The increasing popularity of the zombie genre in South-Korean media since the days of Park Joo Seok’s ‘ Train To Busan’ (2016) has exceeded no bounds. Indeed, Netflix’s latest venture into the world of zombies, ‘ All Of Us Are Dead’, enjoyed making several ironic and passing popular-culture references to the heavily influential zombie flick . Nevertheless director Lee Jae Gyo and screenwriter Chun Sung II’s zombie survival series , ‘ All Of Us Are Dead’ , delivered a grisly and somewhat niche insight into the world of zombies, teen-angst and everything in-between…

Based upon Joo Dong Geun’s popular and original webcomic ‘ Now At Our School’, the twelve-episode Netflix series begins on a rainy rooftop in the fictional South-Korean province named Hyosan. A group of high school bullies ( “ iljins”) are shown to be relentlessly tormenting their fellow classmate, Jin-Su. Yet as their punches and beatings become notably more savage and violent , Jin-Su’s reactions to the conflict gradually change also. The gentle pleas of the meek teen suddenly turn into savage and animalistic snarls as Jin-Su’s gentle attitude soon begins to mimic an untamed and feral beast.

After the aftermath of the violent fight scene, viewers are left shocked but aware of the gradual domino effect as revelations and further mysteries are soon brought to light.

A time-skip forwards to the beginning of a new school day at Hyosan High School, brings forward the viewers’ attention towards Kim Hyeon-ju (Jung Yi-seo), an inquisitive high-school student , who unknowingly becomes patient zero to the mysterious zombie virus. Unsurprisingly, it is only a matter of time before there is a sudden snowball effect of rising infections throughout the school.

Caught up in the maelstrom of pandemonium and hysteria, the remaining survivors, including Chung-san (Yoon Chan-young), On-jo (Park Ji-hoo), Nam-ra (Cho Yi-hyun), Lee Soo-hyuk (Park Solomon), Yoo Gwi-nam (Yoo In-soo) and Lee Na-yeon (Lee Yoo-mi) , are left to grapple with unimaginable horrors, sacrifices and truths along the way…

‘ All Of Us Are Dead’ isn’t a series for the lighthearted. Bloodthirsty and brutal from beginning to end, Chung Sung II’s screenplay was gratuitously gory, disturbing and not afraid to delve into some darker subject areas either. However, whilst gore and bloodshed is to be expected in a storyline revolving around the flesh-eating undead, ‘ All Of Us Are Dead’ often felt somewhat distracted by its own investment into grotesque and shock-value carnage also. As a consequence, this notably presented limited opportunities into enforcing pathos and sentimental value for viewers towards its wide ensemble of main characters.

The acting range of ‘ All Of Us Are Dead’ was a slight mixed-bag. The main cast, specifically Cho Yi-hyeon, Lee Yoo-Mi and Yoon Chan Young, were undeniably dynamic and brilliant onscreen. On the other hand, certain performances from particular costars could feel somewhat inconsistent due to a mixed range of line deliverances and acting abilities also.

Nevertheless despite some arguably questionable moments of implicit violence, ‘ All Of Us Are Dead’ did surprisingly offer some crisper moments of respite also. Heartfelt interactions and teen-angst allowed golden-opportunities to exploit the unspoken realities of teenage shenanigans- bullying, social hierarchies, blackmail, peer pressure and sexual assault were notably addressed and touched upon within the drama’s social commentary. However despite certain commendation being deserved towards Chun Sung II and director Lee Jae Gyo‘s tackled subject areas , the attempt to tackle copious amounts of different topics take on against a dystopian zombie apocalypse backdrop, often led to a somewhat ham-fisted approach towards potentially impactful and prominent messages and critiques. In particular by the finale of the series, the overindulgence of subject areas began to slowly slip through the cracks and gave way to the sheer pandemonium of gritty teen-angst.

As for the delivered pace of narrative, Chung Sung II’s screenplay was notably fast-paced and adrenal-infused during initial episodes. However after the fanatic chaos of initial episodes, screenwriter Chung Sung II began to notably downplay chase scenes and conflict in order to draw further attention towards the setups, dilemmas and scenarios of the plot instead. However, this screenwriting decision did present a double-edged sword for the narrative; insightful moments focusing on the storyline did allow opportunities to explore the scope of characters and subplots, whilst also being heavily burdened by a repetitive pattern of storyline events in later episodes.

In particular this became noticeable the following setup; the ragtag team of teens would become wary of one another and drift apart, an external conflict would force them to band together again as a team, a member of the team would decide to embrace their inner-messiah and self-sacrifice themselves, before a teary and angst-ridden resolution would turn the mood somber as the characters remembered their fallen classmate, and then repeat.

Nevertheless, director Jae Gyu’s eye for detail was admittedly fairly commendable within the chosen filming techniques under his directing reign. Whilst the single-camera setup was admittedly a minimalistic approach to filming, Jae Gyu’s usage of changing gradients, darkening tones, angles and key and unobtrusive focus upon the characters and scenarios will truly immerse viewers into the events of the series. The usage of an OST was notably comprised mainly of instrumentals- hoping to draw attention in particular to a synchronic usage of music and imagery, rather than lyrics alone.

‘ All Of Us Are Dead’ offered viewers with a bloodthirsty and angst-ridden zombie drama which whilst certainly delivering an impactful bite into social themes, brutality, imagery and tension, the series often felt as though it but off more than it could chew at times within a lacking scope of character development, writing opportunities and divergence. The ending of the series was notably an unexpected twist which highly delved into a notably more somber tone. Whilst the finale may differ for viewers dependent on expectations, the conclusion certainly did leave some intriguing food for thought also. Overall ‘ All Of Us Are Dead’ is a pacy binge-watch; notably without its questionable flaws, repetitiveness and tropes, but tense enough to keep viewers hooked upon shock-value and adrenaline also.