SEOUL– After the global success of “Kingdom,” Netflix is set to release another Korean-language zombie genre series Friday.
“All Of Us Are Dead” is about a group of high school students who find themselves trapped in their school and fight for survival after a zombie virus takes over the city.
“There are many zombie thrillers, and most of them are about things happening to adults. But this follows what happens to students who are not yet mature and socialized, and it is in a closed space,” Director Lee Jae-kyoo said during an online news conference held in Seoul on Wednesday to promote the upcoming project.
“I thought it would be very fun and meaningful to watch what choices these young students make at a time when they are on the border between life and death. So I thought such a zombie thriller would have another meaning.”
The director behind hit South Korean TV series “Damo” (2003), “Beethoven Virus” (2008), and films “The Fatal Encounter” (2014) and “Intimate Strangers” (2018) showed strong confidence in his new TV project.
“We had a choreography team composed of a professional choreographer and an actor who could create a synergy effect between each other. So, I’m confident the details of zombie moves in our drama are better than any other Korean zombie films or TV series,” he said.
Lee also cited the 12-part series’ focus on showing the horrible process of people turning into zombies as what makes it stand out from other works.
Actress Park Ji-hu, who plays one of the students attacked by zombies, said since the series is set in a school with hundreds of students, it beats others in the wide variety of zombies.
“We have zombies in a school uniform or in a gym suit. Some of them appear at a cafeteria and an infirmary,” Park said, adding there also is one wearing a hair roller.
Actor Lim Jae-hyeok said unlike other zombie thrillers where policemen or soldiers fire guns and other weapon to kill the monsters, the Netflix series has students fighting zombies with desks and mobs.
The series is based on the South Korean web-based comic “Now at Our School” by Joo Dong-geun, which was translated into English under the title “All of Us Are Dead.”
Actress Lee Yoo-mi, who rose to global attention for playing Ji-yeong, aka player number 240 in the Netflix’s global TV sensation “Squid Game,” is a self-centered student named Lee Na-yeon, in the new zombie series.
“I got curious about Na-yeon while reading the webtoon, and it’s an honor for me to come to play the character,” she said. “I want watchers to say that although Na-yeon is cheeky, she is fine because of the acting.”
The show also has four other young actors in their 20s — Cho Yi-hyun, best known for her medical student role in “Hospital Playlist” (2021), Lomon, Yoo In-soo and Yoon Chan-young — among the main cast members. Park Ji-hu is known for her lead role in the critically acclaimed film “Humming Bird” (2017).
Source: Yonhap News Agency