IF WISHES COULD KILL on Netflix is a new YA Horror Series from South Korea (org. title: Girigo). As much as I love South Korean genre productions, this seems more tailored to K-Pop fans. Season 1 has eight episodes, and yes, there’s a chance there could be more. Read our If Wishes Could Kill series review here!
IF WISHES COULD KILL is a Netflix series from South Korea (org. title: Girigo). It focuses on teenagers and is labeled as both “Teen Horror” and a “YA series”. Both are accurate, but while we’ve watched plenty of solid horror series featuring teenagers or young adults, this one does come across as somewhat lighter.
I PREFERED THIS…
It’s the K-Pop feel of “funny” sounds and subtle emotional triggers, when someone does something cute, that throws me off. If you’re not bothered (or distracted, as is my challenge) by this, then the story itself is fairly good. Of course, it’s also something we’ve seen many times before as we’re dealing with a curse.
Continue reading our If Wishes Could Kill series review below. Find season 1 on Netflix from April 24, 2026.
A wish worth dying for
The tagline for If Wishes Could Kill could easily have been “Be careful what you wish for”. Instead, it’s “Got a wish worth dying for?” which works almost as well. We’re dealing with an app that grants you wishes, but doesn’t make it clear what the price is. And teenagers being teenagers, they aren’t too bothered by it anyway.
The Netflix YA horror series is centered on this wish-granting app, which is called “Girigo”. This also serves as the original South Korean title for the series.
Once a group of friends realizes the deadly price the app demands, they need to get to the bottom of the curse. So, yes, exactly like we’ve seen so many times before, but it does move along in an entertaining manner. If you’re into a storyline that blends teen school-life drama with this occult curse that kills them one by one.
I am not, but I also recognize that I am not the target demographic for this Netflix horror series.
A cursed app granting wishes
If Wishes Could Kill is all about an app that grants wishes, but requires that you pay the ultimate price. As far as horror plots go, we’ve seen something similar quite a few times already.
From Red Rose or Choose or Die, which both involved apps, to movies like The Sacrifice Game or Tarot. All of them feature teenagers being forced to make desperate choices or trying to get ahead, but paying with their lives.
If I were a teenager today, I would probably enjoy a Netflix series like If Wishes Could Kill. Watching it as an adult, I find myself getting annoyed by the teen drama and wanting more depth and horror. This isn’t really fair to the series, as it delivers what it promises.
That’s why I find myself looking at it from a slightly different point of view. As much as this isn’t my cup of tea, it isn’t a bad series. On the other hand, I do enjoy lots of series and movies featuring teenage characters, so I can also tell that this isn’t anything more than what I would expect.
Watch the If Wishes Could Kill series on Netflix now
The Netflix YA horror series comes from director Park Youn-seo, who previously served as second-unit director on Kingdom Season 2 and co-directed Moving. The series was written by Park Joong-seop, who previously wrote the 2023 horror fantasy mystery Dr. Cheon and Lost Talisman.
If Wishes Could Kill is the first YA Horror Series on Netflix, according to the marketing material. Apparently, this means the brilliant All of Us Are Dead was regarded as either a YA or a Netflix series. It was certainly a horror series, and one I much preferred to this 2026 release. I suppose the characters were younger, so maybe that’s it.
Anyway, fortunately, All of Us Are Dead also has a season 2 coming, so I have that to look forward to.
What I’ve been trying to say is simply this: If the plot sounds intriguing and you like K-Pop and K-Drama, then do check it out. If you’re a fan of the intense and brilliant South Korean genre productions, then lower your expectations and give it a shot. Just don’t expect too much from it.
If Wishes Could Kill (org. title: Girigo) premieres on Netflix on April 24, 2026.
📺 Watch trailer
Plot
If Wishes Could Kill follows a group of high schoolers who suddenly find themselves fated to die, cursed by a mysterious wish-granting app called Girigo.
Details
Director: Park Youn-seo
Cast: Jeon So-young, Kang Mi-na, Baek Sun-ho, Hyun Woo-seok, Lee Hyo-je
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