2021 - Neighbors Curse Comic

To appreciate the "Neighbors Curse," one must look at the context of 2021. The world was still deep in the COVID-19 lockdowns. People were staring out their own windows more than ever, feeling isolated yet claustrophobically close to their neighbors. The comic tapped into a specific pandemic-era anxiety: the fear of the immediate other.

Unlike giant monsters or cosmic horrors, the neighbor is intimate. You cannot escape your neighbor without moving. In 2021, as domestic violence reports rose and neighborhood watch groups became paranoid, the "Neighbors Curse" became a metaphor for the unseen darkness lurking just beyond the fence.

The art style—rough, sketched with what appears to be charcoal or a heavy digital brush—emulates the look of a found diary. The characters lack distinct faces except for the neighbor, whose smile grows two inches wider with every page. This surreal body horror (the elongation of the jaw, the telescoping of fingers) draws heavy inspiration from Junji Ito’s The Enigma of Amigara Fault but grounds it in Western suburban dread. neighbors curse comic 2021

Neighbors Curse was a moderate hit on Naver Webtoon, averaging 4.7/5 stars. English readers on Line Webtoon praised it for:

Criticisms included:

The comic won the 2022 Korean Webtoon Award for Best Horror and was optioned for a short film adaptation (still in development as of 2025).

Panel 1: A dark, cluttered apartment. The clock shows 2:17 AM. Our protagonist, LEO (30s, tired, bags under his eyes), stares at the ceiling. A speech bubble: THUMP. THUMP. DRAG. To appreciate the "Neighbors Curse," one must look

Panel 2: Close-up of Leo’s phone. He’s typing a note: “Day 47 of lockdown. Upstairs neighbors rearranging furniture at 3 AM again. Or bowling.”

Panel 3: Leo bangs on the ceiling with a broom. The thumping stops. Then, an unnerving sound: slow, deliberate scratching from above, forming a pattern. Leo whispers: “Are they… writing something?” Criticisms included: