All of Us Are Dead (2022)

How far will you go in order to survive?

"All of us are dead" is a classic zombie drama with a lot of action, thriller and horror elements. Even though the story is nothing groundbreaking, it doesn't fail to deliver enjoyment to the viewers that seek for zombies and epic action.

As the drama consists a very high number of brutal and gore scenes, in addition with bulling and sexual harassment, it's not for the lighthearted. The drama's extreme violence made the drama at times really disturb and difficult to watch. If you know you can't bear it, then avoid it.

As for the drama's pace, the first episode is slow but the drama in general is very fast paced because it contains many action scenes. As the drama is very suspenseful and stressful to offset seriousness, and make the drama easier to watch, at times it has some comic reliefs. Thus, every episode is good watching experience. As it's a 12-episode drama though, it's difficult to binge-watch it right away.


The Story

"All of us are dead" is based on a webtoon by the same name, written by Joo Dong-Geun. The original run of the webtoon was from May, 13th 2009 to November, 9th 2011. The story mainly revolves around the struggle for survival of the students who were trapped in the ground zero for the zombie virus, the school.

Webtoon comparison

The drama adaptation has many differences with the original story that gave it some advantages and disadvantages. I will analyze some of these changes below.

1. The beginning
Unlike the original story, which starts straight away, the drama invests some time to set the characters background. The advantage of this change was that the viewers had the time to get to know the characters so it was easier later to understand their motives and empathize with them. The disadvantage of this change was that the first episode was slow and it may be boring for some of the viewers.

2. The center of the story
In both stories the center of the drama was the school, but in the drama, we see a lot of subplots outside the school that originally didn't exist, or they weren't fully developed. That way, we see a more global picture of the events that took place under the zombie apocalypse. For example, the overall government's response was more carefully written and seemed more logical and comprehensive in drama.

The disadvantage of this change was that some of the extra subplots were completely unnecessary (and illogical) and that could easily put off some viewers (which in my case happened).

3. Characters & relations
As the drama consists of many extra scenes and subplots, some of the characters are extra too. Apart from this, some of the original characters have different storylines, deaths and relationships from the original story. As for the storyline, the actions of a lot of characters changed but their personalities remained the same. As far as the dead are concerned, the only thing that changed was the cause or the timing of their death. This change was neutral for me as the results were the same as the webtoon.

4. Action
The drama is filled with a huge amount of action scenes and almost all of them aren't part of the original story. On the one hand, the action made the drama a thrilling watching experience as some of them were pretty amazing. On the other hand, as far as the story's events are concerned, due to the action "overdose" the story got draggy. This affected the characters also because, even though they had better and more complete background and relations than the webtoon, the necessary time for them to develop through the episodes, wasn't given.

5. The virus' origin
The virus origin that causes the zombie apocalypse is different in the drama. I can't analyze this in detail because I don't want to spoil it. What can I say is that in the drama they tried to make a full background of the virus and support it with sci-fi biology elements which was pretty convincing for someone who doesn't know about biology. Again, this was an advantage for the drama.

6. The ending
Both endings have many similarities but the webtoon ends while the drama may require a second season. As the webtoon has ended, the second season of the drama will be completely unrelated with the original story. The writers don't have elements to base a second season on, so it's unsure if a second season will be released or if it will end up being a good sequence of the story. This change may be a big disadvantage for someone who doesn't like incomplete stories but at least the story has a closure so maybe it's less frustrating.

Conclusion
The drama and the webtoon have countless differences which have both negative and positive effects on the story. We can say that the drama's story is loose based on the webtoon as it just kept the story skeleton and created a new one. In general, I think the adaptation can be considered as a good one.

My overall impression of the drama’s story is not very great, not very bad either. It was a mediocre story and there were many unnecessary and illogical things for me to accept. Also, several same (or almost same) things and events happened which made the story repetitive and tedious at times. What I liked the most, was how it manages to show how differently everyone acts in order to survive or to save someone else.

The production & Acting

The greatest thing about this drama, it's its production and directing, they were just amazing. Maybe "All of us are dead" has one of the best productions a Netflix original kdrama has. From the VFX to the zombie’s make-up, to the choreographed action scenes, to the scene’s shots and transitions, everything was perfectly and meticulously made. The music on the other hand was the weakest part of the production as it wasn't so memorable to me and it felt a little off from time to time.

The acting in general was okay. As I've said before, the drama mainly had action scenes so the actors didn't have enough to work with and create multi-dimensional characters with complex emotions. Some actors, though, manage to shine and catch my attention as a viewer. These were Yoo Chan Young, Jo Yi Hyun and Park Solomon.

Overall

"All of us are dead" was a drama with a mediocre typical story about zombies. It doesn't have the touching story of "Train to Busan”, the mysterious aura of "Kingdom", the uniqueness of "Sweet Home" or "Happiness" but it has one of the best productions of zombie action scenes which makes it a very decent and solid zombie drama. So, if you're looking for a drama for zombies with impressive action elements, watch it for sure. You won't be disappointed.

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Namhyeok supremacy

I have to start this off with my favorite part of — Suhyeok and Namra, who totally stole the show, both individually and together. I just loved Namra's character arc in particular, and though romance is by no means a main focus of this show, their scenes are the ones I keep going back to rewatch.

With that being said, I think it was really good that romance wasn't a main focus, and yet it was there in certain light-hearted moments, reminding us that these characters are still kids who deal with crushes and first kisses and butterflies. I think both of the main relationships were done absolutely beautiful and we got just the right amount for them.

I think my main criticism with this is just the massive amount of unnecessary characters there are. I liked the two main groups for sure (although I admit some of those characters felt extra — it was as if they were to die in case someone needed to be killed off) and some of the peripheral characters like parents, and I anxiously awaited moments where their paths would cross. But other than that, there were a lot of other character groups and arcs that took up time and got incomplete arcs like the politician, the livestreamer, or the pregnant girl; I either didn't care for those or were downright annoyed with them. Even some of the characters that were more relevant kind of had their character development swerving off-kilter in a non-sensical way.

I also felt like the last episode was really rushed; I felt like taking out some of those unnecessary characters and spending more time with the main group could have given the changes in the last episode more screentime — I also wouldn't have been opposed to having this be a full 16-episodes so we could see more about the aftermath and maybe get an ending that was more satisfying. It currently stands a bit bittersweet and I have mixed feelings on that.

In conclusion - watch for Suhyeok and Namra.

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All Of Us Are Dead review

First, the whole production is on another level as expected of netflix korea! the whole cast really did well, there were some parts that are kinda lacking but overall I really like Cheongsan and Suhyeok’s chemistry especially when they’re fighting the zombies! Also I like Namra’s character, she’s so badass and cool. The bullying issues and the way the school tried to cover it up resulting to the science’s teacher’s experiment to make his son stronger so he can fight those who bullied him. The sacrifices each character made was so tear jerking :( they’re parents and friends turning into zombie was so sad. Tbh I was so mad at Gwinam why can’t he just die, he had to bite Cheongsan and poke his eye (this part was so heartbreaking) then one by one they’re getting bitten, maybe that’s reason for the title :( but the ending got me so hanging like yeah kdrama usually end it like that but hopefully there’ll be season 2 cause I don’t want Cheongsan to die like that :’(

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Highschool of the Dead ?

Are you dead in this zombie year? ?
IF Not, I think every zombie lover and no lover should watch this mainly because of its top-notch VFX.
Though I find some of the acts are little sloppy but the overall story is well executed. I waited really long for the first season but it didn't disappoint me. I wish there is a second season.
But why are zombies are so sensitive to sound in every movie or series?
Some people just don't listen to what others had to say on the other hand some don't speak up for themselves.
I think Covic turn us into some kind of zombie that's why I like this series very much.

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All Of Us Are Dead; A Brainless Gore Fest, Or A Brutal Survival Story?

The increasing popularity of the zombie genre in South-Korean media since the days of Park Joo Seok’s ‘ Train To Busan’ (2016) has exceeded no bounds. Indeed, Netflix’s latest venture into the world of zombies, ‘ All Of Us Are Dead’, enjoyed making several ironic and passing popular-culture references to the heavily influential zombie flick . Nevertheless director Lee Jae Gyo and screenwriter Chun Sung II’s zombie survival series , ‘ All Of Us Are Dead’ , delivered a grisly and somewhat niche insight into the world of zombies, teen-angst and everything in-between…

Based upon Joo Dong Geun’s popular and original webcomic ‘ Now At Our School’, the twelve-episode Netflix series begins on a rainy rooftop in the fictional South-Korean province named Hyosan. A group of high school bullies ( “ iljins”) are shown to be relentlessly tormenting their fellow classmate, Jin-Su. Yet as their punches and beatings become notably more savage and violent , Jin-Su’s reactions to the conflict gradually change also. The gentle pleas of the meek teen suddenly turn into savage and animalistic snarls as Jin-Su’s gentle attitude soon begins to mimic an untamed and feral beast.

After the aftermath of the violent fight scene, viewers are left shocked but aware of the gradual domino effect as revelations and further mysteries are soon brought to light.

A time-skip forwards to the beginning of a new school day at Hyosan High School, brings forward the viewers’ attention towards Kim Hyeon-ju (Jung Yi-seo), an inquisitive high-school student , who unknowingly becomes patient zero to the mysterious zombie virus. Unsurprisingly, it is only a matter of time before there is a sudden snowball effect of rising infections throughout the school.

Caught up in the maelstrom of pandemonium and hysteria, the remaining survivors, including Chung-san (Yoon Chan-young), On-jo (Park Ji-hoo), Nam-ra (Cho Yi-hyun), Lee Soo-hyuk (Park Solomon), Yoo Gwi-nam (Yoo In-soo) and Lee Na-yeon (Lee Yoo-mi) , are left to grapple with unimaginable horrors, sacrifices and truths along the way…

‘ All Of Us Are Dead’ isn’t a series for the lighthearted. Bloodthirsty and brutal from beginning to end, Chung Sung II’s screenplay was gratuitously gory, disturbing and not afraid to delve into some darker subject areas either. However, whilst gore and bloodshed is to be expected in a storyline revolving around the flesh-eating undead, ‘ All Of Us Are Dead’ often felt somewhat distracted by its own investment into grotesque and shock-value carnage also. As a consequence, this notably presented limited opportunities into enforcing pathos and sentimental value for viewers towards its wide ensemble of main characters.

The acting range of ‘ All Of Us Are Dead’ was a slight mixed-bag. The main cast, specifically Cho Yi-hyeon, Lee Yoo-Mi and Yoon Chan Young, were undeniably dynamic and brilliant onscreen. On the other hand, certain performances from particular costars could feel somewhat inconsistent due to a mixed range of line deliverances and acting abilities also.

Nevertheless despite some arguably questionable moments of implicit violence, ‘ All Of Us Are Dead’ did surprisingly offer some crisper moments of respite also. Heartfelt interactions and teen-angst allowed golden-opportunities to exploit the unspoken realities of teenage shenanigans- bullying, social hierarchies, blackmail, peer pressure and sexual assault were notably addressed and touched upon within the drama’s social commentary. However despite certain commendation being deserved towards Chun Sung II and director Lee Jae Gyo‘s tackled subject areas , the attempt to tackle copious amounts of different topics take on against a dystopian zombie apocalypse backdrop, often led to a somewhat ham-fisted approach towards potentially impactful and prominent messages and critiques. In particular by the finale of the series, the overindulgence of subject areas began to slowly slip through the cracks and gave way to the sheer pandemonium of gritty teen-angst.

As for the delivered pace of narrative, Chung Sung II’s screenplay was notably fast-paced and adrenal-infused during initial episodes. However after the fanatic chaos of initial episodes, screenwriter Chung Sung II began to notably downplay chase scenes and conflict in order to draw further attention towards the setups, dilemmas and scenarios of the plot instead. However, this screenwriting decision did present a double-edged sword for the narrative; insightful moments focusing on the storyline did allow opportunities to explore the scope of characters and subplots, whilst also being heavily burdened by a repetitive pattern of storyline events in later episodes.

In particular this became noticeable the following setup; the ragtag team of teens would become wary of one another and drift apart, an external conflict would force them to band together again as a team, a member of the team would decide to embrace their inner-messiah and self-sacrifice themselves, before a teary and angst-ridden resolution would turn the mood somber as the characters remembered their fallen classmate, and then repeat.

Nevertheless, director Jae Gyu’s eye for detail was admittedly fairly commendable within the chosen filming techniques under his directing reign. Whilst the single-camera setup was admittedly a minimalistic approach to filming, Jae Gyu’s usage of changing gradients, darkening tones, angles and key and unobtrusive focus upon the characters and scenarios will truly immerse viewers into the events of the series. The usage of an OST was notably comprised mainly of instrumentals- hoping to draw attention in particular to a synchronic usage of music and imagery, rather than lyrics alone.

‘ All Of Us Are Dead’ offered viewers with a bloodthirsty and angst-ridden zombie drama which whilst certainly delivering an impactful bite into social themes, brutality, imagery and tension, the series often felt as though it but off more than it could chew at times within a lacking scope of character development, writing opportunities and divergence. The ending of the series was notably an unexpected twist which highly delved into a notably more somber tone. Whilst the finale may differ for viewers dependent on expectations, the conclusion certainly did leave some intriguing food for thought also. Overall ‘ All Of Us Are Dead’ is a pacy binge-watch; notably without its questionable flaws, repetitiveness and tropes, but tense enough to keep viewers hooked upon shock-value and adrenaline also.

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This ain't no Train to Busan!! Skip it!

I am a huge zombie movie/ drama fan and this show was a waste of 12 hours of my life. Poorly written, poorly acted- the only reason anyone is watching it is because it is a Netflix production,
Unnecessarily includes sexual assault (which isn't in the original story) and nudity of a minor. If this was necessary to the arc of the story I would understand ... but it isn't so it seems to have been shoved into the story for shock value and probably some misogyny on the part of the director. Then the end game for this bullied student is SUCH A WASTE.
Same goes for teenage pregnancy and a girl with no sign of being pregnant seemingly and with no issues gives birth to her baby in the toilet and after this is good to go and run around town ... how is this relevant to the story? Who knows?
Poor character development and no one makes you want to root for them- in the end you hope all of them will be dead ...
Such wasted potential for a zombie drama set in a high school ...

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A treat for Zombie Thriller lovers ....

(Non Spoiler Review)

No matter what, always stick to the orginal content, there is no compromise in the story and its very brutal, Netflix Orginal drama doesn't disappoint us these days. Every month they brought something really worth for time. All of us are dead probably one of the best zombie thriller i have had watched in recent time. The concept of zombie is now become a cliché, even though this whole drama was a different experience.

This is a webtoon adaptation with same name, the episodes numbers were increased which was unusual for a Netflix Orginal drama also some episode length were little bit high. Some people may feel little dragging in the middle and its understandable because they slowly making this whole atmosphere more and more intense. The making was one of the key factor. Its just unbelievable every time when you watching a zombie thriller. The performance of all those zombie looks scary, here also it's insane.

I didn't felt much of a dragging in the screenplay as i already mentioned they slowly developing the seriousness of the situation. May be we can predict almost every scene that coming next but still some breathtaking moments were there, which gives you a different experience for sure. The performance of the leads was good especially some stories like this, there is always have one or two annoying character who gets all attention, that feels super cliché. But eventually you get annoyed and that's what the makers want.

The emotional scenes, Friendship, little bit of romance also little bit of love triangle, everything was good and perfect fit. Overall all of us are dead is a must watch drama if you are a zombie thriller fan. Every episode is thrilling and engaging till the end. Try it

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All of Us Are Spread (too thin)

It's hard to review a drama that I generally really like but cannot help get hung up on its numerous flaws. In order to explain this conundrum, I will go into HEAVY SPOILERS. Avert your eyes unless you watched all 12 episodes or, like myself, are spoiler junkies.

SPOILERS in T minus 5...4...3...2...1...LETS GO!

Half plot armor, half cop out...but worse than either

Like any genre, zombie genre has cliches and that's perfectly fine. They exist in storytelling to move the story forward cause stories aren't real life. So once in a while, a character will have to do something stupid to change the status quo. Also, all stories that put characters in peril will bestow plot armor on those whom the story needs to hang on a bit longer. These characters will survive the unsurviveable situations, while the ones without the plot armor won't, even though everyone should have been dead by that point. This is fine too unless it's used to an excess, which this drama does.

That leads me to the concept of "halfbie". This is a portmanteau for half zombie but it really means half plot armor half copout. It basically breaks the universe - a bitten character doesn't become a mindless zombie but keeps human appearance and intelligence, gets super powers (abnormal strength, enhanced hearing and smell, fast healing, basically hard to kill) and, if Mary Sue or Gary Stu, is able to reign in hunger for human flesh. You can see from the very description why this sucks and doesn't fit in the universe where there are living and the walking dead. It's a cliche created to spare writer's pet (in this case Nam Ra) and make existing villain more intimidating (in this case Gwi Nam). However, the effect is opposite. Gwi Nam, aka the Evil Plot Armorie/Cop Outie, became an unintentional comic relief. You could get really sloshed if played a drinking game every time he survived a fall from the rooftop, snapped his bones back and muttered "f***er". Nam ra, aka the good Plot Armorie/Cop Outie, mostly stood on the sidelines gazing into nothing unless her love interest was attacked by the Mullet'd Cockroach of a villain (since he kept coming back like a roach) and occasionally would hear zombie footsteps about 30 seconds before the herd swarmed the safe place. But in numerous instances when the gang hit the hard-to-break locked door (another drinking game that would get you hammered in no time!) , she would forget she was abnormally strong. And given that zombies cannot distinguish between themselves and halfbies, she could have safely run errands, which would have saved lives, but never did. Basically, the whole point of her "evolved" status was for romantic purposes. Her love interest defied his friends because he trusted she wouldn't harm anyone, while she repeatedly saved him from Mullet'd Cockroach. That's really all there is to this plot device. Romance enhancer. No real consequence for the plot. Just something for shippers to drool over. Ooooh, he tied them together with the red string of fate! Oooooh, she was about to bite him but he said "do it cause then I will be like you!" and she kissed him instead! SWOON! :insertvomitemoji:

Spread the butter so thin til there's no butter

Another problem with this drama is really a typical K drama problem - too much filler, too many sideplots and characters that don't add up to the whole. Two cops and the baby and a little girl added up to nothing. It was a bathroom break. Ditto Youtuber subplot. Ditto Assembly Member subplot. Even On Jo's father's quest to reach his daughter could have been scrapped. 12 episodes spread the story too thin. It worked when it was focused on the highschool survival. It came to a screeching halt when it was about outside world and characters. It could have made the point across in half the running time.

Bromance and womance >>>>>> romance

As is always the case in dramas, romance is the inferior relationship. This drama has a love quadrangle in its center that is just there but doesn't actually impact the plot. Cheong San is motivated to protect On Jo, who doesn't reciprocate his feelings, but he also protects all his friends so you could have the same story without unrequited love. In the end, he would have sacrificed himself for everyone because he's that kind of a character. Love interest or not.

On Jo is in love with Soo Hyuk (who is in love with Nam Ra and vice versa) and that's it. Again, it adds up to nothing. She is stoically tolerant of Soo Hyuk/Nam Ra romance right before her eyes, is supportive of both, so that she is in love with him is just a throwback reference. Kind of like, this character has no real personality we might as well give her an unrequited love to stand out.

Soo Hyuk and Nam Ra romance fares a little better cause they at least had the enemies to lovers thing going when she became a halfbie. But since they are side characters to leads Cheong San and On Jo, there was no real impact there. And, weirdly, the ending forgot about it, so when the gang reunited with Nam Ra, she and Soo Hyuk didn't have a moment together. Instead, she had a moment with On Jo. :facepalm:

But on the bright side, bromance (Woojin and his "brother in law", Cheong San and Soo Hyuk - get a room you two! , and any combo of boys) and womance (Mijin and Ha ri) were excellent. I also enjoyed Jae Ik and Seoul Student banter even though they were in a bathroom break filler.

A Star Is Born

Park Solomon aka Lomon aka Soo Hyuk lit up the screen every time he was in and it wasn't even close. He bursts with genuine charisma and charm on top of amazing visuals. And he has range. I found acting to be a mixed bag but he was consistently strong.

That Ep 3 twist - Aigoo!

Really have to commend the drama for how Geong Su got infected. My jaw dropped on the floor and I still didn't pick it up. Wow!

Some really well directed set pieces

The library fight and escape from zombies with falling book shelves was OTT but so memorable.

Hit me in the feels

Deaths packed the punch as did reunions between the living and the dead (Cheong San and his zombie mom, nuff said). As is always the case with survival dramas, the choice of who died is controversial. Did Woojin have to die? No. His death added nothing so he should have stayed alive. Did Cheong San have to die? If I had my way, I would give him the halfbie arc instead of Nam Ra. He was the lead and his unrequited love would count for something if On Jo realized she loved him but they couldn't be together because he was a halfbie. Oh well.

Namra Sue Spin-off or Will there be Season 2?

If you read I Am Legend and/or Girl With All the Gifts, than you know that halfbies (any human-zombie or human-vampire hybrid) cannot be trusted. In the end, they choose their kind over humans and go as far as to exterminate humans so that they wouldn't be hunted by them. Even if one of them likes a human or two. So whatever the gang saw when they look down to where Nam ra jumped, disturbed them. It cannot be good. Genre rules prevent coexistence.

That said, the ending felt too much like a set up for Namra Sue spin-off which I have no interest in. The appeal of the drama was in ordinary teens trying to survive extraordinary circumstances, not in zombie X Men fighting each other.

Overall

Plot armor cannot protect from simple pleasures of this drama. You'll be engaged, emotionally wrecked, you'll laugh and cry with characters and feel many deaths. Warts won't go away but they aren't all that is there.

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A succession of gore and betrayal

I’ll start by saying that the production is very good, but it’s not a surprise as there is nothing less to expect from Netflix. All the actors did a great job.
They tried hard to come up with a fresh story about zombies. In brief, the drama Is the typical survival race against zombies with a mix of gore & korean school issues such as bullying, teen sex, etc.

From the origin to the virus to the end with Nam-ra & “others like her”, it is poorly explained and doesn’t really make sense.
The drama could have been good, but unfortunately, It is overall a disappointment. The characters aren’t developed and it became a succession of unfortunate events, of useless fights between the characters, of human beings at their lowest points, etc. It feels they tried so hard to go against cliches that they just made the worst happened to “surprise” you.
Some characters & scenes are useless to the story & it feels that some scenes were added to add length to the story but definitely failed to add depth. The teenager who had a baby. On-Jo’s father who spent 10 episodes to look for, but died after 1,5 min he reunited with her, The bully that stays alive (but we don’t know how) & spent all episodes to run after ML to finally gauge his eye out and died with him. Etc, etc...

It reminded me a lot #Alive but with schoolmates rather than neighbours. The drama format was issueless and they could have made a movie out of this story, it would have probably avoided all the unnecessary added scenes.

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ZOMBIE thriller and forget the rest

Trust me on this one. The Netflix drama is thrill watching. Forget about the cast and jump into it. From the beginning to the end the drama holds you to your couch. The production is just too good. With nice VFX and zombie action to sound effects just take this one to another level. I don't know much about other Zombie K dramas but this has become my new favorite. Train to Busan was my last zombie movie.

DON'T compare this drama to any other piece of work. Just go with the flow, the story takes place in a high school and the rest you will get to it. The supporting characters maintain their pace and run the plot smoothly. Believe me, the zombie attacks were well executed and opened a new window for more such scenes. Whatever be your expectations please watch it one go. It will give you excitement for more without thinking much.

The plot was concise and completed in season 1 itself. As a typical Netflix show, there is a slim chance for season 2.
For the zombie drama lovers, I know you will not be disappointed and will quench your thirst from this.

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Excited to start your week with a fun and thrilling high school zombie flick? Then this isn't it.

I was very excited about this one. In the pictures, it looked so good. The trailer was well-made and was hype material. And it's gotten quite popular as well. I couldn't wait to binge this since I have seen Kingdom, Train to Busan, Sweet Home (Not exactly zombies but monsters/survival type) and thought maybe they're good with these themes. But I was mistaken.

The problem with All of Us Are Dead is how stereotypical it is. The main character is the childhood friend of the female main character and they also have two other friends with them. There is the "Hot Oppa" type of character who is very righteous and very strong. There is the quiet class president who's the topper of the class and is very smart but no one likes her because they all assume that she doesn't like them as well. There is also this annoying girl who's literally annoying for no reason at all. I can go on and on. These characters feel like I've seen them before in so many different media. And a major problem is how they act so stiff. It doesn't feel like they are real characters making real decisions. It's almost like the series itself wants these characters to stay between a set of tropes and never do something different.

There is this one character (who I will not specify for spoiler reasons) who stays true to their stereotype in almost all of the episodes. And almost an entire episode was dedicated to their character, we get to see how they are finally starting to change as a character, and right after that moment, the character dies. My question is, why? What was the point of wasting that much time over that character if they were gonna die with zero development? Unfortunately, this series pulls this so many times that it majorly affected my viewing experience.

If that wasn't enough, the plot is just so predictable. When you can literally tell what event is gonna take place in the next few minutes, the series is not doing a good job in the storytelling department. There were some moments I could automatically tell who's gonna die next. And no, this isn't something that's common for horror-thriller or zombie-survival types of movies, because to my memory, good series like Kingdom or movies like Train to Busan was never like that. You couldn't automatically tell what's gonna happen next because the story is being told in a perfect way and the events felt sudden like it was supposed to.

Characters often make decisions that are so stupid that I actually don't know if they are even a human. For example, one of the characters died while trying to push a zombie away with their fist. You are in a zombie apocalypse and instead of protecting the place where you could be bitten easily, you choose to push a zombie away with your hand right next to their mouth when you literally have other objects you can use to push them away. That isn't the only instance of dumb decisions. The choices these characters make in the entirety of this series are so bad. Sometimes, I couldn't help but wish all of them had just gotten bitten already.
I was more entertained watching the detective's perspective and that one Seoul University guy (Not Sang-Woo) and that one stupid vlogged. Then it would turn into a zombie comedy but at least it would be entertaining compared to whatever this is.

The series spends more time explaining how to make an emergency toilet than explaining how the zombie mechanics work and why some people turn into half-zombies and some people don't.

They also had to include so many characters, some of them end up having zero developments and are left uninteresting. Later on, the series just kills them off in true Korean drama fashion.

Sound and production are not impressive enough to write home about. The cast is overwhelmingly big and some characters are terribly written. The main female character, On-Jo's acting was so stiff sometimes. She has only one expression throughout the entire series.

If you think you should still watch this and see for yourself, go ahead. Just a warning, it's 12 episodes long and each episode's duration is almost an hour. So when you round it up, it's a 12 hour-long series.

If you think that this series isn't worth your time, and if you are okay with some spoilers explaining how ridiculous some moments were in the whole series that just ruin your experience, refer to this comment of mine:
https://mydramalist.com/59449-our-school-now#comment-8593081

Well, that's the gist of it. You are still free to be adventurous and watch this series, as we all perceive media in a different way depending on the person, you might enjoy it. But I won't recommend this to anyone. Not only is it very long, it just wastes time with useless moments that don't contribute to the story later on.

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An unconventional zombie series : apocalyptic devastation with high-school shenanigans

What would happen if your school was attacked by zombies? Netflix’s latest hit K-drama, All of Us Are Dead, attempts to give us a solid answer to this question, as Hyosan High School turns into a fast-sinking ship when a science experiment gone terribly wrong results in a virus-induced zombie outbreak.

For a few years now, South Korean entertainment has been pushing the narrative boundaries of the zombie genre. They have deftly used it as a vehicle to explore not just present-day political and social issues (#Alive, 2020), but have also inserted the undead in their period dramas (Kingdom, 2019).

However, what makes All of Us Are Dead stand out amidst this growing list of K-Zombie content are the central protagonists in the series. The motley crew of survivors are not your gun-slinging, machete-wielding, adept zombie-killing protagonists, these are teenagers who quite literally have to grab the object nearest to them and hastily fashion a weapon out of it.

This is also where the show finds its sparingly lighter moments. Friends dole out advice on dealing with high school crushes as bloody zombies snarl in the background (!) But beyond these interactions, the series takes a massive departure from the traditional route of keeping a zombie apocalypse setting somewhat comically chaotic. Instead, directors Lee JQ and Kim Nam-su choose not to shy away from tackling the emotional weight of death and mayhem.

The best example of this is seen when the show deals with the zombification or “turning” of humans. A shot usually reserved to fulfil the horror quota is turned on its head to play out poignantly heartbreaking scenes. In place of a hastened transformation, we get a drawn-out process, in which the horror stems from the now-undead zombie reconciling with the loss of their humanity, often right in front of their classmates.

The directors do not whiplash the audience back into zombie-infested reality; instead we sit with the students in numbing grief as they lose their friends, classmates and teachers, over and over again. The heavy storyline doesn’t feel misplaced, as writer Chun Sung-il richly fleshes out these teen characters to carry forward the complex tale.

Nam On-jo (Park Ji-hu) serves as a narrative protagonist who bands together with her childhood friend Lee Cheong-san (Yoon Chan-young), her crush Lee Su-hyeok (Park Solomon), and the aloof overachieving class President Choi Nam-ra (Cho Yi-hyun) among other classmates to fight zombies and school bullies alike.

Director Lee JQ’s choice to cast actors “unfamiliar to the audience” pays off masterfully.

The makers also ensure that the layered storytelling does not come at the cost of high-adrenaline action scenes, jump scares and well-executed VFX gore. Mirroring the title sequence, the directors slowly descend the audience into a zombie-filled reality, and the series conveys the same visually. What starts off as a brightly-lit, vividly colourful school, eventually transforms into a nauseatingly dull place with the colour saturation dialed back, as the virus spreads.

When required, the filmmakers also immerse us into the zombie experience. The cinematography during the zombie-human confrontation scenes moves fast, never quite fixating on a single character, which makes for quite unsettling viewing. It is havoc heightened for the students, as well as the audience watching, as we learn along with them, who survived and who didn’t.

Another unconventional directorial choice comes in the form of how the show is paced out. With 12 episodes, each almost an hour long, the story stretches out the events of each day over multiple episodes. The material to fill this time comes from the pockets of survivors it creates throughout the city.

Though the storyline follows a core group of students trapped in high school, we are also given glimpses of a politician scrambling to escape her office; a social media influencer trying to farm the crisis for viral content; and two police officers, mismatched in their levels of courage, racing to retrieve the antidote.

These different dynamics are crafted for the series to also address multiple systemic issues. With the origin of the zombie virus itself rooted in a history of bullying, the school becomes ground zero for the show to explore social class hierarchies.

Additionally, for the senior students of Hyosan High, the zombie apocalypse does not even figure as a priority stressor. With the university entrance exams looming over, Park Mi-jin, a student, laments, “It’s impossible for me to get into college even if I live,” while practicing her zombie killing techniques.

The dynamic between how the State handles this crisis and its effect on students also serves as a microcosm for how authorities react to apocalyptic situations. Unfortunately, this is also where the plot wavers a bit. The series often attempts to pack in too much, as it stretches two separate storylines involving teenage pregnancy and sexual assault across multiple episodes. Not enough time is spent on either narrative to create meaningful conclusions or provide these characters with a kinder, more humane ending.

Ultimately, in a genre teeming with Hollywood’s undying need to provide the perfect post-apocalyptic male-hero zombie killer tale, South Korea has bravely put forth a story of survival. Oscillating between the alive and the undead, the show makes an impact by centering the fact that endurance doesn’t always mean strength, sometimes it is born out of repeated acts of kindness.

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