Best Thriller K-dramas & movies of 2023 & Where to stream

The year is not over yet, with 2023 having released many binge-worthy thriller K-dramas and movies.

While fans are gaga over romance K-dramas like King the Land and Netflix’s Destined With You, some fans itch for a good chilling thriller storyline. South Korea is well known among fans for developing heavy and impactful murder stories, supernatural hauntings, and serial killer obsessions that leave chills up the spine.

Over 2023, there were a good handful of K-dramas that fans raved about and movies that did the job of eliciting a fear that follows you into your everyday life. There’s nothing like becoming deadly afraid of phone repair shops thanks to Netflix‘s Unlocked.

From Revenant to Devils, here is a list of thriller K-dramas and movies to add to your must-watch list whether for the spooky Halloween season or if a fan of the genre.

Devils had a cop switch bodies with a heinous serial killer

A Korean movie that went under the radar in 2023 was Devils, starring Jang Dong-yoon and Oh Dae-hwan.

The serial killer thriller has an often-seen twist, but a welcome one in the grand scheme of the storyline. Jae-Hwan (Oh) becomes involved in a series of murder cases. He becomes obsessed when one of the killer’s victims is his brother-in-law. Now a personal pursuit of revenge, Jae-hwan tracks down the killer Jin-Hyeok (Jang).

In his pursuit of Jang, they get into a physical altercation. The twist? Jae-hwan wakes up in the hospital but not as himself. In absolute horror, Jae-hwan has switched bodies with the killer who is now at large as a cop. To make matters worse, Jin-hyeok takes Jae-hwan’s family hostage.

Devils is currently not streaming on any major platforms.

Lies Hidden in My Garden is a K-drama thriller worth watching

Based on a novel of the same name, two women with polar opposite lives get involved with each other, and a horrible stench coming from one of their gardens in Lies Hidden in My Garden K-drama.

Amid the thriller K-dramas and movies in 2023, fans have been raving about Lies Hidden in My Garden. Joo-ran (Kim Tae-hee) has a life anyone could dream of. Her husband is seemingly perfect and handsome, with a son who is academically talented. But things change when Joo Ran notices a horrible stench coming from her garden. She soon suspects it’s the smell of a dead body.

Meanwhile, Sang-eun (The Glory’s Lim Ji-yeon) lives a drastically different life. She is the victim of domestic violence and dreams of escaping. Her paths cross with Joo-ran as they investigate the truth behind the smell. Is Joo-ran’s family as perfect as they seem?

Lies Hidden in My Garden is available to stream in Viki.

Netflix’s Unlocked had fans fearing phone repair shops

Lee Na-mi (Chun Woo-hee) is a run-of-the-mill officer worker who becomes a serial killer’s next target in Netflix’s Unlocked.

Netflix has developed a few worthwhile thriller K-dramas and movies in 2023 – one of them being Unlocked. Fans praised the movie’s chilling storyline for making them fearful of phone repair shops and what invasion of privacy can lead to. Na-mi works at a marketing company and has nothing really special about her.

On the bus, she loses her phone but miraculously speaks to the person who found it. The female voice says she will leave it at a repair shop since the screen was broken. But it is all a front and the MO (modus operandi) of a serial killer.  Oh Jun-yeong (Im Si-wan) purposely used a voice modifier to sound like a woman.

In reality, he was the one who found the phone, owned the repair shop, and installed spyware on Na-mi’s device. He soon learns everything about her and gets close to her in real life. Using what he knows, he begins to isolate Na-mi with plans to kill her.

Unlocked is available to stream on Netflix.

Mask Girl has become the 2023 thriller K-drama success

Based on a webtoon, Mask Girl takes fans through the evolution of Mo-mi as she gets caught in murder, new identities, and a plot for revenge.

Mask Girl is Netflix’s hottest thriller K-drama of 2023 for good reason. Mo-mi (Lee Han-byeol) once had dreams of becoming a star. But she grew up getting teased for her looks and instead became an ordinary office worker. To appease her hunger for stardom, she became a popular live streamer under the name Mask Girl.

Her fame crumbles when she violates community guidelines and gets suspended. Unknown to her, her coworker Oh-nam (Ahn Jae-hong) knows Mo-mi is Mask Girl. One fateful night, they get caught up in a murder and Oh-nam disappears.

Mask Girl/Mo-mi is now people of interest after she also disappeared. But Oh-nam’s mother knows she is to blame and hunts her down. Mask Girl has a dazzling display of evolving storylines as Mo-mi goes through different stages of life.

Mask Girl is available to stream on Netflix.

Kim Tae-ri had fans gasping in Disney+’s thriller Revenant

One of 2023’s most chilling thriller K-dramas was from none other than Kim Tae-ri in Revenant as a young woman possessed by an evil spirit.

South Korea knows how to handle possession, the supernatural, ghosts, and vengeance when it comes to thrillers. SBS and Disney+ released Revenant, starring Kim as Gu San-yeong. The character was raised by her mother, after her father’s death as a child.

San-yeong grew up working part-time jobs and hopes to become an officer. But sooner rather than later, the truth behind why her mother left her father and is estranged from his family comes to light. Due to a package left behind by him, she becomes possessed by a heinous demon.

A series of inexplicable murders somewhat connected to her begin to happen. San-yeong soon meets Yeom Hae-sang (Oh Jung-se) a scholar who studies demons and knows about Sang-yeong’s work as in the same field. Hae-sung has for a long time looked for a certain demon described in his research, who is also tied to his past. And he finally found it.

As the only person able to see the demon inside San-yeong, they work together to uncover who it once was and how to eradicate it. They must work quickly as the demon grows stronger. Lee Hong-sae (Hong Kyung) is a violent crimes detective who once knew San-yeong. When bizarre murders occur, he becomes involved.

Revenant is available to stream on Hulu and Disney+.

You can read more about Netflix movies like Kim Tae-ri and Hong Kyung’s upcoming Lost in Starlight here, their upcoming Fall 2023 schedule here, and Disney+’s The Worst of Evil here.