This article contains spoilers. Horror is an elastic genre that can be bent and twisted to take on any form, and unbridled imaginations can haunt us in ever changing ways with different representations of the myriad things we fear. Rules in horror, such as they are, are made to be broken. But, among all the screams and bloodletting and nightmares, there is one mandate that horror generally must stick to: be consistent. Zombies exploded onto the Korean film scene in 2016 through the global hit Train to Busan and then spread to the small screen through Netflix’s Kingdom . The K-zombie trend is beloved around the world, but the truth is, before the release of these films and series, studios and their marketing teams were adamant that their creatures were not zombies. Audiences felt differently. Five years into the trend, zombie denialism has birthed new creatures with zombie elements, such as some of the monsters in Sweet Home . The OCN series Dark Hole has also put forward its own kind of monsters – humans that grow deranged after inhaling a sentient black smoke that has emerged from a mysterious dark hole in a mountain forest. These humans go berserk, veiny blue lines appear over their bodies, and they go around biting other humans. Victims with bite marks who don’t immediately succumb to their wounds do get infected and eventually turn. They also move around in the trademark mad staggering dash, arms flailing forward, spittle flying out of their gaping jaws. But, when a named character inhales the smoke or is infected, their behaviour is completely different. They are self-aware and in control, just stronger and more evil. So what we end up with are zombie-like extras and a very different kind of monster, even though all of them are afflicted with the same problem. There’s no rationale behind the different forms the possessions takes, beyond the amount of screen time the characters have had before being turned. Dark Hole: horror survival K-drama digs itself into messy quagmire This kind of inconsistency throttles the efficiency of horror stories. Effective concepts are those that are universally understandable and it is through consistency that they can become elementally terrifying. Dark Hole has been holding back some explanations to create an air of mystery, but as it stands the concept has been muddled and the show, lacking in tension, has suffered as a result. During its middle four episodes, the two camps of characters, one led by gun-toting detective Lee Hwa-sun (Kim Ok-vin), the other with axe-wielding tow truck driver Yoo Tae-han (Lee Joon-hyuk) in charge, have roamed around a school and a hospital on supply or rescue missions. Seeming allies on each side have turned out to be villains and both Hwa-sun and Tae-han have been forced outdoors with small groups of survivors, eventually finding themselves barricaded within a new location, a supermarket. Back at the hospital, shaman Kim Seon-nyeo (Song Sang-eun) appears to have some control over the dangerous mist and seems to know everyone’s dark secrets. She quickly develops a cult around her and their first order of business is a ritual sacrifice. Her chosen prey is a South Asian migrant worker, who is on the lam after having murdered his overbearing boss. After finding him, Seon-nyeo’s congregation take the man outside and throw him off a bridge to his death. While this new cult is hardly portrayed in a positive light, the choice of their victim is a troubling one, particularly as his murder is made somewhat excusable by painting the character as a murderer himself, as well as a corpse robber, since he also swipes his boss’ gold watch. Also at the hospital, doctor Han Ji-soo (Bae Jung-hwa) is conducting some experiments on infirm patients with the dark smoke behind closed doors. After dumping yet another body in a hidden cold storage, she looks for her next test subject and her eyes linger dangerously on a newborn child. Six new Korean dramas to look out for in May 2021 At the supermarket, Hwa-sun finally comes face to face with Lee Soo-yeon, the deranged serial killer who dispatched her husband. The killer turns out to be the diffident nurse Yoon Saet-byeol (Lee Ha-eun) and the pair skirmish on the roof, both consumed by the powers of the dark smoke. Several more secrets are waiting in the wings, ready to be revealed, such as what happened to student Han Dong-rim (Oh Yu-jin) when she got separated from the group, and of course what exactly is this dark smoke terrorising the town of Muji? But with precious little momentum carrying it through into its last four episodes, Dark Hole faces an uphill climb. Dark Hole is streaming on Viu.