What is “All of Us are Dead”, the South Korean zombie series, to discover now exclusively on Netflix?
WHAT IS IT ABOUT ?
While a zombie virus decimates all the students of a high school, a group of students decides to lock themselves in the school grounds to try to survive the epidemic.
All of Us are Dead, created by Chun Sung-il (10 episodes)
WHO IS IT WITH?
A prolific television screenwriter, Chun Sung-il is the creator of several successful series in various genres, ranging from romantic comedy to historical fresco. Adapted from the webtoon Now at our School by Joo Dong-geun (unpublished in France), All of Us are Dead marks the South Korean screenwriter’s first major foray into the horror genre.
The cast of the series is mainly composed of young actors still little known to the general public: Yoon Chan-young, Park Ji-hoo, Cho Yi-hyun or Yoo In-soo. More confirmed actors have also been chosen for the roles of teachers, such as Bae Hae-sun (Start-Up) or Byeong-cheol Kim, the interpreter of the chemistry teacher responsible for the epidemic.
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WELL WORTH A LOOK ?
Since the global hit encountered by Squid Game, South Korean series produced by Netflix have experienced unprecedented popularity. After the successes of Hellbound and The Silent Sea at the end of last year, the SVOD platform today unveils its brand new original series: All of Us are Dead, based on the comic book by Joo Dong-geun.
Presented as a series of zombies, the ten-episode drama actually falls into the horrifying subgenre of “infected”: the characters are indeed transformed following the spread of a virus whose origin we know, the word “zombie” is spoken repeatedly, and creatures can run and even jump. To know the difference between zombies and infected, (re) immerse yourself in the rules of the genre set up by director George A. Romero.
All of Us are Dead demonstrates originality by situating its action within a campus. Halfway between the horrific show and the series for teens, the drama follows several students who are opposed by everything but whose circumstances will nevertheless bring them together. In short, the series forms the missing link between the film Breakfast Club and the cult novel, Her Majesty of the Flies.
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Unfortunately, the result did not quite live up to expectations. As a teen series, All of Us are Dead works, thanks in part to its cast and the chemistry that seems to emerge from this group of talented young actors.
Each episode allows us to discover more about the past of the characters, and to understand that the image they send back in the corridors of high school is not necessarily consistent with what they are in reality.
The horrific part of the series, on the other hand, is less successful. Blame it on confusing special effects (contortionist zombies aren’t really scary…), mowed action scenes (grotesque special effects, acceleration of images for a cheap result), and above all on an unsurprising plot (the origin of the virus revealed much too early and reversals of the situation far too agreed).
We would almost come to regret that the story scenes with the teenagers are so often interrupted by the arrival of zombies, so much the horrific side of the series ultimately brings little to the general plot.
We do not necessarily have a bad time, but we must recognize that we would have liked more surprises and control to let ourselves be completely carried away by this series of zombies which is not really one.
Perhaps it is addressed paradoxically more to neophytes of the genre rather than to specialists. To be reserved, however, for an informed public, because of the many gory scenes!
All of Us are Dead, available on Netflix.