By: Jovillene Datu
The latest Korean Show, ‘All of us are Dead,’ Topped Netflix’s television shows worldwide after ‘Squid game’ and ‘Hellbound’. The show currently holds the top two spots in 75 countries just one day after its release on January 28, 2022. It is now the third Korean show on the platform, next to the record breaking show ‘Squid game’ in September 2021, followed by ‘Hellbound’ in November.
This 12-episode series falls into the genre that is known as “K-zombies,” a very popular genre among Asia. The shows success follows the footsteps of several films such as ‘Train to Busan’ and ‘#Alive,’ which all have a similar plot, but different environments.
The series was based on Joo Dong-Guen’s popular webtoon called ‘Now at Our school,’ and eventually director Lee Jae-Gyun adapted it and proposed an idea to bring the characters to life.
The plot is very simple, yet very dark. It consists of a group of high schoolers who must find a way to survive after a mysterious virus breaks out at the school and turns their peers into deadly zombies. Ironically, these events in the show have been compared to the real life events in Korea, similarly to COVID-19 and the sinking of MV Sewol, a tragedy that occurred in 2014. “It is a work that unravels the scars of modern Kroean history, such as the Sewol ferry disaster, within a zombie genre,” said Jeong Deok-Hyeon, a popular critic from Korea.
The show was interpreted as a commentary on South Korean culture, shielding the light on bullying in schools and rivals fighting each other because of society. It leaves the viewers wondering how the outcome of how the students would react to the outbreak given their limited resources and knowledge.
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