An unconventional zombie series : apocalyptic devastation with high-school shenanigans
What would happen if your school was attacked by zombies? Netflix’s latest hit K-drama, All of Us Are Dead, attempts to give us a solid answer to this question, as Hyosan High School turns into a fast-sinking ship when a science experiment gone terribly wrong results in a virus-induced zombie outbreak.For a few years now, South Korean entertainment has been pushing the narrative boundaries of the zombie genre. They have deftly used it as a vehicle to explore not just present-day political and social issues (#Alive, 2020), but have also inserted the undead in their period dramas (Kingdom, 2019).
However, what makes All of Us Are Dead stand out amidst this growing list of K-Zombie content are the central protagonists in the series. The motley crew of survivors are not your gun-slinging, machete-wielding, adept zombie-killing protagonists, these are teenagers who quite literally have to grab the object nearest to them and hastily fashion a weapon out of it.
This is also where the show finds its sparingly lighter moments. Friends dole out advice on dealing with high school crushes as bloody zombies snarl in the background (!) But beyond these interactions, the series takes a massive departure from the traditional route of keeping a zombie apocalypse setting somewhat comically chaotic. Instead, directors Lee JQ and Kim Nam-su choose not to shy away from tackling the emotional weight of death and mayhem.
The best example of this is seen when the show deals with the zombification or “turning” of humans. A shot usually reserved to fulfil the horror quota is turned on its head to play out poignantly heartbreaking scenes. In place of a hastened transformation, we get a drawn-out process, in which the horror stems from the now-undead zombie reconciling with the loss of their humanity, often right in front of their classmates.
The directors do not whiplash the audience back into zombie-infested reality; instead we sit with the students in numbing grief as they lose their friends, classmates and teachers, over and over again. The heavy storyline doesn’t feel misplaced, as writer Chun Sung-il richly fleshes out these teen characters to carry forward the complex tale.
Nam On-jo (Park Ji-hu) serves as a narrative protagonist who bands together with her childhood friend Lee Cheong-san (Yoon Chan-young), her crush Lee Su-hyeok (Park Solomon), and the aloof overachieving class President Choi Nam-ra (Cho Yi-hyun) among other classmates to fight zombies and school bullies alike.
Director Lee JQ’s choice to cast actors “unfamiliar to the audience” pays off masterfully.
The makers also ensure that the layered storytelling does not come at the cost of high-adrenaline action scenes, jump scares and well-executed VFX gore. Mirroring the title sequence, the directors slowly descend the audience into a zombie-filled reality, and the series conveys the same visually. What starts off as a brightly-lit, vividly colourful school, eventually transforms into a nauseatingly dull place with the colour saturation dialed back, as the virus spreads.
When required, the filmmakers also immerse us into the zombie experience. The cinematography during the zombie-human confrontation scenes moves fast, never quite fixating on a single character, which makes for quite unsettling viewing. It is havoc heightened for the students, as well as the audience watching, as we learn along with them, who survived and who didn’t.
Another unconventional directorial choice comes in the form of how the show is paced out. With 12 episodes, each almost an hour long, the story stretches out the events of each day over multiple episodes. The material to fill this time comes from the pockets of survivors it creates throughout the city.
Though the storyline follows a core group of students trapped in high school, we are also given glimpses of a politician scrambling to escape her office; a social media influencer trying to farm the crisis for viral content; and two police officers, mismatched in their levels of courage, racing to retrieve the antidote.
These different dynamics are crafted for the series to also address multiple systemic issues. With the origin of the zombie virus itself rooted in a history of bullying, the school becomes ground zero for the show to explore social class hierarchies.
Additionally, for the senior students of Hyosan High, the zombie apocalypse does not even figure as a priority stressor. With the university entrance exams looming over, Park Mi-jin, a student, laments, “It’s impossible for me to get into college even if I live,” while practicing her zombie killing techniques.
The dynamic between how the State handles this crisis and its effect on students also serves as a microcosm for how authorities react to apocalyptic situations. Unfortunately, this is also where the plot wavers a bit. The series often attempts to pack in too much, as it stretches two separate storylines involving teenage pregnancy and sexual assault across multiple episodes. Not enough time is spent on either narrative to create meaningful conclusions or provide these characters with a kinder, more humane ending.
Ultimately, in a genre teeming with Hollywood’s undying need to provide the perfect post-apocalyptic male-hero zombie killer tale, South Korea has bravely put forth a story of survival. Oscillating between the alive and the undead, the show makes an impact by centering the fact that endurance doesn’t always mean strength, sometimes it is born out of repeated acts of kindness.
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All of Us Are Spread (too thin)
It's hard to review a drama that I generally really like but cannot help get hung up on its numerous flaws. In order to explain this conundrum, I will go into HEAVY SPOILERS. Avert your eyes unless you watched all 12 episodes or, like myself, are spoiler junkies.SPOILERS in T minus 5...4...3...2...1...LETS GO!
Half plot armor, half cop out...but worse than either
Like any genre, zombie genre has cliches and that's perfectly fine. They exist in storytelling to move the story forward cause stories aren't real life. So once in a while, a character will have to do something stupid to change the status quo. Also, all stories that put characters in peril will bestow plot armor on those whom the story needs to hang on a bit longer. These characters will survive the unsurviveable situations, while the ones without the plot armor won't, even though everyone should have been dead by that point. This is fine too unless it's used to an excess, which this drama does.
That leads me to the concept of "halfbie". This is a portmanteau for half zombie but it really means half plot armor half copout. It basically breaks the universe - a bitten character doesn't become a mindless zombie but keeps human appearance and intelligence, gets super powers (abnormal strength, enhanced hearing and smell, fast healing, basically hard to kill) and, if Mary Sue or Gary Stu, is able to reign in hunger for human flesh. You can see from the very description why this sucks and doesn't fit in the universe where there are living and the walking dead. It's a cliche created to spare writer's pet (in this case Nam Ra) and make existing villain more intimidating (in this case Gwi Nam). However, the effect is opposite. Gwi Nam, aka the Evil Plot Armorie/Cop Outie, became an unintentional comic relief. You could get really sloshed if played a drinking game every time he survived a fall from the rooftop, snapped his bones back and muttered "f***er". Nam ra, aka the good Plot Armorie/Cop Outie, mostly stood on the sidelines gazing into nothing unless her love interest was attacked by the Mullet'd Cockroach of a villain (since he kept coming back like a roach) and occasionally would hear zombie footsteps about 30 seconds before the herd swarmed the safe place. But in numerous instances when the gang hit the hard-to-break locked door (another drinking game that would get you hammered in no time!) , she would forget she was abnormally strong. And given that zombies cannot distinguish between themselves and halfbies, she could have safely run errands, which would have saved lives, but never did. Basically, the whole point of her "evolved" status was for romantic purposes. Her love interest defied his friends because he trusted she wouldn't harm anyone, while she repeatedly saved him from Mullet'd Cockroach. That's really all there is to this plot device. Romance enhancer. No real consequence for the plot. Just something for shippers to drool over. Ooooh, he tied them together with the red string of fate! Oooooh, she was about to bite him but he said "do it cause then I will be like you!" and she kissed him instead! SWOON! :insertvomitemoji:
Spread the butter so thin til there's no butter
Another problem with this drama is really a typical K drama problem - too much filler, too many sideplots and characters that don't add up to the whole. Two cops and the baby and a little girl added up to nothing. It was a bathroom break. Ditto Youtuber subplot. Ditto Assembly Member subplot. Even On Jo's father's quest to reach his daughter could have been scrapped. 12 episodes spread the story too thin. It worked when it was focused on the highschool survival. It came to a screeching halt when it was about outside world and characters. It could have made the point across in half the running time.
Bromance and womance >>>>>> romance
As is always the case in dramas, romance is the inferior relationship. This drama has a love quadrangle in its center that is just there but doesn't actually impact the plot. Cheong San is motivated to protect On Jo, who doesn't reciprocate his feelings, but he also protects all his friends so you could have the same story without unrequited love. In the end, he would have sacrificed himself for everyone because he's that kind of a character. Love interest or not.
On Jo is in love with Soo Hyuk (who is in love with Nam Ra and vice versa) and that's it. Again, it adds up to nothing. She is stoically tolerant of Soo Hyuk/Nam Ra romance right before her eyes, is supportive of both, so that she is in love with him is just a throwback reference. Kind of like, this character has no real personality we might as well give her an unrequited love to stand out.
Soo Hyuk and Nam Ra romance fares a little better cause they at least had the enemies to lovers thing going when she became a halfbie. But since they are side characters to leads Cheong San and On Jo, there was no real impact there. And, weirdly, the ending forgot about it, so when the gang reunited with Nam Ra, she and Soo Hyuk didn't have a moment together. Instead, she had a moment with On Jo. :facepalm:
But on the bright side, bromance (Woojin and his "brother in law", Cheong San and Soo Hyuk - get a room you two! , and any combo of boys) and womance (Mijin and Ha ri) were excellent. I also enjoyed Jae Ik and Seoul Student banter even though they were in a bathroom break filler.
A Star Is Born
Park Solomon aka Lomon aka Soo Hyuk lit up the screen every time he was in and it wasn't even close. He bursts with genuine charisma and charm on top of amazing visuals. And he has range. I found acting to be a mixed bag but he was consistently strong.
That Ep 3 twist - Aigoo!
Really have to commend the drama for how Geong Su got infected. My jaw dropped on the floor and I still didn't pick it up. Wow!
Some really well directed set pieces
The library fight and escape from zombies with falling book shelves was OTT but so memorable.
Hit me in the feels
Deaths packed the punch as did reunions between the living and the dead (Cheong San and his zombie mom, nuff said). As is always the case with survival dramas, the choice of who died is controversial. Did Woojin have to die? No. His death added nothing so he should have stayed alive. Did Cheong San have to die? If I had my way, I would give him the halfbie arc instead of Nam Ra. He was the lead and his unrequited love would count for something if On Jo realized she loved him but they couldn't be together because he was a halfbie. Oh well.
Namra Sue Spin-off or Will there be Season 2?
If you read I Am Legend and/or Girl With All the Gifts, than you know that halfbies (any human-zombie or human-vampire hybrid) cannot be trusted. In the end, they choose their kind over humans and go as far as to exterminate humans so that they wouldn't be hunted by them. Even if one of them likes a human or two. So whatever the gang saw when they look down to where Nam ra jumped, disturbed them. It cannot be good. Genre rules prevent coexistence.
That said, the ending felt too much like a set up for Namra Sue spin-off which I have no interest in. The appeal of the drama was in ordinary teens trying to survive extraordinary circumstances, not in zombie X Men fighting each other.
Overall
Plot armor cannot protect from simple pleasures of this drama. You'll be engaged, emotionally wrecked, you'll laugh and cry with characters and feel many deaths. Warts won't go away but they aren't all that is there.
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All Of Us Are Disappointed
South Korea isn’t new to making zombie movies and shows. They have produced quality ones over the recent years so there’s a certain expectation from them in this subgenre.I binge watched All of Us Are Dead upon its release. To put it simply, it’s about a group of students striving to survive in a zombie apocalypse. Sadly, half way through the series I already got bored. I wished they shorten it. There are so many scenes that don’t add much value. One thing to describe this show is ambitious. It wants to tackle several issues and cover everything resulting it to fall flat.
PRO:
I want to commend the camera work esp when all hell breaks loose. I like the continuous take in cafeteria scene. They showed the chaos from all sides, didn’t follow just handful of people. I also like the scene when the two policemen were running through town.
CONS:
I have no problem with characters even main leads dying. But meaningless deaths are irking. It came across as trying so hard to make an an impactful emotional scene. The build up is weak. It also has repetitive unnecessary sacrifices. It’s basically showing dumb ways to kill a character.
I’m bothered by some fight scenes because the locations of stunt wires are obvious. When they get kicked or do “some” stunt, it’s doesn’t look natural.
I’m not impressed at all acting wise but I had no problem with it. They’re just not ripe yet.
The ending felt abrupt and unsatisfying. Maybe it’s them calling for a second season. But to be honest, I prefer it to end properly in one season.
Overall the story is disappointing.
That being said, I think you’d still enjoy this if:
- you don’t mind a lot of plot holes
- you don’t watch much zombies films and dramas so you won’t have a point of comparison
- you are into high school sub genre
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Stupid but fun
Sigh, where do I start....This is the dumbest zombie drama ever. It makes you wonder how tf did these people survive for so long with such subpar IQ. I guess the answer is looney tunes and plot armor, just like in this show.
-You know you're an extra if it takes 5 seconds for you to turn into zombie, while main characters start turning only when they noticed they were bitten, and then 10 minutes(I counted) of slow magical girl transformation sequence with melodramatic monologue and sad music.
-I wish they didn't show how incompetent police and military were. I mean, they have to be incompetent for what is baiscally an outbreak of rabies to spread at all, but fuck, I wish they left it up to our imagination. I mean, for example, the police kept using riot gear to fight zombies a whole 24 hours after the outbreak started, where they already knew what they are dealing with. They didn't use guns at all, they didn't even unlock their armory(yes, few eps later onjo's dad had to break into locked armory to get a gun....only to lose it without firing it even once not long after that)
-But special order of stupidity goes to cheongsan's mom, nothing can beat that, this cringe will haunt me for years to come
-First person was infected by zombie hamster. So cross species infection is possible, and infected hamsters attack humans. However, we never saw infected animals again, and it didn't seem human zombies hunted animals, either. Did the writers forget? Personally I'd be more worried about outbreak of zombie rats, or zombie ants than zombie humans.
-One moment a single zombie is a threat, the other the main characters take on multiple zombies at once, and wrestle them without problem. It's obvious that whenever someone gets bitten or not depends on plot armor and plot convenience alone
-The protags are dumb as a brick, but don't worry, they will have enough time for high school drama and teary good byes even when surrounded by zombies. the zombies just wait until the melodrama is over, like in ep11 when they waited for onjo
-Namra realized she's ignored by zombies, took her almost 2 episodes and 2 deaths to capitalize on it
-onjo was bitten by infected person in first episode, it was never brought up again, the writers forgot
-the zombies don't just bite anything. like in first episode, in that iconic poster scene in cafeteria where a zombie got on top of onjo to make it appear like he is threatening her sexually rather than carnivoriously. He could have bitten her in the leg, but no, he had to get on top of her and aim for her face. this happens over and over again. But no worries, zombies have no qualms biting extras in the ankles and turning them immediately
-My favorite trope, zombie-human hybrids, was executed quite well all things considered
-Bullied people both become villains, and they are portrayed as guilty of their own predicament when they refuse help in the beginning, then take revenge on those who didn't help them. Victim blaming, much?
-One of the few positive portrayals of fat people in Korean dramas. applause.
-These high schoolers are just build differently. They can survive two days without water without showing signs of dehydration and then just hydrate with raindrops. They also take quite an impossible beating, but always rise up without bruises or broken bones.
-The actors who played Nam-ra, Gwi-nam and the fat guy were good. The other young actors were not so good.
-The detective guy was a dumbass, should have went to military and tell them about magic laptop having all the answers rather than trying to be a hero and retrieve it himself
-A student gave birth herself in a toilet, and then just cleaned herself up and left without any further complications.
-God, the gore was good in this one. And the faus-teengers looked great in gore stained uniforms.
-The action scenes were exciting, and almost made me forget how stupid the plot is
-The military gave up on rescuing students out of fear of them being half-zombies, but then kept accepting other refugees from the infected city like it's nothing, and welcomed the said students with open arms when they came to the military themselves
-Everyone knew about zombies, called the infected zombies, and even mentioned "train to busan" by name. Yet, in episode 12 they still didn't figure out they neat to aim for the head. Except for the bully, he figured it out immediately and kept one-hit-killing zombies by stabbing them once in the neck with a knife with insane strength and precision.
-Teenage drama in the weirdest places
-The archery club wasn't redpileld about anything going on after they joined the main group, they must have been hella confused with gwinam, halfzombies and all of that, but just rolled with it.
-The scientist guy just stood up calmly after being bitten, but it was never addressed why it was so.
And so on, and so forth. I am tired.
The show is shit. But if you like guro and schoolgirls, you will like it.
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I really wanted this to be good
Coming off of shows like Sweet Home and Happiness that did survivalist horror so well, I had expectations for this. They weren't that high and I wasn't expecting another Sweet Home out of a traditional zombie apocalypse story, but I was anticipating a fun, off-the-walls zombie flick that would keep me entertained for a few hours. And it did! At first. Let me explain.The drama starts off great with some well-shot, high-action scenes and a lot of unabashed gore and really gets you into it. You don't really know much about the characters other than a few facts thrown at you, but hey, it's zombies, most of them won't survive anyway. So I got really into it at first. The mystery surrounding the source of the virus wasn't all that interesting and immediately felt like a half-baked origin story, but it was good enough for the B-horror I was expecting.
Problems stemmed when time started to pass. The initial mayhem was brilliant but after a certain point, when the characters start talking about being hungry and thirsty, issues arose. The characters explicitly explain to one another what would happen if they didn't eat or find water soon. Then, well. They don't find any. What would normally be an important plot point in other zombie shows becomes a moot point here. They drink some rainwater at some point, each takes a bite out of a candy bar and that's about it. They talk about being hungry but show no signs of getting weaker or being malnourished, and their only goal throughout the series is to get rescued, never to find food or water.
The show has a LOT of B-plots and side characters that never have any satisfying conclusions. They introduce a bunch of characters that you think will be fleshed out or explained later but never are. And there are a LOT of plot holes. For instance:
1. The pregnant student is shown heavily in the first episodes. Her identity isn't explained and we know nothing about her aside from her giving birth and tying herself up with ribbon (just ribbon, yet somehow she doesn't break free) to keep from hurting her baby after she turns. That's it. She was there to add drama and tension but she wasn't added with a plot or reason. Shock value, at most.
2. On Jo's father is keyed up to be the man who will save the day. In early episodes, On Jo talks about how her father promised to be there for her if anything happened to her, that he would save her, and throughout most of the series, he does everything in his power to see that through. Most of the scenes we get of his character are him making his way to her school, so naturally, we expect the reunion to be a big, key point in the series, right? They've built it up that way. But no. He dies about 7 minutes after reuniting with her. In fact, their reunion is used as the big cliffhanger for one of the episodes, only for him to be turned into a zombie at the very beginning of the next. It was one of the biggest letdowns of the series and leaves a sour taste in your mouth when you realize that his entire purpose was just to build up tension. To add insult to injury, his 'noble sacrifice' was unnecessary. After he threw the first flare, the zombies ran to it and cleared a path for everyone to escape safely. Throwing more and not escaping was pointless.
3. The bullied girl had no character arc. She is one of the few intelligent zombies we get throughout the drama and so I expected something big to happen with her, but she just wandered around on her bike after trying and failing miserably to burn down the school. Then when I saw she reached the quarantined zone, especially after she bit her schoolmate, I expected all hell to break loose there. Nope. She was subdued. The whole point of her was to show the military that asymptomatic infections were a thing so that they would abandon the main cast at the school. Great storytelling.
4. Cheong San's mother. They had her do a little rescue mission only for her to fail at every obstacle. Her entire role was to leave a vehicle for the policemen to use (they could have just had one there from someone else, there was no reason to use a character for that) and to get to the school so that her son could be sad that she was a zombie. That's it.
5. Gwi Nam as the main antagonist of the series worked for a little while, but he got old pretty quickly as he never did much of anything. He'd show up, attack, they would 'kill' him and he'd come back after healing only to find they'd moved. Not that big of a threat, really.
6. The police officers, especially Song Jae Ik, were a great addition to the cast. I thought. Jae Ik was there from the start, saw Byeong Chan, and had the task of finding the laptop, so I naturally thought he'd be one of the few adults in this that would actually help the kids. Nope. Not what happened. He saves the baby and another random little girl, sure, but the moment the military saves them, he just dips out of the story. You see his face once or twice after that and that's it. He had fewer scenes and yet a better role in Happiness.
7. There was literally no point to the streamer. At all. Why was he in the story? He did absolutely nothing. Not one thing. And then he disappeared with the police officers.
8. The girl (I don't remember her name) who used her handkerchief to infect another student. She escaped, hid away in a storage room, was having a change of heart and was going to bring supplies to the others (and hey, that would have helped with that one plothole, wouldn't it?) and then she's killed off randomly. I didn't like her and don't care that she died, but if they were going to do that, they could have just had her die right away in the halls.
9. When Gwi Nam bit Nam Ra, she became an intelligent zombie. Everyone else he bit became regular zombies. How does that make sense? The strain that's passed on should be the one that he has, so logically, everyone he bites should become an intelligent zombie. What, is the virus prejudiced?
10. When Byeon Chan turned, he didn't look like a normal zombie. It looked like he became an intelligent zombie. This is never addressed, and we never find out either way. Maybe they just did it that way for dramatic effect? Not a good move.
11. What was the point of the assemblywoman? Why was she in the story at all?
12. In the end we see Nam Ra seemingly well-adjusted after being out on her own for a few months. How? How is that possible? When we last saw her, her hunger was so bad that she tried to bite On Jo and left because she could no longer hold herself back. So how is it that she's perfectly fine around them now, and that her eye has healed? It doesn't explain anything about that. It just leaves it off trying to make us think she's a cool badass zombie-fighter now, but I'm just left with questions.
I know I'm missing some, but you get my point.
Most of the plot was jumping from one closed-off room with no resources to another. A few ideas they actually do have are foiled by what's going on in the outside world, like phone lines and the internet being cut off. It was fine at first, but the kids never got any smarter and never adjusted to the zombies, so that's all we ever got. To the very end, they had absolutely no control over the situation, which isn't what you want to see in a zombie series.
I have a lot of gripes with this drama, to the point that it negatively impacted my viewing experience. But like I said, it was fun at first. I do recommend at least watching the first half because some of it is a lot of fun, but don't expect anything more than a few good scenes and some light comedy in the first few episodes. After that, decide for yourself if you want to suffer through the mess that is the second half.
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I have one request
I won't talk much. I want a second season. We want a second season. Chaebaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal <3School-based zombie story is amazing but the future of those students is not clear. So a second season is mandatory.
The ending was amazing and exciting at the same time, you can't leave us hanging like this.
There are many after stories that can feed a great epic second season and I will be the first to watch it. I finished the whole drama in one day and a few hours and I still wanna watch it again but I want a second season, please.
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Can justice be served in a unconventional way?
This is my first 10 since joining MDL december last year and that says a lot. I so loveee these types of series, gritty, dark, and suspenseful but school, youth, and coming of age. *chef's kiss*This review took longer than usual because I wanted to savour every episode and try to understand every nuance without rushing. Don't get me wrong this show isn't perfect it has minor errors such as annoying characters and plot armor but not making a section for it because it's forgivable.
I've seen a lot of reviews here and other sites how the pacing is terrible, but I disagree. Even though promoted as a school drama, the minor things happening in Hyosan was necessary and compelling for the development and plot of the show.
These are the things I've liked about All of Us Are Dead
Social Issues
Even as a zombie series there are lot's of lessons we can think about as a society. Such as how bullying is a serious problem especially in korea or the school system and it's wrong priorities. Honestly many more as you decide to watch.
Plot/Story
The story was phenomenal for various reasons and can be interpreted depending on who's lens is watching. Personally, I was heavily in favor of the origin of the virus but not at the expense of other people's lives. As we progress, seeing the one's that are left behind I changed my mind. And honestly that's the beauty of it, but for spoiler reasons I'll just leave it at that.
Premise
AOUAD is trying to tell us that life is short and we shouldn't take it for granted. Furthermore we should tell the one's we love how much we love them because tomorrow or even later is such an uncertainty.
Actions
Props to every single cast performing the stunts of the series, especially the male leads. They performed it with such intensity that levels up the series.
Technical
The sound effects we're amazing. Saw Behind the scenes of how the zombie sounds were created, and I must say that I the dedication and effort was mindblowing. The set design such as the cinematography was amazing as well, it perfectly shows us the gore scenes which is good for viewing experience but bad for my stomach.
Screenplay
This is what kept me engaged outside the action and thrill, therefore props to the writer. The dialogues are so realistic like they are actually high school students because that's exactly how me and my friends act minus fighting zombies.
Acting/Characters
This also goes hand in hand with the screenplay, having good screenplay bad acting and vice versa really isn't ideal, but here we get both. The way the actors and actresses speak and their mannerism waaaaaas perfect like seriously perfect. I've seen Solomon in sweet revenge but thought his acting was lacking copared to Hyanggi but he redeemed himself here. Chan Young is someone I've never seen before but thought he was also amazing here, performed the actions scenes so well that even I am tired for him. My girl Jihoo deserves this break, saw her in the film house of hummingbird and in the drama beautiful world beforehand. She's the maknae of the cast but honestly the performed the best, Onjo had soo much emotional scenes and she perfectly nailed them all. Lastly the cuteeeest and my wife CHO YI HYUN. WOW she just made a 360 turn from her 2 recent drama's. From the cute and clumsy Jiwon to the mysterious and quiet class president Namra, versatility indeed. I loveeeeed the love and friendship of all characters in the show and how it doesn't solely focus on the apocalypse but also human connections and the one's left behind. The antagonists we're as good they successfully played their role and add thrill to the already thrilling series. Also successfully made my blood boil.
Parallels
This is a small detail but I had to include it. In our main group the male characters are always the one's protecting and leading the others. In comparison to our secondish group our two females are the one's leading, planning, etc. Smqll detail but sooo loved it because it removes the cliché that woman cannot survive an apocalypse.
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Overall
To anyone that loves zombie and thriller movies, I surely do recommend these. For people saying that they are sick of zombies, I'd still give this a try. Because it gave new substances to the Zombie genre whilst remaining the gore we normally see in them. If you have any questions about it please do let me know and I'll try to answer as best as I can.
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bittersweet ending
I had a lot of expectations and have been waiting for this drama since the teaser came out esp when I saw the cast because I was so excited that they finally have their main roles but when I watched it, I didn't absolutely love it still, I enjoyed it. there are a lot of familiar faces in the show and the cast did a really great job in portraying their roles.but honestly wished that they cut this into like 10 episodes only, I feel like there are a lot of unnecessary scenes, and do I need to mention the frustrating and annoying characters.
I really don't get why they included Cheong san's mom scene of her going to school to save his son but when she got there she immediately became a zombie sklsjjd there are a lot of wasted characters!! ++ the half zombies esp. gwinam and eunji, I wanted to see eunji fighting w/ gwinam like she should've taken revenge on him. they built eunji's character like she's gonna take revenge but didn't instead they made her break phones and ride a bike. also, namra's character has big potential in the story but I feel like her character as a half-zombie hasn't been given much attention. I feel like out of all the three half-Zs, namra is the powerful one because of her knowing how to switch it on/off. but also wished that she fought with gwinam more or smth.
Overall, when it comes to zombies, S.Koreans really never fail. no need for S2 unless the next season would be focusing on the half zombies or smth but tbh Nah. One season is enough. anyways, love the bathroom team!!
if we are gonna be in a zombie apocalypse, the only zombies that I have a chance of surviving living with are the walking dead zombies. definitely not the WWZ, train to Busan, kingdom, and this. lol
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ZOMBIE thriller and forget the rest
Trust me on this one. The Netflix drama is thrill watching. Forget about the cast and jump into it. From the beginning to the end the drama holds you to your couch. The production is just too good. With nice VFX and zombie action to sound effects just take this one to another level. I don't know much about other Zombie K dramas but this has become my new favorite. Train to Busan was my last zombie movie.DON'T compare this drama to any other piece of work. Just go with the flow, the story takes place in a high school and the rest you will get to it. The supporting characters maintain their pace and run the plot smoothly. Believe me, the zombie attacks were well executed and opened a new window for more such scenes. Whatever be your expectations please watch it one go. It will give you excitement for more without thinking much.
The plot was concise and completed in season 1 itself. As a typical Netflix show, there is a slim chance for season 2.
For the zombie drama lovers, I know you will not be disappointed and will quench your thirst from this.
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Reskinned Sweet Home?
I'll keep this review short.If apocalyptic movies and dramas are of your taste, you've probably watched many of the popular ones out there, including Sweet Home (which is also getting a S2 very soon). While watching All of Us are Dead, many of the scenes had me thinking back at Sweet Home's plot. The plot is so overused and repetitive ;-; I would just recommend that you go watch Sweet Home if you haven't yet/if you're looking for a good apocalypse drama, cus this isn't it. The casts carried this drama imo, esp the male lead.
TLDR
If you're looking for a good drama, go watch Sweet Home instead. They invested way more into that drama and the CGI is insane. Not up to par to this drama.
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Fun watch that’s Bloody and Action Packed throughout, even if the concept is not groundbreaking
I really enjoyed the show. I’m usually very critical with shows like this because this is really one of my favourite genres and even the western shows that I watch usually fall in this space. All 12 episodes were action packed and fun with good characters and that’s what matters to me. It’s not a totally new storyline or concept for sure, may NOT be everyone’s type if they’re not looking for some bloody, gory and great action scenes but I’m very satisfied with what we got.Performances were weak by good amount of the cast, but the characters were likeable and took realistic decisions at times. Not every ‘evil’ character is given an unnecessary redeemable story as well, which I do like while some who faced tough situations broke down understandably. Through some of the characters could have been provided a better background. There was overall a good depiction of humanity as well.
You do have to drop logic when you watch shows like this but if you don’t have to face unnecessary romantic moments (they were definitely there but again, these are High School students so some of the behavior makes sense *shrugs*) or don’t continue watching just because there are some pretty people you want to look at throughout. Not to mention they didn't overuse a concept you'll get to see at the middle of the series which other dramas definitely would.
The drama also takes bold decisions to keep us engaged, though, some deaths felt unworthy. There is no unnecessary music or soundtrack throughout, the background music is fun and doesn’t overlap any of the scenes either, which I really liked. The scale of the show was clearly big, considering they made good use of the sets and the streets and it didn’t feel monotonous or boring in terms of the setting. They brought back so many actors to perform as zombies even in the last few episodes, meaning the whole team was really dedicated to it, not something we’ll see usually.
Overall, solid 9/10. If you wonder why the overall rating is good while I haven’t rated other aspect on MDL that well, it’s because the CGI, Sets, Action/Choreography were very good especially when you consider it’s a K-drama, so the overall rating does shoot up.
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Waste of time
In the beginning, I thought that the first episode was okay, but I was waiting for the characters to develop and the plot to become more interesting. However, it did not work for me that way.The characters are bland, the acting is very stiff and did not make me feel any emotion other than annoyance. (especially Nayeon who was extremely irritating from the beginning) The main character even if she is showing some 'range' of emotions, I could not feel the emotions with her.
I did not find one character that could be likeable in this show, other than Chung San's mother. All of the characters in this series are extremely stupid... like: "we have a good place to hide - let's go somewhere else now!". The ones who survived managed to do this only by luck and (unnecessary) sacrifice of others.
This show was (in my opinion) exhausting to watch.
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