How South Korean Cinema is rejuvenating the zombie genre. #Alive Review/Discussion (Spoilers)

South Korean cinema has been rejuvenating the zombie genre with their recent films, starting with Train to Busan (2016) and now with #Alive (2020) that recently got its premiere on Netflix. These films have gone back to basics to completely shine above the US zombie films that are being released with insane budgets, for example Train to Busan had a budget of $8.5 Million and #Alive had a budget of around $10 Million, whereas World War Z the most recent US zombie film had a budget of $190-269 Million. I would personally rate both of these South Korean films above World War Z as I will always put an emotional thoughtful plot above CGI. It sounds counterintuitive, but the South Korean movies put zombies on the back burner, the films are about the humans, about emotion, Train to Busan focuses on an estranged father trying to connect with his daughter and #Alive focuses initially on the mental wellbeing of a secluded isolated gamer. Yes these actions are happening during a zombie apocalypse, but you can go scenes without seeing a zombie and still be engrossed by the films, recent US films however are 99% zombie, focusing on jump scares and random screams to make the movies interesting. To begin with I will discuss #Alive as it’s the most recent film, and then will discuss Train to Busan in a later post. 

#Alive was initially released in South Korea in June 2020, during peak pandemic, yet it was still a huge success, due to this Netflix brought the rights and released the film on their platform in September 2020 and quickly became the most viewed film in 35 countries, you will see later how the plot correlates a lot with the current situation of the planet which may be part of the reason for the success. The film has mixed reviews receiving a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.2/10 on IMDB. Surprisingly the film was inspired by a script by Matt Naylor called ‘Alone’ which has actually been turned into a US zombie film, although it doesn't seem like it will have the success #Alive has had, it is set to be released on video-on-demand and has received no critical acclaim like its South Korean predecessor. This seems to be common in film and has been for a while, the west tend to adapt or remake films from the east and they’re usually much worse, put in the effort to watch subtitled films and you'll be amazed by some of these originals. #Alive was directed by Il Cho, with cinematography by Won-ho Son and edited by Min-kyeong Shin. The simple yet impactful zombie make-up was helmed by Hyo-kyun Hwang, this was a very new team, other than the actors there aren't many well known names, with most of the crew mainly working on short films before this feature, which makes its success so much more surprising.

In the first act #Alive is a compelling story about an isolated, lonely man on the verge of giving up. It is almost poetic how his circumstances correlate with what so many of us are going through (ignoring the zombies of course) during the various lock downs around the world due to the corona virus pandemic. Joon-woo is all alone, with no internet, no way to contact anybody, and he's witnessed the zombies outside his apartment, he knows what's waiting for him if he leaves. Yoo Ah-in himself in an interview about the film stated how “in this era where people are isolated and cut off [from each other], the film offers them the chance to think about what surviving means, what life is, what does it mean to co-exist together” when discussing the release of the film during this pandemic. In the same interview Yoo Ah-in was asked what makes him feel alive, he responded with “I think we should continuously strive for the feeling of being. I think films are one of the important stimulus to remind us of that feeling. The moments when I feel most alive are when I’m in love, whether it’s my mom, dad, friends, lover — no other emotion is powerful than that, it’s like I just really want to live rather than just feeling that I’m alive.” This is a very interesting take on loneliness, I know for me I use films for escapism, films allow me to live the life of the characters, to become engrossed in the action, the love, the fear, whatever it may be, films make me feel alive. His point about love is also something that likely resonates with most people, it's love that is getting people through this pandemic, whether it be love for a partner that you live with so being ‘stuck’ in the house is actually a pleasant joy, or love for a family member or friend that you can’t wait to see when the lock down rules permit it. Even simply love for other human beings, enough love to wear a mask to protect those around you, enough love to respect the people forced to work in hospitality/retail during peak lock down, a little bit of love gets everyone a long way in making you feel like you are living rather than just being alive.

During this first act of solitude Oh Joon-woo runs out of food and water, having to use cups to catch as much rain as he can. He becomes delirious, imagining his family coming home when in reality he is still alone, trying to “stay alive” as that's the last thing his parents told him. This is until he managed to get connection on his phone using a selfie stick and learning on his balcony, he gets an answer message and listens as his family on the other end seem to get attacked and killed. At this point he gives up, leaves his apartment and tries to kill as many zombies as he can, before realising he can’t get out of his apartment complex so retreating back to his apartment. At this stage he prepares a noose out of cables and goes to hang himself, that is until a laser is pointed onto his face from another apartment outside his window.

At this point Oh Joon-woo sees a girl in the apartment opposite him, Kim Yoo-bin played by Park Shin-hye, he is no longer alone, there is hope. #Alive now becomes a companion movie, a love story between these characters, zombies are still on the back burner, this is a film about human emotions, not a typical US zombie film where the plot is less important than jump scares and loud screams. For the next 40 or so minutes you follow these two characters as they try to communicate across the apartment blocks, try to share food and plan their escape, it is a wholehearted compelling act that really makes you care about these two characters that you really know nothing about, at times while watching I completely forget this was even a zombie film as I was so interested in them two. The zombies are used to elevate the situation, they are not constantly shown which makes the movie much more thoughtful. After a while they leave their apartment and meet up for an attempt to scavenge and find a safer location of the complex. This entices yet another twist, another way to avoid the stigma of present day US zombie films, as the 3rd act becomes a psycho thriller escape movie, with a similar feeling to 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) after a man, who due to the isolation and loss of his wife and child has gone crazy drugs Joon-woo and Yoo-bin in an attempt to feed them to his zombie wife who he has tied to a while in his apartment. After managing to escape from the man and his wife, the companions decide to have a joint suicide, where Joon-woo will shoot Yoo-bin before killing himself, this scene is extremely intense, it is the second time that you have seen Joon-woo be on the verge of giving up. That is until a helicopter is heard, they decide to make a break for the roof and with an intense fight with the mass of zombies they manage to reach it and just as all hope is lost, the helicopter pulls up and saves them. 

It is after this where the movie lost me in a sense, as after their rescue, in the final few minutes of the film you are told that social media is what saved them, Joon-woo posting an Instagram of his location showing he was alive is what made the army attempt a rescue, and the army are attempting rescue attempts at all of the locations where social media has been shared. This seems like some intense propaganda to stop this rising fear of social networking and how intrusive and depressing it can be, it reminds me of the Indian film Rise of the Zombie (2013) which ended up being a PETA funded film to promote being vegetarian. 

Although it is somewhat annoying if this propaganda theory is correct, I still thoroughly enjoyed the film and its take on a more emotional driven zombie film like another South Korean Film, Train to Busan (2016). The next blog will be about Train to Busan and its sequel Peninsula (2020) so hit Subscribe if you’re interested. 

7/10