Gangnam Zombie is a 2023 South Korean horror film in which citizens from an area of Seoul start experiencing unusual and terrifying symptoms, devolving into inhuman creatures, leaving only a few survivors with the possibility to make it out alive.
Directed by Lee Soo-Sung [이수성] (For the New Emperor; The Dominator; Memories; Rodeukil; Bullies; A Way Back to Mother; Lost Flower Eo Woo-dong; Yeonaeui Gisul; House with a Good View).
The movie stars Ji Il-Joo [지일주], Park Ji-Yeon [지연], Jo Kyoung-Hoon [조경훈], Choi Seong-Min [최성민] and Tak Teu-In [탁트인].
Plot:
Amidst the backdrop of the tail-end of the recent pandemic, two lowly criminals who appear to be stealing costume jewellery from a shipping container are bitten by a crazy cat and turn bloodthirsty.
Within the space of 24 hours, they manage to infect the entire building that houses dozens of small businesses, including the office of a YouTube prank channel where Hyeon-suk and Min-jung work.
Luckily Hyeon-suk is the runner-up of the national Taekwondo championships, so he is able to defend them both against the rather small zombie horde…
Release:
The movie was released in South Korea on November 30, 2022. Well Go USA Entertainment released Gangnam Zombie stateside on Digital and Blu-ray on September 26, 2023.
Our review:
What could be more Korean in horror than zombies, right? At this time, they are the masters of zombie movies. But that’s the problem. They ran out of ideas a few years ago, so now we get stuff like this. And this isn’t pretty.
There is nothing nice to say about this movie. Even when I look at the positives of short running times – and this movie has one at around 80 minutes, it commits a cardinal sin: it repeats footage! Nothing is worse than when a movie recycles the same scenes just to pad out the running time.
The action, which should be the core component of a movie like this, is terribly over-edited. The taekwondo fight scenes have no impact. The shots cut so frequently that most impact strikes are missed, and there is a lack of sound effects that would have added some extra oomph to the scenes.
It’s confusing as to why “zombie zero” (i.e. the original zombie) is so obsessed with hunting down the main guy, and also why does he appear to get stronger and stronger throughout the movie.
Also, why are the zombies so illogical? They are easily distracted by a portable radio playing rock music to notice the two fresh victims walking near them. Aren’t zombies supposed to hunt fresh blood first, then respond to sound?
What was with the stupid intro making reference to COVID, and then not doing anything with it? If the assumption is that the outbreak was caused by a mutated COVID strain, then why call the movie “Gangnam Zombie”? Also, just putting a few establishing shots of Gangnam is surely not enough to title the whole movie after the location. Almost the entire film is set in an office building! At least the cast is pretty, but that’s about it.
The Arty Dans, MOVIES & MANIA
Other reviews:
“With Gangnam Zombie coming in under eighty minutes, it is neither tedious nor overlong. After witnessing the unresolved ending, though, you might even say it’s too short. Overall, what we have here is another meager and by-the-numbers zombie movie with little bite. A cool and likable lead with fierce moves and a habit for heroism partly helps set this apart from other recent Korean zombie pics…” ★★ Bloody Disgusting
“With Gangnam Zombie, the satirical direction would have been the obvious choice when it comes to topics such as capitalism and new media […] Instead, you see how unexciting zombies and victims are running around. Although Gangnam Zombie is quite short with a running time of 80 minutes, boredom sets in early.” Film Rezensionen [translated from German]
“Gangnam cannot boast much originality, except maybe its wickedly droll final twist, but it always maintains a high energy level. If you are in the mood for a zombie movie, this is certainly a competent one—far more entertaining than a lot of the Walking Dead–Living Dead knock-offs out there. Recommended for what it is…” J.B. Spins
“I don’t mind riffs on popular themes, and that’s about the best one can say about this quick and forgettable experience. While the leads show up and turn in some respectable screen fighting against the undead and there’s the added hints about this being not all that unlike a COVID outbreak, Gangnam still suffers from a heavy ‘been there done that’ predictability, along with some remarkably unfunny attempts to spice it up with laughs.” SciFiHistory
“I know a lot of people didn’t like George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead, but I did […] I was hopeful this film would use the idea of viral content creation as a major plot device […]Sadly, hopes of that are dashed about halfway into the film, and we’re left with our main characters against zombies. I think Ji’s Hyeon-seok and Park’s Min-jeong are engaging, but they aren’t really asked to do a lot in this film, sadly.” Sonic Cinema
“Lee does his best with a limited budget, as Hyun-seok and Min-jeong desperately try to escape the corporate prison of the office building to seek freedom and safety outside but largely saves the zombie action for the climactic final sequences in returning to the film’s opening while otherwise focussing on Hyun-seok’s romantic diffidence and the problematic atmosphere in his moribund live-streaming office. But then again it seems to say that just because you got away once doesn’t mean you’re safe or the aggressors of a dog-eat-dog society…” Windows on Worlds
YouTube reviews:
US trailer [1080p HD]:
Original title:
강남좀 “Gangnam”
