All Of Us Are Dead Series Review: 12-hour magnificent immersion into the undead world

With some terrific writing choices, unique ideas, and stellar performances, this Netflix series truly stands out in its genre

Bhuvanesh Chandar

(Originally published on 31st January 2022)

Some zombie apocalypse films, like Train To Busan, take the audience on a tour into its world. They explore the depravity caused by such a calamity through carefully constructed character arcs. Some films, like World War Z, bank majorly on the outlandishness and the grotesque of the situation itself to tell a riveting story. Netflix’s All Of Us Are Dead tries to inherit the best of both worlds and even aims to improve on earlier attempts. In over 12 one-hour episodes, the series even goes on to find its own vein quite convincingly, something that even The Walking Dead has struggled to do every now and then.

Right from the first scene, there’s an earnest attempt to exalt the ordinary. We see a bunch of teenagers beat up one of their classmates on a terrace. The victim’s snarls and blood-red eyes hint that kid might become a zombie soon, and a magnificent drone shot steals the scene. It is only after a few episodes later on, do we realise why this sequence was pivotal. The subsequent shot shows a father helplessly looking over his ailing son – the boy who was bullied in the previous scene. He soon takes a bible, and instead of praying with it, he uses it in an attempt to kill. Much of what follows in All Of Us Are Dead is exponentially morose, unholy, and gruesome than what we see here.

From the following shot, we are introduced to the students of Hyosan High School in Hyosan. These sequences are straight out of typical high-school dramas: we have Lee Cheong-san (Yoon Chan-young) who has a crush on his classmate/neighbour Nam On-jo (Park Ji-hoo). On-jo, however, likes Lee Soo-hyuk (Park Solomon ), a former bully who is, in turn, love with Choi Nam-ra (Cho Yi-hyun), the quiet girl of the class who abhors her position as the class president. We also have a gang of bullies (key character being Yoon Gwi-nam, played by Yoo In-soo) and the bullied (Min Eun-ji, played by Oh Hye-soo). Tons of other characters also play their part.

Where the series stands out is in how it lets

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https://www.cinemaexpress.com/international/review/2022/jan/31/all-of-us-are-dead-series-review-12-hour-magnificent-immersion-into-the-undead-world-29429.html