This review may contain spoilers
A solid, worth-your-time watch if you really love horror and mystery
Although this was more of a mystery-thriller than a horror for me, nevertheless there was a time when I felt like there was someone watching me beyond a door at night while I was in the middle of watching this series. I loved the overall idea, the premise, the twist and the ending. I also liked that the police were involved as well, and there was a nice overlap of natural and supernatural. I could not stop clicking on the next episode, one after the other.The only complain I have about the drama is the motive behind the actual spirit's hatred/resentment. That could have been more fleshed out. But overall, I really enjoyed this.
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Good Enough
Korean Drama " Revenant" is a horror mystery thriller with some folklore elements.The movie is a psychological thriller with a mystery that is slowly unfold and an intriguing story. And though the start of the drama is slow and kind of boring, the drama picks up later on and the story gets more and more dark as it progress.
The performances were pretty great and the chemistry between the three main ones was enjoyable. The characters were pretty intriguing as well and kept things interesting even when the main plot got druggy.
Finally, the CGI was pretty great and enjoyable enough. The ending was also masterfully handled and just right for the story.
So, overall, seven out of ten.
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Thank God I didn't drop it
So when I first watched it on its release day on Disney+, honestly, I dropped it just after 10 mins or so. I thought the story was a bit stupid with weak suspense. But, I watched it again, after the season ended. So can tell I had no interest in it. But God knows what really happened and I started the show once again from the beginning. And omg, I couldn't believe myself. I have this rule called "never watch what u dropped" and most of the time I follow it but this show made me break that rule cuz I loved it.The suspense, thriller, story and ending was fabulous.
They did a good job in hiding the main culprit till the very end. The mystery plot was well constructed. Scary parts r minimal with hardly anything scaring u but still the ghost plot was well written.
I m so glad that I watched this show again.
Overall, a must watch show
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Promising premise but drag midway too much
San Young ended up being possessed by a juvenile ghost when she touched a cursed inheritance. This ghost takes control of her body, acts beyond her consciousness, and separates from her body to commit murders. A folklore professor Hae Sang, who is able to see ghosts met her and try to get rid of this ghost.Revenant is a supernatural thriller drama with a promising premise set up strongly in the first 4 episodes. Besides our male and female lead investigating these based on the folklore pov, the two police officers investigating them through logic pov. I like how both of them were coming to the same conclusions despite working in very different ways, but I wish that they interacted a little bit more.
Production-wise, the camera angles, lighting, and the sets are creepy yet intriguing. Kim Tae Ri's portrayal of San Young is perfect; whiplashing between her character and being possessed. The folklore aspect are described with clear rules and they follow these rules. It’s very important to the story so I appreciate the writers for that.
But the plot is super slow after 6 episodes. It’s like watching the same episodes, and our protagonists are mostly bark but not bite. Each case did give clues, but they were repetitive and the lessons about folklore is a bit preachy.
They conveniently wrap up well, but left some loose ends.
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This review may contain spoilers
If you´re ready for what lies beyond the obvious & don´t mind a gloomy scenario, go for it
For those who don't blench from paranormal dimensions, "Revenant" is certainly a must-see KDrama. Pretty much everything is done right here. "Revenant" is a crime thriller that transcends time and space, embracing a world that is more than meets the eye and the rational mind. “Revenant” also belongs to the genre of supernatural, even horror-mystery productions. However, to reduce it to that would not do justice to this KDrama.Demons, ghosts of the deceased, people who can see such entities, and people possessed by these entities are all traditionally deeply rooted in South Korean culture. Folk religion and shamanism are still present today – sometimes more, sometimes less, sometimes not at all relevant to the individual, yet nevertheless present. "Revenant" is deeply rooted within this national culture, with Shamanistic rituals being explicitly involved here. In the mass consciousness, the supernatural world has retained a firm place over the millennia. "Revenant" specifically refers to that, (unfortunately without going into detail regarding its backgrounds.) In that sense, "Revenant" is not an unusual SBS-KDrama production for the South Korean audience. At the same time via Disney+ Streaming-Platform this series is exporting a piece of its rich national culture across the border, too - superficial as it as such may remain.
In "Revenant" Kim Tae-ri and Oh Jung-se, however, show high-end performance. Actually overall, this KDrama is in general characterized by its great casting. The acting alone makes it worth seeing. The story is unpredictable and complex, so are the relationships. Additionally, it draws from the long tradition of South Korean folk beliefs, ingeniously mixing it with a modern, rather scientific, investigative approach.
Be prepared for a suspenseful plot. The attraction of "Revenant" lies in the dramaturgically intelligent and fascinatingly presented interweaving of crime thriller and multidimensionality of being. It is obscure, too. In “Revenant” people are possessed by ghosts of the deceased, who are acting in an almost criminal manner. With conventional police investigation, murder executed by such astral beings, who materialize their intentions through their mental occupation of human bodies, are difficult to uncover.
Should you watch it? If your are ready for what lies beyond the obvious, yes. If you don´t mind a gloomy scenario, yes. It is different from your ordinary KDrama, though.
PS:
For me, however, "Revenant" is not just another highlight in a KDrama tradition that is rather fearless regarding the paranormal. The production is also one of a noticeable number of KDramas, that transcend time and space as well as this world and the afterlife, which are increasingly flooding the screens. (Especially in 2023 with i.e. "Island", "My Perfect Stranger", "See you in my 19th Life", "Heartbeat", "Durian's Affair", "Miraculous Brother" … and the year is not over yet). Ghosts, demons, reincarnations, time travel, you name it – the worlds overlap and mix, with time and space having become relative. The curtains between different dimensions are increasingly lifted. The paranormal is becoming more and more normal in the worldwide mass consciousness. Multidimensionality is a topic that people obviously increasingly like to deal with. It isn´t necessarily horrifying anymore. Not in South Korea, nor elsewhere on this planet.
In general, I find that quite inspiring, since dealing with multidimensional spaces, times and beings, has a potential to opening up new perspectives towards life. (Even if it may not all be logically satisfying yet.) It is offering a potential towards a more conscious appreciation of what makes us being human, too.
PPS:
One appealing, even salutary message that "Revenant" (somewhere along the line) would have to offer: the 'evil' intentions of the astral beings can only be as evil as the human 'hosts' allow. At some point the human has to give his or her 'Ok'. If a person has no resentment or greed and is at peace with the world, then there is not much harm wandering ghosts or astral beings in the near-earth realms can do. That would be good news, wouldn´t it... yet… compared to ghosts, eventually human beings can easily be the more frightening creatures here...
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The Guest's laid-back younger sibling
"The Guest" and "Revenant" do not configure or understand "horror" as an impulse that turns us away from encounters. Elements of "horror" such as dread and the sense of the uncanny add to their artistry and interest. They are an expansion of possibilities that give us insight into certain experiences without having to go through them ourselvesTheir "spirits" serve as instruments of metaphor and morality. They offer the best window they know on the questions of how we perceive things and how we do or do not behave on the basis of our perceptions
"There are so many evil people in this world already" (The Guest, episode 3, 10:00)
"Who's worse? A spirit or a human who caused all of this to happen?" (The Guest, episode 5, 6:15)
"Humans are scarier than spirits" (Revenant, episode 2, 14:48)
"The spirit told me that I was satisfying my own desires. This is the real me" (Revenant, episode 6, 1:01:10)
Much like "The Guest," "Revenant" takes seriously the darkness within ourselves; a darkness that cannot be overcome with technological wizardry
The two metaphorically embody the dangers of recklessness and greed, transforming the source of fear from a distant other to something familiar in ourselves. The revulsion we feel at "horror" is a revulsion at ourselves. The terror of the possessed is supplanted by the delight of the "spirits," which can be shared by the audience. Of course, some sensitivity to the emotions of the "spirits" is obligatory
Why is "Revenant" the laid-back younger sibling of "The Guest?" Because "The Guest" is a more mature story than "Revenant"
It is the close affinity of "The Guest" with fear that accounts in part for its uniqueness. It evokes deeper, more personal fears in the starkest terms. Unlike "Revenant," no so-called "romance" complicates it
Gendered norms and fetishized interactions between men and women are a stable ideology and field of identification for society. The stability is intentionally and heroically disrupted by "The Guest." Rather than reiterate cultural conservatism, "The Guest" points to the wreck the gendered norms have become
To undermine any conservative sense of reassurance, the home of a priest was a conduit, one that was permeable to the outside. It was no longer isolated; it was invaded by a "spirit." It is from this fuzziness that we see the fragility of the constructions of public and private spaces, of sexuality, of home and family, of society as a whole
We are still likely to experience anxiety and fright in "Revenant." All-pervasive, able to amuse and delight, the "spirit" of "Revenant" is a territory for the grotesque and the sublime. I bid her Happy Haunting
Sincerely, someone who doesn't believe in "spirits"
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perfect all the way to the last episode.
i can not recommend this show ENOUGH. it was absolutely perfect, i enjoyed every second of this. if you're thinking of watching a show that contains elements of mystery, horror, thriller and pure emotion i need you to watch this immediately! the characters are so well structured and i was on my toes every episode, if you've not watched this now then i have no idea what you are doing?!the first episode is quite slow but a nice warm up for the introduction for the rest of the episodes, then they follow in such a smooth way. i am so amazed by all the actors in this show, kim taeri is known for her performance especially in emotional scenes but this particular show has shown more scenes of her true excellence of acting. absolutely outstanding.
emotional. heart-wrenching. breath-taking. suspenseful. horrific. and an absolute 10/10 show. this is the kdrama of the year for me.
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Disappointment
I gave this drama a second chance, but I feel like it was in vain. It became my biggest disappointment.
I’m a fan of dramas like this, and Revenant has all the components of a good supernatural thriller: demonic possession, mysterious events, a dark atmosphere, occultism, and supernatural investigations. However, the execution turned out to be weak. I don’t understand how someone could take such a great concept and ruin it like this. The plot developed chaotically, often without logical progression, and many scenes felt overly dramatized. It seemed like the screenwriter didn’t fully understand how to properly unfold the story, which led to illogical events and a sense of disorder.
Another reason why I didn’t like this drama was the lack of proper character development and motivations. The characters acted irrationally, sometimes without any motivations, making it hard for me to empathize with them. It felt like emotions and decisions were just assigned to the characters without being supported by actual character development.
If Revenant had been shortened to 8 episodes, removed unnecessary dialogues and illogical scenes, and had better-developed characters and plot, it could have been one of my favorite dramas. But…
There are still a few things I liked:
✔ The artwork and opening titles looked great and even scared me.
✔ The acting. Although at times it was exaggerated, this was probably the fault of the directing rather than the actors themselves.
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Good but somthing missing kind of over rating
I love watching these kinds of stories. Usually, I find horror dramas on kisskh or just accidentally come across them, but this one was different—I found it on Facebook because a lot of people were talking about it and making memes and stories about it. They were saying how scared they felt while watching it. But for me, it wasn’t scary at all. I actually felt kind of bored, and I even fell asleep a few times while watching it.It seemed like the writer tried to create excitement, for example first making us think the ghost was Mokdan and then revealing it wasn’t, but I could predict almost everything. I knew when the ghost would appear and what would happen next, so the suspense didn’t work for me.
The ghost herself didn’t make me feel scared or angry. She just seemed like a poor girl who never received love or attention. She just wanted to live, so I didn’t blame her. In the last scene, I feel like they should have shown the happy ghosts instead of just talking about them.
As for the acting, everyone did well. The FL especially did a great job—she’s really talented.
Overall, even though it’s not very exciting or scary, it’s still watchable. It’s overrated in my opinion, but you can manage to watch it.
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Some ghosts whisper. This one knew how to stare back.
There’s something I love about a horror story that doesn’t jump out screaming, but just… stands there. Watching. Revenant did that to me. It didn’t go for the cheap scare. It made me uneasy in that bone-deep, can’t-quite-name-it way. Like walking into a room and knowing something’s off, but the lights are fine and nothing’s moved—yet. That kind of dread hits harder than anything with fangs.Kim Tae-ri? Unreal. She doesn’t perform “possessed”; she becomes this breathing battleground between her own unraveling and something darker clawing for control. It felt like watching a candle flicker in a sealed room. There’s a precision in her chaos. She never overplays it. Every twitch, every stare—it’s all calibrated, but it never feels calculated. You believe her. You ache for her. And at some point, you stop being sure which version of her you're watching anymore.
And then there’s Oh Jung-se. His character could’ve so easily been a cliché—the wise, aloof ghost-knower with the dusty books and haunted past. But he grounds it. There's a kind of exhausted elegance to him, like he’s been carrying this quiet hell for so long he forgot what silence without static sounds like. The fact that they didn’t even flirt with a romance? Bless whoever made that decision. Their connection felt heavier than any forced chemistry. Two people, wrecked by the same storm, just trying to hold a line together.
There were moments where the rhythm of the show slipped into that “monster-of-the-week” formula, and yeah, a couple of side plots didn’t quite land. You start noticing the gears turning. But weirdly, I didn’t mind as much. Maybe because even when the structure felt predictable, the emotion never did. It kept pulling me back with that undercurrent of inherited pain—the kind passed down without words, tucked in the corners of family photos and old keepsakes. It asked big questions without shouting them: What do we inherit, besides eye color and debt? What kind of curses stay in our blood?
What stuck with me most wasn’t any single scare or twist. It was that mood. That slow, suffocating sense of being watched by something that knows your name—and your mother’s name—and your grandmother’s too. Something ancient and angry and tired. I finished the show and didn’t feel relieved. I felt... accompanied. Like the show left a bit of itself behind.
It’s not perfect. But it’s sharp. Thoughtful. And maybe more terrifying because it never begs to be. Revenant didn’t just creep me out—it tapped me on the shoulder and whispered, “You come from ghosts too.”
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This drama isn't that scary.
In my opinion, this drama is not that scary compared to The Guest. I'm not sure if it's just me not focusing while watching or the storyline is a bit confusing. It's a bit difficult for me to understand the situation in this story, especially the connection between people who commit suicide and evil spirits. But this story gets more interesting towards the end of the episode.The acting for all the actors is undoubtedly very good. Kim Taeri's acting really deserves the Grand Prize.
I don't think I want to rewatch this drama again, for me it's enough to watch it once but if you want to understand it better, you have to watch it again
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Too much details spoils the fun
Too much filler and running around made some episodes a total drag. They should have cut the boring info-dumps to focus on the FL and the detective. Their chemistry was actually fire, so it's a shame we didn't see more of them together. Spending time on their bond would have been way better!Watch for the leads, but be prepared to hit the fast-forward button.
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