Heroic sacrifices. Moral quandaries. The nature of humanity. You’ll find all these and more on Netflix’s latest Korean zombie drama, All of Us Are Dead. It’s so much more than just a show about a plague of undead terrorising the living – it’s a commentary on the pandemic, it shows the best and worst of humanity as civilisation crumbles around it, and it makes us wonder if we are any different from zombies if we give in to our baser instincts.
It would be fairly novel if not for the fact that we’ve seen it umpteenth times before. Train to Busan, Kingdom, Rampant, Seoul Station… the list goes on. Even the premise is nothing new – it’s a zombie apocalypse with high school students. You have zombies – and half-zombies, and animal zombies. You could make a drinking game out of it – take a shot every time you see a tired zombie trope appear in the movie and you’ll be drunk by the end of episode 1.
The zombie drama genre is oversaturated. And All of Us Are Dead is the straw that’s broken the camel zombie’s back.
That’s not to knock the quality of All of Us Are Dead. The production quality is (mostly) good. If it had come out two or three years ago, it would probably be more highly lauded. But it didn’t. It came out after a deluge of zombie dramas (does that mean that we’re facing a zombie apocalypse of zombie dramas?). It feels derivative, mainly because we’re so familiar with zombie show tropes that we can predict what will happen next.
For example, whenever two characters share a tearful moment or have a heartfelt bond – it means one of them is going to die. It’s almost comical how this is executed, seeing as how almost nobody can have heart-to-heart talks without a death ensuing in virtually the next scene.The students are fairly intelligent, but they seem to lose all common sense just so the plot can endanger them with yet another zombie attack (like when they come up with a harebrained scheme to escape using sports equipment cages). You’re not sure whether to laugh and cry at some of their antics.
That’s not to say there aren’t any moments of brilliance in the show. Yang Dae-su (Im Jae-hyuk) comes up with a hilarious ditty on par with The Witcher’s Toss A Coin To Your Witcher, and it’s all about food and fried chicken and the atrocity of mock meats. All of Us Are Dead also manages to eke out some shocking deaths (in a show that’s already full of death), with some surprising survivors and unexpected fatalities. Then there’s the whole Lord of the Flies flavour of the show, which lays bare the naked humanity of people in the form of innocent (and not-so-innocent) young students.
Nevertheless, it is a Korean drama at heart, which means that you get teachers who look the same age as students, some bouts of melodrama (which is can be out of place given they’re in a life or death situation), and the fact the females rarely get injuries on their face while the males can get wounded anywhere (including the face). In fact, the ladies of the show are generally in pristine condition (face-wise), despite fighting off zombies and running for their lives all the time. Well, at least they’re not in high heels.
Pacing-wise, it is rather amazing how they managed to spend twelve whole episodes being stuck in a school. It’s a school infested with zombies, sure, but just how large is this school? Again, this goes back to the typical zombie tropes – many storylines consist of a bad idea, followed by bad execution, a noble (but usually needless) sacrifice, before they retreat. Rinse and repeat for most of the series. And we wouldn’t be so bored by these zombie tropes if we hadn’t seen them countless other times before.
The Korean zombie drama wave has run its course. Its no longer brilliant and innovative, but tiresome and repetitive. All of Us Are Dead is the unfortunate victim of this trend, being the latest zombie of a zombie show that brings nothing fresh to the table. Once upon a time, hearts may have been moved by the trauma that mere students (played by young adults) have to deal with in a zombie apocalypse. Now, it just seems like a commercial cash grab to get good-looking stars to play characters who are ten years younger than them.
We need a new trend. Or rather, we need to stop mercilessly overdoing anything becomes popular, to the point where it becomes nothing more than a rotting zombie corpse. I think Hellbound and Squid Game are great show concepts, but I fear the day when we see an overabundance of spiritual dramas regarding judgment and the afterlife (like Hellbound) or lethal competitions that are a critique on society’s failures (like Squid Game).
All of Us Are Dead, you were the tipping point. You made all zombie dramas dead. If not you, then the next Korean zombie show would have been the fatal blow. I wished I’d met you earlier – but now, all I can do is to run from the endless horde of zombie shows to come.
All of Us Are Dead
Directors: Lee Jae-kyoo and Kim Nam-su
Writer: Chun Sung-il
Cast: Park Ji-hu (Nam On-jo), Yoon Chan-young (Lee Cheong-san), Cho Yi-hyun (Choi Nam-ra), Lomon (Lee Su-hyeok), Yoo In-soo (Yoon Gwi-nam), Lee Yoo-mi (Lee Na-yeon), and Im Jae-hyuk (Yang Dae-su).
Running Time: 12 episodes of 53-72 min
Genres: Zombie apocalypse, Horror, Teen drama, Thriller
This article was written for and first published on Rice Media.
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I’m an independent scriptwriter who’s written for popular shows like Lion Mums, Crimewatch, Police & Thief, and Incredible Tales. I’m also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. You can find me on social media as Optimarcus and on my site.
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