When The Weeknd debuted his “The Weeknd: After Hours Nightmare” haunted house at Halloween Horror Nights in 2022, my oldest and I had a pipe dream that rapper, singer, choreographer, and entrepreneur Jackson Wang would do a house based on his album Magic Man.
Of course, we knew that would never happen. Yet, last year Wang hosted a really cool and swanky concept space, in Shanghai, “Under the Castle.” I didn’t know at the time, but it would lead his TEAM WANG design Sparkles creating its own haunted attraction of the same name coming to Universal Studio Halloween Horror Nights: Singapore September 27 – November 2.
Also of note, HHN Singapore is hosting a house based on the hit K-Drama Sweet Home, a cool follow-up after last year’s All of Us Are Dead House.
Although it is really cool have “predicted” this Team Wang house, we can’t exactly make a quick road trip to Singapore this year. Yet, we can celebrate the world of K-Pop and K-Drama working its way into spooky events with some K-Pop videos ready for Halloween haunts.
Let’s start with one from the Jackson Wang himself, whose Magic Man album spawned at least three eerily wonderful videos including “Blow” and “Cruel.” His creepy carnival atmosphere in “Come Alive,” however, is what made me want to see his world become a haunted attraction in the first place. Also, the precision choreography of his team is top notch.
“Chase Me” from Dreamcatcher
Dreamcatcher are the goth girls of K-Pop, and they love to play with dark themes. One of their lightstick designs even comes in a coffin and can be made into a long gothic staff. In 2017, they the took veteran K-Drama actor Jo Dong-Hyuk on a descent into madness in their videos for and “Chase Me” and its follow up, “Good Night.”
“Brought the Heat Back” by Enhypen
This recent hit from Enhypen is actually more cartoony than it is creepy, but it seems to align well with the current vampire and werewolf (or werecat) lore of Enhypen’s webtoon and forthcoming anime Dark Moon: The Blood Altar, in which the group’s worldbuilding through their marketing is very detailed. Think Hogwarts on a more intense K-Pop level.
“You In Me” by Kard
Kard, who just released their 7th mini album, gave of an Alfred Hitchcock style reveal for the title track of the 2nd mini album five years ago. It looks like the makings of obsessive romance until it is revealed both male members of the group have been dead the entire time.
“The Black Cat Nero” by ATEEZ
This was a special Halloween offering for the series Immortal Songs from ATEEZ three years ago. It is a cover of the 1990s song by Turbo, whose member Kim JongKook makes a cameo in the video. The story itself is based on a tango sung by children from both Italy in Japan back in the late ’60s. There is a lot more to this song, but, in a nutshell, one story is the very un-spooky concept of a person angry because they wanted a black cat and got a white one. ATEEZ, has added their theatrics to this ’90s dance tune and made it a dark rock opera—something the original song is definitely not.
“Freak” by Yuqi
Finally, this single off the premiere solo mini album by (G)Idle’s Yuqi is a horror film-lover’s who’s who. There are references to many movies including The Shining, The Ring, The Grudge, Saw, The Craft, Clockwork Orange, Ouija, Imaginary, Annabelle, Psycho, Poltergeist, and Scream’s Ghost Face, the latter of which is revealed later to be Korean actor/model Ray Kim.
See if you can find them all (and more):
October is coming soon, and Halloween Horror Night events are going strong around the globe. It may take some time to see more of the K-Pop and K-Drama inspired properties make their way to Western parks, but until then, there are plenty of songs for a great creepy playlist.
