Why All of Us Are Dead is binge-worthy

High School? Zombies? When you hear of these, you would think that you have seen and heard all the possible sequences in your mind before when it comes to this banner plot.

Well, with the new K-series that just dropped yesterday on Netflix, South Korean entertainment proves that there is more to tell with its much-talked-about new offering, All of Us Are Dead. I had the chance to screen the series beforehand and I was wrong about my assumptions about the show. It was not predictable. It had something new to offer me as an avid zombie show viewer.

Gladly, I had a chance to attend the press conference online (for now) as well corner the main cast Park Ji-hu, Yoon Chan-young, Cho Yi-hyun, Lomon and its creator and director Lee JQ to blast away with the lowdown on the new hit series.

I don’t want to spoil it for you so I opted to let director Lee answer the question on what makes the zombies in his series different and worth bingeing to.

“Just like the other K-zombies, our zombies are really speedy and really fast and furious and they can use all their muscles and bones. But one difference that we have, most of the zombies have hunger that drives them, but ours have terror that drives them,” said Lee. “They are very worried and scared that others might strike them. That is why they want to strike first in order for them to be safe.” That alone gives a deeper perspective once you go along and enjoy the episodes.

All of Us Are Dead is derived from the popular webtoon Now at Our School by Joo Dong-geun that was originally published between 2009 and 2011.

This started the clamor for the show that many fans waited for.

Lee wanted to note, however, that even though the series may be an adaptation, he still went his own way in choosing the outcome for the series as he deemed fit for the television version of the said piece.

“The big flow and the big picture stay the same,” said the director. “The characters and the decisions they make can be a little bit different from the webtoon and I think what’s most important is that decisions made by teens are immature. They can provide us adults with some food for thought and I think the original webtoon was very entertaining but the series can be very entertaining in another way so you can enjoy both.”

Somehow, All of Us Are Dead also becomes timely because of the pandemic as it has some allegorical aspects to the situation like how people turn into zombies and the situation the characters are left to deal with.

Park explained, “Because we are experiencing this pandemic right now, I think All of Us Are Dead became more realistic to me and I think it will really resonate with a lot of people.”

The cast even shared that while they were filming the series, it made them think of what is happening with the world and the bewildering “what if” the All of Us Are Dead situation did happen in real life. Cho added, “I actually thought about this question a lot while I was shooting the series. Similar with the others I will try to gather some water and food and I will look for things to protect myself like kitchen utensils that are sharp to keep me safe.”

With the show’s recipe for streaming success, it is not surprising to see the young cast led by Park, Yoon, Cho, Lomon, Yoo In-soo, Lee You-Mi and Lim Jae-hyeok, become the new hottest kids on the K-block to watch out for.

All of Us Are Dead is now streaming on Netflix.