How Korean Cinema Resurrected Zombies

In October, the final episodes of the once-cult TV series The Walking Dead started. Finally, in this project, tortured by the producers, an end will be put. Unfortunately, zombies in American cinema have ceased to scare.

What can not be said about Korean films and serial films with the participation of the living dead? They returned the audience's interest in zombie movies.

7 PHOTOS

1. Korean dramas and a zombie movie are taking world cinema by storm

It all started with "Train to Busan"

The Korean horror film "Train to Busan" was released in 2016. Six years ago, few people bet on this horror movie.

Asian cinema at that time was strongly for an amateur. Therefore, many viewers preferred American remakes over scary Asian films.

They were looking forward to the release of the final part of Resident Evil with Milla Jovovich, holding their breath, watching the zombie movie Mobile Phone, and laughing at the black comedy about the living dead Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

I do not argue, these pictures are not bad, but something is missing in them so that they become cult horror films.

The audience watched the final part of Resident Evil with Milla Jovovich just to find out how this story would end. The film "Mobile Phone" turned out to be too implausible: it is enough to call a smartphone to make a person become a zombie.

The laws of physics and biology were sacrificed to the original story, which turned out to be too fabulous. It is not surprising that many readers of Amnesia today will not remember this horror.

2. Frame from the film "Mobile". Photos from open sources

The creators of "Train to Busan" took a different path. They did not reinvent the wheel but combined all the zombie stuff in one movie.

Therefore, the Korean horror film is so unoriginal: B and R in the train, around the crowd of the walking dead. Viewers have already seen all of this 100,500 times in various American and European horror films. This does not surprise them.

Then why did "Train to Busan" become a cult? What's the secret?

The first reason is the characters. They are not stereotyped, not caricatured. Everyone has their own story. Therefore, the audience is equally sorry for the old sisters and the student girl who is trying to survive on the train.

3. A scene from the movie "Train to Busan". Photos from open sources

The second reason is storytelling. It is dynamic. If Gandalf in Gray saw a train passing by him to Busan, he would certainly say:

"Out of the frying pan into the fire!"

The third reason is special effects. They are good. Turning into a zombie is exciting. Lots of outdoor shots. The picture in the film is "juicy" and does not hurt the eyes.

Thanks to these features, "Train to Busan" passed the test of time and fell in love with the audience. The same can't be said for Train to Busan 2: The Peninsula. This is the antipode of the cult horror film, filmed six years ago.

4. Still from the movie "Train to Busan 2: The Peninsula". Photos from open sources

Unfortunately, this film is mistaken by Russian viewers as a sequel to Train to Busan. The so-called sequel and the original film are different films.

The Russians were deceived by the localizers. On P a n d e m and you, they needed to somehow attract viewers to the cinema halls, so they added “Train to Busan 2” to the Korean film “Peninsula”.

Nothing personal. It's just business.

"Alive" and "We're All Dead"

While the Russians were screaming failure, Korean zombie horror films were taking on new heights. A vivid example of this is the drama (general name for television series produced in East Asia) "Alive".

5. A scene from the drama Alive. Photos from open sources

At the center of the story is a gamer who finds himself locked in his apartment. It is impossible to get out of the high-rise building because of the zombies who brutally crack down on all the survivors.

Under the pressure of unforeseen circumstances, the characters of the inhabitants of the residential complex are changing. Someone finds his courage, and someone, on the contrary, loses humanity, becoming a hundred times more bloodthirsty than zombies.

And although such people are driven by noble deeds, evil cannot be fought with the help of evil. You still can't save your soul. This is vividly shown in the drama "Alive".

6. A scene from the drama Alive. Photos from open sources

It is not surprising that after such a resounding success, American studios began to turn to Korean directors and screenwriters with a request to make a quality zombie movie.

For example, with the participation of Netflix, the serial film “We are all dead” was released about the outbreak of ep and dem and zombies in a high school.

It was the first time I saw such a dynamic, bloody horror with teenagers in the title role. The boys and girls played five plus, and the scriptwriters did not spare anyone. Only the viewer had time to fall in love with the hero, as he was eaten by an insatiable crowd of monsters.

And there are a lot of subtexts in this series. Here you have social inequality, and censorship at school, from which quarrels cannot be endured, abuse among schoolchildren, the problem of teenage pregnancy, the socialization of difficult teenagers in society, the cynicism of modern politicians, etc.

Not surprisingly, this multi-part film staked out the leading position in zombie movies for the Koreans. Thanks to the writers and directors from South Korea for preserving the zombie universe created sixty years ago by George Romero. "Walking" - albeit with a Korean accent - is back in fashion.

7. Photos from open sources

If you don't know what to watch, turn on Asian horror films about the walking dead. I'm sure you won't regret it.