With global zombie sensation from “Train to Busan” and “Kingdom,” to “#Alive” (2020) and “Peninsula,” Korean directors and the local film industry have created their own formula, cementing the Korean-style zombie films.
While many Western zombie projects heavily focus on the lead characters’ survival and war against the undead, Korean zombie works focus on the story of the birth of zombies, mostly caused by mankind‘s sins, including excessive desires, greed, pollution, tech omnipotence and more.
The story centers on how humanity reacts to the zombies and seeks to reveal the true nature of humans in an apocalyptic world, painting a portrait of survival that is more hideous than bloodstained zombies.
In a bid to intensify viewers’ empathy with the story line, directors often present how the people, who were close to the lead characters, turn into zombies.
“The horror, the bizarre and the speed aside, the series tried to focus on presenting the sadness and sorrow of watching their beloved classmates turning into zombies,” Gook Joong-yi, choreographer of Netflix’s upcoming zombie thriller “All of Us Are Dead,” said in a press release.
Though the series also follows the original formula, the director wished to show the evolution of Korean zombies through “All of Us Are Dead.”
Not all humans turn into zombies in the blink of an eye.
The zombie-turned-human undergoes several stages of emotional change from extreme fear with hallucination to intense aggressiveness with a will to survive.
Director Lee Jae-kyoo hinted that a new form of zombies will appear as well due to the special immune system of the students.
“Because the series is a project with 12 episodes, director Lee wished to present various types of zombies with different make up,” a Netflix press release quoted the makeup artist Pee Dae-sung as saying./PN
