all about it. It’s 100% free and you can subscribe here.
All right. I need to bounce now because work is starting in a couple of minutes. I wish you the spooky season that you want and deserve, all the pumpkin spice lattes that you need to incorporate in your system, and that good ol’ nip in the air so that you’re reminded that not only is Halloween near, but Christmas season as well. That time of the year when most people are in such good, GOOD mood.
The weekend that was in photo:
