After China produced legendary movies, and Japanese anime went from niche to mainstream, it’s now South Korea’s time to shine. Their works have been catching on worldwide for a while now, from big K-pop bands like BTS to shows likeSquid Gameand movies likeParasite. They offer a fresh perspective that many may not have seen before.
This perspective also crops up in their comics, or manhwa, which have also been catching on internationally thanks to websites like Webtoon and Tapas. So, if readers are in the mood for a scary thrill ride, they can dive in and bring up the besthorror manhwapeople should read.
Updated on May 23, 2025, by David Heath:Halloween is coming up again, so it’s only fair to update this article with a few more highly-rated horror manhwa. Particularly as it’s a fast-growing medium. More manhwa are getting translated into English and published internationally, be it officially through online services, or as fan translations, making it easier to get into these Korean comics.
So, there are a lot of horror manhwa for fans to dig into, whether they’re mysteries, domestic dramas, vampire stories, murderous romances, and more. They’re bound to find something that clicks with them, with these some of the most popular strips.
20DEEP
Anime-Planet Score: 3.46/5 Stars
Some readers might like to check out horror manhwa for something new, especially if they’re burned out on love and isekai. But they might prefer something more mysterious than monsters or zombies, like TOWOO and Tae Heon Kim’sDEEP. It’s more akin to classichorror stories likePet SemetaryandVillage of the Damnedin that the threat comes from a loved one who isn’t what they seem.
When a giant wave crashes on Gwangan-li Beach, it washes up a mass of human bodies. At first, they’re mistaken for corpses, but they turn out to be people who went missing years ago. They’re still alive and haven’t aged a day. Yet they act strangely, moving awkwardly and being drawn back towards the sea. Whoever or whatever they are, the truth behind them lies somewhere in the ocean’s depths.
19Hive
Anime-Planet Score: 3.85/5 Stars
Kyusam Kim’sHiveis a lengthy one, running 242 episodes split across three parts. That’s not including its (currently) untranslated spin-offs,The Dog ManandThe Deadly Queenon Navver. It goes to show how well the story caught on with readers, particularly with its rather old-school premise. When Eun-Sung Lee heads to Seoul for work, he discovers the city is overrun by giant insects.
If the bugs don’t catch people, their mutating infection will. That’s not to mention the criminal gangs that are willing to use the chaos to their advantage. It’s up to Lee to rescue any other survivors, reunite with his family, and get them to safety. With threats at every turn, it’s no wonder his journey is a long and perilous one.
18Rotten
Anime-Planet Score: 3.99/5 Stars
Also known asFoul Smell, GOOD GUY’sRottenis as much acrime mystery storyas a supernatural horror. Officer Han has a strong nose for sniffing out evil, while Jaeshin has the ability to see dead people. Together, they’re good at solving missing person cases, but they’re after one missing person in particular: their lost friend.
Their trail leads them to a stuntwoman, Yuhyeon, who helps with their investigation. Only for all three to discover their friend got tied up in a web of corruption, crimes, and overwhelming evil. If they can’t stand the stench or sights, their friend may be lost forever. It’s a unique story and one that makes good on the title with its gruesome sights.
17Distant Sky
Anime-Planet Score: 4.03/5 Stars
Inwan Youn and Seon-Hee Kim’sDistant Skyalso see Seoul crumble to ruin, but its destruction is more inexplicable. Hanuel Kang went from dozing off in class to waking up in what’s left of the city. Giant bugs also lurk in the shadows, alongside other monsters under a perpetual night sky.
With just one other person, Shin Heyool, the two have to learn how to survive on their own and discover how Seoul fell, if they can handle the truth. WhileHivehas its epic length and action,Distant Skyhas the edge in character building with its realistic dialogue, and psychological chills that can be felt throughout the pages.
16How to Survive as a Maid in a Horror Game
Anime-Planet Score: 4.10/5 Stars
Isekai stories are just as big in manhwa as they are in manga, with plenty of stories about people getting sucked into fantasy worlds, novels, or video games.How to Survive as a Maid in a Horror Gamespells its premise out in the title, as its lead contends with a horror game by A-coms called ‘The Murder of Pflatzgraff Manor’. The graphics are great, but its extreme difficulty puts off most players.
They start the game by playing Adrian, a cursed aristocrat who’s driven to murder as many people as possible to exorcise himself. It sounds straightforward enough, but one player spent so long trying to beat it that they fell asleep partway through. Once they wake up, they find themselves as Hilda, one of Adrian’s maids. Now they have to convince Adrian to spare them if they can’t avoid him altogether, and survive his evil machinations. It results in a dark horror romance that’s as creepy as it is gripping.
15Never-Ending Darling
Anime-Planet Score: 4.14/5 Stars
InNever-Ending Darling, human suffering has essentially been eradicated thanks to the new cloning technology developed by Geunhu Ji. By registering one’s DNA into the cloning database, professionals can fix genetic flaws and extend lifespans. But there’s a dark side to it, as Geunhu’s girlfriend, Yoon Ha-Im, suddenly finds a dead body in her house. Her dead body, in fact.
The next day, she wakes up with no memory of the previous day, but finds a note from herself saying “Ha-Im, if you’re reading this, you’re a clone”. Akin to the movieThe 6th Day, it takes a horror twist as Geunhu has been using his knowledge of cloning to control Ha-Im, killing her and recreating her when she goes outside his boundaries. The real Ha-Im died long ago, but her clone’s only hope is to break his cycle. It’s an intriguing sci-fi take on domestic horror.
14Radio Storm
Anime-Planet Score: 4.15/5 Stars
There are all sorts of horror romances, from stories where the love interest turns out to be a monster, likeNever-Ending Darling, to ones where the monster is a love interest, likeHow to Survive as a Maid in a Horror Game. They’re not always heterosexual pairings too, as there are a ton of yaoi and yuri manhwa out there, with plenty of yaoi horror stories in particular, likeRadio Storm.
It follows Sak, a man stuck in a research facility called ‘the School’ that looks into ‘possessors of the Core’- people with special powers. Sak hates it, as his only special power is an extraordinary sense of smell. Things get worse when a deadly plague begins spreading outside the School, turning people into lethal zombies. Sak learns the only way he can survive is by finding a person who can amplify his powers - his ‘Caller’. He escapes with his friend Ginger in search of this Caller, taking his chances with the threats outside.
13Chasing Tails
Anime-Planet Score: 4.18/5 Stars
Chasing Tailssounds like a skill issue inSonic the Hedgehog 2. But it’s actually a murder mystery horror manhwa where detectives Jeongdo Kwon and Yeongchae Shin, alongside neuropsychiatrist Dr Yeongwha Ju, have a particularly difficult case to work with. A building collapse trapped 9 college students under the rubble for 2 weeks, leaving only 6 survivors, and only 4 could still speak.
However, the 3 deceased students didn’t look like they were killed by the wreckage. Their bodies were mangled so viciously that the police believe they were murdered. The detectives have to go through the evidence and witness testimony to figure out what happened. Any one of the survivors could be the killer, and figuring out who is an uphill struggle that’ll reveal more than the detectives bargained for.
12Parallel City
Anime-Planet Score: 4.21/5 Stars
The clone horror continues inParallel City, only this time, the clones are acting against their copies. Reports of people finding identical doppelgängers of themselves across the city increase, before being followed by disappearances. For example, Min Choi’s childhood friend Jung Kim disappeared for 11 months, before returning as a seemingly different person.
Things only get stranger when Min Choi finds a more violent, criminal version of himself who knows everything about him, including his parkour skills. Its first season plays out more like a mystery thriller. Butt when Min Choi discovers where these clones have been coming from, it pivots into a deadly survival horror tale where he learns just why the doppelgangers are more twisted than their regular world selves.
11Delusion
Jac-Ga Hong’sDelusionmoves away from bugs and Deep Ones to another kind of threat. One that may sound familiar as it starts like an art-based version ofDracula. Set in 1935, artist Iho Yun is commissioned by noblewoman Jeonghwa Song to paint a portrait of her. She’s lived alone for decades, isolated from the rest of society. So, Yun was expecting to see an elderly recluse.
Instead, he sees a beautiful young woman, but one who asks Iho to paint her as if she were old. Then, among the paint tubes, he finds a letter warning him not to finish the painting. Whoever stays with Madam Song either goes mad or is never seen again. The manhwa goes into Song’s curious past and Yun’s increasingly strange present with chilling storytellingand stunning artwork.
