The Walking Dead Fans Will Love This Bloody Apocalyptic K-Drama

Even beyond the enormous success of "Squid Game," it's safe to say that K-dramas, scripted television shows from South Korea, have found widespread success worldwide. This includes shows firmly entrenched in the horror genre, with different series offering everything from hellish demons to medieval zombies. When it comes to the latter, there are plenty of Korean shows similar to the genre-defining franchise "The Walking Dead," and more than just featuring the undead. One show that stands among the best K-dramas on Netflix is the horror series "Sweet Home," which has several key similarities to "The Walking Dead" that fans should check out.

Based on the Webtoon of the same name by Kim Carnby and Hwang Young-chan, "Sweet Home" follows protagonist Cha Hyun-su (Song Kang). After losing his family in a car accident, Hyun-su relocates to a poorly maintained apartment complex before monsters apocalyptically swarm the Earth. Hyun-su leads his fellow survivors to barricade themselves in their apartments and hold off the monsters trying to overwhelm them. Hyun-su becomes infected by the monsters, granting him superhuman abilities through a powerful transformation, while trying to keep his new condition under control. As the series progresses, the wider impact of the sudden arrival of monsters on society is explored.

"Sweet Home" changes things up during each of its three seasons to keep the story fresh, and Netflix horror fans should give the series a try.

Fans of any zombie stories, whether it be "The Walking Dead" or "Dawn of the Dead," will recognize the broad concept of survivors creating a defensive stronghold against monsters. The similarities to zombie tales is all the more apparent with the infectious nature that the monsters have, transforming the afflicted into one of their ravenous own. And as civilization collapses around them and the survivors quickly grow more desperate, the lengths they'll go to stay alive become clearly visible. This includes literally sacrificing their own humanity, a common theme across all the many "Walking Dead" shows.

Having said that, "Sweet Home" may cover broadly similar ground, but it is very different than "The Walking Dead" from beginning to end. The monsters don't operate like zombies, with each creature possessing their own unique abilities, including the transformed Hyun-su. This gives the story an almost superhero genre-like quality as Hyun-su learns to use his cursed condition as a force for good. The more macro approach to the story, as governments face the implications of the monster outbreak, offers political undertones that "The Walking Dead" never quite achieved. "Sweet Home" is a subversion of the usual tropes and, like many K-dramas, blurs conventional genre lines.

One of the greatest K-dramas made in recent years, certainly within the horror genre, "Sweet Home" features familiar elements, but twists them in new and exciting ways.