It’s Christmas Eve in the Gangnam district of South Korea. Hyeon-seok (Ji Il-Joo) moved to Seoul to make it on his own, but his mother is constantly asking him to come back home to help her run the melon farm. He works as a YouTube content creator at a small fledgling company that has yet to see any profit. The boss, Mr. Kang, is still trying to hang onto his glory days as an X-Factor boy group star over a decade ago, and doesn’t really understand why audiences aren’t into his prank video ideas. The company only took in about $175 revenue in the past month—Mr. Kang hasn’t paid his staff in weeks, and has been dodging the landlady who is looking for his overdue rent. Hyeon-seok hasn’t quit because he has a crush on co-worker/editor Min-jeong (Park Ji-Yeon)—even though she doesn’t seem to have the same feelings. When the office building suddenly becomes overrun with zombies Mr. Kang sees this money-making potential, and a way to finally make their channel popular. So he sends Hyeon-seok and coworker Dae-yeong (Tak Te-in) out to film it, hoping to boost their views and likes. However, the situation quickly escalates as they face off with the head zombie, and it quickly becomes a fight for survival. Hyeon-seok was a backup for the National Taekwondo team, and ensures Min-jeong that he will use those skills to protect her and make sure she survives this ordeal.
Gangnam Zombie feels a bit low budget, but I found it to be quite a fun watch, in a lighthearted, sometimes cheesy way. It was sort of Dawn of the Dead, but in an office building rather than a mall, and with a rom-com twist. It has this entertaining blend of horror, action, and comedy. There are also some fun rom-com elements, like the music changing and things slowing down when Hyeon-seok sees Min-jeong. It also takes some moments to explore some of the fun side characters, such as a guard who films himself breakdancing during his shift.
The “bad” characters are a bit over the top (but in a fun way), and make the audience instantly root for these people to become the zombies’ next victims. First there’s the fur-wearing landlady, who’s making her rounds through the building, constantly looking down on everyone else and referring to her staff as “the poor”. When she sees the zombie breakout, she orders the doors to be locked to try to contain the situation. She doesn’t want to involve the cops, because if word got out, she’d be unable to sell or rent the building. Next, there’s the lazy, creepy boss, Mr. Kang, who’s always putting his hands on Min-jeong. While this makes Hyeon-seok furious, Min-jeong is too concerned about losing her job if she does anything about it. Finally, there’s the Terminator-like Wang-yi (Cho Kyung-hoon), a thief who becomes patient zero after getting attacked by a zombie cat while robbing a shipyard container. He is the first, and seemingly strongest of the zombies, magically popping up wherever he is needed to add suspense—this zombie can really get around that office building!
My main complaint with the film is with some of the fight scenes. Hyeon-seok’s boss and co-worker call him Taekwondo Boy all the time. While it’s obvious that star Ji Il-Joo does have the martial arts skills, it was also far too obvious that there was no actual contact being made most of the time. His kicks and punches seem to magically knock down zombies, despite not actually hitting them. And this looks even worse when Hyeon-seok is swinging a bat at his undead attackers. Another thing that bugged me is that Hyeon-seok and Min-jeong don’t seem to know how to close doors. If you know your office building is overrun with zombies, and you make it into a safe room, why would you leave the door wide open as an invitation?!
That said, I still found the film highly entertaining, and it is definitely one I’d watch again.
Well Go’s Blu-ray release features solid picture and sound. The video looks clean and clear throughout, even in some of the darker sequences. There is a consistent, solid level of detail. The release does not offer any English dub, just the original Korean language track. However, the English subtitles are well written and easy to follow. The audio makes nice use of the stereo and surround channels to put the viewer right in the middle of the zombie chaos.
Well Go’s Blu-ray release is barebones, just including the film’s trailer and some previews for three other Well Go releases as bonus material. The disc comes packed in a locking HD keepcase, and doesn’t include a digital copy. Our review copy did not include any slipcover.
What’s Included:
Film: (1:21:21)
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Blu-ray:
- 1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
- Audio: Korean DTS-HDMA 5.1, Korean Stereo
- Subtitles: English
Extras:
Final Thoughts:
Gangnam Zombie is a light, fun zombie film that finds a nice blend between humor, horror and a bit of romance. At the core are some likable leads. The film is a bit low budget, but never felt like some cheap student film to me. It was just the fight choreography that was a bit lacking in selling things as real. Otherwise I quite enjoyed this movie and would certainly recommend checking it out this Halloween season.
Gangnam Zombie
$11.00 $10.90 (as of November 8, 2024 16:15 GMT -05:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
Gangnam Zombie
22% Off $12.82 $9.99 (as of November 8, 2024 16:15 GMT -05:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
