From Sweet Home to The Rat: the rise of webtoon horror on Netflix

Once upon a streaming night, Netflix set the table with a peculiar promise: five shades of horror, each drawn straight from the feverish, illustrated world of South Korean webtoons.

Forget the drab greys of traditional horror; here, every plate is vivid, grotesque, unforgettable. The five best colors on this menu are blood red, decay green, bone white, shadow black, and that sickly gold of false hope.

Why webtoons thrive as horror fuel on Netflix

Webtoons are uniquely built to feed the appetite for horror. Unlike traditional comics or novels, they are designed for fast, addictive reading on mobile devices, using vertical scrolling to create rhythm, surprise, and tension.

Every flick of the thumb becomes a controlled reveal, each panel carefully positioned to deliver maximum shock. This pacing mirrors the jump scares and cliffhangers that define bingeable streaming content, making webtoons a natural blueprint for episodic horror.

Visually, webtoons thrive on grotesque, exaggerated imagery that plays directly into body horror, transformation, and psychological distortion. These are not subtle stories; they lean into extreme emotions, surreal visuals, and hyper-dramatic moments that grab the eye and do not let go.

When adapted to screen, these qualities translate into series with striking aesthetics, blending practical effects, CGI, and stylized direction to recreate the original visual punch.

On a deeper level, webtoons capture social and psychological fears specific to a generation raised online, including alienation, cyberbullying, parasocial relationships, and societal pressure.

Horror in this space often springs not from distant myths or old monsters but from digital-age anxieties, making it feel intensely modern and relatable. For a platform like Netflix, always hunting for fresh, culturally relevant stories, webtoon horror offers a treasure trove of material that feels both globally accessible and locally authentic.

Mapping the evolution and the cultural rise

To truly understand the rise of webtoon horror on Netflix, two key threads need to be pulled. First, there is the timeline: a clear evolution from Sweet Home, the pioneering 2020 hit, to the highly anticipated The Rat, set to arrive in 2026.

Over these six years, Netflix has expanded its adaptation portfolio, moving from a single experiment to a robust pipeline of horror rooted in digital comics. Second, there is the why: why webtoons, why now, and why horror.

The numbers tell part of the story. After the breakout success of Sweet Home, which ranked among Netflix’s global top 10 in over 90 countries, All of Us Are Dead surged even higher, pulling in more than 476 million viewing hours in its first 28 days.

Hellbound debuted at number one on Netflix’s global chart, becoming one of the fastest Korean shows to enter the non-English top 10. These are not isolated hits; they signal a pattern.

Korean horror, once a niche export, has become a global sensation, helped by the binge-friendly format of webtoons and the platform’s aggressive push to expand international content.

Beyond audience numbers, there is the strategic edge. Adapting webtoons gives Netflix access to stories with built-in fanbases, reducing marketing risk. These IPs offer visual originality, often blending horror with psychological or social commentary, making them stand out in a crowded streaming landscape.

Compared to the cost of developing Western originals, Korean webtoon adaptations deliver high impact for lower investment, helping Netflix strengthen its cultural footprint while staying competitive against local players in Asia.

There is also a cultural shift at play. Webtoons have long been experimental spaces, mixing genres, bending taboos, and reflecting the anxieties of younger Korean audiences.

When adapted for global streaming, they carry those tensions outward, sparking international conversations about themes like bullying (All of Us Are Dead), religious extremism (Hellbound), and grief (Sweet Home). These series do not just entertain; they invite viewers to confront societal shadows, wrapped in the addictive package of horror.

Blood red: Sweet Home

This dish delivers monstrous transformation. In Sweet Home, the world collapses into an apocalyptic nightmare where human desires mutate into grotesque beasts. Trapped in the Green Home apartment complex, a group of survivors faces not only the monsters outside but the darkness within.

Expect emotional spikes, moments of raw survival, and the bitterness of isolation. Three seasons build this twisted experience, each one diving deeper into terror.

Decay green: All of Us Are Dead

School becomes a blood-drenched battleground. In All of Us Are Dead, a zombie virus spreads through a Korean high school, forcing students into impossible choices and brutal sacrifices. This story pulses with adrenaline, teenage desperation, and the stench of lost innocence.

One season is available, with a second coming soon, ready to unleash another wave of chaos. The series taps into generational fears about neglect, bullying, and the fragility of authority when disaster strikes. It is not just about survival but about who these young characters become under unbearable pressure.

Bone white: Hellbound

A cold, stark experience that strips away hope. Hellbound imagines a world where dark, otherworldly beings appear without warning, condemning people to eternal damnation. Wrapped in commentary about cults, moral panic, and media frenzy, this adaptation cuts deep. It leaves sharp edges, philosophical echoes, and the chill of existential dread.

Two seasons are already waiting. The show’s strength comes from its refusal to offer easy answers, forcing viewers to wrestle with moral decay and the human thirst for control. Every episode unspools like a cold sermon on justice, fear, and power.

Shadow black: The Bequeathed

In the shadows, The Bequeathed offers a more intimate horror. Inheriting a crumbling family home should bring peace, but instead it reveals a web of secrets, rituals, and buried nightmares. This slow-burn story builds quiet tension and raises the unsettling idea that some legacies should stay buried.

One season invites viewers to step inside. Beneath its gothic setting lies a meditation on generational trauma, asking what we inherit beyond wealth or property. The series whispers that the scariest monsters might already live in the walls of memory and bloodline.

Sickly gold: The Rat

The special of the house and the sharpest bite on the menu. The Rat spins a psychological nightmare where identity, paranoia, and folklore meet. Inspired by a Korean folktale about a rat that becomes human after consuming human nails, this story follows a reclusive writer whose life is quietly stolen by a shape-shifting force. Every moment is crafted for unease, from the unraveling of the protagonist’s mind to the twisted reflections of self.

Launching in 2026, this is the dish everyone will talk about. Early glimpses suggest a layered exploration of selfhood, loneliness, and what it means to watch your own life slip away. It promises not just fear, but an unsettling mirror held up to the idea of identity itself.

Expanding the menu: Netflix’s upcoming webtoon horrors

Looking beyond the current spread, Netflix’s horror kitchen has even more recipes in preparation. Announced projects like Hive and Shotgun Boy promise new flavors of terror, each pulling from successful webtoons with massive digital followings.

Behind the scenes, Netflix is investing heavily in partnerships with Korean studios, betting that the webtoon pipeline will keep delivering fresh, marketable hits. As Western competitors scramble to build their own international slates, Netflix’s head start in this space positions it as a dominant force, not just in K-dramas or genre content, but in defining what horror means to a global audience.

The future of horror: webtoon dishes still to come

Looking ahead, the webtoon banquet on Netflix shows no sign of slowing. With The Rat set to debut soon and more adaptations simmering in development, the table is far from full. Netflix continues to gather the most potent ingredients from Korean digital culture, transforming them into dishes ready for a global audience.

Webtoon horror brings a raw, immediate flavor that traditional scripts often miss. Every adaptation proves that some of the richest, most terrifying stories emerge from the restless creativity of webtoon creators. For horror fans, this menu promises a future filled with strange delights and nightmare bites, each one more irresistible than the last.