#Alive (2020)

Director: Il Cho
Writer(s): Cho, based on an original screenplay by Matt Naylor
Starring: Yoo Ah-in, Park Shin-Hye, Jeon Bae-soo and Hyun Wook-Lee

Several years ago - I mean, we're probably talking about two decades at this point - the zombie subgenre was actually my favorite in horror. The shambling creatures first came to the forefront in George Romero’s seminal 1968 chiller Night of the Living Dead, was reinforced by its (overrated) sequel Dawn of the Dead a decade later, and then arguably came to further prominence thanks to a spate of mostly low-budget Italian knockoffs, like Lucio Fulci’s Zombie. There was just something about the idea of monsters that were really only effective in hordes (but that could easily multiply from one, into a whole army) that was just terrifying to me. Then Hollywood came, as usual, to ruin it all, putting them in the mainstream and overflooding theaters with subpar effort after subpar effort until I stopped caring altogether.

But #Alive seemed a little bit different, outside of the annoying recent trend to put a hashtag in front of its title. This one focuses on one man who is apparently the only survivor in a city that’s suddenly overrun with the living dead, when a random, unexplained event turns all the people in a city into bloodthirsty zombies. 

That’s essentially the entire setup. The man is Oh Joon-woo, a college-aged guy whose parents are away, leaving him alone in the high-rise apartment they own. Joon-woo doesn’t seem to have much in the way of aspirations or dreams, and seems perfectly content playing video games to pass the time. All that changes, though, when there are suddenly news reports of people randomly turning into violent, bloodthirsty creatures. He looks out the window and sees mayhem in the streets: people are being chased and attacked by waves of seemingly normal people turned violent. 

He panics, his first thought being his parents. They text to tell him they are okay, which relieves him for the time being. He barricades himself in, but then hears someone begging for help outside his door. Since we have to see that our main character is worth rooting for because he has a heart of gold, Joon-woo decides to let the man in…only to find that he has been bitten and is going to turn into a raging psychopath. After a struggle, Oh Joon-woo manages to kill him.

Soon, he discovers that the mounting number of the undead isn’t his only concern: the electricity and water in his building are turned off, and phone service becomes unreliable. He manages to send out a video through social media to his followers, asking for help, but it goes unanswered. Hunger and thirst are starting to play a role, and in a moment of weakness, he decides suicide is the best way out. But in the midst of his attempt, a laser pointer stops him as he dangles from the rope. He struggles to free himself from the noose and discovers another young survivor who lives in an adjacent building. This is Kim Yoo-bin, a female with whom he quickly forges a short-distance bond.

The two eventually meet up in person, and combine their wits to survive in a city where survival seems impossible. Kim suggests that they go to the 8th floor of his apartment building, which seems to be totally vacant; there they can at least relax a little bit and buy enough time to come up with a plan. They make it…only to discover nothing can be that easy. Meanwhile, hordes of the undead force their way into the building, giving them precious little time to hatch an escape plan. Can they make it out #alive, or will they just become more #victims for the #undead?

One thing I hate about the “only man alive” description that marketing materials use to describe it is that that’s rarely the case. It’s a great idea in theory to have one person against insurmountable odds, but unless it was pulled off perfectly, focusing on one person would get pretty boring pretty quickly. Besides, the trailer itself (and even the poster!) shows Kim Yoo-bin so we know he’s not the only one left right off the bat. Why do film descriptions have to be misleading in order to gain viewers? How would this movie be any different or less appealing if it acknowledged there was at least one other survivor? Even the idea of a small group of people would be terrifying when they’re still outnumbered 5,000 to 1. 

Ultimately, your appreciation for #Alive will depend directly on your level of patience. It often feels more like a character study that happens to have zombies in it; there are long moments of inaction, especially in the beginning as it focuses on Joon-woo and sets up its basic story. Once it gets going there are more tense moments spread throughout, but it doesn’t really hit its peak until the final 15 minutes, or so. That will pretty much alienate fans of blood and gore - two things that are frequently staples of the subgenre - as there really isn’t much bloodshed until toward the end (and even then, it's mostly your run of the mill blunt force trauma to the head of the undead). 

Then there’s the ending, which is absolutely awful. I can’t say too much without giving it away, but it almost feels like an antithesis to everything that came before it. It doesn’t quite ruin the entire film, but it comes damn close; a convenient finish that feels contrived and unearned. 

Balancing out the film’s potential weaknesses are the zombies themselves: They're actually some of the most terrifying zombies since 28 Days Later. The makeup effects are excellent, featuring shredded faces insinuating days of decay, pupils gone and replaced with nothing but white. Thanks to the sound design, the way they violently jolt and stumble around is chilling, as are their screams, which they use to communicate with other zombies. Oh, and just like the zombies in Danny Boyle’s horror opus, they can run. There’s not much original about them, but they are appropriately menacing and give off a feeling of danger in scenes where the main characters are forced to face them. 

It’s actually a shame this is a Netflix production; it has the look and feel of a low-budget horror film, and actually could have worked much better within the confines of a limited budget. A lower-quality picture full of graininess, and a smaller cast (of zombies) that could have heightened the intensity and given the sequences a greater sense of urgency. It just looks too polished for what it is, and that further helps to drag it down a bit.

Despite its flaws, though, #Alive is still a slightly above average example of a subgenre that has been done to death. It doesn’t exactly breathe new life into the zombie film as some have suggested, but it does make effective use out of its confined setting, and limited (living) cast. You just can’t help noticing there’s a much better film buried in there somewhere, just waiting to get out.

RATING: 5.5/10

TRAILER