130
245
23
2
4
6
10
5
7
6
4
10
5
2
7
38
3
4
4
2
1
3
4
5
2
6
30
38
13
23
This review may contain spoilers
YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED; NOW RUN !
OVERVIEW:
If Wishes Could Kill is a YA horror thriller about a group of high school friends whose lives are turned upside down by a cursed app called Girigo. The premise is simple and chilling: record a wish, submit your saju, and the app grants it. The problem? Every wish comes with a death timer. Once the clock hits zero the wisher dies, possessed and violent, taking out whoever is nearest before turning the knife on themselves.
At the centre of it all is Se-ah, a girl already carrying the grief of losing both parents, who watches her world collapse wish by wish. Alongside her are Geon-woo, her next-door crush turned boyfriend, Ha-joon, the quiet one with a secret, Na-ri, the friend whose jealousy makes her the most dangerous person in the room, and Hyeong-wook, the first casualty. Rounding out the supernatural side is Ha-young, a shaman known as Haetsal, and her husband Bang-wool, both of whom become the group's only real lifeline against an ancient evil spirit called Jugu that has hijacked the digital world to do its dirty work.
It is fast, it is creepy, and for the most part it delivers exactly what it promises.
____________________________________________
COMMENTARY:
This drama hooked me from the jump. The cold open is genuinely disturbing in the best possible way and immediately sets the tone for everything that follows. A girl slitting her own throat in a school media room while recording on a phone? Before you even understand the context? That is a strong way to open. It tells you immediately that this is not going to be a soft ride.
The setup moves fast. Within the first stretch you already have one death, a ticking timer, and a group of teenagers scrambling to understand rules that no one warned them about. The pacing in the first half is tight and confident. Every scene is doing something. Every character introduced serves the plot. There is no wasted space and no unnecessary filler, which is honestly refreshing for a drama of this genre.
What really sold me early on though was how grounded it felt. Yes there is a supernatural curse and a death app and spirit realms, but underneath all of that these are just normal kids dealing with academic pressure, one sided crushes, friend group tension, and the particular loneliness of being sixteen and misunderstood. The horror works because the humanity underneath it is real.
The show understands something that a lot of horror dramas miss: the monster is not the scary part. The scary part is what the monster reveals about the people it targets. Jugu does not create resentment or jealousy or loneliness in these characters. It finds what is already there and amplifies it. That is genuinely disturbing storytelling and it elevates the whole series above your average death game setup.
Se-ah is carrying survivor's guilt before the story even starts. Her parents died and the neighbourhood kids blamed her. So when people around her start dying again she does not panic and run. She takes responsibility. She throws herself directly into danger not out of bravery but because she cannot survive being the one who did nothing again. That is real character motivation right there and it makes every risk she takes feel earned rather than reckless.
The backstory of Hye-rung and Si-won is the emotional core of the whole thing and honestly it is heartbreaking. Two teenage girls, and a friendship destroyed by paranoia, jealousy, and one act of public humiliation that went too far. Si-won was so terrified of people finding out her mother was a shaman that she burned her own best friend to protect herself. And then she tried to undo it when it was already too late. Both of them died alone carrying the weight of something that did not have to happen.
Na-ri is the most complicated character and also the most frustrating in equal measure. She is not evil. She is jealous and scared and completely in over her head. The show is smart enough to let the audience hold both things at once: she made terrible choices AND the spirit weaponised her worst impulses against her. She was never really given a fair chance to fight back because the thing possessing her knew exactly which wound to press. I felt genuinely sad for her even when I wanted to shake her.
Ha-young and Bang-wool were the best addition to this drama and I want to say that loudly. Ha-young / Haetsal anchors the occult side of the story with real authority. She is not a convenient plot device. She is a fully realised character with her own limitations and risks and sacrifices. Every ritual she performs costs her something. The fact that she cannot leave her own home adds a layer of tragedy to her arc that the show handles with quiet grace.
Bang-wool is everything. Funny, warm, protective, wise, and completely unafraid of anything including death. The moment he takes a metal rod through his body to shield Se-ah and is still more concerned about getting them to safety than his own condition? That man had my whole heart. The way the show builds his bond with Ha-joon over the course of the story is one of its most satisfying subplots.
The realm sequences are genuinely unsettling and visually creative. The idea of Se-ah being forced to relive her worst memories as tests she must pass without looking back is a smart way to use the supernatural as a mirror for the characters' psychological state. It is horror that means something.
____________________________________________
LIKES:
The concept is fresh and genuinely original. A death app that works like a chain letter pyramid scheme is a premise I had not seen before and the show commits to its own rules which I always respect. The chain effect where one fulfilled wish transfers the death curse to the next user is dark and clever and adds real stakes to every decision.
The performances across the board are strong. Jeon So-young carries Se-ah with the exact right combination of grief and determination. She never tips into melodrama. The possessed sequences are the standout moments because several members of the cast had to physically transform their entire energy and physicality mid scene. Baek Sun-ho in particular during the possession sequences is genuinely scary in a way that feels completely committed and not at all performed.
The Hye-rung and Si-won backstory episode is the best piece of writing in the whole series. Watching their friendship fall apart step by step in a way where you understand every single character's choice even as you watch it all go wrong is painful storytelling in the best possible way.
The atmosphere is handled beautifully. The show knows when to be quiet and let dread build and when to hit you with something loud and visceral. The abandoned house scene is a particular highlight. The flickering compass, the dead birds in the closet, the ruined altar. All of it working together to create genuine unease without relying on cheap jump scares.
Bang-wool. Just Bang-wool in general. Roh Jae-won gave one of the most quietly compelling performances in the whole show. A man who faces supernatural evil with a kitchen knife and a salt shaker and still somehow makes you feel completely safe when he is in the room.
____________________________________________
DISLIKES:
The middle stretch loses momentum. The investigative episodes where the group is tracking down information on Hye-rung and Si-won are necessary for the plot but they slow things down considerably. After the visceral tension of the early episodes, spending this much time on laptop searches and neighbourhood canvassing feels like the drama lost confidence in its own energy for a beat. It picks back up but it does leave a dent in the overall pacing.
Na-ri's resolution bothered me. The show builds her up as this layered, tragic figure being exploited by the spirit and then essentially disposes of her in a way that feels both rushed and cruel. She ends the story trapped in the cursed realm with no clarity on whether she survived, found peace, or is just... gone. For a character they invested that much screen time in she deserved either a cleaner end or a more definitive answer. The ambiguity here does not feel intentional. It feels like the writers were not sure what to do with her.
The epilogue creates more questions than it answers and not in the satisfying way. Soo-san finding Na-ri's phone and a stranger on Discord directing him to it implies the curse is still running. Which either sets up a second season or is meant to be thematically resonant about the nature of human darkness. Either way as an ending beat it undercuts the sense of resolution the rest of the finale was building toward. I needed more of a landing before they pulled the rug again.
____________________________________________
FINAL THOUGHTS:
If Wishes Could Kill is a genuinely good YA horror thriller that does more right than wrong. It takes a concept that could have been gimmicky and grounds it in real human emotion. The friendships feel authentic. The grief feels earned. The horror is well executed. Ha-young and Bang-wool alone are worth the watch.
Where it stumbles is in the middle and the ending. A drama this tight and propulsive in its first half should not lose its grip the way this one does in the investigative stretch. And Na-ri's conclusion is a loose end that sits uncomfortably no matter how you try to read it.
But here is the thing. Even accounting for those issues this show kept me watching. Not because I had nothing better to do but because I genuinely wanted to know what happened. I cared about Se-ah. I cared about Bang-wool. I was disturbed by Jugu in a way that good horror is supposed to disturb you. And the backstory of two teenage girls whose friendship ended in tragedy because one of them was terrified of being seen for who she really was? That is going to stay with me.
If you are looking for something in the YA horror space that has actual substance underneath the scares this is worth your time. Go in knowing the pacing has a rough patch in the middle and that the ending asks more questions than it answers and you will be fine.
Would I rewatch it? Probably not in full but I would revisit specific sequences without hesitation.
Thanks for reading! ♥
If Wishes Could Kill is a YA horror thriller about a group of high school friends whose lives are turned upside down by a cursed app called Girigo. The premise is simple and chilling: record a wish, submit your saju, and the app grants it. The problem? Every wish comes with a death timer. Once the clock hits zero the wisher dies, possessed and violent, taking out whoever is nearest before turning the knife on themselves.
At the centre of it all is Se-ah, a girl already carrying the grief of losing both parents, who watches her world collapse wish by wish. Alongside her are Geon-woo, her next-door crush turned boyfriend, Ha-joon, the quiet one with a secret, Na-ri, the friend whose jealousy makes her the most dangerous person in the room, and Hyeong-wook, the first casualty. Rounding out the supernatural side is Ha-young, a shaman known as Haetsal, and her husband Bang-wool, both of whom become the group's only real lifeline against an ancient evil spirit called Jugu that has hijacked the digital world to do its dirty work.
It is fast, it is creepy, and for the most part it delivers exactly what it promises.
____________________________________________
COMMENTARY:
This drama hooked me from the jump. The cold open is genuinely disturbing in the best possible way and immediately sets the tone for everything that follows. A girl slitting her own throat in a school media room while recording on a phone? Before you even understand the context? That is a strong way to open. It tells you immediately that this is not going to be a soft ride.
The setup moves fast. Within the first stretch you already have one death, a ticking timer, and a group of teenagers scrambling to understand rules that no one warned them about. The pacing in the first half is tight and confident. Every scene is doing something. Every character introduced serves the plot. There is no wasted space and no unnecessary filler, which is honestly refreshing for a drama of this genre.
What really sold me early on though was how grounded it felt. Yes there is a supernatural curse and a death app and spirit realms, but underneath all of that these are just normal kids dealing with academic pressure, one sided crushes, friend group tension, and the particular loneliness of being sixteen and misunderstood. The horror works because the humanity underneath it is real.
The show understands something that a lot of horror dramas miss: the monster is not the scary part. The scary part is what the monster reveals about the people it targets. Jugu does not create resentment or jealousy or loneliness in these characters. It finds what is already there and amplifies it. That is genuinely disturbing storytelling and it elevates the whole series above your average death game setup.
Se-ah is carrying survivor's guilt before the story even starts. Her parents died and the neighbourhood kids blamed her. So when people around her start dying again she does not panic and run. She takes responsibility. She throws herself directly into danger not out of bravery but because she cannot survive being the one who did nothing again. That is real character motivation right there and it makes every risk she takes feel earned rather than reckless.
The backstory of Hye-rung and Si-won is the emotional core of the whole thing and honestly it is heartbreaking. Two teenage girls, and a friendship destroyed by paranoia, jealousy, and one act of public humiliation that went too far. Si-won was so terrified of people finding out her mother was a shaman that she burned her own best friend to protect herself. And then she tried to undo it when it was already too late. Both of them died alone carrying the weight of something that did not have to happen.
Na-ri is the most complicated character and also the most frustrating in equal measure. She is not evil. She is jealous and scared and completely in over her head. The show is smart enough to let the audience hold both things at once: she made terrible choices AND the spirit weaponised her worst impulses against her. She was never really given a fair chance to fight back because the thing possessing her knew exactly which wound to press. I felt genuinely sad for her even when I wanted to shake her.
Ha-young and Bang-wool were the best addition to this drama and I want to say that loudly. Ha-young / Haetsal anchors the occult side of the story with real authority. She is not a convenient plot device. She is a fully realised character with her own limitations and risks and sacrifices. Every ritual she performs costs her something. The fact that she cannot leave her own home adds a layer of tragedy to her arc that the show handles with quiet grace.
Bang-wool is everything. Funny, warm, protective, wise, and completely unafraid of anything including death. The moment he takes a metal rod through his body to shield Se-ah and is still more concerned about getting them to safety than his own condition? That man had my whole heart. The way the show builds his bond with Ha-joon over the course of the story is one of its most satisfying subplots.
The realm sequences are genuinely unsettling and visually creative. The idea of Se-ah being forced to relive her worst memories as tests she must pass without looking back is a smart way to use the supernatural as a mirror for the characters' psychological state. It is horror that means something.
____________________________________________
LIKES:
The concept is fresh and genuinely original. A death app that works like a chain letter pyramid scheme is a premise I had not seen before and the show commits to its own rules which I always respect. The chain effect where one fulfilled wish transfers the death curse to the next user is dark and clever and adds real stakes to every decision.
The performances across the board are strong. Jeon So-young carries Se-ah with the exact right combination of grief and determination. She never tips into melodrama. The possessed sequences are the standout moments because several members of the cast had to physically transform their entire energy and physicality mid scene. Baek Sun-ho in particular during the possession sequences is genuinely scary in a way that feels completely committed and not at all performed.
The Hye-rung and Si-won backstory episode is the best piece of writing in the whole series. Watching their friendship fall apart step by step in a way where you understand every single character's choice even as you watch it all go wrong is painful storytelling in the best possible way.
The atmosphere is handled beautifully. The show knows when to be quiet and let dread build and when to hit you with something loud and visceral. The abandoned house scene is a particular highlight. The flickering compass, the dead birds in the closet, the ruined altar. All of it working together to create genuine unease without relying on cheap jump scares.
Bang-wool. Just Bang-wool in general. Roh Jae-won gave one of the most quietly compelling performances in the whole show. A man who faces supernatural evil with a kitchen knife and a salt shaker and still somehow makes you feel completely safe when he is in the room.
____________________________________________
DISLIKES:
The middle stretch loses momentum. The investigative episodes where the group is tracking down information on Hye-rung and Si-won are necessary for the plot but they slow things down considerably. After the visceral tension of the early episodes, spending this much time on laptop searches and neighbourhood canvassing feels like the drama lost confidence in its own energy for a beat. It picks back up but it does leave a dent in the overall pacing.
Na-ri's resolution bothered me. The show builds her up as this layered, tragic figure being exploited by the spirit and then essentially disposes of her in a way that feels both rushed and cruel. She ends the story trapped in the cursed realm with no clarity on whether she survived, found peace, or is just... gone. For a character they invested that much screen time in she deserved either a cleaner end or a more definitive answer. The ambiguity here does not feel intentional. It feels like the writers were not sure what to do with her.
The epilogue creates more questions than it answers and not in the satisfying way. Soo-san finding Na-ri's phone and a stranger on Discord directing him to it implies the curse is still running. Which either sets up a second season or is meant to be thematically resonant about the nature of human darkness. Either way as an ending beat it undercuts the sense of resolution the rest of the finale was building toward. I needed more of a landing before they pulled the rug again.
____________________________________________
FINAL THOUGHTS:
If Wishes Could Kill is a genuinely good YA horror thriller that does more right than wrong. It takes a concept that could have been gimmicky and grounds it in real human emotion. The friendships feel authentic. The grief feels earned. The horror is well executed. Ha-young and Bang-wool alone are worth the watch.
Where it stumbles is in the middle and the ending. A drama this tight and propulsive in its first half should not lose its grip the way this one does in the investigative stretch. And Na-ri's conclusion is a loose end that sits uncomfortably no matter how you try to read it.
But here is the thing. Even accounting for those issues this show kept me watching. Not because I had nothing better to do but because I genuinely wanted to know what happened. I cared about Se-ah. I cared about Bang-wool. I was disturbed by Jugu in a way that good horror is supposed to disturb you. And the backstory of two teenage girls whose friendship ended in tragedy because one of them was terrified of being seen for who she really was? That is going to stay with me.
If you are looking for something in the YA horror space that has actual substance underneath the scares this is worth your time. Go in knowing the pacing has a rough patch in the middle and that the ending asks more questions than it answers and you will be fine.
Would I rewatch it? Probably not in full but I would revisit specific sequences without hesitation.
Thanks for reading! ♥
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