Director: Il Cho
Writer: Il Cho, Matt Naylor (Screenplay)
Starring: Ah-In Yoo, Shin-Hye Park, Hyun-Wook Lee, Bae-soo Jeon, Hye-Won Oh
Plot: The rapid spread of an unknown infection has left an entire city in ungovernable chaos, but one survivor remains alive in isolation. It is his story.
Runtime: 1 Hour 38 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: #Alive starts when a gamer Oh Joon-woo (Yoo) wakes up to learn that a new infection has spread across the city causing the residents to turn in ravenous creatures, trapped in his apartment, he only watches the world come crashing down around him, with the days flying by, until he learns that Kim Yoo-bin (Park) is across the street from him, giving him a new friend in the dangerous time.
Oh Joon-woo must figure out a way to survive in a world that continues to become dangerous, with the infected remembering things from their own life.
Thoughts on #Alive
Characters – Oh Joon-woo is a slacker gamer that spends most of his days with his followers playing games, he struggles with the basics on living, but in this new world he finds himself needing to learn to survive alone on this world filled with zombies. He does follow the traditional idea of the slacker who discovers themselves in the world of zombies, becoming stronger, smarter, and braver through the film. Kim Yoo-Bin is the mysterious woman across the street from Oh Joon-woo, she is more prepared for what is happening, trying to teach Oh Joon-woo how to survive in this situation.
Performances – Ah-In Yoo and Shin-Hye Park are both great to watch, they bring the serious nature of what is happening, along with moments of comedy, which lighten the mood through the film.
Story – The story here follows a slacker gamer who wakes up to find a zombie outbreak happen, leaving him trapped in his apartment, finding a survivor across the street, as they look for their own way to survive this world. This story does seem to borrow a lot from ‘The Night Eats the World’ by putting us in an apartment while outside there is the zombie outbreak happening. We even get the standard character evolution as we see how Oh Joon-woo learns to adapt, while the threats becoming bigger as the time rolls on.
Action/Horror – The action in the film sees the different zombie attacks, be it the early onslaught, or the different situations the survivors find themselves in, using what they can find to survive. The horror in the film comes from seeing what the zombies do to their victims.
Settings – Most of the film is set within the apartment of Oh Joon-woo or Kim Yoo-bin, which shows us just how trapped they are in a world that has fallen apart.
Special Effects – The effects in the film are strong, showing the position the actors playing the zombies can make themselves go, for added terror.
Scene of the Movie – The police office terror.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – While entertaining, it doesn’t create something new.
Final Thoughts – This is an entertaining zombie movie that gets plenty from the action, while not breaking a tried and tested formula.