Gong’s Seok-Woo emerges as a resourceful, determined lead, growing from a disengaged workaholic ( whose company may have invested in the facility responsible for the outbreak) willing to sacrifice others to protect himself into a more recognisable hero. The characters around him are well-developed stock figures, but some neat storytelling twists mean you can’t always see who will go first, or how, or why — and the really hiss-able villain, as is traditional in these situations, is a ratfink traitor in their midst.
Crucially, Yeon has come up with a take on zombies that is rooted deep in the genre but still feels innovative. Like Romero’s undead, these are an inescapable evil spreading across the world to offer a sly commentary on our modern society. Like the ‘infected’ in Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, they’re fast and strong. And like the swarming hordes of World War Z, there’s something insect-like about their ravenous pursuit of these few uninfected hold-outs; they force their way through walls and doors with the sheer weight of their numbers and fall from great heights to continue their pursuit on broken limbs. But Yeon has his own twists, too. These figures are contorted and unnatural, closer to something from The Exorcist or Ring than zombies we’ve seen before, and they’re driven by sight rather than smell or hearing — a fact the survivors exploit to great effect.