Since “Train to Busan”, the zombie theme in Korea has exploded, and this type of film and television drama has spread rapidly around the world.
Other countries have also launched popular works such as “World War Z”, but it has to be said that South Korea is the only one that can really shoot good zombie themes.
In particular, with the support of Netflix’s large investment, Korean dramas have frequently produced excellent works.
The work “Kingdom” set off a wave of popularity, and it also made the audience give more than 8 points of praise. The play combines the theme of zombies with ancient costume machinations, bringing a full heart to the audience.
At the beginning of 2022, “All of Us Are Dead”, a collaboration between Netflix and the Korean drama, will release the full episode at one time.
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I thought that the quality of this work could surpass “Kingdom” and even reach the level of “Train to Busan”. But I never expected that it only got a score of 7.7 in IMDB.
The theme of “All of Us Are Dead” itself has an absolute advantage. In addition, the zombies are placed in a campus with high traffic density. It is conceivable that there will be many big scenes, stunning effects. This is no less than “Train to Busan”.
But it completely exposed the shortcomings of the current zombie-themed Korean dramas.
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“All of Us Are Dead” has a strong screen impact, and there are new ideas in the setting routine
The story setting of “All of Us Are Dead” has certain similarities with “Train to Busan”, both of which place the location under a scene with a large number of people.
One is a station with a continuous stream of pedestrians, and the other is a campus where students gather.
The story setting of “All of Us Are Dead” is difficult for people to find bugs. The mice kept by a science teacher contained a virus, and after biting a student, it caused a large number of students on campus to get sick.
It is also caused by a zombie that causes everyone to infect, and in a gathering place like a campus, the virus spreads faster and has a wider range.
Therefore, when most of the students were infected with the virus, the visual impact brought to the audience was very strong.
This zombie drama, which subverts the audience’s perception of campus-themed works, also gives us a sense of freshness to a certain extent.
From the story setting, “All of Us Are Dead” has certain similarities with “Train to Busan”, whether it is the behavior of zombies or the confrontation between the protagonist group and zombies.
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For example, zombies can’t open doors or are only very sensitive to sounds, and the protagonist group uses this method to stand out from the siege layer by layer.
“All of Us Are Dead” In addition to ordinary people and people who have been infected by the virus, a third kind of human has appeared.
They are infected with the virus but can control the spread of the virus through their strong willpower.
The confrontation between three different human beings directly adds to the focus of “All of Us Are Dead”, which makes the series not only stick to the fight between normal humans and zombies.
After being infected by the zombie virus, the third type of human beings who can still control their minds through their own consciousness has a strong fighting power, and they bring a more intuitive refreshment to the audience.
In recent years, the Korean dramas produced by Netflix have been unambiguous in terms of picture effects due to the large investment.
However, because they are too bloody and large in scale, it is easy to cause visual discomfort, but this also adds a bit of realism to the picture.
And the reaction of every character in the play to this zombie virus is also very real.
The main purpose of zombie-themed works is not only to bring impact to the audience on the screen, but more importantly, to reflect the reactions of people behind the zombie virus, and to let us see the complexity of human nature more intuitively.
Because zombie-themed works are set in the apocalypse, it is easy for the audience to empathize with them. The audience will automatically think about how they would react if they were in such an environment?
In the current flood of zombie-themed works in Korean dramas, if there is enough novelty in the setting and can make the audience empathize with it, half the success has been achieved.
But “All of Us Are Dead” is a mixed bag.
Group portraits expose sharp human nature, but also expose narrative shortcomings
The story of “All of Us Are Dead” takes place in the campus, which means that this work is not only limited to presenting one or several protagonists, but aims at the main point of view on the campus. Students, teachers, even those in power, etc.
Therefore, “All of Us Are Dead” can be called a wonderful group drama.
The advantage of group portraits is that they maximize the exposure of sharp human nature, such as in the play.
The reason for the outbreak of the virus was that a science teacher artificially extracted cells from mice that fought back against cats and injected them into his son’s body, causing his son to lose control and become a zombie.
This way of fighting back against campus violence is itself an extreme and irresponsible selfishness.
And the play’s exposure to the root cause of campus violence is also placed on the person in power.
For the sake of their so-called reputation, they did not solve practical problems and cherished their own feathers too much, which led to the intensification of school violence, and finally this irreversible situation emerged.
In this zombie environment, the ugliness of human nature we can see is not limited to the campus.
There is also the reaction of people in the city to the zombie virus, and the pain of some people consuming others in a play when things have nothing to do with them.
This is the direct manifestation of evil in human nature.
This group drama mode adds a lot to “All of Us Are Dead”. But the show also has too many characters, and it tries to cover everything, which eventually leads to a vague ending for some characters.
In addition, the presentation of some characters is too detached, which leads to the lack of a clear storyline in the play, which is full of fragmentation.
A wonderful group drama has its own advantages and disadvantages, and “All of Us Are Dead” can be said to take all the advantages and disadvantages.
When “All of Us Are Dead” makes us feel the extreme exposure of human nature, it is also confused about the story direction of the play. It is difficult for the audience to give a more recognized evaluation.
The advantage in subject matter gives “All of Us Are Dead” enough space for narrative, but it is clear that the work is not balanced to expose human nature and narrative.
The same type of works are flooding, and there are only a few zombie films left
“All of Us Are Dead” has many logical bugs.
While exposing human nature, in order to let the audience feel the truth, goodness and beauty, the series even sacrifices rationality, so that the protagonist group ignores their own safety and forcibly gushy in the face of a crisis situation.
Although “All of Us Are Dead”, as a zombie-themed play, puts the main perspective on the campus, it does not affect the work’s involvement in all human feelings.
It has family, friendship, and love scenes.
When people are in a desperate situation, there is a great possibility that they will be swayed by these emotions. But the emotional line is too dense, which leads to the same content of the play.
The popularity of “Train to Busan” has indeed brought new life to Korean dramas, but it is clear that the proliferation of this theme has caused today’s zombie theme to rest on its laurels.
Although works such as “Kingdom” appeared later, there is still a long way to go before the unprecedented popularity created by “Train to Busan”.
It is also the proliferation of works of the same type that makes the zombie films in Korean dramas only have quantity and lack of quality.
Even though “Kingdom” has tried every means to combine zombie themes with ancient costume intrigue, there are still shortcomings in narrative rhythm, and works such as “Happiness” have obvious advantages and disadvantages.
Today, zombie-themed Korean dramas are constantly developing in three directions. One is innovation in content, combining zombies with other types, and trying to make a fuss about the origin and possibility of zombies.
The other is that a lot of effort has been spent on the presentation of vivid scenes, and Korean dramas invested by Netflix are often typical of this type of zombie theme.
The third is to return to the presentation of human nature under the apocalypse. This itself is also the specialty of Korean dramas, and with the zombie theme, it is naturally the icing on the cake.
But it is these three directions that restrict the development of Korean zombie-themed works. Most of the dramas do not have a clear main direction. They often mix these three directions together, resulting in a lack of bright spots in the final work.
“All of Us Are Dead” is obviously a common problem with today’s zombie-themed Korean dramas. Because of the serious routines, even the occasional innovation seems too thin.
If you want to see an amazing zombie movie like “Train to Busan” again, I’m afraid it will take a long time, at least “All of Us Are Dead” will not reach this level.
As Netflix’s new year’s zombie drama, “All of Us Are Dead” is really a pity.
