There is an app called “Girigo.” Users hold a paper with their fortune written on it, speak a wish, record the moment on video and send it in. The app grants the wish — then starts a 24-hour timer. When the 24 hours are up, the person who made the wish dies.
It is a familiar setup, common in teen horror across cultures. Netflix’s series “Girigo” opens with students in uniforms running the app as a prank, making wishes and meeting brutal deaths.
Through about the middle of Episode 2, “Girigo” seems to follow well-worn genre tracks. Then it pivots, shifting focus to shaman Haetsal (Jeon So-nee) and her partner, Bangul (Noh Jae-won), and moves into a more traditional occult story rooted in Korean shamanism.
The series leans more heavily than expected into that tradition: Korean shamanic power set against a smartphone curse. The clash between the two drives much of the show’s momentum.
The app’s threat is established with graphic violence. Hyungwook (Lee Hyo-je), the first of a close-knit group of five friends since middle school to die, slashes his own throat with a large box cutter. The series does not cut away; it shows the act in close-up and repeats the image.
Some viewers may drop off there. Another explicit scene shows Geonwoo (Baek Seon-ho), under the app’s spell, raking his fingernail across his eye. Just as the show seems poised to become a straight slasher, Haetsal appears — protected by spirits — and the story shifts toward ritual and counter-curse procedures.
With the shaman couple in the foreground, the series follows a set of rules and steps to stop the curse the app spreads. Shamanic tools, carrying what the show frames as spiritual power, are used to produce decisive effects.
The hook is watching how a possessed app and Korean shamans confront each other. To end it, Haetsal must find a cursed “red phone” — described as a “maehyung,” or a malign object — and drive in her “arrow.” But the “Girigo” curse is not easily contained, and crises keep coming as Se-a (Jeon So-young), Geonwoo, Hajun (Hyun Woo-seok) and Nari (Kang Mi-na) struggle to survive and fight back.
Unlike shaman characters who appear briefly to offer limited help, Haetsal and Bangul are portrayed as willing to risk their lives to protect the teenagers. That commitment, and the series’ deeper use of shamanism, helps “Girigo” stand out from routine teen horror.
Still, the review argues that if the show is going to embrace an adults-only rating and explicit gore, it could have delivered a wider range of slasher set pieces. The early shock softens, and the occult elements do not fully replace it with sustained tension. A near full-episode flashback explaining the “red phone” curse’s origins also slows the suspense.
As a result, “Girigo” can be gruesome without being consistently frightening. It plays more like an action-driven shamanic battle, with four high school friends and two shamans trying to eliminate the cursed object.
Even so, the series is described as more solid than many high school horror titles that rely on flimsy plotting. It offers a tighter narrative, clearer internal rules and strong performances from young actors. “Girigo” released all eight episodes on Netflix on April 24.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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